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1690 -1794 in the See also:NETHERLANDS
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the Austrians who were still See also:left in See also:Lombardy (See also:Castiglione, See also:Sept. 9) the See also:battle of See also:Turin practically ended the See also:war in See also:Italy.
Both in the See also:north and in the See also:south the See also:tide had now receded to the frontiers of See also:France itself. See also: The See also:emperor, desiring to occupy See also:Naples and Lombardy with the least possible trouble, agreed to permit Medavy-Grancey to bring off all the See also:Italian garrisons, and with these and the See also:militia battalions of the Midi See also:Marshal Tesse formed a strong See also:army for the defence of the Alpine frontier. In See also:Spain the See also:campaign opened with the brilliant success of See also:Berwick at Almanza. In See also:Germany Villars not only pricked the bubble reputation of the lines of Stollhofen,l but raided into See also:Bavaria, penetrating as far as See also:Blenheim battle-See also: Vendome advanced to engage Marlborough before Eugene, whose purpose had become known, should join him. As the French came on towards See also:Brussels, Marlborough, who had concentrated at See also:Hal,Rfell back by a forced See also: As he approached, the French gave up the See also:siege of Oudenarde and took up a position at Gavre, 7 M. See also:lower down the Scheldt, so as to be able to See also:act Oudenarde. towards either Ghent or Oudenarde. Marlborough's advanced guard, boldly handled by See also:Cadogan, slipped in between Gavre and Oudenarde. At once the dissensions in the French headquarters became flagrant. Vendome began to place See also:part of the army in position along the See also:river while the duke of Burgundy was posting the See also:rest much farther back as another See also:line of defence. Cadogan was thus able to destroy the few isolated troops on the river. Thereupon Vendome proposed to the duke to advance and to destroy Cadogan before the main See also:body of the allies came up, but the young prince's hesitations allowed the See also:chance to pass. He then proposed a See also:retreat on Ghent. " It is too See also:late," replied Vendome, and formed up the army for battle as best he could. The allied main body, marching with all See also:speed, crossed the Scheldt at all hazards and joined Cadogan. In the encounter-battle which followed (see OUDENAxpE) Marlborough separated, cut off and destroyed the French right wing. The French re-treated in disorder on Ghent (See also:July 11) with a loss of 15,000 men. Nevertheless Oudenarde was in no way decisive, and for the rest of the campaign the two armies wandered to and fro in the usual way. Berwick, recalled from Alsace, manoeuvred about Douay, while Vendome remained near Ghent, and between Siege of them Marlborough's and Eugene's armies devoted See also:Lille. themselves to the siege of Lille. In this See also:town, one of See also:Vauban's masterpieces of fortification, the old Marshal Boufllers had under-taken the defence, and it offered a long and unusually gallant resistance to Eugene's army. Marlborough covgred the siege. Vendome manoeuvred gradually round and joined Berwick, but though 90,000 and later 120,000 strong, they did not attack him. Berwick was a new See also:element of dissension in the distracted headquarters, and they limited their efforts first to attempting to intercept a See also:hugh See also:convoy of See also:artillery and stores that the allies brought up from Brussels for the siege,2 and secondly to destroy another convoy that was brought up from See also:Ostend by the General See also:Webb known to readers of Esmond. The futile attack upon the second convoy is known as the action of Wynendael (Sept. 28). The only other incident of the campaign in the open was an unsuccessful See also:raid on Brussels by a small See also:corps under the elector of Bavaria from the Moselle via See also:Namur. On the 8th of See also:December the brave old marshal surrendered, Eugene complimenting him by allowing him to dictate the terms of See also:capitulation. Ghent and Bruges were retaken by the allies without difficulty, and, to add to the disasters of Oudenarde and Lille, a terrible winter almost completed the ruin of France. In despair Louis negotiated for See also:peace, but the See also:coalition offered such humiliating terms that not only the king, but—what in the 18th See also:century was a rare and memorable thing—his See also:people also, resolved to fight to the end. The ruinous winter gave force to the spirit of defence, for fear of See also:starvation, inducing something akin to the courage of despair, brought tens of thousands of recruits to the See also:colours. Of the three invasions of France attempted in this memorable year two were insignificant. On the Rhine the elector of "- An excellent See also:illustration of 18th century views on war is afforded by the fact that the completely successful defence of this convoy was regarded by his contemporaries as Marlborough's greatest See also:triumph. Hanover (King George I.) was held in check by the duc d'See also:Harcourt on the Lauter and finally retired to the lines of Stoll- hofen, while a smaller allied corps under the imperialist general See also:Count See also:Mercy was defeated with heavy loss by Harcourt's second in command, Du Bourg, at Rumersheim in Upper Alsace (Aug. 26). On the Alpine frontier Berwick, abandoning the fashionable method of " lines," pre- pared a remarkable See also:system of See also:mobile defence pivoted on See also:Briancon, on which See also:Victor Amadeus's feeble attacks made no impression. These affairs were little more than diversions. The main, indeed the only, attack was Marlborough's and Eugene's, and the See also:Malplaquet campaign is one of the few episodes of 18th century warfare that retain a living and passionate See also:interest. Long before this Marlborough had proposed to dash straight forward into France, masking the fortresses, but this See also:scheme was too bold even for Eugene, who preferred to reduce the strong places before going on. Lille having been successfully besieged, See also:Tournai was the next See also:objective, and--while Villars and his lieutenants Montesquiou and Albergotti See also:lay inactive in their entrenchments at See also:Bethune, See also:Douai and See also:Denain on the Scheldt, training their thousands of recruits and suffering severely from the See also:famine that followed upon this See also:bad winter—the allies sud- denly and secretly left their camps before Lille as if for an attack on the Douai lines (See also:June 26-27). But before See also:noon on the 27th they had invested Tournai. A few days afterwards their siege guns came up from See also:Menin by water (down the Lys and up the Scheldt) and the siege was pressed with intense vigour. But it was the 3rd of See also:September before the citadel capitulated. Then See also:Marl- See also:borough, See also:free to move again, transferred his army secretly and by degrees to the river Haine, beyond Villars's right. See also:East of St Ghislain Villars's long lines of earthworks were but thinly held, and after a march of 50 M. in 56 See also:hours through See also:rain-sodden country, the allied advanced guard passed through them un- opposed (Sept. 6th). Mons, too, was weakly held, and Marl- borough hoped by the rapidity of his operations to take it before Villars could interrupt him. Based on Mons and Brussels, he could then, leaving the See also:maze of fortresses in the See also:Arras-Valen- ciennes region to his right, push on (as eighty years afterwards See also:Coburg attempted to push on) straight to the See also:heart of France. But Villars also moved quickly, and his eager army was roused to See also:enthusiasm by the arrival of Marshal See also:Boufflers, who, See also:senior as he was to Villars, had come forward again at the moment of danger to serve as his second in command. Thinking that the allies were somewhat farther to the east than they were in fact, the French marshal marched secretly, screened by the broken and wooded ground to the south of the fortress, and occupied the See also:gap of Aulnois-Malplaquet (Sept. 9), one of the two 1 practicable passages, where he set to See also:work feverishly to entrench himself. Marlborough at once realized what had happened, and giving up the siege of Mons brought his army to the south-east of the place. Preparing, as at Oudenarde, to attack as rapidly as his brigades came on the See also:scene, he See also:cannon- aded the French working parties and See also:drew the return fire of all Villars's guns. At this crisis the duke submitted the question of battle—unwillingly, as one may imagine—to a See also:council of war, and Eugene himself was opposed to fighting an improvised battle when so much was at stake. Others thought the See also:capture of the little fortress of St Ghislain was the best See also:solution of the problem, and it was not until the 11th that the allies delivered their attack Malplaquet. on the now thoroughly entrenched position of the French. The battle of Malplaquet (q.v.) was by far the most desperately contested of the war. In the end Boufflers, who took command when Villars was wounded, acknowledged defeat and drew off in See also:good See also:order, the left to Valenciennes, the right to Bavay and Le Quesnoy. Eugene was wounded, and Marlborough, after the most terrible experience in any soldier's lifetime, had only enough See also:energy remaining to take Mons before he retired into winter quarters. The loss of the French is given variously as 7000 and 12,000. The allies sacrificed no less, probably more, than 20,000 men, and if the See also:English and Austrian survivors could count themselves the bravest soldiers alive, one 'The other, scarcely less celebrated, is that of See also:Jemappes. considerable part of the allied army at least, the Dutch contingent, was ruined for ever. Even at See also:Fontenoy, See also:thirty-six years later, the memory of Malplaquet made them faint-hearted. From his See also:bed the wounded Villars wrote triumphantly to Louis: " If See also:God gives us another defeat like this, your See also:majesty's enemies will be destroyed." In 1710 Villars lay entrenched behind a new See also:series of lines, which he called Ne plus ultra and which extended from Valenciennes to the See also:sea. Marlborough made no attempt Campaign to invade France from the side of Mons, for Villars at of/71o. the head of the army which had been through the See also:ordeal of Malplaquet was too terrible an opponent to pass by with impunity. In England, too, the See also:anti-Marlborough party was gaining the upper See also:hand in the See also:queen's council. So Marl-borough took no risks, and returning to the Lille side, captured Douai (June 26) and Bethune (Aug. 26). No attack was attempted upon the lines. In Dauphine, Berwick again repulsed the Austrians and Piedmontese.
1711 was Marlborough's last campaign, and it was remarkable for the capture of the Ne plus ultra lines by manoeuvres that must be recorded as being the ne plus ultra of the 18th-century way of making war by stratagem. In May the sudden See also:death of the emperor completely altered the See also:political outlook, for his successor See also: Here the front was difficult of See also:access, because of the inundations and swamps of the Sensee valley, but two causeways crossed this valley at Arleux and Aubanchoeil-au-Bac respectively. On the 6th of July Marl-borough, who had encamped in the See also:plain of Lens, sent a detachment to capture Arleux. He then marched away to the west as if to attack the lines between Arras and the headwaters of the Canche. Villars followed suit, but left a corps behind, as Marlborough had expected and desired, to retake Arleux. The See also:commander of the See also:garrison then sent urgent messages to say that he could not hold out, and Marlborough sent off Cadogan to relieve him. Cadogan, the only officer in the army in the duke's confidence, moved slowly, and the garrison had to surrender (July 22). Villars razed the defences of Arleux. The See also:plot of the See also:comedy now thickened. Marlborough lost his usual serenity, and behaved in so See also:eccentric a manner that his own army thought him mad. He sent off one part of his forces to Bethune, another back to Douai, and ordered the small See also:remainder to attack the lines between the Canche and Arras, where, as every one knew, Villars's whole army was massed. Mad. On the 24th of August he personally reconnoitred borough's the lines with a large See also:staff, and calmly gave his Manoeuvre. generals instructions for the lines to be stormed. But Cadogan was hastening to give the duke's real orders to the corps at Bethune and Douai. In the See also:night of the 4th-5th of August the main army set out for Aubanchoeil-au-Bac, at the highest possible speed. The Scarpe was crossed, the Bethune See also:column came in punctually, `and the word was passed down the ranks that Cadogan had crossed the lines at Arleux. Thereupon the See also:pace was increased, though thousands of the See also:infantry See also:fell out and scores died from exhaustion. Five hours ahead of the French
Campaign of 1709.
army and level in the See also:race with Villars and the See also:cavalry, the red-coats crossed the See also:rivers at Arleux, while Marlborough and the See also:horse hurried on to Aubanchoeil-au-Bac, crossed there and turned back along the Sensee to meet the French squadrons. The army reassembled between Aubanchoeil-au-Bac and See also:Cambrai, and its See also:leader, declining Villars's offer of a battle in front of Cambrai, manceuvred still farther to the east and invested Bouchain. The siege, covered by a strong " line of See also:circumvallation " which Villars did not attempt to attack, ended with the surrender of the place on the 13th of September, and so terminated a series of manoeuvres which to the See also:modern mind is so extraordinary as to be almost incredible. In December of this year, his party opponents in England being now triumphant, the See also:man who was so consummate a See also:master both of the 18th-century and the See also:Ramillies-Oudenarde methods of making war was dismissed the service in disgrace. In June 1712 the See also:British contingent, under the duke of See also:Ormonde, withdrew from the Low Countries, the discontent of the men at Marlborough's disgrace breaking out in open See also:mutiny, and thus ignominiously ended the career of the army of Blenheim and Malplaquet. The coalition practically dissolved.
But See also: Eugene's army, which had been used in 1711 to See also:influence the imperial See also:election instead of to See also:beat Villars, was brought back to the Low Countries. See also:Reading the meaning of Marlborough's fall, he quietly made preparations to take over the various allied contingents into Imperial or Dutch pay. Thus when England seceded, Ormonde only marched away with some 12,00o sullen men, and over roo,000 remained with the prince. Misfortunes at See also:Versailles helped Eugene in his first operations, for three members of Louis's See also:family died within a See also:week and all was in confusion, not to speak of the terrible misery that prevailed in the country. But the old king's courage See also:rose with the danger and-hetold Villars that if the army were beaten he would himself join it and See also:share in its See also:fate. Villars, though suffering still from his Malplaquet See also:wound, took command on the loth of See also:April, and spun out See also:time on the defensive until the end of May, when Ormonde's contingent withdrew. Eugene, apparently with the intention of regaining the Mons line of operations, as the defection of England had made further operations near the sea unprofitable, neglected to besiege, not only Arras, but Valenciennes and Conde as well, and, based temporarily on Douai and Marchiennes and Bouchain he took Le Quesnoy (July 4) and moved thence on to Landrecies, which was closely invested. Then followed the last serious fight of the war, the battle of Denain, which saved the French monarch and completed the disintegration of the coalition. In order to protect his camps around Landrecies, Prince Eugene constructed the usual lines of circumvallation with such speed that Villars, on coming up, found that they were too formidable to attack. Next, in order to guard the movements of his convoys between Marchiennes-on-Scarpe and the front against attacks from Cambrai or Valenciennes, he hedged in the route on both sides with continuous lines of breastworks, to the defence of which he assigned his Dutch corps. Villars anxiously looked out for an opportunity of breaking these modern " long walls." At Denain, the besiegers' route crossed the Scheldt. From this point to the front, streams and other Denala. obstacles reinforced the defence, but the marshal was told by a country See also:priest that the lines were assailable north of Denain, and resolved to attack them there. The enterprise, like Marlborough's forcing of the 11 %e plus ultra lines, involved an extraordinary See also:combination of See also:resolution and skill—i.e. force and fraud—for the point of attack was far away and the opposing army almost within cannon-shot. Some days were spent by Villars in deceiving Eugene and his own army as well, as to his real intentions, and by various feints Eugene was induced to See also:mass his main body about Landrecies and Le Quesnoy on the south side of the Scheldt. Then on the night of the 23rd of July the French army moved off silently, with its bridging See also:train in the vanguard and cavalry posted everywhere along itsright flank to conceal the march. By 9 a.m. on the 24th Villars's army had completely deployed on the north See also:bank of the Scheldt. Eugene himself saw them and galloped away to bring up his army from Landrecies. But, long before it arrived, Villars's troops, without wasting See also:precious moments in formal preparations, stormed the lines. The Dutch—spiritless since Malplaquet—were huddled into the narrow See also:avenue between the two entrenchments and forced back on Denain. Their generals were taken. The broken See also:mob of fugitives proved too heavy a load for the See also:bridges at Denain, and many were drowned, while the rest, pinned against the bank of the now impassable river, tamely surrendered. Eugene arrived on the other bank with some brigades of the imperial infantry, but after losing heavily gave up the attempt to reopen the passage. Villars followed up his victory at once. Montesquiou captured Marchiennes and Albergotti St Amand, and in these places all Eugene's reserve stores, pontoons and guns fell into the hands of the French. On the 2nd of August Eugene See also:broke up the siege of Landrecies and retreated by a roundabout route to Mons, while Villars's lieutenants retook Douai and Bouchain (September-See also:October). Before the next campaign opened the treaty of See also:Utrecht had been signed, and although the emperor continued the struggle alone for another year, the enfeebled combatants were content to accept Villars's captures of See also:Landau (July 22, 1713) and See also:Freiburg (Nov. 21) as decisive. The treaty of See also:Rastatt, between Austria and France, was signed on the 7th of March 1714, Eugene and Villars being the negotiators. See J. W. See also:Fortescue,His'. British Army, vol. i. (See also:London, r899) ; lives of Marlborough; the Austrian See also:official Feldzuge See also:des Prinzen Eugen (See also:Vienna, 1871–1892); Roder v. Diersburg's Markgraf See also:Ludwig von Baden (See also:Karlsruhe, 1850); See also:Arneth's Prinz Eugen; Memoiree militaires relatifs a in See also:succession d'Espagne (1833; ed. De Vault); detailed histories of the French army, and monographs in the French general staff's Revue d'histoire. (C. F. 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