A gripping, readable account of the greatest crisis of the French ancien régime before 1789; Dee links together warfare, finance and climate to draw a compelling picture of a state on the brink of collapse.

David Parrott, University of Oxford

With this book, Dee further cements his reputation as a leading voice of the later years Louis XIV’s reign. His microhistorical focus is in on the year 1709 when a conjunction of catastrophes—foreign invasion, financial crisis, the coldest winter in centuries, and a great famine—beset and challenged the survival of Louis’ monarchy. Within his narrative of this year, Dee focusses on the French perspective of the campaign in Flanders during the War of the Spanish Succession. Dee is an advocate of the “new history of battle”, and his analysis of the Battle of Malplaquet, far from the traditional view of 18th-century battles as gentlemanly affairs lacking the intensity of warfare that marked the 17th and 19th centuries, reveals how apocalyptic battles like this one were and how they expose the nature of the states and societies that fought them. Dee demonstrates that Louis’ later years were not torpid times of inevitable decline but rather marked by dynamic change and far-reaching reforms.

James R. Farr, Professor Emeritus, Purdue University

Darryl Dee’s 1709: Twilight of the Sun King offers a narrative history of the greatest crisis in the long reign of King Louis XIV (1643-1715) of France. The War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) had begun as a struggle over dynastic rule in Spain, but had quickly become a major European war involving many states. Louis XIV and his royal state faced a potential military, economic, and political collapse at the height of the war, as French armies faced a grand coalition of enemies and the crippling effects of a brutal winter. The book is well-written in a crisp narrative style that builds tension as Louis XIV, his ministers, and his generals respond to this crisis and organize France’s defenses. Dee has an eye for visual imagery and rich descriptions that bring to life the drama surrounding the epic battle of Malplaquet between French and Allied armies in 1709. Although the war would continue for five more years, this bloody battle arguably determined the fate of France and Europe. The book makes a significant contribution to the historical literature on Louis XIV’s royal state and on early modern European warfare.

Brian Sandberg, Northern Illinois University