Travel Back In Time With Me

Chapter -15

Then I went to watch the Battle of Blenheim, (August 13, 1704), the famous victory of John Churchill, the first governor of Marlborough, and Eugene of Savoy in the War of the Spanish Succession. The first major defeat suffered by the French army for more than 50 years, saved Vienna from the Franco-Bavaria threat, kept the unification of England, Austria, and the United States against France, and withdrew Bavaria from the war.

The battle was fought in the city of Blenheim (now Blindheim) on the Danube River, ten miles [16 km] southwest of Donauwörth in Bavaria, and was joined by some 52,000 British, Dutch, and Austrian soldiers under Marlborough and Eugene as well as 60,000 French and Amas soldiers. of Bavaria under the French march Camille, comte de Tallard. Defending the Austrian fall under heavy pressure from French troops, Marlborough had marched on his army on the Danube River. Tallard, aware of Marlborough and Eugene's desire to defend Vienna from French invasion, did not expect to be attacked by their weakened forces. But Marlborough and Eugene joined the troops on August 12 and the next day attacked the French with surprise and unpreparedness. The French are drawn on the back of the Nebel River (the Danube stream), their right wing sits on the Danube in Blenheim and their left wing on a hilly area bounded by the city of Lützingen. The French army consisted of two independent units, Tallard in charge of the right wing and Marsin and Maximilian II Emanuel (Bavaria's) in charge of the left wing. The rally between the two armies was hampered by almost unsupported horse assistants. Eugene's forces faced those of Marsin and Maximilian II Emanuel in Lützingen, while Marlborough opposed Tallard in Blenheim.

Prince Eugene incorporated a powerful attack on his side while the regular Lord John Cutts of Marlborough attacked Blenheim twice. Sutts' attack forced Tallard to build more stocks to defend Blenheim than he had intended, and thus served to advance the French center. With Eugene keeping Marsin completely busy, Marlborough then launched a massive raid across the Nebel River opposite the center of France. Marlborough's progress was strongly opposed by the attack on the French cavalry, and it was only his guidance and loan of Eugene to one of his horse carcasses that enabled Marlborough to maintain the momentum of his attack. It had been successfully launched, but the attack was undeniable. Allied cavalry broke into the French base, divided Marsin's and Tallard's forces, and then turned left, sweeping Tallard's forces into the Danube River. Tallard himself was taken prisoner, and about 23 of his troops and 4 dragoon kingdoms were denied in Blenheim. Marsin and Maximilian II Emanuel managed to withdraw their troops from the war so far, but on the right side of France all the troops around Blenheim contributed.

At the expense of 12,000, the Allies captured 13,000 Franco-Bavarian soldiers and killed, wounded, or caused the drowning of about 18,000 others. The Blenheim invasion saved Vienna from France and proved that the forces of French King Louis XIV were invincible. This war is also an example of the full cooperation that should have existed between Marlborough and Eugene in their remaining organization in the war.