Structure of Armies- Stipendiary and Contract

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Del curso dictado por Princeton University

Paradoxes of War

559 calificaciones

Princeton University

Paradoxes of War

559 calificaciones

The Paradoxes of War teaches us to understand that war is not only a normal part of human existence, but is arguably one of the most important factors in making us who we are. Through this course, I hope that you will come to appreciate that war is both a natural expression of common human emotions and interactions and a constitutive part of how we cohere as groups. That is, war is paradoxically an expression of our basest animal nature and the exemplar of our most vaunted and valued civilized virtues. You will learn some basic military history and sociology in this course as a lens for the more important purpose of seeing the broader social themes and issues related to war. I want you to both learn about war, but more importantly, use it as way of understanding your everyday social world. So, for example, the discussion of war and gender will serve to start you thinking about how expectations of masculinity are created and our discussion of nationalism will make clear how easy “us-them” dichotomies can be established and (ab)used. I will suggest some readings for you to complement the class and assign some activities through which you will be able to apply the theoretical insights from the course to your observations of everyday life. At the end of the course, you will start to see war everywhere and come to appreciate how much it defines our life. All the features of this course are available for free. It does not offer a certificate upon completion.

De la lección

The War of Armies

Wars are about organized violence and this part of the course traces the managerial and technological developments necessary to culminate in total wars.

Progress of War & Structure of Armies- Ancient and Feudal8:02

Structure of Armies- Stipendiary and Contract3:30

Structure of Armies- State-commission, Popular Conscript, and Volunteer-technical 7:07

Conoce a los instructores

Miguel A. Centeno
Musgrave Professor of Sociology and Professor of Sociology and International Affairs
Sociology

While the feudal army continues to be dominant for

several, for several centuries in western Europe it doesn't

disappear right away, but it starts slowly being replaced

by what John Linegan calls stipendiary or contract armies.

These are reflections of the money economy

expanding and the kinds of resources available

that allows some political leaders to, in

a sense, aggregate more violence through purchase.

That is, they no longer are dependant on these kinds of personal relationships.

Now they are creating, in a sense,

business relationships with which to produce violence.

These often require greater cohesion and formal agreement of services.

That is, that rather than having a relatively small group of men

with personal loyalties and some kind of hierarchical form, now you have

to bring together larger units where

those personal connections, those personal loyalties

are not quite as important as the formal terms of a contract.

Much as the economy has been monetized, war in

a sense during in this process is being monetized.

Political institutions role is limited.

They mostly serve as contractors of services.

That is, that political institution is not so

much about producing the army itself, whether from citizens

or slaves or from whatever, but rather producing

the kinds of resources necessary to hire these armies.

And the classic example of these are the Condatieris in early Renaissance,

Italy that basically serve as these, for sale, armies for sale

that will go from one side to the other very, very

easily, basically based on the delivery of some kind of, of money.

Now of course, loyalties and personal relationships are still important.

You still have the, the role of the leader.

Certainly by the, late 17th century, great military entrepreneurs, such as Tilly

or Wallerstein, become central for the, for the creation of these large forces.

The key thing here is the increasing expense required.

That is, these armies require a great deal of money.

No longer can they simply rely on the network of loyalties

that a feudal lord or feudal liege might be able to

create, rather they're dependent on the state being able to produce

enough cash in order to pay for these kinds of, of mercenaries.

The technology of weapons changes.

Where we had a single weapon in slave

armies, again with exceptions, with feudal armies

we have the centrality of the horse, now we get into a different kind of weapon.

Basically it's the pike and the musket.

These, in a sense, become the central, especially

again as we go into the 15th, the

16th and the 17th century, they become the

central weapons the central technology of, of destruction.

And that's going to require again, a greater cohesion.

You'll also get a very different level of fortification.

No longer do you get these isolated castles.

What you get is the new Italian style of fortification.

Again, requiring much more organization, much more precision,

and most importantly much, much greater amounts of money.

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