Dusty roads to Madrid: Allied logistics during The War of the Spanish Succession, 1700-1714. 

The War of the Spanish Succession marked one of the most dramatic conflicts of the 17th and 18th centuries. It required huge funds to be raised which nearly bankrupted several of the great European powers. It is a vital conflict to study from a wide range of sub-disciplines, marking the decisive point when the shift to sovereign nation states acting on an equal balance of power occurred. It also marked the conclusion of over thirty years in developments in warfare and trends throughout the bureaucracy of the Early Modern state with the growth of state agents and interference within a variety of economic and social sectors. The goal of this study is to contribute to the central debates about the nature of state power which can be attained through the prism of military logistics.
This research utilises an innovative spatial approach to logistics and the Iberian campaigns. By separating the logistical phases of the campaign into four distinct categories; defined by the geographical requirements of each stage rather than the chronological progression of the campaigns. These geographical locations are home, at sea, coastal and inland, each representing a distinctive and separate approach to the practice of logistics for the armies operating in Iberia. This research adds to the discourse of early modern state power projection, especially focusing on state finance, and contractor networks.
This focus provides a fresh appraisal, using a structure that is designed to highlight and separate logistics from the main narrative of the campaigns and battles. It argues that military campaigns can be divided into geographical sectors each closer to all the campaigns carried out within them than to the campaigns immediately preceding and following them chronologically. By separating out the geographical sectors, the full scope and practise of allied logistics can be observed. Following the logistical network as it reached its culmination of extension also brings debate back to the core themes of the thesis, namely power projection and the fiscal-military and contractor states. The chapters explore the implementation of logistical networks within each sector, how they progressed and the difficulties and solutions that were proposed over the length of the conflict in Spain. They also look at wider issues which in turn impacted logistics in the sector, notably communications and the relations between the military and the local populations. Each chapter leads directly on from the preceding one, with the themes and details relating to one directly correlating to the next geographical sector throughout the conflict.
By examining the financial throughput of the logistics network, a light is shed on the mechanisms for financial transactions, debt and credit, and the links between early modern government and military effectiveness. It has demonstrated the significance in contractual and personal relationships which were prevalent in all aspects of military organisation at the beginning of the century. It highlights the various forms of personal relationship which existed within the logistics network, from the personal ties between administrators and merchants, to the internal credit network which existed between army officers. Through this can clearly be seen the enduring significance of personal connections and the vital role they played in facilitating all forms of transactions through the logistical network. It also shows that the lack of clear and established relationships could be one of the leading causes of a complete breakdown of supply throughput within a logistics system. This study draws together the important themes of resource mobilization and the rise of Great Britain as a major power within Europe, assessing how effectively it could project power across great distances by its ability to successfully fight and supply armies. It also highlights the issues inherent in expeditionary warfare of the period, to what extent there was an ability for Britain, the most successful fiscal state, to fix the issues as they presented themselves and what this shows about the development of logistics over the course of the century. Additionally, it also demonstrates the vital role that the civilian economy played in campaigning areas especially the relationship between these economies and the armies themselves, particularly the significance of trust as a factor in logistics.

Keywords: Development of British Power Projection
The War of the Spanish Succession
Fiscal-Military and Contractor States
Military Logistics and British finances
Advisor: Wilson, P