Excerpt from The Cambridge Modern History, Vol. 5: The Age of Louis XIV Mesa the Dutch had a fleet strong enough to defend their shores under such a commander as do Ruyter even against an anglo-french coalition; but on land the condition of things was very different. Economy had been the watchword, and had led to repeated disband ments. The army was small 1n numbers and thoroughly disorganised. The town levies (waardgclders) were called out, and foreign mercenaries hurriedly recruited, but strained stafl of oflicers and proper cohesion were mating. Meanwhile a splendid French army, 120, 000 strong, was ad mcingagainst the Provinces from the south under the command of some of fiefirst captains of the ago, while their eastern frontier was attacked simul hnoously from the side of Munster and Cologne. There was practically romance. Withins month Gelderland, overysseldrente, and Utrecht were overrun. The opening of the dykes alone saved Holland itself from Mom Black despair brooded over the land. Business ceased. Men Motwbat to do. All eyes were turned to the young Prince of Orange. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.