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.