Short answers, pulled from the story.
The French Royal Army traces its origins to the first permanent paid army established by Charles VII in the early 15th century. As the Armée Royale Française serving the Bourbon dynasty, it formally ran from the reign of Louis XIV in the mid-17th century until it was permanently dissolved following the July Revolution in 1830.
During the Nine Years' War of 1688-1697, the French Royal Army reached an authorized wartime strength of 420,000 soldiers, the highest figure recorded in the source. During the War of the Spanish Succession from 1701 to 1714, authorized wartime strength stood at 380,000.
The transformation was carried out under two Secretaries of War: Michel Le Tellier and his son the Marquis de Louvois. They rebuilt the army from a loosely organized force of roughly 70,000 men into a professional force of permanent regiments under central control, standardizing weapons, promotion, drill, and uniforms.
Soldiers of the Gardes Françaises, the largest regiment of the maison militaire du roi and the permanent garrison of Paris, refused to obey their officers and joined the Parisian mob on the 14th of July 1789. Many rank-and-file soldiers sympathized with the common people from whom they had been drawn, and increasing numbers had deserted throughout 1789 as social conditions deteriorated.
The matchlock musket was introduced in France after the Battle of Pavia in 1525 and was replaced by the flintlock musket in 1700. The Charleville musket, a .69 caliber infantry musket, was produced from 1717 into the 1840s. The Vallière artillery system of 1732 standardized artillery pieces, and the Gribeauval system replaced it in 1765, making cannons, howitzers, and mortars lighter without sacrificing range.
Almost 90% of recruits came from the peasantry and working class, with about 10% from the petite bourgeoisie. Officers followed one of three career tracks: a fast-track for the high nobility (mean age of promotion to colonel was 36), a slow seniority-based track for middle and lower nobility (mean age to captain was 45), and a limited track for promoted sergeants who could normally rise no higher than lieutenant or captain by brevet.