Bret Devereaux's third installment in his series on pre-modern armies examines how these forces handled their substantial financial obligations. Unlike modern militaries that operate within monetized economies, ancient and medieval polities faced unique challenges in sustaining large fighting forces. The piece breaks down major costs including troop pay, rations, and capital expenditures like ships and fortifications.

Devereaux argues that understanding pre-modern military economics requires examining the 'physical economy' of stuff and people before financial mechanisms. The core challenge involves extracting labor and resources from agricultural subsistence economies to support non-productive military activities. This means moving food and goods from farming communities to soldiers who cannot produce their own sustenance.

The author explores 'redistribution economies' where centralized authorities like kings or temples controlled land and resources. Under this system, tenants paid rents in kind rather than coin, allowing rulers to directly provision armies and specialists. This approach dominated Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean societies including Egypt, the Levant, and Mesopotamia.

The analysis reveals that pre-modern military logistics relied on institutional structures rather than market mechanisms, with palace economies redistributing agricultural surplus to sustain warrior retinues and specialized craftspeople who equipped them.