Vallière system

The Vallière system was a new system of artillery introduced by Jean-Florent de Vallière and adopted by the French Royal Army in the 1730s. Under the new system, artillery pieces were produced in only five different calibers of cannons and three sizes of mortars. Henceforth, all new artillery pieces were manufactured in France to standard sizes. Previously, there was no standard system in place, so that the artillery included guns of various calibers and different nations of manufacture.

In the War of the Austrian Succession in the 1740s, the Vallière system began to reveal its shortcomings. Though the smaller caliber guns were considered to be suitable for field artillery, in fact, they were too heavy to quickly maneuver on the battlefield. Though the gun barrels were standardized, the gun carriages, limbers, and other vehicles were not standardized. After the same problems hampered the French artillery in the Seven Years' War, the French Army began replacing the Vallière system with the lighter field artillery of the Gribeauval system in 1765.