Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The French Wars 1667-1714 by John A. Lynn ISBN: 1-84176-361-6 Publisher: Osprey Pub Co Pub. Date: October, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)
Rating: 4
Summary: War as Process, the Short Version
Comment: The French Wars is essentially a condensed and summarized version of Professor John Lynn's earlier work, The Wars of Louis XIV. As usual, Lynn's writing and research are impeccable and this volume is a fine short history of its subject.
After short sections covering the background to Louis' wars, Lynn addresses the various opposing sides in a 15-page section that concludes with his "war-as-process" depiction of 17th Century warfare. A four-page section on the outbreak of the war is odd because it covers the initiation of all five of Louis' wars in one felt swoop; this section makes little sense as a stand-alone summary and should have been inserted into the campaign narrative. The actual summary of the five wars is 35 pages long. Of particular interest is French atrocities along the Rhine River Valley: the mortar bombardment of Koblenz in 1688 being analogous to modern-day bomber attacks, and the scorched earth tactics used to devastate the Palatinate in 1688. For those readers who believe that the Germans are the sole perpetrators of political violence in Europe, these incidents - with Germans as victims - may seek to illuminate where some of the roots of later German militarism. Another interesting point that Lynn makes is the value of defensive fortifications in the 17th Century; both forts and defensive lines were expensive but acted to control the tempo of warfare. The final sections cover the portrait of a soldier (which focuses on a woman serving in disguise), a short section on the nature of predatory armies, portrait of a civilian, and a section on how the wars ended ("peace by exhaustion").
There are a total of nine maps in this volume: Europe in 1661, the Rhineland, the Battles of Blenheim, Fleurus, Ramillies, Malplaquet, Provençe and Northern Italy, Turenne's campaigns of 1674-1675, and the Spanish Low Countries. Actually, the maps are the only disappointment in this volume, and they reflect the same weakness as in Lynn's larger work on the subject. Other than the one map of Turenne's campaign, the large-scale maps do not reflect specific campaigns or wars, so it is difficult for the reader to appreciate the specific operations in each of the five wars. Nor are there any maps that depict territorial acquisitions or losses as a result of the wars.
Lynn's conclusions about the wars of Louis XIV are interesting. First, he states that, "the relative power of France decreased as a consequence of Louis' wars.." but that, "Louis' war-as-process achieved lasting gains." Louis "operated within the international system of his day, respecting its methods and moderation." Lynn contrasts the wars of Louis XIV with Napoleon, who viewed war as an event and who disregarded international norms. However the greatest consequence of the wars of Louis XIV was the fatal damage done to French state finances; Louis refused to reform a tax system that endowed the nobility and clergy with exemptions and instead relied on ruinous short-term loans. Ultimately, Louis' wars bankrupted France for generations and his successors faced the same problem whenever they opted to use war as a solution to international problems.
 |
Title: The Thirty Years' War 1618-1648 by Richard Bonney ISBN: 1841763780 Publisher: Osprey Pub Co Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: The Seven Years' War (Essential Histories, No 6) by Daniel Marston ISBN: 1841761915 Publisher: Osprey Pub Co Pub. Date: July, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: The French Religious Wars, 1562-1598 by Robert J. Knecht ISBN: 1841763950 Publisher: Osprey Pub Co Pub. Date: October, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: The Franco-Prussian War 1870-1871 (Essential Histories) by Stephen Badsey ISBN: 1841764213 Publisher: Osprey Pub Co Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: Rome at War 229-696 AD by Michael Whitby, Michael Whithy ISBN: 1841763594 Publisher: Osprey Pub Co Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
