Giant of the Grand Siècle
The French Army, 1610–1715

A detailed revisionist analysis of the seventeenth-century French army.

John A. Lynn (Author)

9780521032483, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 14 December 2006

672 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 3.6 cm, 0.932 kg

'John Lynn has undoubtedly made a substantial contribution to the growing literature which has revised the history of seventeenth-century France.' The Times Literary Supplement

An 'invisible giant', the seventeenth-century French army was the largest and hungriest institution of the Bourbon monarchy. Combining social and cultural emphases with more traditional institutional and operational concerns, this book examines the army in depth, studying recruitment, composition, discipline, motivation, selection of officers, leadership, administration, logistics, weaponry, tactics, field warfare and siegecraft. The portrait that emerges differs from what current scholarship might have predicted. Instead of claiming that a 'military revolution' transformed warfare, Lynn stresses evolutionary change. This work also offers surprising insights into absolutism and the relationship between the monarchy and aristocracy. Questioning widely held assumptions about state formation and coercion, Lynn argues that this standing army was primarily devoted to border defence and only rarely to internal repression.

Preface
Acknowledgements
Part I. Context and Parameters: 1. Contexts of military change in the Grand Siècle
2. Army growth
Part II. Administration and Supply: 3. The military administration
4. Food and fodder
5. Providing other essentials
6. The tax of violence and contributions
Part III. Command: 7. The costs of regimental command
8. The culture of command
9. The high command
Part IV. The Rank and File: 10. Army composition
11. Recruitment
12. Discipline and desertion
13. Elements of morale and motivation: dependence and loyalty
Part V. The Practice of War: 14. Weaponry and tactics
15. Learning and practising the art of field warfare
16. Positional warfare
Epilogue: insights on state formation
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD]