“Des fonds nets et claires”: de Krijgskas, de Raad van Financiën en het beheer van het militaire budget in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden (1718-1775)

Abstract

Thomas Goossens, “ Des fonds nets & claires” : The War Treasury, the Finance Council and the management of the military budget in the Southern Netherlands (1718-1775) The War Treasury of the Southern Netherlands has as yet received very little scholarly attention. This institution was created in 1718 as part of a broader reform of the Brussels central government by the Austrian crown, and it was intended to take over the military responsibilities of the Finance Council of the Southern Netherlands. The War Treasury is generally believed to have managed all military income and expenditure in the Southern Netherlands in a highly autocratic manner, thereby strengthening the control of the Austrian government over the Brussels military budget. Recently discovered evidence, however, suggests that the War Treasury’s independence was much more limited than previously thought. In fact, the Finance Council continued to control both the income of the War Treasury and the management of its expenditure. Moreover, the interdependence between these two councils was deliberately maintained by both the Brussels and Viennese governments, since the Austrians realized that they were incapable of managing the military budget without the cooperation of the Finance Council. In the end, the exigencies of maintaining the army of the Southern Netherlands at operational strength continued to trump any desires on the part of Vienna to limit the influence of the Brussels civil governments over the management of the region’s military budget.