Winter Soldiers: Veterans and the State in the Spanish Empire

In the 16th and 17th centuries the relationship between the state and its soldiers was as conflictive as it has been in our own age. Mutiny, desertion, protest, and subversive writing contributed to shape a radical political culture among the rank-and-file that oftentimes challenged the very institutions and values they were expected to defend. This presentation explores the connections between some of these practices and the social and cultural activism of contemporary veterans.