Preparations
Measures taken by Michel Le Tellier, marquis de Louvois (1639–91), Secretary of War under Louis XIV, allowed France to mobilize about 180,000 men. Of these about 120,000 would be used directly against the United Provinces. The bulk of the French army was divided into two bodies, one stationed in Charleroi and the other in Sedan. A third body, created from the allied armies of the prince-bishops of Münster and Cologne, was positioned on the right bank of the Rhine. It was expected that England would launch amphibious landings against the United Netherlands, although this never happened.
Read more about this topic: Franco-Dutch War
Famous quotes containing the word preparations:
“Whatever may be the reason, whether it was that Hitler thought he might get away with what he had got without fighting for it, or whether it was that after all the preparations were not sufficiently complete—however, one thing is certain: he missed the bus.”
—Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940)
“At the ramparts on the cliff near the old Parliament House I counted twenty-four thirty-two-pounders in a row, pointed over the harbor, with their balls piled pyramid-wise between them,—there are said to be in all about one hundred and eighty guns mounted at Quebec,—all which were faithfully kept dusted by officials, in accordance with the motto, “In time of peace prepare for war”; but I saw no preparations for peace: she was plainly an uninvited guest.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In all the important preparations of the mind she was complete; being prepared for matrimony by an hatred of home, restraint, and tranquillity; by the misery of disappointed affection, and contempt of the man she was to marry. The rest might wait. The preparations of new carriages and furniture might wait for London and the spring, when her own taste could have fairer play.”
—Jane Austen (1775–1817)