Le nerf de la guerre. Finances et métissage des expéditions françaises de la première guerre des Renards (1715–1716)

Abstract

Financing is one of the three main problems encountered by armies, together with supply and recruitment. When funds are insufficient, as they often are, it may be necessary to find alternative financial, tactical, and technical expedients in order to continue waging war. Such was the case in New France, where financial constraints were particularly acute during the campaigns against Amerindians. Indeed, during the Fox Wars of the early eighteenth century, the shortage of funds was so severe as to impact directly the nature of military operations. This article examines the expeditions launched from Montréal toward the Fox territories in present-day Wisconsin in 1715 and 1716. It shows how lack of funds elicited a creative response from colonial authorities, resulting in a culturally syncretistic method of warfare, adapted both to the physical environment of North America and to the Native art of waging war.