Disease, War, and the Imperial State: The Welfare of the British Armed Forces during the Seven Years’ War

Abstract

Erica Charters's Disease, War, and the Imperial State: The Welfare of the British Armed Forces during the Seven Years' War is a contribution to the expanding literature on war, the state, and society in the early modern period. Charters reminds us that the most deadly foe an early-modern combatant could face was not a musket or a cannon, but disease. In her account of the experiences of British soldiers and sailors in the global Seven Years' War (1756–63), she illustrates how discussions over the health of combatants brushed up against a rich tapestry of eighteenth-century concerns, among them economic theories, perceptions of racial difference, political legitimacy, and the moral health of society. One of Charters's major concerns is to contradict the belief that early modern regimes cared little for the welfare of the men in their militaries. She demonstrates that throughout the Seven Years' War, British officials took steps to try to prevent disease among troops and to maintain their well-being. In doing so, they filtered local knowledge and conditions through European understandings of illness. Spruce beer, for example, was given to troops on North American campaigns in an attempt to prevent scurvy. Spruce water had its origins as an antiscorbutic in Native American tradition, but was fermented by the British in order to replace rum, which many believed led to disorder, moral laxity, and therefore a greater chance of disease. If these attempts were not always successful—spruce beer “combined British love of beer with prevailing medical knowledge,” but actually removed the large amount of vitamin C contained in the spruce water drunk by Native Americans—it was not for lack of trying (28).