Battle Of Rethel, 1650, Of The Fronde In France

By André Geraque Kiffer

The Civil Wars in France between 1648 and 1653, collectively known as “The Fronde”, occurred in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which began in 1635. King Louis XIV faced the combined opposition of the princes, the nobility, the provincial parliaments, as well as most French people. The field of battle, in fact, was in the area of Sommepy, Saint-Étienne-à-Arnes and Semide. In her “Mémoires” Anne Marie Louise d Orléans reported that Cardinal Mazarin insisted on naming the battle “Rethel”, where he was at the time of the battle, approximately 30 km away, in order to be able to attribute the merit of the victory to his flag. In the battle simulation I will try to correct the failures presented in the historical analysis, testing improvements in the maneuvers. And then we will see which maneuver will prevail, both being instructed with the best and with the maximum effort.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Clube de Autores
• Release date: Feb 5, 2024

Book preview

ANDRÉ  GERAQUE  KIFFER

Battle  of  Rethel,  1650, of  the  Fronde  in  France. A  historical  simulation

Author’s  Edition Rio  de  Janeiro

2023

---  Kiffer,  André  Geraque.

Battle  of  Rethel,  1650,  of  the  Fronde  in  France.  A historical  simulation.  André  Geraque  Kiffer.

Author’s  Edition,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  2023. Bibliography:  116  p.  32  im.  21  cm..

1.  History.  2.  Art  of  War.  3.  Science  of  War.  4.  War Games.  I.  Author.  II.  Title.

ISBN  978-65-00-82924-2

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3 PROLOGUE

As  a  Military  Historian  I  rely  on  a  summary  of  the historical  fact,  I  analyze  and  highlight  the  decisive factors,  before  simulating  hypotheses  what  if… hypotheses  through  a  board  game.  In  the simulation,  all  possibilities  of  the  purpose  of  the study  are  completed,  when  the  past  of  history  is analyzed  based  on  the  theory  of  the  present  and projected  for  similar  situations  in  the  future.  Since 2010  I  have  published  the  following  series  of simulations:  I.  Historical  Simulation  of  the  Wars  of the  First  Empires;  II.  Historical  Simulation  of  the Wars  in  Classical  Greece;  III.  Historical  Simulation of  the  Roman  Wars;  IV.  Historical  Simulation  of Wars  in  the  Medieval  Era;  V.  Historical  Simulation of  Wars  in  the  Modern  Era  (1453  to  1774);  VI. Historical  Simulation  of  Wars  in  the  Age  of Revolutions  (1775  to  1860);  VII.  Historical Simulation  of  Wars  in  the  Industrial  Age  (1861  to 1913);  "VIII.  Historical  Simulation  of  the  First  World

War;  IX.  Historical  Simulation  of  World  War  II;  X.

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Historical  Simulation  of  the  Cold  War  (1917  to 1991);  and  XI.  Historical  Simulation  of Contemporary  Wars  (1991  to  ...)". Keywords:  History.  Art  of  War.  Science  of  War.  War

Games.

5 SUMMARY

HISTORICAL  FACT..…………..…….….……………6 HISTORICALANALYSIS….……………..…………14 HISTORICAL  SIMULATION.….……………………41 ANNEXES........……………………………………...96

REFERENCES....………………………………….115

6 HISTORICAL  FACT

Civil  War  in  France  (1648-1653)

Seventeenth-century  Europe  was  dominated  by the  struggle  between  the  Bourbon  kings  of  France and  their  Habsburg  rivals  in  Spain  and  the  Holy Roman  Empire.

Im  1:  Franco  Spanish  War.

Known  as  a  whole  as  The  Fronde,  the  Civil Wars  in  France,  between  1648  and  1653,  occurred in  the  midst  of  the  Franco  Spanish  War,  between

1635  and  1659.

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Note:  the  French  word  fronde  means slingshot,  as  Parisians  used  them  to  break  the windows  of  supporters  of  Cardinal  Mazarin, Richelieu's  successor  as  French  Prime  Minister  and tutor  to  Louis  XIV.

King  Louis  XIV  faced  the  combined  opposition of  the  princes,  the  nobility,  the  provincial parliaments,  as  well  as  the  majority  of  French people.  The  dispute  began  when  the  French government  issued  seven  tax  decrees,  six  of  which were  to  increase  taxation.  Parliaments  pushed  back and  questioned  the  constitutionality  of  the  king's actions  and  sought  to  curb  his  powers.

The  Fronde  was  divided  into  two  main campaigns,  the  Parliamentary  Fronde  and  the Princes'  Fronde.  The  timing  of  the  outbreak  of  the Parliamentary  Fronde,  shortly  after  the  Peace  of Westphalia  (1648)  which  ended  the  Thirty  Years' War,  was  significant.

The  core  of  the  armed  bands  that  terrorized parts  of  France  under  aristocratic  leadership  during

this  period  were  veterans  of  a  war-hardened

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generation  in  Germany,  where  troops  still  tended  to operate  more  autonomously.

Im  2:  The  Fronde.

Louis  XIV,  impressed  as  a  young  ruler  by  the experience  of  the  Fronde,  took  the  opportunity  to

reorganize  the  French  army  under  a  more  rigid

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hierarchy,  whose  commanders  could  ultimately  be placed  or  deposed  at  the  king's  will.

The  Fronde  represented  the  French  nobility's final  attempt  to  fight  against  the  centralizing  powers of  a  king,  and  they  ended  up  humiliated,  living  in  the palace  of  Versailles  as  luxurious  courtiers.  In  the long  term,  the  Fronde  served  to  strengthen  royal authority,  with  the  emergence  of  the  absolute monarchy,  however  it  weakened  the  economy  until its  final  outcome  in  1789.

The  Spanish  Empire,  which  had  promoted  the Fronde,  to  the  point  that  without  its  support  it  would have  had  a  more  limited  character,  benefited  from this  internal  war  that  France  had  to  face,  as  it contributed  to  the  Spanish  military  recovery  in  its war  with  that  and,  therefore,  the  year  1652  can  be considered  a  Spanish  annus  mirabilis.

Princes'  Fronde

The  treaty  of  Rueil,  which  put  an  end  to  the  of the  Parliament’s  Fronde,  lasted  until  the  end  of 1649.  The  princes,  once  again  received  at  court,

renewed  their  intrigues  against  Mazarin.  In  1650  the

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cardinal  suddenly  arrested  Condé,  Conti  and Longueville..

Im  3:  Europe  after  the  Thirty  Years'  War.

This  time,  then,  it  was  Turenne,  the  most loyalist  soldier  of  his  time,  who  led  an  armed rebellion  in  order  to  rescue  those  nobles, particularly  Condé,  his  former  comrade  in  the battles  of  Freiburg  and  Nördlingen  in  the  Thirty Years'  War.

Turenne  hoped  to  do  this  with  Spanish

assistance.  A  powerful  Spanish  army  was

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assembled  in  Artois  under  Archduke  Leopold