Social Militarization in Eighteenth-Century Germany

A serious omission from the conceptual writings of the German early modern period has been the idea of 'social militarization.' This article reflects on the historiographical impact of this idea and reconsider its value as an analytical tool in the light of previously neglected evidence. As the author intends to show, the original concept lacks firm substance and distorts our understanding of the relationship between army, society, politics and economics by overemphasizing certain factors, most notably Prussia's alleged uniqueness and that of its system of military recruitment in particular.