Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Armour Plates" to "Arundel, Earls of"

army fought its last and most honourable battle at Rocroi. Its conquerors were the new French troops, whose victory created as great a sensation as Pavia and Crecy had done. Infusing a new military spirit into the formal organization of Gustavus' system, the French army was now to "set the fashion" for a century. France had been the first power to revive regular forces, and the famous "Picardie" regiment disputed for precedence even with the old _tercios_. The country had emerged from the confusion of the past century with the foreign and domestic strength of a practically absolute central power. The Fronde continued the military history of the army from the end of the Thirty Years' War; and when the period of consolidation was finally closed, all was prepared for the introduction of a "standing army," practically always at war strength, and entirely at the disposal of the sovereign. The reorganization of the military establishments by Louvois may be taken as the formal date at which standing armies came into prominence (see historical sketch of the French army below). Other powers rapidly followed the lead of France, for the defects of enlisted troops had become very clear, and the possession of an army always ready for war was an obvious advantage in dynastic politics. The French proprietary system of regiments, and the general scheme of army administration which replaced it, may be taken as typical of the armies of other great powers in the time of Louis XIV.