Jacques Callot: The Miseries of War, 1633
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State Making, War Making
- 30 Years' War (1618-1648)
- Peace of Westphalia (1648)
- English Civil War and Revolution (1640-1660)
- French Fronde (1648-1652)
- Revolts in the 1640s: Portugal, Catalonia, England, France, Naples, and the Netherlands
- Wars of Louis XIV to acquire "natural boundaries" for the kingdom of France
- 7 years of peace in the 17th century
18th Century
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What was the duty of the ruler and the state? In the domaine of
International Relations rulers and states existed in what Hobbes characterized as the state of nature:
without one power to keep all in awe, men in the state of nature tend to live in a state of war.
- “Each nation in its
natural state must be considered as the enemy of all others; or as disposed
to be such.” European writer in 1740s
- “We cannot rely on
virtue; it is weak or equivocal, or hidden and unknown; . . . we must thus
take as our starting point only the possible and even probable abuse of
power.” European writer of 1770s.
- It is the kingdom of
heaven which is won by gentleness; those of this world belong to force.”
Frederick II 1742
- “The natural function of the state is to expand its territories.” Frederick
II ca. 1740s.
- “A state should always
be at the ready, like a gentleman living a among swashbucklers and quarrelers.
Such are the nations of
Europe
, today more than ever;
negotiations are only a continual struggle between men without principles,
impudently aggressive and ever greedy.” Marquis d’Argenson, 1739
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