Das Rad der Gewalt: Militär und Zivilbevölkerung in Norddeutschland nach dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg

The end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648 was by no means the end of military force in much of Europe. As early as the 1650s, the expansionary rulers began building new standing armies alongside traditional mercenary forces. In particular, the Swedish parts of the Old Reich, which had been part of it since 1648, became a permanent military base for massive mercenary recruitment and the deployment of thousands of soldiers and their families. Accommodation remained in private quarters. Conflicts around resources or questions of honor, usually in connection with heavy alcohol consumption, were the order of the day. This study approaches the blurring of pre-war, post-war and inter-war times for the first time. Drawing on the earliest surviving military judicial records and verdicts, as well as on civil pre-trial records, the book even investigates violent clashes between the military and the civilian population, as well as those within the military.