Symposium on War and Warfare in Northern Europe, 1550-1721

01 - 02 March 2013

This is a past event

This symposium brought together established and young scholars working on the military history of northern Europe. They explored the nature of warfare and the cultural transfer that took place on account of their high degree of mobility, and connections between military systems in the north and often studied in isolation. Organised by Professor Robert I Frost, Burnett Fletcher Chair in History, Department of History, University of Aberdeen and funded in part by The North.

Symposium on War and Warfare in Northern Europe, 1550-1721

Northern Europe saw the development of a particular kind of warfare, determined by the peculiar climatic, economic, and social structures of the region. Sweden dramatically emerged as a major military power in the seventeenth centure. Sustaining its effort from its involvement in the Thirty Years War (1648–1648) through the Great Northern War (1700–1721), when it was eclipsed by Peter the Great of Russia, who based many military reforms on the Swedish model.

International recruiting saw of tens of thousands of soldiers and officers from the British Isles (particularly from Scotland) join the armies of Denmark, Russia and above all Sweden. In Russia and Sweden, substantial colonies of Scottish soldiers were formed with Scots officers integrating into high political and social circles especially in Sweden.

This Symposium was sponsored byThe North Theme, Centre for Early Modern Studies, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen Centre for Russian and East European History and Research Institute for Irish and Scottish Studies.

Friday 1^st March 8:00: Dinner and Saturday 2^nd March

Session One: 9:00-10.45 - The Military Revolution - Chair: Robert Frost

Robert Frost	Aberdeen	Introduction
Chester Dunning	Texas A & M	The Fiscal State in seventeenth-century Russia
Olli Bäckström	Aberdeen	Asymmetrical warfare, Sweden and the Thirty Years War

Coffee: 10.45-11.15

Session Two: 11.15-12.45 - The Great Northern War - Chair: Chester Dunning

Lars Ericsson Wolke	Åbo	Naval warfare, 1700-1721 – a Swedish perspective.
Magnus Perlestam	Mid Sweden University	Logistics operations in wartime: the Swedish Army, 1701–1709

Lunch: 12:45-2:00

Session Three: 2:00-4:00 - The Thirty Years War - Chair: Dr David Worthington (UHI)

Lewis Rattray	Aberdeen	“Between Mars and the Muses”: Training manuals and military change in Scotland 1600-1642
Adam Marks	St Andrews	Beyond the Anglo-Dutch Brigades: English military service in Sweden during the 1620s
Kathrin Zickermann	UHI	German officers in the Swedish army during the Thirty Years War.

Coffee: 4:00-4:15

Session Four: 4:15-5:30 - Roundtable

Robert Frost	Aberdeen
Steve Murdoch	St Andrews

Author: Professor Robert I Frost

Speaker: Chair - Professor Robert Frost
Hosted by: Aberdeen University
Contact: Contact: Professor Robert I Frost robert.frost@abdn.ac.uk www.abdn.ac.uk/sdhp/people/profiles/robert.frost