1704

Blenheim was a major battle of the War of the Spanish Succession fought on August 13, 1704. King Louis XIV sought to knock Emperor Leopold out of the war by seizing Vienna, the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, and gain a favorable peace settlement. The dangers to Vienna were considerable: The Elector of Bavaria and Marshal Marsin’s forces in Bavaria threatened from the west, and Marshal Vendôme’s large army in northern Italy posed a serious danger with a potential offensive through the Brenner Pass. Vienna was also under pressure from Rákóczi’s Hungarian revolt from its eastern approaches. Realizing the danger, the Duke of Marlborough resolved to alleviate the peril to Vienna by marching his forces south from Bedburg and help maintain Emperor Leopold within the Grand Alliance.

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A combination of deception and brilliant administration, designed to conceal his true destination from friend and foe alike, enabled Marlborough to march 250 miles (400 km) unhindered from the Low Countries to the River Danube in five weeks. After securing Donauwörth on the Danube, the English Duke sought to engage the enemies army before Marshal Tallard could bring reinforcements through the Black Forest. However, with the Franco-Bavarian commanders reticent to fight until their numbers were deemed sufficient, the Duke enacted a policy designed to force the issue. The tactic proved unsuccessful, but when Tallard arrived to bolster the Elector’s army, and Prince Eugène arrived with reinforcements for the Allies, the two armies finally met on the banks of the Danube in and around the small village of Blindheim.

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Blenheim has gone down in history as one of the turning points of the War of the Spanish Succession. The overwhelming Allied victory ensured the safety of Vienna from the Franco-Bavarian army, thus preventing the collapse of the Grand Alliance. Bavaria and Cologne were knocked out of the war, and King Louis’ hopes for a quick victory came to an end. France suffered over 30,000 casualties including the commander-in-chief, Marshal Tallard, who was taken captive to England. Before the 1704 campaign ended, the Allies had taken Landau, and the towns of Trèves and Trarbach on the Moselle in preparation for the following year’s campaign into France itself.

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The 1704 campaign lasted considerably longer than usual as the Allies sought to gain maximum advantage. Realising that France was too powerful to be forced to make peace by a single victory, Eugène, Marlborough and Baden met to plan their next moves. For the following year the Duke proposed a campaign along the valley of the River Moselle to carry the war deep into France. This required the capture of the major fortress of Landau which guarded the Rhine, and the towns of Trèves and Trarbach on the Moselle itself. Trèves was taken on October 26 and Landau fell on November 23 to the Margrave of Baden and Prince Eugène; with the fall of Trarbach on December 20, the campaign season for 1704 came to an end.