Between Positional Warfare and Small War: Soldiers and Civilians During the ‘Desolation of the Palatinate’ (1688–89)

Abstract

The seemingly coherent event known as the ‘Desolation of the Palatinate’ was, in fact, a complex series of French operations depicted through a shared narrative thread. Among its typical and distinctive elements, the figures of horrified officers, brutal soldiers and wandering populations stylised both the main actors of these operations and their interactions. This stylisation was based both on the military operations themselves and on how they were processed, as soon as they occurred, by the news networks of the time. Based on a history of practices and representations, Chapter 6 aims, by focusing on the French operations and their implementation, to highlight how the military practices laid the foundations of the event known today as the Desolation of the Palatinate.