Assessing today the solid and very diverse legacy of Charles Tilly, we should probably recognize this book as his main work, graphically entitled “Coercion, Capital and European States” (he did not tolerate heavy subtitles.) The main thesis is immediately stated here - modern states Europe was formed in various combinations of military-administrative coercion (primarily tax withdrawal) and capitalist financing (mainly in the form of ever-increasing public debt to private capitalist oligarchies).