ABSTRACT
In 1703 Louis had reigned for sixty years; his army had never been defeated in a full-scale battle. The one French general who exhibited a war-winning capacity, with offensive spirit tempered by sound judgement, was Villars. Sourness and disillusion spread through the palace: the reiterated themes of paint and plaster were of war, victory and royal glory, but the talk was of defeat, disgrace – and peace. The terrible year 1709 displayed several aspects of war: economic and social pressures intensifying; diplomatic exchanges in which high professional skills could not disguise a sense, on the French side, of desperation; a military effort on both sides on an unprecedented scale. It is clear that France’s war had ended on a high note and that the state had fared better than might have been thought possible in 1709.
