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Article: Giant of the Grand Siecle: The French Army, 1610-1715.(Review)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Historian
- Article date:
- March 22, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Phi Alpha Theta, History Honor Society, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Giant of the Grand Siecle: The French Army, 1610-1715. By John A. Lynn. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Pp. 651. $64.95.)
John Lynn is well known for his studies in French military history, and he has here brought his ideas together in a giant book about what he calls the "giant of the seventeenth century" He situates this French army within a continuum of military change running from medieval to modern times something like this: feudal, medieval stipendiary, aggregate contract, state commission, popular conscript, mass reserve, and then volunteer technical. This formulation, though somewhat inelegant, allows him to make the excellent point that the ...