Written in honour of the leading historian of war and state formation in the early modern Low Countries Marjolein 't Hart, the chapters gathered in this volume examine the main drivers, beneficiaries and discontents of state formation across and beyond Europe in the early modern period.

Introduction / Powerless Representatives? Warfare’s Contrasting Impact on Early-Modern Political Participation / Economic Acceleration in the Dutch Republic, 1585–1637 / Paper Suits of Armour. Sauvegarde, Brandschat, and Security in the Countryside During Wartime in the Sixteenth-Century Netherlands / The Formative Role of Early-Modern Books of Ordinances. The Low Countries and their Overseas Lands / The States’ Army of Flanders and the English Roads, 1577 to around 1610 / Finance, Money, Corruption, and the English Exchequer Bill Scandals of 1697–1699 / The Military-Commercial Complex. Contracting the Eighteenth Century British Army / The Politics and Geopolitics of the British Debate on Monetary Policy for Warfare against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, 1793–1821 / Ministers on Demand. French Senior Government Officials as Transnational Agents of Modernity in Napoleon’s Brother Kingdoms / Grasping Opportunities in Times of Crisis? The Community of Dutch Maritime Traders in the Port of Antwerp During the French Period / The State, Taxes, and Popular Protest in the Netherlands in the Napoleonic Period (1806–1813) / Varieties of Force. State-Organized Production, Industrialization, and Coerced Labour in Nineteenth-Century Naval Shipyards