The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road, 1567–1659: The Logistics of Spanish Victory and Defeat in the Low Countries' Wars (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History)
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The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road, 1567–1659: The Logistics of Spanish Victory and Defeat in the Low Countries' Wars (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History)

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The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road, 1567–1659: The Logistics of Spanish Victory and Defeat in the Low Countries' Wars (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History)

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J**A

Refreshing look at a crucial early modern conflict

Geoffrey Parker's book is a true delight to read, and highly recommended to those interested not only the 80 Years' War, but in how the greater picture of Europe of that early modern period formed and shifted dramatically.The Spanish Habsburgs were in the Low Countries, and the Dutch wanted to first assert their rights, and eventually wanted to become independent. Spain wanted to keep their holdings, because of their belief in the Domino Theory: if the Dutch were allowed to leave Pax Hispania, the entire Spanish Empire would crumble. But how can the Spanish send troops, supplies, and money from Spain to the Low Countries? This is what the book tries to answer.The Austrian Habsburg cousins were at least willing to let Spanish troops through. But what about the Swiss, the Savoyards, the French, and the many members states of the Holy Roman Empire? How did the war last so long, and how did soldiers fare?Unlike many other conflicts, the 80 Years' War is perhaps the hardest to explain in the popular fashion of heroic actors. The factors are too complex, and the war dragged on so long no small set of heroes could capture the war. This is good and bad: it is bad because it is seldom covered in English-language books. But it is good because it gives good motivation to authors in the style of Geoffrey Parker.This book starts off with a bit of difficulty. But it gain traction and its final chapter which revisits the related 30 Years' War is perhaps the best briefing of how that conflict arose.In closing, I highly recommend this book to anybody who has started to wonder how conflict really evolve beyond the simplistic "heroic actors" style of writing.

P**D

Fascinating !

This is NOT military history describing battles etc. It is, never the less, a fascinating study in keeping an army in the field and all the associated problems involved. Bearing in mind the Spanish army at this period was considered the best in the world, and were stretched to eventual breaking point, it makes you wonder how other monarchs and their armies coped.If you are looking for a 'zippy' military history book, this is probably not for you. If logistics do it for you, great read !

A**N

Good, but very vague in some regards and missing part of the story

It's a very good read but there is something missing. The war and why it was impossible for Spain to win is well explained. The logistics and the facts are good for any reader to understand what happened, but the author missed in my opinion the mracle that was, will all those obstacles to achieve what was achieved by the Tercios.El Camino Espanol is not really well explained, just the facts surrounding it, when it was a miracle and something nobody else achieved in that scale before or after. The way the Tercios were able to perform under the circumstances is also told like it was a minor event but no other army could have endured what they did.Yes, the war was impossible, as Spain was too far away to be able to dominate that part of their Empire, but that is normal if we look at what happened to every other similar situation. Yet, a bunch of soldiers that according to the author were in a corrupted army, unpaid, in constant mutiny and rioting were able to hold it and dominate it for so long, deserved a better explanation. the feats and achievements were enough to write something better.The book focus on the logistics and the Spanish Road, but I thought it lacked something. It's still a good read, and I read it for a second time. It's just that now I have read more about the war, the Spanish Road and the Tercios and I know the story is bigger than what this book tells.

J**S

Still a masterpiece

This book was first published in 1972, with a second revised edition in 2004, and it remains the masterpiece that it was some forty years ago. It is a remarkable piece of scholarship and exhibits considerable research through the records across Europe (not only the Spanish archives).Having mentioned this, it may not be for "beginners". To put it slightly differently, this book is about the Army of Flanders and its logistics over a period of almost a century (1567-1659) during which the Spanish Empire fought an interminable war against its "rebel" provinces which would become the Netherlands. It is not about the war itself, the causes of the conflict or its main events even if the main phases and many of these events are mentioned.Despite this, the book is outstanding in several respects. First, it is rather remarkable in showing how the first "modern superpower" was able to sustain an eighty year war (with a twelve year truce somewhere in the middle) on a huge scale although the conflict took place over seven hundred miles from Spain. Second, it explains why the Spanish Superpower kept up its relentless struggle for so long and at such a huge cost. Third, it also shows how its huge multinational army (composed of Spaniards, Italians, Germans, but also several thousands of English and Irish Catholics and, of course, thousands of troops raised in Flanders itself from the "loyalists subjects" of the Spanish Empire) was brought to Flanders, equipped, fed and paid. The efforts deployed to this effect were herculean, but also often insufficient, with the soldiers' pay being chronically in arrears and the troops frequently underfed.Fourth, and perhaps more than anything else, the book seeks to explain why there was such a huge effort from the Spanish Monarchy and so many sacrifices and sufferings from its soldiers. There were numerous reasons which Geoffrey Parker presents and discusses one after the other. Some were political and had to do with the Spanish imperial mind set - only total victory was acceptable. A number of mistakes were made. The Dutch Revolt was supported by Spain's enemies. The Dutch devised a complex set of defences that transformed the war into an endless series of difficult and long sieges and sustained their own war effort by developing a commercial overseas Empire of their own. Finaly, the effort implied by keeping such a huge army permanently in the field for decades proved to be too much even for Spain and despite the riches coming from the Americas, especially since Spain was also fighting another (and a less well known one perhaps, except for the battle of Lepanto) war in the Mediterranean against the Ottomans at the same time.Fifth, the book also includes sections on the day-to-day life, or, perhaps more accurately in many cases, the daily ordeal and suffering of the soldiers of the Army of Flanders. Another section analyses how the army reacted and adapted to the often appalling terms of service and treatments that it had to cope with, including mutiny and desertion.Another remarkable feature of this book is the author's tone and style. There is no bias either way, or at least none that I was aware of. Also, the author's analysis is meticulous and his style is clear, with each point being carefully argued and demonstrated.Finally, this volume is probably also a good "companion book" for anyone wanting to known more about the War in Flanders and for those that have either read the books of Arturo Perez-Reverte (the Captain Alatriste series) or seen the film that have been derived from these books (with a rather superb Viggo Mortensen in the role of Alatriste, although the film does take many "liberties" with the content of the various books).A complete narrative of the War in Flanders is certainly missing but then this was not the book's subject so it can hardly be tasked for this. Besides, the author has come up with such a narrative in another one of his other books (the Dutch Revolt). Accordingly, I cannot see how I could have rated this book anything less than five stars.

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