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.

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.

Table of Contents

Preliminary material / F. González De León -- Introduction / F. González De León -- Chapter One. Personnel matters: Staffing The School of Alba / F. González De León -- Chapter Two. Internal structure and hierarchy in the early army of Flanders / F. González De León -- Chapter Three. Discipline and justice in an age of Mutinies / F. González De León -- Chapter Four. “Doctors of the military discipline: ”Projects of reform in the spanish officer corps / F. González De León -- Chapter One. Olivares as military trainer / F. González De León -- Chapter Two. The evolution of the Count-Duke’s appointment policies / F. González De León -- Chapter Three. Grandees on campaign: The impact of aristocratization / F. González De León -- Chapter Four. Olivares’ structural reforms in the high command / F. González De León -- Chapter Five. “Order and obedience”: The olivarean reform of military justice / F. González De León -- Chapter One. “Time to act like who we are:” The battle of Rocroi / F. González De León -- Chapter Two. The legacy of Olivares and the end of the war in Flanders, 1643–1659 / F. González De León -- Conclusion / F. González De León -- Bibliography / F. González De León -- Index / F. González De León -- History of warfare / F. González De León.