Giant of the Grand Siecle

The seventeenth-century French army was the largest Bourbon institution; yet it has received incomplete treatment. Combining social and cultural emphases with institutional and operational concerns, this book provides a detailed analysis. 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. Questioning widely-held assumptions about state formation...
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The seventeenth-century French army was the largest Bourbon institution; yet it has received incomplete treatment. Combining social and cultural emphases with institutional and operational concerns, this book provides a detailed analysis. 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. Questioning widely-held assumptions about state formation and coercion, he argues that this standing army was primarily devoted to border defense, and only rarely to internal repression.