Marc van Alphen, Jan Hoffenaar, Alan Lemmers and Christiaan van der Spek
Mirjam Grandia Mantas
Military Power and the Dutch Republic
The Civil-Military Decision Paths to Uruzgan and Helmand
War, Trade and the Balance of Power in Europe, 1648-1813
Military involvement in foreign policy decisionmaking, and its role as a driving force in that process, has long been anathema to both academic and practitioner circles. Without wanting to pursue the quest for principles or ultimate predictions this study looks specifically into the role of the military in foreign policy decision-making. It does so by carefully reconstructing and comparing the sequential series of decisions of a group of British and Dutch senior civil and military decision-makers which have led to the deployment of their militaries into to Afghan provinces of Helmand and Uruzgan.
Inescapable Entrapments?
In 1667, the year of the Raid on the Medway, the Dutch Republic was at the pinnacle of its might and fame. A century and a half later little of this glory remained and Napoleon wiped the country off the political map. This book provides a military explanation for the ‘miracle’ of the seventeenth century and the demise that ensued. How were the army and navy in the Dutch Republic organised and financed? What tactics were employed and how did military leaders operate? Where did the Republic’s troops come from and how was society involved? How did the tens of thousands of anonymous sailors and soldiers live, and how were they regarded by civilians?
One of the most prominent findings of this analysis is the shaping ability of military initiatives on the series of decisions and the consequent path dependent reasoning during political deliberations on the deployment of military forces: the decision of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands to deploy their troops to southern Afghanistan was based on an emergent case that largely built itself.
Published in co-operation with the Netherlands Institute of Military History (NIMH) First published as Krijgsmacht en handelsgeest. Om het machtsevenwicht in Europa (1648-1813), Boom Uitgevers, 2019 Translated by Lee Preedy and Paul Arblaster
A comprehensive study addresses the human aspect of military exploits in the Dutch Republic, where army and navy operated within a social, economic and political context. Not only is it praiseworthy for the outstanding contributions, the well-chosen illustrations, the clear maps and the design as a whole, but most particularly for the innovative perspectives.
All the authors are associated with the Netherlands Institute for Military History (NIMH) in The Hague. Marc van Alphen and Alan Lemmers are specialists in maritime history (chiefly the Early Modern era), Jan Hoffenaar is NIMH’s head of research and professor in military history at Utrecht University, while Christiaan van der Spek focuses on the Batavian-French era.
– **** Dutch broadsheet NRC Handelsblad on the Dutch edition.
An excellent account of an important episode in military history and in the development of Europe. Takes forward existing work on the war. The use of images is particularly valuable. – Jeremy Black, University of Exeter on The Eighty Years War, the first volume in this six-part series.
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MILITARY HISTORY Publication date Autumn 2021 NUR 680 ISBN 9789087283650 Language English Price € 89.- £ 76.- $ 109.Format Hardback illustrated 207 x 279 mm Page extent 552 pages Cover design René van der Vooren Imprint LUP Academic
The book offers a fresh and illuminating interpretation of how, by whom and when, decisions were made in the NL and UK as they sought to take part in the NATO operation in Afghanistan. The analysis is original and shows convincingly that the practice had little relationship to the theory upon which political and military processes for the use of armed force are structured.
Lt. Col. Mirjam Grandia Mantas is Assistant Professor of International Security Studies at the Netherlands Defence Academy and a commissioned officer serving in the Royal Netherlands Army. In her military career she has been deployed on various missions to Bosnia, Afghanistan and Ethiopia.
– General Sir Rupert Smith, retired British Army Officer and author of The Utility of Force: The Art of War in the Modern World.
A very rich, empirically interesting project with significant potential to contribute to a wide range of areas of scholarship, including civil-military relations, military-political decision making, interventions and ‘peace-building’ missions, and international security more generally. It is of relevance to both academic and non-academic readers. A real strength is its comparative nature, and it will be of interest to those who study and participate in Dutch and UK foreign policy. – Julliet Kaarbo, University of Edinburgh.
MILITARY HISTORY Publication date April 2021 NUR 697 ISBN 9789087283643 epdf 9789400604087 Language English Price € 54.50 £ 47.- $ 65.Format Paperback 156 x 234 mm Page extent 294 pages Cover design Andre Klijsen Imprint LUP Academic
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