Wikipedia:Today's featured article/January 28, 2008



The Battle of Ramillies was a major engagement of the War of the Spanish Succession fought on 23 May, 1706. 1706 had begun well for Louis XIV's generals who gained early success in Italy and in Alsace. Louis now pressed Marshal Villeroi to seek out Marlborough and bring the Allies to battle in the Spanish Netherlands. Accordingly, the French marshal set off from Louvain at the head of 60,000 men, and provocatively marched towards Léau. Marlborough, also determined to fight a major engagement, assembled his forces – some 62,000 men – near Maastricht, before advancing towards the Mehaigne River and the plain of Ramillies. But the French had forestalled the Allies, and Marlborough's advance party found the location already occupied. Nevertheless, the Duke decided to attack at once. In less than four hours, Villeroi's army was utterly defeated. Marlborough's subtle moves and changes in emphasis during the battle – something the French and Bavarian commanders failed to realize until it was too late – caught his foe between the jaws of a tactical vice. The Franco-Bavarian army broke and ran en masse, losing in total over 20,000 casualties. With Prince Eugéne's subsequent success at Turin in northern Italy, the Allies had imposed the greatest loss of territory and resources Louis XIV would suffer during the war. Town after town – including Brussels, Bruges and Antwerp – fell to Marlborough's forces; by the end of the campaign, the Franco-Spanish army had been driven from most of the Spanish Netherlands. (more...)

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