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An examination of the financial decline of Louis XIV's France during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714).
The World of the Siege examines relations between the conduct and representations of early modern sieges. The volume offers case studies from various regions in Europe (England, France, the Low Countries, Germany, the Balkans) and throughout the world (the Chinese, Ottoman and Mughal Empires), from the 15th century into the 18th. The international contributors analyse how siege narratives were created and disseminated, and how early modern actors as well as later historians made sense of these violent events in both textual and visual artefacts. . The volume's chronological and geographical breadth provides insight into similarities and differences of siege warfare and military culture across several cultures, countries and centuries, as well as its impact on both combatants and observers. See inside the book.
“Stress,” “burn out,” “mental overload”: the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have witnessed an unrelenting expansion of the meaning of fatigue. The tentacles of exhaustion insinuated themselves into every aspect of our lives, from the workplace to the home, from our relationships with friends and family to the most intimate aspects of our lives. All around us are the signs of a “burn-out society,” a society in which fatigue has become the norm. How did this happen? This pioneering book explores the rich and little-known history of fatigue from the Middle Ages to the present. Vigarello shows that our understanding of fatigue, the words used to describe it, and the symptom...
The author maintains that modern attitudes toward total war were conceived during the Napoleonic era; and argues that all the elements of total war were evident including conscription, unconditional surrender, disregard for basic rules of war, mobilization of civilians, and guerrilla warfare.
In 1709, France faced military defeat in the War of the Spanish Succession, the coldest winter of the last five centuries, a devastating famine, and financial collapse. This book is the first narrative account of how Louis XIV, the aging Sun King, his state, and his subjects survived one of the darkest years in French history. Twilight of the Sun King treats the military events of 1709 comprehensively and in depth and with detailed research based on a range of primary sources. This books offers new insights on the development of the French absolute monarchy and the nature of early modern European warfare.
"Vauban under Siege" is the first systematic comparison of the theory of Vaubanian siegecraft with its reality, contrasting military engineering's pursuit of the efficient siege with generals' contradictory search for rapid conquest, purchased at the cost of additional lives.
In tracing the history of the anti-mercantilist movement, the author shows that many of the ideas and attitudes associated with eighteenth century philosophes were first formulated in the anti-mercantilist criticism. Originally published in 1965. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Scientific research and instrumentation are crucial for military action today but they have not always been so. This collection investigates 500 years of the relationship between warfare, research, and instruments – both physical and intellectual – to understand this interaction. With U.S., English and French examples, contributors provide examples from army and naval history to show how governments and individuals made warfare scientific, developing instruments, stations, and organizations that furthered the cause. Some developments directly aided war efforts; others were parts of ‘normal science’ in peacetime; and others were relatively ineffective in directly bringing about military change. These developmental histories shed light on the origins of modern scientific warfare. Contributors: Steven A. Walton; William A. Lynch; Jamel Ostwald; Seymour H. Mauskopf ; James R. Fleming; Gerard P. Scharfenberger; William M. McBride; David Alan Grier; Sebastien Soubiran; Kenton Kroker; Deborah J. Warner; Peter Galison.
The period covered by this volume in the Cultural History of Tragedy set is bookended by two shockingly similar historical events: the beheading of a king, Charles I of England in 1649 and Louis XIV of France in 1793. The period between these two dates saw enormous political, social and economic changes that altered European society's cultural life. Tragedy, which had dominated the European stage at the beginning of this period, gradually saw itself replaced by new literary forms, culminating in the gradual decline of theatrical tragedy from the heights it had reached in the 1660s. The dominance of France's military and cultural prestige during this period is reflected in the important, almo...