Investigates the contract sector of the British Army during the long eighteenth century. This book argues that this group of financiers, private merchants, businessmen and farmers represented a vital interest group which was at the nexus of the fiscal-military structure. It draws on papers from the War Office, the Treasury and the Audit Office.

Over the last fifty years the life and work of Edmund Burke (1729-1797) has received sustained scholarly attention and debate. The publication of the complete correspondence in ten volumes and the nine volume edition of Burke's Writings and Speeches have provided material for the scholarly reassessment of his life and works. Attention has focused in particular on locating his ideas in the history of eighteenth-century theory and practice and the contexts of late eighteenth-century conservative thought. This book broadens the focus to examine the many sided interest in Burke's ideas primarily in Europe, and most notably in politics and aesthetics. It draws on the work of leading international scholars to present new perspectives on the significance of Burke's ideas in European politics and culture.

A biography of a seemingly forgotten yet singularly important eighteenth century figure, this book includes revealing insights into the business and political landscape of his day, and explores both his professional and personal life, essential for histories of Britain and the Empire. Laurence Sulivan embodied the East India Company. He lived at the Company's heart in the city of London and controlled a vast commercial and political empire during Britain's 'Commercial Revolution', in the late eighteenth century, and rise to superpower status and supremacy in India and South and Southeast Asia. He was 'kingmaker', politician, manipulator and negotiator, deeply involved in British and Indian affairs, friend and confident of Chatham, Clive, Burke and Pitt the Younger and - very importantly - protector of Warren Hastings. George K. McGilvary paints a vivid and convincing picture of a supremely influential and colourful business figure as he controlled the most powerful private company of his day - and at the centre of the eighteenth century public-private nexus in business and government.

This account of old regime Europe explores the cultural revolution which transformed 18th-century Europe. In the process the author explains, among other things, how Prussia became the dominant power in Europe & why the French monarchy collapsed.