The reign of Louis XIV of France had a great impact on the course
of European and world military history. The years 1643 to 1715 were
a defining epoch for western military, diplomatic and economic
matters. Most of those years were marked by conflict between major
European powers and the Sun King's forces. This four volume series
is the first that present an extensive account of the many facets
of the French army and the wars it fought. It was an era during
which the Sun King's and eventually all armies saw extraordinarily
significant changes such as: the advent of very large professional
armies; increasingly centralized command systems; professional
training for officers and men; introduction of obligatory military
service, improvements in discipline and control; technical advances
regarding armament thus affecting battlefield tactics; marked
progress regarding fortifications; introduction of uniforms;
logistics capable of supplying large armies; financial practices
that permitted the upkeep and pay large military forces. The above
and even more factors produced many influences that weighted
heavily in European geo-political and geo-strategic maters. In
these, the Sun King largely dominated Europe's agenda from the time
he took effective autocratic power in 1661 to his last moments in
1715. Since his army was, initially, the largest, most modern and
effective in Europe, he had success to the point that neighbouring
countries formed coalitions to stop him. However, the Sun King was
a master at geo-strategy, notably regarding the balance that he
managed to maintain with the Ottoman Empire whose forces always
threatened the eastern frontiers of France's opponents. Thus,
France's forces were always sufficient to keep enemies mostly on
the defensive; it was unthinkable that they would ever reach Paris.
These and many more topics are presented in this four volume work.
Each volume is basically in two parts. The first part is the era of
the wars and their context, the second part consist of a detailed
look at a part of the French army. The appendices present certain
aspects such as uniform lists of the period and evaluations of
opponent and allied armies of the Sun King's forces. Volume 1 deals
with the Sun King's early years, from his birth in 1638, the
resounding victory of Rocroi when he was five and a child king, the
unstable years of the Fronde civil wars, his seizure of absolute
power in 1661, the initial foreign military adventures culminating
with the French army's blitzkriegs of 1667-1668. This is followed
by a look at the command systems, short biographies of the senior
officers, their own guards, their lifestyles and orders of
chivalry. Closing with several chapters on the Royal Guard
including their more mundane or obscure duties with their battle
record, uniforms and material culture. Of the appendices, the
largest is devoted to the opponent Spanish army of the 17th
century. This volume, like the three others, has about 200
illustrations, most in colour, taken from contemporary sources
joined by many works by now nearly forgotten 19th century eminent
military illustrators such as Marbot, Titeu, Philippoteaux and JOB.
As a bonus, each volume has five especially commissioned colour
plates of three figures each showing usually never before seen
uniforms reconstructed from descriptions and three especially
commissioned colour plates showing colours and standards.
General
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