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16 - Warfare on land in Old Regime Europe

from Part II - International Law in Old Regime Europe (1660–1775)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2025

By
Stefano Cattelan  and
Raymond Kubben
General editor
Randall Lesaffer
Randall Lesaffer
Affiliation:
KU Leuven and Tilburg University
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Summary

The chapter examines the development and changing nature of the laws and customs of war in Old Regime Europe. It focuses on land warfare, scrutinising the received idea that the waging of war in this age was characterised by a growing moderation and by the improvement of troops’ conduct and discipline. The chapter surveys the major principles and doctrines of the jus in bello and the use thereof made by European players. In doing so, it draws on state and military practice as well as scholarly – legal and military – literature. Subjects which are covered include the theoretical conceptualisation of the laws of war, status in war and neutrality – limited to its terrestrials aspects – the emergence of new legal constraints regarding the treatment of prisoners of war and civilians, siege warfare and use of weapons, the treatment of enemy possessions and occupation.

Keywords

Old Regime Europelaw of nationsjus in belloland warfareneutrality
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of International Law , pp. 517 - 550
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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References

Further Reading

Anderson, Matthew S., War and Society in Europe of the Old Regime 1618–1789 (Guernsey: Guernsey Press Company 1998).Google Scholar
Black, Jeremy, European Warfare in a Global Context, 1660–1815 (London: UCL Press 1994).Google Scholar
Browning, Reed S., The War of the Austrian Succession (New York: St Martin’s Griffin 1995).Google Scholar
Chandler, David G., The Art of Warfare in the Age of Marlborough (New York: Sarpedon 1995).Google Scholar
Contamine, Philippe, Guerre et concurrence entre les Etats européens du XIVe au XVIIIe siècle (Paris: Presses universitaires de France 1998).Google Scholar
Drévillon, Hervé (ed.), Mondes en guerre. Tome II. L’Âge classique XVe–XIXe siècle (Paris: Passés composés 2019).Google Scholar
Duffy, Christopher, Russia’s Military Way to the West: Origins and Nature of Russian Military Power, 1700–1800 (London and Boston: Henley 1981).Google Scholar
Duffy, Christopher, The Military Experience in the Age of Reason (London and New York: Routledge 1987).Google Scholar
Félicité, Indravati, Négocier pour exister. Les villes et duchés du nord de l’Empire face à la France 1650–1730 (Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg 2016).Google Scholar
Fiedler, Siegfried, Heerwesen Der Neuzeit. Taktik und Strategie Der Kabinettskriege, 1650–1792 (Augsburg: Bechtermünz 2002).Google Scholar
Frost, Robert, The Northern Wars. War, State and Society in Northeastern Europe, 1558–1721 (Harlow: Pearson Education 2000).Google Scholar
Jalabert, Laurent, Les prisonniers de guerre (XVe–XIXe siècle). Entre marginalisation et reconnaissance (Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes 2018).Google Scholar
Kalmanovitz, Pablo, The Laws of War in International Thought (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2020).Google Scholar
Luh, Jürgen, Kriegskunst in Europa 1650–1800 (Cologne: Böhlau 2004).Google Scholar
Lynn, John A., The Wars of Louis XIV, 1667–1714 (Harlow: Pearson Education 1999).Google Scholar
Mattéi, Jean-Mathieu, Histoire du droit de la guerre (1700–1819), 2 vols. (Aix-en-Provence: Presses universitaires d’Aix-Marseille 2006).Google Scholar
Morieux, Renaud, The Society of Prisoners. Anglo-French Wars and Incarceration in the Eighteenth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2019).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neff, Stephen C., War and the Law of Nations. A General History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2005).Google Scholar
Ostwald, Jamel, Vauban under Siege. Engineering Efficiency and Martial Vigor in the War of the Spanish Succession (Leiden and Boston: Brill 2007).Google Scholar
Starkey, Armstrong, War in the Age of Enlightenment, 1700–1789 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press 2003).Google Scholar
Szabo, Franz, The Seven Years War in Europe, 1756–1763 (Harlow: Pearson Education 2008).Google Scholar

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