Full Description
This title explores and illustrates the armies of France, and six countries allied against Louis XIV, in a wide-ranging Continental conflict that ushered in more than a century of European warfare.
Formed in 1689, the 'Grand Alliance' or League of Augsburg was a military coalition of the Holy Roman Empire, the Dutch Republic, Britain, Spain and the Duchy of Savoy, to resist Louis XIV's rich, powerful and expansionist France. The first stage of the nine year conflict that followed also coincided with the so-called 'Glorious Revolution' in Britain (1688-91), when the throne passed to the Dutch Protestant leader, William of Orange, the head of a multi-national Dutch, Danish and English army, which finally expelled James II's Jacobite and French forces from Ireland.
The long war on the continent was notable for the first widespread use of regimental uniforms and flintlock muskets with bayonets, plus the sophisticated use of siege warfare under the great French engineer, Vauban. The final Treaties of Ryswyck (1697) brought the war to an end and marked Louis XIV's political zenith, and also the ascendancy of both the Dutch and British as first-rate global powers.
This fully illustrated title explores the armies which fought the War of the Grand Alliance, examining their strength, organization, uniforms and weapons, and explaining their campaigns and major battles.
Contents
INTRODUCTION
French expansionism, 1667-88
The 'Glorious Revolution': Britain, 1688-91
Chronology of the 'Glorious Revolution'
CHRONOLOGY OF THE EUROPEAN WAR
ARMIES IN BRITAIN
The English army, 1685
Expansion, 1686-88
The Scots army, 1685-88
The Irish army, 1685-88
William of Orange's invasion army, 1688-90: Dutch & Anglo-Scots units
Danish auxiliary corps
Exile units
William III's British armies, 1689-98
The Jacobite army, 1688-91
French expeditionary corps
THE FRENCH ARMY
THE SPANISH ARMY
THE IMPERIAL ARMY
THE DUTCH ARMY
THE SAVOYARD ARMY
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPY
PLATE COMMENTARIES
INDEX
