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NEERWINDEN , a See also:village of See also:Belgium in the See also:province of See also:Liege, a few See also:miles E. by S. of Tirlemont, which gives its name to two See also:great battles, the first fought in 1693 between the Anglo-Allied See also:army under See also:- WILLIAM
- WILLIAM (1143-1214)
- WILLIAM (1227-1256)
- WILLIAM (1J33-1584)
- WILLIAM (A.S. Wilhelm, O. Norse Vilhidlmr; O. H. Ger. Willahelm, Willahalm, M. H. Ger. Willehelm, Willehalm, Mod.Ger. Wilhelm; Du. Willem; O. Fr. Villalme, Mod. Fr. Guillaume; from " will," Goth. vilja, and " helm," Goth. hilms, Old Norse hidlmr, meaning
- WILLIAM (c. 1130-C. 1190)
- WILLIAM, 13TH
William III. of See also:England and the See also:French under the See also:duke of See also:Luxemburg, and the second in 1793 between the Austrians under See also:Prince Josias of See also:Coburg and the French under See also:General See also:Dumouriez.
See also:Battle of Neerwinden or See also:Landen, 1693 (see See also:GRAND See also:ALLIANCE, See also:WAR OF THE).—Luxemburg, having by feints induced William to detach portions of his army, rapidly See also:drew together See also:superior See also:numbers in See also:face of the Allied camps, which See also:lay in a roughsemicircle from Elissem on the right to Neerlanden, and thence along the Landen See also:brook on the See also:left (See also:July 18-28, 1693). William had no mind to retire over the Geete See also:river, and en-trenched a strong See also:line from See also:Laer through Neerwinden to Neerlanden. On the right See also:section of this line (Laer to Neerwinden) the ground was much intersected and gave plenty of See also:cover for both sides, and this section, being regarded as the See also:key of the position, was strongly garrisoned; in the centre the open ground between Neerwinden and Neerlanden was solidly en-trenched, and in front of it Rumsdorp was held as an advanced See also:post. The left at Neerlanden rested upon the Landen brook and was difficult of See also:access. William's right, as his line of See also:retreat lay over the Geete, was his dangerous flank, and Luxemburg was aware that, the front of the See also:Allies being somewhat See also:long for the numbers defending it, the intervention of troops See also:drawn from one wing to reinforce the other would almost certainly be too See also:late. Under these conditions Luxemburg's general See also:plan was to throw the See also:weight of his attack on the Laer-Neerwinden section, and specially on Neerwinden itself, and to economize his forces—as " See also:economy of force " was understood before See also:Napoleon's See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time—elsewhere, delivering holding attacks or demonstrations as might be necessary, and thus preventing
See also:Emery See also:Walter. su
the Allied centre and left from assisting the right. Luxemburg had about 8o,000 men to William's 50,000. Opposite the entrenchments of the centre he drew up nearly the whole o~ his See also:cavalry in six lines, with two lines of See also:infantry intercalated. A See also:corps of infantry and dragoons was told off for the attack of Neerlanden and Rumsdorp, and the troops destined for the See also:main attack, 28,000 of all arms, formed up in heavy masses opposite Neerwinden. This proportion of about one-third of the whole force to be employed in the decisive attack in the event proved insufficient. The troops opposite the Allied centre and left had to See also:act with the greatest See also:energy to fulfil their containing See also:mission, and at Laer-Neerwinden the eventual success of the attack was bought only at the See also:price of the utter exhaustion of the troops.
After a long cannonade the French columns moved to the attack, converging on Neerwinden; a smaller force assaulted Laer. The edge of the villages was carried, but in the interior a murderous struggle began, every See also:foot of ground being contested, and after a time William himself, leading a heavy See also:counter-attack, expelled the assailants from both villages. A second attack, pushed with the same energy, was met with the same determination, and meanwhile the French in other parts of the See also:- FIELD (a word common to many West German languages, cf. Ger. Feld, Dutch veld, possibly cognate with O.E. f olde, the earth, and ultimately with root of the Gr. irAaror, broad)
- FIELD, CYRUS WEST (1819-1892)
- FIELD, DAVID DUDLEY (18o5-1894)
- FIELD, EUGENE (1850-1895)
- FIELD, FREDERICK (18o1—1885)
- FIELD, HENRY MARTYN (1822-1907)
- FIELD, JOHN (1782—1837)
- FIELD, MARSHALL (183 1906)
- FIELD, NATHAN (1587—1633)
- FIELD, STEPHEN JOHNSON (1816-1899)
- FIELD, WILLIAM VENTRIS FIELD, BARON (1813-1907)
field had pressed their demonstrations See also:home. Even the six lines of cavalry in the centre, after enduring the See also:fire of the Allies for many See also:hours, trotted over the open and up to the entrenchments to meet with certain defeat, and at Neerlanden and Rumsdorp there was
severe See also:hand to hand fighting. But, meantime, the two intact botanists. His best-known See also:works are those that See also:deal with the lines of infantry in the French centre had been moved to their
left and formed the See also:nucleus for the last great See also:assault on Neerwinden, which proved too much for the exhausted defenders. They See also:fell back slowly and steadily, defying pursuit, and the See also:British See also:Coldstream See also:Guards even captured a See also:colour. But at this crisis the initiative of a subordinate general, the famous military writer Feuquieres (q.v.), converted the hard-won See also:local success into a brilliant victory. William had begun to move troops from his centre and left to the right in See also:- ORDER
- ORDER (through Fr. ordre, for earlier ordene, from Lat. ordo, ordinis, rank, service, arrangement; the ultimate source is generally taken to be the root seen in Lat. oriri, rise, arise, begin; cf. " origin ")
- ORDER, HOLY
order to meet the great assault on Neerwinden, and Feuquieres, observing this, led the cavalry of the French centre once again straight at the entrenchments. This time the French squadrons, surprising the Allies in the act of manoeuvring, rode over every See also:body of troops they met, and nothing remained for the Allies but a hurried retreat over the Geete. A stubborn rearguard of British troops led by 'William himself alone saved the Allied army, of which all but the left wing was fought out and in disorder. Luxemburg had won his greatest victory, thanks in a measure to Feuquieres' exploit; but had the assaults on Neerwinden been made—as Napoleon would have made them—with one-See also:half or two-thirds of his forces instead of one-third, the victory would have been decisive, and Feuquieres would have won his laurels, not in forcing the decision at the cost of using up his cavalry, but in annihilating the remnants of the Allied army in the pursuit. The material results of the battle were twelve thousand Allies (as against eight thousand French) killed, wounded and prisoners, and eighty guns and a great number of See also:standards and See also:colours taken by the French.
The battle of the 18th See also:March 1793 marked the end of Dumouriez's See also:attempt to overrun the See also:Low Countries and the beginning of the Allies' invasion of See also:France. The Austrians under Coburg, advancing from Maestricht in the direction of See also:Brussels, encountered the heads of the hurriedly assembling French army at Tirlemont on the 15th of- March, and took up a position between Neerwinden and Neerlanden. On the 18th, however, after a little preliminary fighting Coburg drew back a See also:short distance and rearranged his army on a more extended front between Racour and Dormael, thus parrying the enveloping See also:movement begun by the French from Tirlemont. Dumouriez was consequently compelled to fight after all on parallel fronts, and though in the villages themselves the individuality and See also:enthusiasm of the French soldier compensated for his inadequate training and indiscipline, the greater See also:part of the front of contact was open ground, where the superiority of the See also:veteran See also:Austrian regulars was unchallengeable. In these conditions an attempt to win a second See also:Jemappes with numerical odds of 1I to 10 instead of 2 to I in favour of the attack was foredoomed to disaster, and the repulse of the Revolutionary Army was the See also:signal for its almost See also:complete See also:dissolution. Neerwinden was a great disaster, but not a great battle. Its details merely show the impossibility of fighting on the 18th-See also:century See also:system with See also:ill-trained troops. The methods by which such troops could See also:compass victory, the way to fight a " sans culotte " battle, were not evolved until later.
End of Article: NEERWINDEN
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