Moving Mars: The Logistical Geography of Louis XIV’s France

This article considers France’s military potential in the later seventeenth century through an examination of logistical resources and the communication systems that could link these resources to military operations. It challenges the assumption that France possessed a military advantage as a geographically contiguous and resource-rich territory apparently able to sustain military operations on interior lines. It shows how both natural and institutional barriers handicapped France’s efforts to support military operations, despite the impressive levels of military mobilization achieved under Louis XIV.