Personal Artillery

While the French have a modern-day reputation as being militarily incompetent, they have made some very important contributions to what we consider to be modern day military structures. As with many historically influential aspects of French grandeur, this particular one dates back to Louis the 14th. Louis is generally less well known for his military campaigns, as they were mostly inconclusive. While not so great at reforming the territorial landscape, they were great for producing lots of wounded soldiers.

Up to that point, armies were largely made up of soldiers for hire and conscripts. If you were wounded that was your tough luck. Louis changed that by introducing some modern day improvements, such as veteran’s benefits. In particular, he started a retirement home/hospital in the middle of what is now downtown Paris. This structure has been expanded upon and aggrandized and now holds the main French military museum and the tomb of Napoleon. It’s truly an impressive structure and a very interesting museum. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in those aspects of history.

Some of the armaments they have on display date from the 1700s, including some fascinating examples of cannon from that time period. Back in 2002, Mary Ann and I happened across this piece, which I think my sister will appreciate.



This one might be of more general interest. Do you suppose this was the old-time equivalent of painting pin-up girls on bombers in WWII?



Incidentally, Louis went to great lengths to honor the war wounded. He in order to show the great esteem in which he held them, he had a chapel built in the facility where he would go to mass with the ex-troops. However, he needed to be conscious of his image, and not mingle too closely with the commoners. He found the perfect balance by building a huge altar piece in the middle of the chapel, with the vets on one side, and him on the other. Technically, he was at mass with them, but none of them could actually see him. Therefore, all conditions were met, and everyone went home happy.

This move towards honoring the troops made a big impression on the French and other armies in Europe, and started a shift towards providing for soldiers after the war was over. The French really took to this idea. Even today, veterans are clearly listed as having priority for reserved seats on the metro over a whole list of other folks, including the elderly and pregnant women.