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This chapter looks to the origins of the Covenanting Revolution in Scotland (1639-1641). The innovative aspect of this work comes through the revelation that preparations for financing and assembling the rebel Army of the Covenant did not occur in 1638 (as quoted in Orthodox histories), but can be easily traced to five years earlier in 1633. But how does an army with no extant infrastructure finance a revolution which saw the rebels field an army larger, more professional and better equipped than the Royal armies of England, Ireland and Scotland that they sought to confront? The answer lies in the social capital built up over several decades in the armies of Sweden, Denmark-Norway, the Dutch Republic and France.  At the highest level, members of the governments of three of these states became active in the provision and transport of soldiers, military materiel (both weapons and the required components to make them) and expertise in the form of skilled officers and engineers. Their governments also facilitated the running of potential blockades both in the Danish Sound and by the Stuart Royal Navy in the North Sea. At non-governmental level, business men and bankers became important agents in sourcing capital and goods for the fledgling Army of the Covenant. Collectively these operations were often conducted right under the noses of Stuart agents and in some cases, even endorsed by them. Moreover, the rebels were also able to neutralise the closest Stuart allies (Denmark and France) and thus field the first professional army in the British Isles and win two successive engagements with the Royalist forces, ultimately forcing their monarch to recognise and address their grievances.

This case-study illuminates these connections, and explains how one tiny European country’s revolution could only happen because of a truly international network of political and financial support based not on money, but decades of military service and amassed social capital and networking.

The business of war—meaning the commercial supply, financing, and organisation of soldiers and materiel for armies and navies—was one of the predominant economic sectors in early modern Europe. This edited volume provides the first holistic overview of continuity and change within this business in and from the Baltic Sea region over the course of three centuries. With contributions from sixteen international scholars, it explores various forms of entrepreneurship and the broader social, economic, political, and military significance of the interaction between public and private actors in the supply of war.

This chapter is based on an inaugural professorial lecture given at the Swedish Defence University in 2022. The chapter looks to the role of the discipline of History in PME. It introduces the topic with a glimpse at some of the best works on the subject. The chapter then goes on to ask what Military History actually is, and at what level in the career of the military practitioner it should be introduced. As it is written by a civilian with only limited experience of the military the question is asked in a number of ways. Using pre-existing work by military officers, this section is supplemented by a series of interviews conducted between 2021 and 2025 with military professionals of all ranks from enlisted men to higher officers. While not claiming any absolute statistical relevance, nevertheless, the views of service personnel from the UK, The Nordic Countries, France, South Africa and Australia give insights into the importance of Military History in their own development as military professionals. While the views often confirm conclusions arrived at by generations of military practitioners, the fact that many have been delivered following moments of renewed crisis for global security gives confirming testimony to the importance of teaching military history in different ways and appropriate contexts for all ranks of the armed forces.

A challenging review of the indentity politics of King James of Great Britain, particularly as manifested by British military and naval expeditions.

This essay reviews the policy of Church and State in Scandinavia to ensure confessional uniformity across the kingdoms. In neither the Oldenburg kingdoms of Denmark and Norway nor that of Sweden under the House of Vasa was the implementation of the Reformation either swift or uniformly enforced. Moreover, Crown policy could deviate from the ambitions of the national Church even after the acceptance of the Reformation, which could lead to problems in confessional matters, especially when the reformed Scandinavian kingdoms found themselves under Catholic monarchs. However, while tensions simmered between Crown and Church, the real problem to the ecclesiastics in each kingdom came not from Catholicism but from contesting forms of Protestantism. Thus, difficulties arose when the Swedish and Danish-Norwegian churches, in opposition to royal policy, sought to limit, or even prevent, the immigration of non-Lutherans, arguing that immigrants of contesting confessions of faith would disturb the peace of the kingdoms.

Such concerns had to be carefully balanced against commercial factors, which often pitched Court and Church policy at loggerheads as the expanding states required ever increasing revenue streams to stay afloat. The emerging commercial centres of Copenhagen, Bergen and Trondheim in Denmark-Norway experienced the same need for foreign finance and expertise as the Swedish cities of Gothenburg and Stockholm. All required migrants to develop and compete on the international markets, and all found mechanisms to circumvent the apparent contradictions thrown up by Court policy trying to accommodate Calvinists, Catholics and even Jews within the framework of a national Lutheran Church. In a shift away from the usual approach to migration into Scandinavia, this essay does not look at one ethnic group or confession of faith. Rather it follows the establishment of foreign enclaves and integrated minorities across the major commercial centres with an eye to their ability either to circumvent Court decrees or to integrate into society with Crown blessing regardless of Lutheran exclusionism. The results reveal a fresh understanding of how the migrants achieved this aim, leading to a reassessment of the issues embedded in the title of the essay, namely, Crown policy, Church decrees and Civic Necessity in the Nordic world.

John Brown was the chosen name of a few black woman who enlisted in the Royal Africa Company as a soldier in the 1690s. The article traces her origins and motivations for joining the slaving vessel in London. It looks to her discovery and postulates the purpose of her journey. In so doing it reveals aspects of attitudes towards race, gender and confession of faith.

THis article is republished by World History Connected after 20 years as being one of the selection of lasting contributions to the journal. It is accompanied by  a generous editorial introduction and a reflection on the use of the article in teaching etc.

This article is based on a military manual by the Swedish colonel and nobleman, Sir Johan Skytte. It considers why the manual was made and what influences caused a Swedish colonel in charge of a Scottish regiment operating in Germany to write his commands in English. To answer these questions, it looks to  the canon of literature that may have informed the author and makes some conclusions about the use of military manuals in practice during Sweden's "Age of Greatness".