“Inter arma silent musae” [When arms speak, the Muses are silent] was a common saying. However, a military career was one way for a bourgeois gentleman to become ennobled. It was these sorts of individuals who handed down to us a number of personally commissioned projects as well as memorials founded in their honour. Wars were also places of cultural exchange: some soldiers stayed in the countries in which they had fought and had families there, and some collected local artefacts and brought them home. It was for military reasons that maps originated and, likewise, geographical descriptions.