...while the Heads of the regiments were not obliged to obtain their firearms, no matter how fine (...), from this factory, but preferred to get them from Liége and elsewhere for a somewhat lower price.
[The Commissioner-General for War speaking about the arms factory in Culemborg during the period 1759 1798]
The age of elegance (1714 1792)
A long period of peace and calm broke out for the State Army after 1714, interrupted in Europe as far as the Netherlands was concerned only by the War of Austrian Succession (1740 1749). This period was later mockingly called the Age of Nincompoops or the Era of Wigs. The mockery is unjustified.
Soldiers were provided with uniforms for the first time ever. As regards weapons, the transition had been made from matchlock to flintlock rifle. Flintlocks were more economical to use and easier to fire. Officers turned into entrepreneurs: they received a certain sum of money from the Republic to recruit, clothe and feed their own units. The soldiers and subalterns were recruited both at home and abroad.
The main function of the State Army was to defend the home territory. For this purpose fortifications were raised and extended in the Flanders region and in the Austrian Netherlands.
