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Sinews of Power: War, Money and the English State, 1688-1783

John Brewer

3.98 · Rating details · 140 ratings · 13 reviews

This powerful interpretation of English history provides a completely new framework for understanding how Britain emerged in the eighteenth century as a major international power.

John Brewer's brilliant analysis makes clear that the drastic increase in Britain's military involvement (and success) in Europe and the expansion of her commercial and imperial interests would no ...more

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Paperback, 320 pages

Published October 1st 1990 by Harvard University Press (first published January 1st 1989)

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Aug 25, 2013 Simon Wood rated it it was amazing

THE FISCAL-MILITARY STATE: BRITAIN 1688-1783

Many are the books on British history that cite John Brewers 1989 classic "The Sinews of Power" not infrequently in glowing terms, but the fact that it has been out of print since 1994, absent without leave from my local library, and hideously expensive second hand has meant that it is not until now (thanks to Oxfam) that I have been able to read this seminal work. It was definitely worth the wait.

"The Sinews of Power" charts the develpment of Britain THE FISCAL-MILITARY STATE: BRITAIN 1688-1783

Many are the books on British history that cite John Brewers 1989 classic "The Sinews of Power" not infrequently in glowing terms, but the fact that it has been out of print since 1994, absent without leave from my local library, and hideously expensive second hand has meant that it is not until now (thanks to Oxfam) that I have been able to read this seminal work. It was definitely worth the wait.

"The Sinews of Power" charts the develpment of Britain into what he calls a "fiscal-military state" from the period of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to the loss of their American colonies in 1783. Brewer is alive to the context within which this happened, a British State that was in increasingly in the hands of the propertied classes, primarily via the House of Commons, during a period when Britain was frequently at war with France. Against these two facts the development of a "peculiary British version of the fiscal-military state, complete with large armies and navies, industrious administrators, high taxes and huge debts" are laid out in detail.

Other developments that receive Brewers attention include the formation of a distinct Financial interest (The City) that recieved a large helping hand from the "high taxes and huge debts" that became necessary for the British state during its repeated wars with France. The changes in both taxation policy and how the debt evolved are discussed in detail, as are the changes in the source of taxation. In the earliest part of the period it is direct, in particular a land tax, that form the greater proportion of tax receipts. As time passes the emphasis changes to indirect taxation on popularly consumed items that are often, or regarded as, essential. There is also an interesting chapter on Government information and Lobbyists with many examples, going back to the 1690's, of Lobbying that are immediately recognisable to the twenty-first century reader.

This is a fine book, that provides a fascinating and detailed insight into the development of Britain during the eighteenth century with close attention paid to the military and fiscal dimensions. For anyone interested in British history, in particular how Britain found itself as the leading world power in the 19th century, this book is essential.

Readers unfamiliar with the period will probably find the following books more welcoming: "English Society in the Eighteenth Century" by Roy Porter, or J.H.Plumbs "England in the Eighteenth Century" which though dated in many of the particulars still rewards the reader with a fluent general account of the era. More detailed and unapologetically academic, in the best sense, are John Rules "The Vital Century: England's Economy, 1714-1815" and "Albion's People: English Society, 1714-1815". ...more

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Jan 09, 2008 Jonathan rated it really liked it

Shelves: academic-reading-and-research, 18th-century-britain

Short version: Constant war with France and Spain made the British state mushroom (constant war = big military = hefty taxes and borrowing = lots of bookkeepers and tax collectors) even as the British people congratulated themselves on liberty and limited government. In fact, Brewer argues, the British "fiscal-military state" became all the more powerful for existing within a parliamentary and constitutional system. Because of this setting, the state had greater popular legitimacy and support.

B ...more

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Sep 29, 2014 Anthony Zupancic rated it liked it

Really quite good history. Looks at the minutia of finance, taxes and administration to understand the growth of British power and the empire; to expose the hidden sinews that animated the British body politic: money, logistics, and administration. Breaks the book into 5 parts:

1. State prior to 1688

2. military org, money raising, and admin after Glorious Revolution

3. political crisis that gave birth to fiscal-military state

4. effects of the state on both material circumstances and attitudes ...more

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Jan 07, 2011 Mike rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

This is probably the book on my bookshelf most cited by other books on my bookshelf.

(Well, except the Bible, obv. And excepting the law books, which are an incestuous mess of self-citation. But other than that).

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Jan 03, 2021 Jeff rated it liked it

Shelves: history

It illuminates the development in England of the fiscal state after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and how the machinery of finance developed, was staffed, and evolved over this period. It also touches upon some of the relative advantages Britain enjoyed over the principal rival France in terms of a more centralized taxation, a gradually more professional administration, and the greater legitimacy provided by Parliament. Worth a read if you're interested in the financial underpinnings of state ...more

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Aug 28, 2019 Tom Buitelaar rated it really liked it

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Jan 30, 2020 Boone Ayala rated it it was amazing

Shelves: early-modern-britain-orals

Brewer seeks to explain an apparent paradox of 18th century Britain. At the same time that Britain became a militarily-renowned world power, it became a society famous for its love of liberty and the rights of the subject. He thus asks "why Britain was able to enjoy the fruits of military prowess without the misfortunes of a dirigiste or despotic regime" (xviii). He argues that 18th century Britain was strong in infrastructural power - the practical capability to successfully accomplish objectiv Brewer seeks to explain an apparent paradox of 18th century Britain. At the same time that Britain became a militarily-renowned world power, it became a society famous for its love of liberty and the rights of the subject. He thus asks "why Britain was able to enjoy the fruits of military prowess without the misfortunes of a dirigiste or despotic regime" (xviii). He argues that 18th century Britain was strong in infrastructural power - the practical capability to successfully accomplish objectives within its accepted limits - but weak in despotic power, i.e., relatively limited in terms of what it had the authority to do (xx).

Brewer notes in part 1 that the English state - which after the Act of Union in 1707 effectively served as the nucleus for the British state - had 3 key advantages from the late medieval period. The first of these was "its centralization in the period between the tenth and thirteenth centuries" (3). This early centralization meant that while "regionalism was not absent... it lacked any institutional focus to challenge the authority of the central state" (5) lacking the particularism and heterogeneity of the French state apparatus (6).

The second advantage was England's escape from continental wars between the end of the 100 Years' War in the mid-15th century and the beginning of the second hundred years' war in 1688. "In a period of ferocious and continuous warfare, England was remarkable for its lack of participation in international conflict and for its many years of peace. England, in other words, was not a major participant in the so-called 'Military Revolution'" which greatly increased the scale of war in Early Modern Europe (7-8).

The third advantage was largely a consequence of the second; because England was not heavily militarized and had relatively less need of funds in the late medieval and early modern periods, the English entered the 18th century with a much smaller class of venal officeholders. "England's greatest advantage was that it was never put to the sort of grueling fiscal-military test that year after year drain the nation of its resources and the treasury of its wealth... for the proliferation and sale of offices... was the necessary price that the absolutist ruler paid for waging major wars" (21).

Part 2 details the nature of the fiscal-military state as it emerged in Britain. Britain gave a unique emphasis to its navy - an emphasis that was"singularly appropriate for a state which governed a commercial society with such a substantial commitment to overseas trade" (34). Three features were critical to the raising of vast sums necessary for fiscal-military state formation: "the existence of a powerful representative with undisputed powers of national taxation; the presence of a commercialized economy whose structure made it comparatively easy to tax; and the deployment of fiscal expertise that made borrowing against tax income an easy tax" (42). Crucially, taxation was centralized and publicized. Anglo-British warmaking in the 18th century was managed by public offices - "from the mid-17th century states began to exercise an unprecedented control over the business of war, largely because they succeeded in improving their administrative capacity" (64).

Part III contains chapter 5, "The Paradoxes of State Power." Here Brewer answers "why, in what is conventionally viewed as the most unstate-like of states, did the government manage both to cope with the pressures of war and to retain much of its integrity?" He says "first, William and his followers were the beneficiaries of the administrative reforms initiated by their predecessors. ... Secondly, the commons restrained malfeasance and secured public accountability" (139). He argues that the wars which required the expansion of the state apparatus were "fought to preserve the revolution of 1688, to avert the return of James II, whom Louis supported, and to avoid the Catholicism and executive intrusion" of his reign (140). "The Glorious Revolution was not only a Protestant but a 'country' revolution, concerned both to preserve the true faith as England's official religion and to reduce the powers of central government. But in order to protect the revolution from its enemies, the powers of the state had perforce to grow as never before" (142). Country politicians - essentially opposition politics - limited the excesses of government. ...more

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Feb 18, 2017 Nic Barilar rated it liked it

Well-researched. Strong argument. But, if the British Empire depended upon its financial system, its tax system, etc. to fund its imperial projects that emerged after the Glorious Revolution and into the eighteenth century... where is the slave trade?

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Jan 10, 2012 Michael Taylor rated it liked it

Shelves: english-history

Why did Great Britain become the financial superpower of her time? This book sought to answer that question by examining the development and growth of the modern beaucratic state. His heroes are the paper pushers of the age. In the end, Britain became great because of the statistics and reports generated by beaucrats which allowed policymakers to make informed decisions on hard data. Not a book for everyone, but if you are interested in British and American colonial history, then it is worth you ...more

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Sep 10, 2014 Kent rated it really liked it

Shelves: empire-colonialism

While a bit of a slow read about taxes/economic policy/finance at times, Brewer is a wonderful writer and argues a strong case for how the British fiscal-military state arose after 1688 and why it worked so well compared to other European nations.

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