Battle of Malplaquet

Part of the War of the Spanish Succession

Battle of Malplaquet, view from the allied side.

Date	11 September 1709
Location	Malplaquet, present-day France Coordinates: 50°19′11″N 3°50′12″E / 50.31972°N 3.83667°E / 50.31972; 3.83667
Result	Grand Alliance Pyrrhic victory

Belligerents

Prussia

Electorate of Bavaria

Commanders and leaders

Prince Eugene of Savoy

Duke of Marlborough

Claude de Villars

Louis Boufflers

Strength

86,000, 100 guns

75,000, 80 guns

Casualties and losses

21,000 killed and wounded

11,000 killed and wounded

The Battle of Malplaquet, fought on 11 September 1709, was one of the main battles of the War of the Spanish Succession, which opposed the Bourbons of France and Spain against an alliance whose major members were the Habsburg Monarchy, the United Provinces, Great Britain and the Kingdom of Prussia.

After a late start to the campaigning season owing to the unusually harsh winter preceding it, the allied campaign of 1709 began in mid June. Unable to bring the French army under Marshal Villars to battle owing to strong French defensive lines and the Marshal's orders from Versailles not to risk battle, the Duke of Marlborough concentrated instead on taking the fortresses of Tournai and Ypres. Tournai fell after an unusually long siege of almost 70 days, by which time it was early September, and rather than run the risk of disease spreading in his army in the poorly draining land around Ypres, Marlborough instead moved eastwards towards the lesser fortress of Mons, hoping by taking it to outflank the French defensive lines in the west. Villars moved after him, under new orders from Louis XIV to prevent the fall of Mons at all costs – effectively an order for the aggressive Marshal to give battle. After several complicated manoeuvres, the two armies faced each other across the gap of Malplaquet, south-west of Mons.

The allied army, mainly consisting of Dutch and Austrian troops, but also with considerable British and Prussian contingents, was led by Prince Eugene of Savoy and Marlborough , while the French and a contingent of Bavarians were commanded by Villars and Marshal Boufflers. Boufflers was officially Villars' superior but voluntarily serving under him. The allies had about 86,000 troops and 100 guns and the French had about 75,000 and 80 guns, and they were encamped within cannon range of each other near what is now the France/Belgium border. At 9.00am on 11 September, the Austrians attacked with the support of Prussian and Danish troops under the command of Count Albrecht Konrad Finck von Finckenstein, pushing the French left wing back into the forest behind them. The Dutch under command of John William Friso, Prince of Orange, on the Allied left wing, attacked the French right flank half an hour later, and succeeded with heavy casualties in distracting Boufflers enough so that he could not come to Villars' aid.

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Wikipedia