Battle of Blenheim (1704): Marlborough's Great Victory in Bavaria

The Battle of Blenheim was fought on 13 August 1704 near the village of Blindheim on the Danube in Bavaria, during the War of the Spanish Succession. An Allied army under John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, and Prince Eugene of Savoy destroyed a Franco-Bavarian army, capturing its commander, Marshal Tallard. The victory saved Vienna, took Bavaria out of the war and gave Britain a new military prestige that is commemorated in Blenheim Palace.

Background

The War of the Spanish Succession began over Louis XIV’s acceptance of the Spanish throne for his grandson, Philip V. By 1703 France held the initiative. Its ally Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, had opened the road along the Danube, and Hungarian rebels under Francis II Rákóczi threatened the Habsburg lands from the east.

In 1704 Louis planned to send French armies to join the Bavarians and march on Vienna, the capital of Emperor Leopold I. If Vienna fell or the emperor made peace, the Grand Alliance of Austria, England and the Dutch Republic would likely collapse.

The march to the Danube

Marlborough, commander of the Anglo-Dutch forces in the Low Countries, decided to move his army to Bavaria. The Dutch government was nervous about leaving the Netherlands exposed, so he kept the destination secret, first suggesting he was campaigning on the Moselle.

In May 1704 he set out from Bedburg near Cologne with about 21,000 men, gathering German contingents on the way. In about five weeks the army marched some 400 kilometres (250 miles) up the Rhine and across to the Danube. Careful supply arrangements, with food, fresh boots and money for local purchases waiting along the route, kept the troops in good condition.

On 2 July Marlborough stormed the Schellenberg heights above Donauwörth, securing a crossing of the Danube at heavy cost. His troops then devastated parts of Bavaria to pressure the Elector to change sides, without success. In early August Prince Eugene, commanding an Imperial army on the Rhine, came to join him, while Marshal Tallard brought a French army to reinforce the Elector and Marshal Marsin.

The battle

On 13 August the Franco-Bavarian army, about 56,000 men, held a 6-kilometre line behind the marshy Nebel stream, from the village of Blenheim on the Danube to Lutzingen in the wooded hills. The Allies had about 52,000. Tallard, thinking the Allies were about to retreat, was surprised to see them deploying for an attack early that morning.

Marlborough commanded the Allied left and centre, facing Tallard. Eugene commanded the right, facing Marsin and the Elector. In the early afternoon British infantry under Lord Cutts attacked Blenheim village. They could not take it, but the attacks led the French commander there, the Marquis de Clérambault, to pack the village with reserve infantry, until some 27 battalions were crowded into its streets and gardens.

On the right, Eugene’s outnumbered troops made repeated attacks across difficult ground, pinning down Marsin and the Elector. Meanwhile Marlborough moved most of his cavalry and infantry across the Nebel in the centre, where Tallard’s line was thin. Late in the afternoon a massive Allied cavalry charge broke the French centre. Tallard’s cavalry was driven back, many horsemen drowned trying to cross the Danube, and Tallard was captured near Sonderheim.

The French troops in Blenheim village were now surrounded. Clérambault had disappeared, apparently drowned in the Danube, and that evening the thousands of men in the village surrendered, many of them in tears and burning their regimental colours. Marsin and the Elector were able to withdraw their army in reasonable order.

Why the Allies won

Historians point to several factors. Marlborough’s march had concentrated a strong army where the French did not expect it, and his partnership with Eugene was unusually close and trusting. The two commanders coordinated attacks so that Eugene’s pressure on the right kept Marsin and the Elector from sending help to Tallard.

French errors also mattered. Tallard’s army was placed some distance from the Nebel, which allowed the Allies to cross the stream and form up on the far bank. The decision to crowd so many infantry battalions into Blenheim village left the French centre too weak, and Tallard’s cavalry, mounts weakened by a disease called glanders, could not stop the final Allied charge. Communications between the two halves of the Franco-Bavarian army were poor throughout the day.

Key people

• John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722), Allied commander and the dominant figure of Queen Anne’s early reign.
• Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663–1736), Imperial general and Marlborough’s close partner.
• Camille d’Hostun, Comte de Tallard (1652–1728), French marshal, captured during the battle.
• Maximilian II Emanuel (1662–1726), Elector of Bavaria, France’s main German ally.
• Ferdinand de Marsin (1656–1706), French marshal commanding beside the Elector.

By the numbers

All figures are estimates and vary between sources.

Consequences

Blenheim was France’s first great defeat in the field for decades. The Franco-Bavarian army retreated to the Rhine, and Vienna was safe. By the Treaty of Ilbersheim in November 1704, Bavaria came under Austrian occupation and the Elector went into exile in the Spanish Netherlands until the peace.

The battle changed the course of the war, though it did not end it. It held the Grand Alliance together and made Marlborough a European figure. In England, where news of the victory caused great celebration, the battle also strengthened Queen Anne’s government. Marlborough’s short note to his wife Sarah, scribbled on the back of a tavern bill, asked her to tell the Queen that her army had had a glorious victory.

Legacy

Queen Anne granted Marlborough the royal manor of Woodstock in Oxfordshire, and Parliament voted money to build him a house there. Designed by Sir John Vanbrugh and built from 1705, Blenheim Palace became one of the largest country houses in England. Disputes over its cost later damaged Marlborough’s relations with the crown. Winston Churchill was born at the palace in 1874, and it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

A series of tapestries woven in Brussels by Lambert de Hondt and others for the palace records Marlborough’s victories. Robert Southey’s anti-war poem “After Blenheim” (1796), in which a child asks what the battle was for, gave the event a more critical place in English literature. The Allies took Gibraltar in the same summer, as described in Capture of Gibraltar.

Timeline

• 1704, May: Marlborough leaves Bedburg on the march to the Danube.
• 1704, 2 July: Allied forces storm the Schellenberg at Donauwörth.
• 1704, early August: Eugene joins Marlborough; Tallard reinforces the Bavarians.
• 1704, 13 August: The Allies win the Battle of Blenheim.
• 1704, November: The Treaty of Ilbersheim places Bavaria under Austrian control.
• 1705: Building of Blenheim Palace begins at Woodstock.

Why it matters

Blenheim saved the Habsburg monarchy at a critical moment and broke the reputation of Louis XIV’s armies. It marked the rise of Britain as a major military power on the continent and remains one of the most celebrated victories in British history. The war it helped to decide ended with the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713.