Giant of the Grand Siécle

Book Review

by Old Duffer

(John Lynn for Cambridge)

This is six hundred pages of dense information rarely riveting but usually useful on the army of His Most Christian Majesty King Louis XIV which overshadowed Europe for sixty years. Lynn (whose book Bayonets of the Republic I reviewed a bit back) suffers from the desire to impart a lot of information without the style to make that imparting appealing. He does however still impart the information and if Louis XIV is your interest this is an excellent book. The opening section deals with the growth in army size (a hot topic in the groves of academe) while still noting that individual field armies increased no where near as much.

The Administration and Supply section takes us through the different supply models from Louis XIII into the personal reign of the Sun King. Lynn has an argument or two with Van Creveld, and some interesting stats. His chapter on the Tax of Violence (the 30 Years War model of indiscriminate and wasteful plunder) and its overturn by the more organised and less wasteful courses or contributions. Louis seems to have made a personal decision that his armies should not plunder his (Catholic anyway) subjects and to have reversed the trend.

Command covers the regimental command structure (the move from proprietary company to regiment/battalion) and the echelons of higher command.

The Rank and File get Lynn's analytical and statistical treatment. The character of the soldier can be seen to change from a freelance paid indifferently to a robot of the state with "all found".

Finally The Practice of War gives some detail for those of you who find the "War & Society" a little too strong on the latter. Weapons and tactics are discussed, as are field operations and the importance of fortifications. The latter includes the consideration of not only the fortress but the fortified line. The cost of maintaining fortresses is well demonstrated with forts requiring bigger armies to garrison them leaving a much less greater increase at the "teeth".

Much of Lynn's work is influenced by David Parrot's thesis, and the latter young man merits attention. If at times one wishes for Dr Christopher Duffy's deft touch this remains a very useful and scholarly book.

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