Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 2, 2012



The Battle of Schellenberg was fought in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The engagement was part of the Duke of Marlborough's campaign to save the Habsburg capital of Vienna from a threatened advance by King Louis XIV's Franco-Bavarian forces ranged in southern Germany. Marlborough had commenced his 250-mile (400 km) march from Bedburg, near Cologne, on 19 May. En route, the Allies needed to secure a fortified bridgehead and magazine on the Danube through which their supplies could cross to the south of the river into the heart of Bavaria. For this purpose, Marlborough selected the town of Donauwörth. Once the French knew of the Allies' objective, they dispatched Count d'Arco with an advance force of 12,000 men from their main camp at Dillingen to strengthen and hold the Schellenberg heights above the town. Rejecting a protracted siege, Marlborough decided in favour of a quick assault before the position could be made impregnable. After two failed attempts to storm the barricades the Allied commanders, acting in unison, finally managed to overwhelm the defenders. The deliberate devastation of Max Emanuel's lands in Bavaria failed to bring him to battle or persuade him back into the Grand Alliance. Only when Marshal Tallard arrived with reinforcements, and Prince Eugene of Savoy arrived from the Rhine to bolster the Allies, was the stage finally set for the decisive action at the Battle of Blenheim the following month. (more...)

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