Charles Tilly: War Making States

Posted by admin on Friday, May 7, 2021

Charles Tilly Money Quote saying any state. which makes war inevitably borrows heavily, increases taxes and soldiers from a resistant citizenry. Charles Tilly said:
 

 

“Almost all war making states borrow extensively, raise taxes, and seize the means of combat – including men – from reluctant citizens” — Charles Tilly

 

 

In this quote, Charles Tilly is describing common practices that states typically engage in to finance and fight wars. His interpretation is that nations will often take on significant debt through borrowing, increase tax revenue collection from citizens, and conscript men into military service against their wishes in order to mobilize resources for warfare.

Tilly seems to be suggesting that war making almost inevitably requires states to leverage reluctant populations and future generations through these coercive fiscal and personnel measures.

The overall message conveyed is that waging major conflicts appears to depend on states widely employing unpopular taxation, debt accumulation and human conscription to extract the “means of combat” from citizens who would prefer not to directly support or participate in the wars.