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 neighburing 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
color, 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 color plates of
three figures each showing usually never before seen uniforms
reconstructed from descriptions and three especially commissioned color
plates showing colors and standards.
