{
 "slug": "landen",
 "title": "Battle of Landen",
 "status": "draft",
 "era": "1600–1760",
 "date_text": "29 July 1693 (19 July Old Style)",
 "start": "1693-07-29",
 "end": "1693-07-29",
 "war": "Williamite War in Ireland",
 "cdb90_war": "KING WILLIAM'S WAR",
 "place": {
  "name": "Neerwinden and Landen, near the Geete, Spanish Netherlands; today Belgium",
  "lat": 50.7725,
  "lon": 5.035,
  "wikidata": "Q1767332"
 },
 "lede": "On 29 July 1693 Marshal Luxembourg stormed William III's entrenched Allied army around Neerwinden in Flanders at the third attempt, taking the villages after a day of murderous fighting. It was a costly French victory that gained little beyond the field.",
 "result": "French victory",
 "result_cdb90": "attacker win",
 "belligerents": [
  {
   "role": "attacker",
   "name": "French army of Flanders",
   "commanders": [
    "Marshal Luxembourg",
    "Marshal Villeroy",
    "Prince of Conti",
    "Duke of Berwick",
    "Marquis de Feuquieres"
   ],
   "strength": {
    "value": 70000,
    "low": 66000,
    "high": 80000,
    "source": "s1"
   },
   "casualties": {
    "value": 8000,
    "low": 7000,
    "high": 15000,
    "source": "s2"
   }
  },
  {
   "role": "defender",
   "name": "Allied army (Dutch, English, Imperial and Bavarian troops, with others)",
   "commanders": [
    "William III",
    "Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria",
    "Henry Casimir II of Nassau-Dietz"
   ],
   "strength": {
    "value": 50000,
    "low": 40000,
    "high": 60000,
    "source": "s1"
   },
   "casualties": {
    "value": 14000,
    "low": 9500,
    "high": 20000,
    "source": "s3"
   }
  }
 ],
 "sections": {
  "background": "By 1693 the Nine Years' War had dragged on for four years, and every combatant was struggling with the cost of the war and with famine. Louis XIV, fighting on several fronts, wanted a negotiated peace but meant to improve his position first, and took the offensive in the Rhineland, Flanders and Catalonia.\n\nIn Flanders Marshal Luxembourg stripped garrisons from Maritime Flanders to raise a field force of 116,000 men. From 9 June he marched to threaten Liege, Huy and Charleroi at once. Maximilian of Bavaria, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, insisted on covering all three, which forced the Allies to divide. But Luxembourg was not strong enough to besiege Liege and keep the main Allied army at bay. William III sent 15,000 men under Wurttemberg into Artois, and Villeroy took Huy, which surrendered on 23 July.\n\nWilliam raised the Liege garrison to 17,000 and drew up the rest in a rough semicircle with the Little Geete about three kilometres behind it. Seeing an opening, Luxembourg reversed his course and, after a forced march of 30 km, reached Landen on the evening of 28 July. He supposed that William, outnumbered 70,000 to 50,000, would link up with Wurttemberg before risking battle. William, warned by mid-afternoon, decided to stay, despite advice to slip over the river at night. A lack of cavalry to cover an orderly retreat, and a small battlefield that would deny Luxembourg the full use of his numbers, were among the reasons.",
  "forces": "The French had about 70,000 men and 70 guns, though estimates run from 66,000 to 80,000. Luxembourg commanded; Villeroy led the centre and the Prince of Conti the right, and Luxembourg massed a main assault force of 28,000 against the Allied right. Berwick led the assault on Neerwinden, and Feuquieres commanded the cavalry. Luxembourg kept 20 battalions of infantry in reserve, among them seven of the elite Maison du Roi, and his cavalry was strong. The Irish Brigade fought on the French side.\n\nThe Allies numbered about 50,000, with 80 to 100 guns; their artillery was better equipped than the French and heavily concentrated. Maximilian of Bavaria held the right, William the centre and Henry Casimir II of Nassau-Dietz the left, though the French article names Johann Ernst of Nassau-Weilburg as leading the cavalry on the left. In the hours before the battle the Allies hastily built earthworks between Laar and Neerwinden, with 80 of their 91 heavy guns in them. The open ground between Neerwinden and Neerlanden was solidly entrenched, with Rumsdorp as an advanced post, and the left rested on the Landen brook, which made it the hardest to attack. The Allied infantry stood in front and the cavalry behind.",
  "course": "CDB90 records a single engagement, number 46 (NEERWINDEN (LANDEN)), from 04:00 to 15:00. Times below come from the English Wikipedia article and are approximate.\n\n**The artillery duel (from 06:00-07:00).** With about 150 guns between them, the cannonade was very intense, and the better-equipped Allied artillery did terrible damage to the packed French lines. Count Solms, the Allied infantry general, was mortally wounded.\n\n**The first assault (08:00-09:00).** Three columns of 28 battalions attacked Laar and Neerwinden. Berwick in the middle stormed Neerwinden, with Rubantel on his left and Montchevreuil on his right. Laar fell quickly, but each part of Neerwinden had to be taken separately and the defenders fought bravely. French cavalry pushed over the Laar brook and overran Spanish cavalry before being thrown back. Rubantel and Montchevreuil drifted in behind Berwick. The Elector of Bavaria's counter-attack, helped by English battalions from William's centre, drove them out and retook Laar. Montchevreuil was killed and Berwick captured. The Maison du Roi advanced against the Allied centre but met heavy fire and fell back. French and dismounted dragoons also attacked Rumsdorp and Neerlanden; Rumsdorp fell but the entrenched line behind it held, and Dutch gunners switched to canister, killing hundreds. Luxembourg ordered them to stop.\n\n**The second assault (to about midday).** Conti led 7,000 men from the reserve against Laar and Neerwinden. Laar fell first; in Neerwinden the English and Scots Guards and a Dutch battalion again held. William again came with English battalions and retook Neerwinden except the south-west edge, then Laar. His officers advised Luxembourg to break off, but he did not.\n\n**The third assault and the breakthrough (about 15:00).** Luxembourg took 7,000 infantry from his centre and left and attacked with the whole infantry, leading the assault on Laar and Neerwinden himself. This time the defenders were short of ammunition and both villages fell. The Maison du Roi charged Hanoverian cavalry but was checked by Dutch infantry, until French and Swiss Guards drove the Dutch back, and the French broke the entrenchments. Feuquieres sent infantry through Rumsdorp into the deserted Allied centre; the Dutch gunners retired.\n\n**The retreat (about 16:00-17:00).** An hour later William ordered the withdrawal across the Geete and most of the heavy artillery was left behind. The battle became a mass cavalry melee of 30,000 to 40,000 horsemen in under three square kilometres. Maximilian's right was overwhelmed; William led several charges himself and was nearly captured. Henry Casimir's left fought its way over a distance of about 7 km and crossed in good order. Most of the army was over the river by about 17:00.",
  "aftermath": "Casualty estimates varied widely. The French claimed 7,000 to 8,000 dead; the Allies disputed it, and the French officer De la Colonie wrote of 18,000 to 20,000, adding that the Allies called it the Battle of the Fascines. Allied losses are put at 8,000 to 18,000 killed and wounded, with 1,500 to 2,000 more captured and 60 to 84 guns taken. Luxembourg sent the king only a summary message. Luxembourg's victory was incomplete: his troops were exhausted, forage was short, and he could not pursue. He did not besiege Liege, and Louis XIV ordered him to take Charleroi instead, which surrendered on 13 October 1693. The French article adds that he sent so many captured standards to Notre-Dame in Paris that he was nicknamed the upholsterer of the cathedral.\n\nWilliam made good his losses quickly. Huy was retaken in 1694 and Namur in 1695. Some historians therefore treat Landen as a strategic Allied success because Liege and Maastricht were saved, and William had a medal struck celebrating the saving of Liege. WarHistory.org sees an expensive war of position resuming. Luxembourg died in January 1695, and Landen was his last battle. With Fleurus and Steenkerque, Landen is also cited by the French article as one of the reasons the Dutch, the English and the Empire made peace in 1694.\n\nThe French article contradicts itself on Allied losses, putting the dead above 20,000 in its text on the authority of Saint-Simon and 18,000 killed or wounded in its infobox.",
  "wargaming": "Landen is a hard-hitting frontal battle, best at about 70,000 against 50,000 men on a brigade-per-base grand-tactical scale, or at battalion level for the fight for Neerwinden and Laer alone. The ground is the interest: villages, hedges and low earthworks along the little Geete, with earthworks, and a river some three kilometres behind William that makes defeat deadly.\n\nThe village fight is the heart of the scenario. Neerwinden changed hands several times, so a game works best with rules for counter-attacks, ammunition running short and fresh reserves. Give the Allies the stronger artillery, the French the weight of numbers and let attrition decide. The Allied player has a real dilemma: how many battalions to commit to the right and centre, when to bring up reserves from the left, and when to start across the river. The French player must decide when to stop assaulting and whether to bring up Luxembourg's reserves and the Maison du Roi.\n\nWhat ifs: William falls back over the river before the battle; the Dutch cavalry reaches the Elector's sector in time; or the French are held at Neerwinden and Luxembourg gives up the third assault."
 },
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   "file": "File:William III at the Battle of Landen.jpg",
   "kind": "painting",
   "caption": "William III at the Battle of Landen.",
   "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/William_III_at_the_Battle_of_Landen.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original",
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   "artist": "Ernest Crofts",
   "credit": "https://www.bukowskis.com/en/auctions/559/254-ernest-crofts-william-iii-at-the-battle-at-london",
   "width": 4354
  },
  {
   "file": "File:Schlacht bei Neerwinden (1693).jpg",
   "kind": "map",
   "caption": "Plan of the Battle of Neerwinden, 1693.",
   "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Schlacht_bei_Neerwinden_%281693%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original",
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   "artist": "Friedrich Conradi",
   "credit": "http://www.digam.net/index.php?dok=2813&h [0]=zwischen",
   "width": 1200
  },
  {
   "file": "File:Landen Painting.png",
   "kind": "painting",
   "caption": "A painting of the battle from the French side.",
   "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Landen_Painting.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original",
   "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/Landen_Painting.png/960px-Landen_Painting.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail",
   "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Landen_Painting.png",
   "licence": "Public domain",
   "licence_url": "",
   "artist": "Unknown author Unknown author",
   "credit": "https://arrecaballo.es/edad-moderna/guerra-de-los-nueve-anos-1688-97/el-paroxismo-1692-93/",
   "width": 1357
  },
  {
   "file": "File:King William III of England (1650-1702) by Kneller.jpg",
   "kind": "portrait",
   "caption": "William III of England, by Godfrey Kneller.",
   "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/King_William_III_of_England_%281650-1702%29_by_Kneller.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original",
   "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/King_William_III_of_England_%281650-1702%29_by_Kneller.jpg/960px-King_William_III_of_England_%281650-1702%29_by_Kneller.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail",
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   "licence": "Public domain",
   "licence_url": "",
   "artist": "Godfrey Kneller",
   "credit": "Scottish National Gallery , Accession No.: PG 2788",
   "width": 5254
  },
  {
   "file": "File:François II de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg - Musée Condé, PE 601.jpg",
   "kind": "portrait",
   "caption": "Marshal Luxembourg, victor of Fleurus, Steenkerque and Landen.",
   "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Fran%C3%A7ois_II_de_Montmorency%2C_duc_de_Luxembourg_-_Mus%C3%A9e_Cond%C3%A9%2C_PE_601.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original",
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   "licence": "Public domain",
   "licence_url": "",
   "artist": "After Hyacinthe Rigaud",
   "credit": "[1]",
   "width": 540
  }
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 "sources": [
  {
   "id": "s1",
   "title": "Battle of Landen (English Wikipedia)",
   "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Landen",
   "kind": "web"
  },
  {
   "id": "s2",
   "title": "Bataille de Neerwinden (1693) (French Wikipedia)",
   "url": "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataille_de_Neerwinden_(1693)",
   "kind": "web"
  },
  {
   "id": "s3",
   "title": "Battle of Neerwinden, (July 19/29, 1693) (WarHistory.org)",
   "url": "https://warhistory.org/de/article/battle-of-neerwinden-july-1929-1693",
   "kind": "web"
  },
  {
   "id": "s4",
   "title": "Ulysse Casadesus, 'La bataille de Neerwinden', La Revue d'Histoire Militaire (2023)",
   "url": null,
   "kind": "article"
  },
  {
   "id": "s5",
   "title": "Jean-Claude Castex, Combats franco-anglais de la guerre de Trente Ans et de la Ligue d'Augsbourg (Les Editions du Phare-Ouest, 2012), pp. 347-352",
   "url": null,
   "kind": "book"
  },
  {
   "id": "s6",
   "title": "Olaf van Nimwegen, De Veertigjarige Oorlog 1672-1712 (2020), pp. 232-236",
   "url": null,
   "kind": "book"
  },
  {
   "id": "s7",
   "title": "John Childs, The Nine Years' War and the British Army 1688-1697 (Manchester University Press, 1991), pp. 233, 241",
   "url": null,
   "kind": "book"
  },
  {
   "id": "s8",
   "title": "Van Alphen, Hoffenaar, Lemmers and Van der Spek, Krijgsmacht en Handelsgeest (2019), p. 76",
   "url": null,
   "kind": "book"
  }
 ],
 "cdb90": [
  46
 ],
 "order": 26,
 "url": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/landen/",
 "oob": [],
 "oob_lwtv": [],
 "scenarios": [],
 "orbat": null,
 "orbat_lwtv": null,
 "reading": {
  "prose": [],
  "history": [],
  "fiction": [],
  "poetry": []
 },
 "reading_lwtv": {
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 "photos": [],
 "photos_kind": "photographs",
 "newspapers": null
}