(Meta) - British subsidies to allies in 18th century & Napoleonic Wars, grants or loans?

raharris1973

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Britain famously provided financial support to the war efforts of whichever country was fighting France during 18th century wars and the Revolutionary Napoleonic Wars.

Were these subsidies to countries like Prussia, Russia and Austria all simple grants or fees paid for military services rendered? Or were any of them loans, for which Britain's continental allies needed to make payments back to British banks?
 
A combination of the first two comes closest. They were often phrased as something like "X pounds per soldier committed", the other power would agree to commit a certain number of men and the two numbers were multiplied to get the value of the subsidy. The money was straightforwardly grants with no requirement to pay it back and got the nickname "the Golden Cavalry of St George" from the mounted figure on the back of a gold sovereign.

The sums of money involved were truly vast (many millions even then, billions in today's equivalent) and necessitated two innovations that are still with us today - income tax (to raise the sums required) and paper money (so gold could be shipped abroad).
 
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