The army became the center of French society and the state, and he made his army the largest in Europe, with more than 400,000 during wartime and over 100,000 during peacetime (Rowlands 459). In addition to French soldiers, foreigners were brought into the army. Foreign presence in the army reflected factors that went beyond the military, such as financial, political, and social factors (Rowlands 146). In the view of the king and Le Tellier, the problem with the army before 1659 was how little of soldiers and military officials there were. This was seen as a disincentive to financial investments, and also affected the performance of whole regiments due to the poor level of discipline of the troops (Rowlands 147). By the 1680s, the financial
