Richelieu's Army: War, Government and Society in France, 1624–1642 (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History)
Cambridge University Press, 9/6/2001
EAN 9780521792097, ISBN10: 0521792096
Hardcover, 628 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 4 cm
Language: English
It is assumed widely that 'war made the state' in seventeenth-century France. Yet this study of the French army during the ministry of Cardinal Richelieu (1624–42) shows how the expansion of the war effort was not matched by army reform but by a reliance on traditional mechanisms of control. The army imposed a huge burden upon the French population, but far from being an instrument of the emerging absolutist state its demands contributed to weakening Richelieu's hold upon France and heightened levels of political and social tension. This is the first detailed account of the size, organization, recruitment, financing and control of the troops during this formative period of French history. The book also includes a detailed study of foreign policy during Richelieu's ministry, and places the training, deployment and fighting methods of the French army into the context of arguments for military change in early modern Europe. The title was runner up in the History Today Awards 2002.
Acknowledgements
Introduction
war, government and society in France, 1624–1642
Part I. The Military Context
1. The French art of war during Richelieu's ministry
2. France at war, 1624–1642
3. The size of the French army
Part II. The Administrative Context
4. Paying for war
5. Recruiting and maintaining armies during the Thirty Years War
military enterprise
6. The French rejection of entrepreneurship
7. The civil administration of the army
the structures
Part III. Responses and Reactions
8. The management of the war effort, 1635–1642
commissaires de guerres and intendants
9. The ministry and the high command
10. The army and the civilian population
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.