This title explores and illustrates the armies of France, and six
countries allied against Louis XIV, in a wide-ranging Continental
conflict that ushered in more than a century of European warfare.
Formed in 1689, the 'Grand Alliance' or League of Augsburg was a
military coalition of the Holy Roman Empire, the Dutch Republic,
Britain, Spain and the Duchy of Savoy, to resist Louis XIV's rich,
powerful and expansionist France. The first stage of the nine year
conflict that followed also coincided with the so-called 'Glorious
Revolution' in Britain (1688**-**91), when the throne passed to the
Dutch Protestant leader, William of Orange, the head of a multi-national
Dutch, Danish and English army, which finally expelled James II's
Jacobite and French forces from Ireland.
The long war on the continent was notable for the first widespread use
of regimental uniforms and flintlock muskets with bayonets, plus the
sophisticated use of siege warfare under the great French engineer,
Vauban. The final Treaties of Ryswyck (1697) brought the war to an end
and marked Louis XIV's political zenith, and also the ascendancy of both
the Dutch and British as first-rate global powers.
This fully illustrated title explores the armies which fought the War of
the Grand Alliance, examining their strength, organization, uniforms and
weapons, and explaining their campaigns and major battles.