Out of the Woodwork Productions
http://www.kismeta.com/diGrasse/PolishHorseArtillery.htm Some interesting information about Polish artillery and cavalry equipment during the 17th century.
De Leon, Fernando Gonzales, "Aristocratic Draft-Dodgers in 17th Century Spain". History Today, Vol. 46, No. 7 (July 1996), pp. 14-21. Draft-dodging was not just a problem for the US in Vietnam, but also for another imperial power trying to shore up its influence over 300 years earlier. The author discusses why young aristocrats were less than keen to fight for his Most Catholic Majesty.
White, Lorraine, "The Experience of Spain's Early Modern Soldiers: Combat, Welfare, and Violence", War In History, Vol. 9, No. 1 (January 2002), pp. 1-38. Between 1500 and 1700, hundreds of thousands of soldiers served in the armies of the Spanish monarchs. Our knowledge of the conditions of service of these men is scant and largely limited to those who served in the Army of Flanders. This article examines the experience of soldiers in the regular armies and the militias in the Iberian peninsula during this period. With a focus on combat, physical and spiritual welfare and the culture of violence, it provides a range of insights into the reality of warfare in mainland Spain. It examines a number of variables which influenced or arose from that experience. These include rates of attrition arising from desertion and casualties; the availability, use and effectiveness of weapons and munitions, along with evidence for ratios of the deployment of artillery; the nature of medical and spiritual assistance; food and drink; association with women; and engagement in and subjection to violence. The article provides incidental evidence for the use in the peninsula in the mid-seventeenth century of tactics associated with the Military Revolution, and for the violent interaction of soldiers with civilians.
White, Lorraine, "Spain's Early Modern Soldiers: Origins, Motivation and Loyalty", War and Society, Vol. 19, No. 2 (October 2001), pp. 19-46. A look at the human component of the Spanish Peninsular armies in the early modern period, particularly in the 17th century. It looks at the view from the bottom-uncovering the internal workings of these military forces in action, with the conflicting interests and actual behaviour and motivations of the soldier.
White, Lorraine, "Strategic Geography and the Spanish Hapsburg Monarchy's Failure to Recover Portugal, 1640-1668". ". The Journal of Military History, Vol. 71, No. 2 (April 2007), pp. 373-409. In a war lasting almost 28 years (1640-1668), Spanish forces endeavored to recover Portugal for the Spanish Hapsburg monarchy. This article examines the war in terms of strategic geography, a crucial but rather neglected dimension of early modern military history. Drawing comparisons with Alba's successful 1580 campaign to annex Portugal, it shows how geographic and climatic factors influenced the conduct of the 1640-1668 war in terms of strategy, tactics, and logistics. It also reveals how these factors contributed to the outcome of the war and to Spain's military failure against its smaller neighbor.
Ash, R.G. The Thirty Years' War: The Holy Roman Empire and Europe 1618-1648. London: Macmillan, 1997. This book is a work of synthesis, but one which incorporates much recent German scholarship which will be unfamiliar to a student or non-specialist audience. Although Asch certainly does not ignore recent writings by Anglo-Saxon, French, or Spanish historians, his study is focused on the Holy Roman Empire and the recent research which has expanded and developed understanding of the workings of Imperial authority in the Reich, and has increased knowledge of the political interests, ambitions and capabilities of the individual German states, too often lumped together in generalized confessional groupings. The decision to concentrate on four crucial moments in the war reinforces the emphasis on political and military circumstances in the Empire. This study restricts itself to the political and military consequences of the manner in which the Thirty Years War was waged. Information taken from a review by David Parrott in English Historical Review, Vol. 115, No. 461 (April 2000), pp. 462-464.
Barker, Thomas M. The Military Intellectual and Battle: Raimondo Montecuccoli and the Thirty Years War. Albany: State University of New York, 1975. This book is an introduction to and a translation of Montecuccoli's treatise "On Battle", which he composed while a prisoner of the Swedes from 1639 to 1642. The intriguing part of the book is the treatise itself. Here is an excellent picture of battle as it existed in the first twenty years of the Thirty Years War. Its focus is on pitched battle only. For an insight into the actual fighting of the Thirty Years War, this book is excellent. Information taken from a review by Karl A. Roider, Jr., in The Historian, Vol. 39, No. 1 (November 1976), pp. 126-117
Clark, Sir George, War and Society in the Seventeenth Century. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1958. A thorough analysis of the effects of war on European civilization during this century in terms of political, economical, legal, and theoretical aspects. The military historian will find this volume of great benefit. Taken from a brief review in Military Affairs, Spring 1959 (Vol. 23, No. 1), pp. 49.
Croxton, Derek. Peacemaking in Early Modern Europe: Cardinal Mazarin and the Congress of Westphalia, 1643-1648. Selinsgrove, PA: Susquehanna University Press; London: Associated University Presses, 1999. ISBN: 1 57591 017 9. This is a study of the French military and diplomatic effort of the years from 1644 to the end of 1646. The author offers both a study of the complex and shifting negotiations between France, Sweden, the emperor and his chief ally, Bavaria, and a reappraisal of the strategy and military operations of the French army of Germany. By bringing these two strands together in a detailed narrative of events, the author offers a significant reappraisal of France's strategy and war aims and a challenge to recent thinking about the waging of war in the first half of the seventeenth century. This is an accomplished, carefully researched and important study, central to any attempt to understand policy and warfare in the 1640's. Information taken from a review by David Parrott in War In History, Vol. 8, No. 2 (April 2001), pp. 235-237.
Guthrie, William P. Battles of the Thirty Years War: From White Mountain to Nordlingen, 1618-1635. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2001. ISBN: 0-313-32028-4. This book is an assessment of the contributions of the first part of the war to the ongoing military revolution of the period. It deals with the style of warfare and innovations in weapons. Each chapter delves deeply and clearly into the sequence of battles. The research that has gone into this endeavor is evident. Although the use of unpublished manuscript sources is not apparent, the bibliography does include a hefty serving of both printed primary and secondary source materials. There are also two indexes to aid the reader: a general index and one devoted to the individual units that fought during the course of the war. In terms of organization and style, there are several issues which should have been addressed. The target of this book is highly specialized. Military historians will read the book for fund. Others will have more difficulty, even with the glossary of military terms at the back of the book. Information taken from a review by Dorothy A. Boyd-Rush in History: Reviews of New Books, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Spring 2002), pp. 117.
Henry, Grainne. The Irish Military Community in Spanish Flanders, 1586-1621. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1992. Beginning in the late sixteenth century, Ireland became an important source of mercenaries for continental states. Henry focuses on the reasons why Irish soldiers migrated to Spanish Flanders from 1586 to 1621, the formation of an Irish regiment in the Spanish Army of Flanders, the establishment of an Irish military community, and the growth of a political identity in that community. By incorporating the "Irish problem" into a broader range of issues-political, diplomatic, religious, and military-facing Europe in these years, she presents a detailed picture of the interplay of complex forces to explain why Flanders deserves the appellation "the cockpit of Europe". If the study merits criticism, it is for giving inadequate attention to the Irish military tradition that evolved in the sixteenth century, and she would have done well to present a more detailed background discussion of tactics and operations. Overall, however, this book is a most valuable addition to the literature of early modern Irish history. Information taken from a review by J. Michael Hill in American Historical Review, Vol. 99, No. 2 (April 1994), pp. 572-573.
James, Alan. Navy and Government in Early Modern France, 1572-1661. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, for Royal Historical Society, 2004. This volume discusses the French Navy of this era as the Cinderella service; during this period, the French spent much, much more on their army than they did on their navy. The strength of this study rests on the author's firm grasp of the regional constraints, particularly in Brittany, Normandy, Guyenne, and Provence, on France's fitful development as a naval power. In spite of the author's valiant efforts, it remains difficult to view France as a significant naval power before 1661. Information taken from a review by Richard Bonney in English Historical Review, Vol. 120, No. 487 (June 2005), pp. 777-778. Also reviewed in American Historical Review, Vol. 110, No. 4 (Oct. 2005), pp. 1255-1256, and in The Historian, Vol. 68, No. 3 (Fall 2006), pp. 634-635.
Lynn, John A. Giant of the Grand Siecle: The French Army, 1610-1715. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. This volume admirably fulfills its aim of providing an all-round analysis of the development of the French army in the seventeenth century. Using a range of literature and archival material, Lynn offers a comprehensive and long-needed overview. Unfortunately, the structure of Lynn's book does not help the reader do justice to its contents. Most disconcerting is the way in which basic data about army size, structure, organization, component elements, and line of command is dispersed in a variety of places. A tighter structure harnessed to Lynn's basic propositions might have produced a better book. In spite of these problems, a useful volume. Information taken from a review by David Parker in English Historical Review, Vol. 114, No. 456 (April 1999), pp. 723-724.
Parker, Geoffrey, ed. The Thirty Years' War. New York and London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984. In large part because of the vast over-abundance of source material, Geoffrey Parker came to an early conclusion that 'any single scholar who believes it possible to refight the war alone suffers from dangerous delusions of grandeur'. Even the distinguished international team of scholars assembled by him has been unable to pin down the vast subject in a completely satisfactory manner, although it is the most finished work so far written in English. A certain difficulty in seeing the wood for the trees might stem from the basic assertion that "Weak or strong, thanks to the paralysis of the normal political mechanisms, the personal determination or the prejudices of individuals thus exerted a decisive effect on the course of the Thirty Years War". There is perhaps too much emphasis in this volume on individuals at the expense of the broader picture. Still, this is a very valuable volume. There are useful tables, maps, and notes, as well as an interesting bibliographical essay. Altogether, with this book as a guide, the reader is now in a position to understand more fully the long "European Civil War" which did much to shape the course of the history of Europe as a whole. Information taken from a review by Paul Dukes in History Today, Vol. 35, July,1985, page 51. There is also a review in American Historical Review, Vol. 91, No. 5 (December 1986), pp. 1184, and in English Historical Review, Vol. 101, No. 401 (October 1986), pp. 938-940.
Parrott, David. Richlieu's Army: War, Government, and Society in France, 1624-1642. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. ISBN: 0 521 79209 6. Parrott's major contribution to the debate about interconnections between military development and political, social and administrative changes in early modern Europe has been his questioning of the decisive importance of tactical or technological innovations. Instead, he has emphasized organization, coherence, and military morale, all crucial factors in the creation of effective military forces. His study of the French army is broad in its scope and rich in details, but its central theme is to show that Richlieu failed to create a veteran army and that this was the cause of many problems which hampered the French war effort. The problems of a fledgling state-administered and professional army in a society dominated by the power and prestige connected with landowning and local authority were not unique to France. Most European states developed such armies during the seventeenth century, and one way or another they had to learn to cope with the problems. Parrott's study of the early stages in the development of the largest of these armies is therefore of fundamental interest for all students of the military transformation in Europe. Information taken from a review in War In History, Vol. 10, No. 4 (November 2003), pp. 482-483. Also reviewed in History Today, Vol. 52, No. 3 (March 2002), pp. 59-60, in American Historical Review, Vol. 107, No. 4 (October 2002), pp. 1298-1299, and in English Historical Review, Vol. 117, No. 472 (June 2002), pp. 644-646.
Phillips, Carla Rahn. Six Galleons for the King of Spain: Imperial Defense in the Early Seventeenth Century. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986. The author explains in her preface that, using as a focus six galleons built for the Castilian crown in 1625-28, she discusses three sets of topics in the lives of armada ships. The first involves their construction, including the costs and availability of labor and raw materials on the north coast of Spain where they were built. The second set of topics focuses on the preparation of the galleons for the Indies run, an impressive feat of logistics. Third, she examines the lives of the men and the ships that composed Spain's imperial fleets. It can be said at once that she has admirably fulfilled all her objectives and produced a most satisfying and innovative work. There are, invariably, a few factual errors. But these do not detract from an excellent work that is required reading for all serious students of seventeenth century maritime history. Information taken from a review by C. R. Boxer in American Historical Review, Vol. 93, No. 1 (February 1988), pp. 165-166. Also reviewed in English Historical Review, Vol. 106, No. 421 (October 1991), pp. 1003-1004
Setton, Kenneth M. Venice, Austria, and the Turks in the 17th Century. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1991. In an age when so many monographs are narrowly focused and highly specialized, Setton's book on the eastern Mediterranean in the 17th century makes for a refreshing change to military and political history on a large scale. Setton treats diplomatic maneuverings, great states, military campaigns, and prominent personalities with breath-taking majesty and felicitous attention to detail. The book begins with the "Long War between the Austrians and the Turks from 1592-1606 and ends with the Peace of Passarowitz in 1718. All in all, it is a gripping tale told with the skill of a master historian who is comfortable treating a vast array of events, issues, and personalities. This is an extremely well done history of major proportions. Information taken from a review by Jonathan Zophy in American Historical Review, Vol. 97, No. 5 (Dec. 1993), pp. 1512-1513. Also reviewed in English Historical Review, Vol. 110, No. 435 (February 1995), pp. 185.
Stevens, Carol Belkin. Soldiers on the Steppe: Army Reform and Social Change in Early Modern Russia. Dekalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1995. This book is not about army reform and social change in all of early modern Russia, but is, instead, a regional study. While this volume is not perfect, it is nevertheless a good solid contribution to our understanding of how early modern Russia, in the 17th century, recruited, supplied, and operated its military forces in the southern portions of Russia. Information taken from the American Historical Review, Vol. 101, No. 4 (October, 1996), pp. 1245-1246. Also reviewed in English Historical Review, Vol. 112, No. 447 (June 1997), pp. 762-763.
Stoye, John. The Siege of Vienna. London: Collins, 1964. Reprinted by Birlinn in 2001. I have also found reference to a reprint by Pegasus in 2006. This book deals with the 1683 siege. This book gives a scholarly and detailed account based on impressive references to western sources. The book is not based on Ottoman sources and does not deal with the Ottoman angle of the siege. But of the western history, in all its devious complications, and with the interplay of its many extraordinary characters, this book is an excellent, often lively, and interesting account. Mr. Stoye's book is likely to remain for some time to come the classical account of this siege as seen through the eyes of the Christian west. Information taken from a review by Phyllis Auty in English Historical Review, Vol. 81, No. 319 (April 1966), pp. 397-398. It is a bit beyond our period but is included because the 1683 siege of Vienna in many ways marked an end to the old Ottoman-Christian style of rivalry in Europe and a change in direction for this rivalry.
Wedgewood, C. V. The Thirty Years War. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1939. A solid and standard military-political history of the Thirty Years War. A very good place to start for the basic information on this conflict.