Author Description

In this book, Jürgen Luh takes a fresh look at the characteristics of the Military Revolution and the art of warfare in Europe during the Ancien Régime. By 1700, the armies of the European states had attained an unprecedented size. New fortification works secured militarily significant places in many parts of the continent. And the soldiers, now almost all equipped with firearms, disposed of a large number of artillery pieces for their support. Naturally, these circumstances had an impact on the warfare in the age of absolutism: the European Powers now had to adapt the art of warfare to the results of the military revolution. They did so by keeping armies three times the size of those of the Thirty Years' War - constantly armed, by transforming the fortification works into comprehensive and costly defence systems, and by optimising their firepower in a series of new experiments. Nevertheless, a war fought in Europe between 1660 and 1789 was not to be won by military means.