This Battle was won by the Duke of Marlborough's strategic mind and his and his allied partners ability to function as one army. 30,000 French lives were lost and around 15,000 allied men were killed or injured making it a significant battle when it comes to loss of life, but it was also the loss of the experienced and thought ’unbeatable’ French forces that was the defining outcome of this August day. Because of the huge casualties and the fact that a fierce part of the battle raged within the town of Blenheim itself this battle has been well remembered with memorials and exhibits. The plain where the battle took place with it’s famous stream, marshland and copse can be toured and the action carefully traced, if you know the history and significance of the event this is truly one of the best historical experiences you can have.

The story of the Battle of Blenheim: This was one of the major battles in the war of Spanish Succession. Gathering on either side of the battlefield were The Duke of Marlborough and his ally Eugene backed by his Danish and Prussian armies, pitted against the French armies of General's Tallard and Marsin on the other. The field itself was almost four miles wide and edged on the right flank by the Danube and on the left by pine copse and divided down the centre between the armies by a stream surrounded by marshy ground which would need to be bridged in order to move troops across it and once crossed troops would need to reform into their battalion formations. On the French side were two villages with a flattened field between them which was an ideal place to arrange troops into battle lines. The allied attack began in the early hours of the morning. Marlborough was to push to the left with the main part of the army while Eugene would attack on the right, the idea being that Marlborough would be able to cut the right flank off from the left leaving enough room for allied troops to ford the stream and attack through the centre. Tallard hadn't been expecting an offensive and the final French plans were decided under pressure and disagreement between the generals as to how to best use the stream. The final deployment chosen was with the infantry on the outer edges and the cavalry in the centre which was contrary to his normal deployment and the plan was to allow some of the allied troops to cross the stream and them drive them back into their own forces. The allies began their assault on the village of Blenheim but were driven back several times before eventually the French looked likely to lose the town and flooded troops into it, leaving no space to fight and allowing 5,000 allied troops to pen in 10,000 Frenchmen. On the right Eugene's forces were taking a battering and crossed the stream and were push back into the marsh several times, but the French were having difficulty following up their assaults and were having trouble on both sides of the field so could provide no back up to each other to give chase to the allied armies. Though both Eugene and Marlborough's armies were also suffering, Eugene surrendered his troops to Marlborough and secured their own centre and after four hours of battle Marlborough was finally in position to push through the centre as long as Eugene's forces could hold out. As the allied cavalry finally made it through to the centre, defeating the French cavalry, the French infantry fought with admirable bravery but were cut to pieces where they stood, supported by nobody. Thousands of fleeing French soldiers were drowned in the Danube whilst trying to escape. The French forces still fighting in the town of Blenheim were finally convinced to lay down their arms at around nine PM and the battle was lost. 30,000 of their countrymen had been killed and significant numbers came from elite forces, leaving a relatively green army to pick up the pieces of what was once thought to be an invincible force. Tallard was captured and imprisoned in Britain for ten years.

Written by  Anthony Harrison.

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