Contention on the Cotentin: Military-Medical Entrepreneurs and the French Contractor State During the Seven Years’ War

This article presents an unstudied facet of the French contractor state, focusing on the relationship between medical entrepreneurs and the war ministry. Observing three reserve hospitals built in Normandy during the Seven Years’ War, it argues that the state could not accurately estimate demand for medical facilities in wartime. This uncertainty put entrepreneurs in a difficult situation where they could not simultaneously carry out their duties and turn an immediate profit. Contractors therefore attempted to improve their chances of long term gain by producing memoirs, soliciting attestations, and leaning on well-placed contacts to build up personal credit. This credit in hand, contractors could more easily secure indemnities disbursed by the government once a conflict had ended.