The road to Rocroi : : class, culture, and command in the Spanish Army of Flanders, 1567-1659 / / by Fernando Gonzáles de León.

• Author: Gonzáles de León, Fernando.
• Place / Publishing House: Boston : : Brill,, 2009.
• Year of Publication: 2009
• Language: English
• Series: History of Warfare 52.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (424 p.)
• Notes: Issued also as the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Johns Hopkins University, 2005.
• Other title: Preliminary material /; Introduction /; Chapter One. Personnel matters: Staffing The School of Alba /; Chapter Two. Internal structure and hierarchy in the early army of Flanders /; Chapter Three. Discipline and justice in an age of Mutinies /; Chapter Four. “Doctors of the military discipline: ”Projects of reform in the spanish officer corps /; Chapter One. Olivares as military trainer /; Chapter Two. The evolution of the Count-Duke’s appointment policies /; Chapter Three. Grandees on campaign: The impact of aristocratization /; Chapter Four. Olivares’ structural reforms in the high command /; Chapter Five. “Order and obedience”: The olivarean reform of military justice /; Chapter One. “Time to act like who we are:” The battle of Rocroi /; Chapter Two. The legacy of Olivares and the end of the war in Flanders, 1643–1659 /; Conclusion /; Bibliography /; Index /; History of warfare /
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (p. [381]-396) and index.
• ISBN: 1282400061; 9786612400063; 9047424131
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: by Fernando Gonzáles de León.

The Eighty Years War (1567-1659) has been the subject of important monographs but the high command of the Army of Flanders, which played a decisive role in the making of Spanish strategy and was in charge of its tactics, has eluded detailed scrutiny. This work, the first study of an early modern officer corps, examines the culture, class structure, and combat effectiveness of the largest army of its day. Combining approaches and insights from social, cultural and military history, it traces the evolution of the leading cadres of the legendary tercios in relation to major trends such as aristocratization and military modernization while revising recent perspectives on Spain’s war against the Dutch and the French in the Low Countries.