Battle of Blenheim

Background

The War of the Spanish Succession began in 1701 over who should inherit the Spanish throne. By 1704 Louis XIV's France had a dangerous ally in Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, whose territory gave the French a base on the upper Danube. With a Franco-Bavarian army on the Danube, Vendôme's army in northern Italy and Rákóczi's Hungarian revolt in the east, Vienna itself was threatened, and the Grand Alliance of England, the Dutch Republic and the Habsburg Emperor looked close to collapse.

The Duke of Marlborough's answer was to take his army out of the Low Countries and march it to the Danube. Sources give the distance as anything from about 250 to 350 miles; Wikipedia puts it at 400 km in five weeks. The National Army Museum stresses that he moved some 40,000 men there without the French guessing where he was going. On the Danube he joined forces with the Imperial commander, Prince Eugene of Savoy.

On 2 July Marlborough stormed the Schellenberg heights above Donauwörth, securing a crossing of the Danube, and then besieged Rain (9–16 July). When the Elector would not change sides, Marlborough burned Bavarian villages and crops to pressure him. Meanwhile Marshal Tallard brought a French army east to join the Elector and Marshal Marsin. The combined Franco-Bavarian army took up a position behind the Nebel stream near the village of Blindheim (Blenheim), north of the Danube. Marlborough and Eugene, now united, decided to attack it on 13 August rather than let the campaign drift.

The armies

The two sides were close in size. The usual figures are about 52,000 Allies with 66 guns against 56,000 French and Bavarians with 90 guns; one modern account puts the Franco-Bavarians at nearly 60,000. The Allied army was truly multinational: English and Scottish regiments alongside Dutch, Danish, Hanoverian, Hessian, Prussian and Imperial troops. Marlborough commanded the left and centre, about 36,000 men facing Blenheim and the open ground beyond it. Eugene had the right, about 16,000 men facing Lutzingen.

The Franco-Bavarian side was really two armies fighting next to each other. Tallard held the right, from the Danube through Blenheim to the centre, with about 33,000 men (36,000 in another count). Marsin and the Elector held Oberglau, Lutzingen and the wooded hills to the left, with about 23,000. Tallard's infantry was heavily concentrated around Blenheim. His centre consisted mainly of 64 squadrons of cavalry, backed by nine battalions of raw recruits. Oberglau was held by 14 battalions under Blainville, among them the Irish Brigade.

This was an age of linear warfare, with flintlock muskets and socket bayonets. Allied infantry used platoon fire. Marlborough also brought engineers who could bridge the Nebel's marshes under fire, and Colonel Blood's artillery went forward with the infantry.

The battle

CDB90 records the battle as a single engagement, number 50 (BLENHEIM), from 12:30 to 21:00. The front was nearly 6 km wide, with the Danube on the French right and the wooded hills of the Swabian Jura on their left. Along the whole French front ran the Nebel, a small stream whose marshy banks could only be forded in places. From south to north, the villages of Blenheim, Oberglau and Lutzingen anchored the French line.

Approach (02:00–noon). The Allies set off before dawn. Their columns reached Schwenningen, about 3 km from Blenheim, at around 06:00, apparently catching the Franco-Bavarians by surprise. The French guns opened fire at around 08:00, and the cannonade is said to have cost the waiting Allies some 2,000 casualties. By 10:00 Cutts' column on the left had cleared two water mills on the Nebel, and Allied engineers repaired a stone bridge and laid five more crossings over the marsh. Eugene's march to the right took longer, through broken country. Only just after noon did Cadogan report that he was in position.

Blenheim (13:00 onwards). Cutts' column attacked Blenheim at about 13:00. Brigadier Rowe's English brigade marched up in silence under orders not to fire until Rowe struck the palisade with his sword. A French volley at about 30 metres felled Rowe, and further volleys drove the brigade back. The Gens d'Armes then charged its flank (eight squadrons in some accounts, three in others). A second assault also failed. However, the French commander in the village, the Marquis de Clérambault, then ordered reserve battalions into Blenheim without consulting Tallard. The village became so crowded that many men could not use their muskets. Marlborough cancelled a third attack and ordered Cutts simply to contain the village, so that no more than 5,000 Allies were pinning about twice as many French.

Oberglau and Lutzingen (about 15:00–17:00). In the centre the Prince of Holstein-Beck's two Dutch brigades attacked Oberglau and were cut up by Blainville's battalions, the Irish Brigade among them. Holstein-Beck was wounded and captured. Marsin then turned his cavalry against the exposed flank of the Allied centre. Marlborough crossed the Nebel to take charge and asked Eugene for help. Although his own wing was hard pressed, Eugene sent Fugger's Imperial cuirassiers, whose charge drove Marsin's squadrons back. On the right, Eugene's own attacks on Lutzingen and the woods were repeatedly beaten back. One French eyewitness says they failed three times.

The breakthrough (about 17:00–17:30). By 16:00 Marlborough had assembled 81 squadrons and 18 battalions in the centre, against Tallard's 64 squadrons and nine battalions. The Allied cavalry's second line, under Bülow and Bothmer, broke the tired French horse. Artillery and platoon fire overwhelmed the isolated French recruits where they stood. Tallard's cavalry broke towards the Danube, where thousands drowned (estimates run from 2,000 to over 3,000). Hessian troops surrounded and captured Tallard himself. On the right, Prussian and Danish infantry led by Eugene finally stormed the Bavarian battery at Lutzingen. Marsin and the Elector withdrew westwards with most of their army.

The surrender of Blenheim (to 21:00). The troops in Blenheim were now cut off. Lord Orkney negotiated the surrender of Brigadier de Nouville, and other units followed. By 21:00 the Marquis de Blanzac had accepted terms, and some 10,000 of France's best infantry laid down their arms. Marlborough wrote a famous note to his wife on the back of a tavern bill, asking that the Queen be told her army had won a glorious victory.

Aftermath

Figures for the losses vary. The Allies lost about 12,000–13,000 killed and wounded, a heavy price. The usual breakdown is 4,542 killed and 7,942 wounded, plus some 500 captured. Estimates of Franco-Bavarian losses run from about 27,000 to 35,000 killed, wounded and captured, including some 14,000 prisoners. About 7,000 more were lost to desertion as Marsin and the Elector fell back on Strasbourg. Tallard spent his captivity in England, at Nottingham, until 1711.

The strategic results were immediate. Vienna was safe, and Bavaria was overrun: Ulm, Ingolstadt and Munich soon fell. By the Treaty of Ilbersheim (7 November) Bavaria was placed under Austrian military administration, and the Elector went into exile. Landau and Trarbach fell before the year was out. Blenheim kept the Grand Alliance together and was the first major French defeat in half a century. In the National Army Museum's words, it "destroyed the illusion of French invincibility". It also began the partnership of Marlborough and Eugene, which went on to Oudenarde and Malplaquet.

In England the victory was celebrated as the greatest since Agincourt. Queen Anne granted Marlborough the royal manor of Woodstock and the money to build Blenheim Palace. Later writers have argued over its significance. Victorian historians such as Creasy saw it as saving Europe from French domination. John Lynn counters that Louis XIV never aimed at such domination. Robert Southey's poem "After Blenheim" questioned what the slaughter was for.

Wargaming it

Blenheim is a set-piece battle on a manageable front of about 6 km, with clear terrain features, which makes it one of the best Marlburian battles for a big game. At brigade level, with turns of about 30 minutes, the whole field fits a large table. At battalion and squadron level the left half (Blenheim village, the Nebel crossings and the cavalry fight in the centre) makes a strong scenario. Oberglau and Lutzingen, against Eugene's wing, make a second scenario.

The terrain shapes everything. The marshy Nebel must be crossed by fords and engineers' bridges. The hedged and palisaded village of Blenheim soaks up troops. The open stubble between Blenheim and Oberglau is ideal cavalry country, while the brambles and woods around Lutzingen slow attackers. The Danube behind the French right turns a cavalry rout into a disaster.

The interesting decisions belong to the defenders. Tallard chose to let the Allies cross the Nebel and then charge them, where Marsin and the Elector wanted infantry on the water's edge. Players can test both. Clérambault's overcrowding of Blenheim is the obvious "what if": could those battalions have saved the centre? For the Allies, the crisis is timing. Eugene's late arrival, Holstein-Beck's repulse at Oberglau and whether Eugene can spare cavalry to help all test command and control. The tension comes from two multinational allied commands whose sides each have to co-operate across the gap between their wings.

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