Cauldron - A Military History Podcast

Battle of Blenheim 13 August 1704

Episode Summary

“For this campaign I see so very ill a prospect that I am extremely out of heart.” So wrote the man most responsible for today’s battle and one of Britain’s greatest military victories, the battle of Blenheim.

Episode Notes

“For this campaign I see so very ill a prospect that I am extremely out of heart.” 

So wrote the man most responsible for today’s battle and one of Britain’s greatest military victories, the battle of Blenheim.

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Episode Transcription

“For this campaign I see so very ill a prospect that I am extremely out of heart.” 

So wrote the man most responsible for today’s battle and one of Britain’s greatest military victories, the battle of Blenheim.

Alright, thanks for joining me again guys! Sorry for the delay but as a fishmonger in Maine, the summer season is the busiest time of the year and so things get bumpy. That being said I’m sticking to it and more episodes are coming! In the pipeline I have Marengo, Assaye, Tannenberg, and the invasion of Poland, Fallujah all mixed in with a couple less famous battles which being smaller and less well known should be easier to pump out. Ok, enough, let’s hop in the way-back machine and head to August 13th, 1704.

As I have covered before in the lead up to this episode and is made clear by the quote to start this episode, Marlborough went into the 1704 campaign season somewhat less than optimistic. His situation strategically was indeed grim - it was true that the English and Dutch fleets had control of the seas and coasts and that he himself had won a few small but impressive victories in the first two years of the War of the Spanish Succession but the odds where stacked in the enemy's favor. France’s Louis the 14th, the Sun King, was keen to see his grandson sit the throne of Spain, especially since that country’s last ruler had willed his kingdom to Louis’s grandson Philip of Anjou. This would complete a decades long struggle to join the two crowns and once and for all forestall the feared Habsburg encirclement of France. As the leading military force in Europe at this point in time France was on good footing to ensure that Louis got what he wanted. 

Two years in and French armies threatened the Dutch Republic's southern flank, maneuvered along the Rhine freely, had flipped the powerful south German state of Bavaria, and had armies roaming Northern Italy. Added to these clear threats, each singularly would be enough to keep a commander up at night, Marlborough had to consider a Hungarian uprising and a Dutch ally that was proving needy and clingy, and rightfully so; they had Louis’s eye of Sauron blazing at them from Versailles. But Marlborough’s war was a coalition one and he had to do everything in his power to keep that coalition strong while still achieving his main objective; the destruction of the enemy in the field. 

In a startlingly successful march from the Rhine to the Danube Marlborough struck a masterful blow against his enemy and fooled his allies. He moved south with such speed and with such seeming lack of destination that both friend and foe assumed he was doing anything but the thing he was actually doing - aiming for Vienna. He recognized that if the French armies of Tallard, Valleroi, the Elector of Bavaria, and the forces in Northern Italy could combine near the Austrian capital city they would have an overwhelming superiority. Added to that the potential for the Hungarian rebels to join up with the French and you had the makings for an unmitigated disaster, likely a war winning one for the French. Marlborough’s brilliant march, in the words of one soldier “Surely never was such a march carried on with more regularity and with less fatigue to man or horse.”, traveled 250 miles in a touch over five weeks. Most armies in history on this kind of march at that speed would have arrived half dead and in chaos, if they arrived at all. Not so with Marlborough’s men; the attention to detail, regular stops with cook fire’s and tents waiting, fresh shoes halfway through the march, food and fodder depots all along his seemingly willy nilly path, meant that Marlborough’s army arrived in Bavaria in fine fighting form. 

The French realized after Marlborough passed Alsace (they had assumed that to be his target) what he was up to but he’d stolen many a march. They had to scramble to try and converge on the coalition army before it started picking off the far flung French armies one by one. Tallard ran south to meet up with the Count of Marsin and the Elector of Bavaria who were doing their best to slow Marlborough down. Marlborough wasn’t alone though, his right hand man the Prince Eugene of Savoy, a military man and mind of no small talent in his own right, was rushing south to his side. Once together they would have an army some 52-4k strong with 60+cannon. Checkout the last episode to find out what happened at the battle of Schellenberg, the lead up to Blenheim. Suffice to say though that even with some hard fighting and heavy losses Marlborough was having things his way. He had a set line of communication, he had bases of operation on both banks of the mighty Danube and most importantly of all, he had the enemy reacting, moving to his tune. This we will see becomes his greatest weapon.

After the victorious slaughter at Schellenberg Marlborough, to his shame, set his forces against the countryside of Bavaria. In an odd historical twist, the English waged something of a large scale Chevuchee, the medieval French raiding tactic against the countryside to try to get a castle to submit, in an attempt to get the Elector to save his country and turn back to the coalition side. It didn’t work and the murder, torching, pilliaging and raping was for naught. Interestingly in his bio of his ancestor, Winston Churchill defends these actions as right and necessary -----, interesting given what Churchill would later do to the german cities in WWII. No judgment, just an interesting historical mirror moment.

While savagely traipsing around the Bavarian countryside did nothing to turn the Elector it did however give Tallard time to reach Marsin and the Elector’s forces. Marlborough realized that facing these three enemies was going to be a nasty fight; if the French forces in Italy moved up and joined, he’d be in the weeds for sure. Even though it lowered his effective fighting force on the field, Marlborough dispatched a force of men to the Italian borderlands to hold the enemy in place. Addition by subtraction he hoped. While Marlborough did this hard math he and Eugene finally met face to face for a late night conference on August the fifth. It was there that Eugene was sent with a force to take the fortress at Ingolstadt on the north bank of the Danube, while Marlborough planned to move to the south bank and present the French with the horns of a dilemma. And that was indeed the case as Tallard had to choose what kind of fight he wanted. 

A rational general fully aware of the power of the defense, Tallard wanted to sit tight and build an effective base of operations, from which he could harass Marlborough's Danube campaign into the fall and were if attacked he’d be reasonably sure of safety. His co-commanders, Marsin and the Elector, however wanted to press on. After their recent defeats they felt emboldened by the powerful reinforcements of Tallards French army. The two men clamored for Tallard to get after their wily enemy before he had the time or ability to pull any tricks on them. It was decided on the 9th to strike Prince Eugene’s army on the north bank of the Danube on the Hochstadt plain. Tallard, not unintelligently, wanted to use overwhelming force on the smaller coalition force, hoping that Marlborough, on the south bank, would be unable to come up in support. Once Eugene’s army was done in, Marlborough would be alone and hunted and Vienna once again open to assault. 

By the next day Prince Eugene fully recognized his danger and fell back on Schellenberg/Donaworth, while also sending a rider to his comrade Marlborough notifying him of the situation and requesting a meet up at the village. Not for the first or the last time, the working relationship and mutual respect between these great commanders was on full display, as Marlborough received the note from Eugene and without reservation or question he pushed his men hard for Donaworth. On the 11th the Coalition Army was united, the two generals went out in search of the French. On the 12th they found them, behind the small Danube tributary, the river Nebel, were they had dug in and fortified the village of Blenheim. The French believed they where in a strong enough position that nobody but a fool would attack them. Indeed, one witness recalled “That night spirits where at their highest in the Franco-Bavarian camp, for no one doubted that Marlborough and Eugene would be forced to withdraw.” Tallard, the French commander, even wrote to his master at Versailles that the situation was in hand and he was planning to pursue the coalition army. Events unfolded differently than he anticipated they would do. 

Here really quick I want to urge you guys to check out ----

Observing the French from Wolperstten, the Coalition army noticed that they were outnumbered in men and guns- 56-60k French and 90+guns to Marlborough's 52k and 60+ guns. Worse still, the French had made good use of their time in adding man-made defenses to the natural, which were, if not formidable, at the least challenging. Tallard formed his forces into a line stretched across just a tick over three miles long. On the far right he anchored his army in the village of Blenheim, which though not impenetrable, was surrounded by ditches, fences, outbuildings, and various impediments. The town sat at the point where the Nebel river ran into the Danube. One of Europe’s mightiest rivers guarded Tallard’s right and the Nebel with its parallel running marshes ran along almost his entire frontage. The Nebel itself was fordable, but the marshes on either side would certainly bog down Marlborough’s forces catching them in withering artillery fire with no recourse but to move onwards, Tallard rightly surmised. At about the center of the line was the village of Oberglau, fortified much the same as Blenheim, and again not impossible to capture but by no means a simple task for the Coalition forces. From there the French line ran to its very far left flank at the town of Lutzingen. Again, a town with easily converted and defended structures and instead of the swift Danube as protection, Lutzingen had to its left the hills and dense forests of southern Germany. The forces that moved against Tallard’s left would have much further to go and would need to cross heavily brambled thickets sprinkled with streams, bogs, marsh, and ditches. 

There are many aspects to good generalship, and neither having commanded men in battle nor fought anything more than a drunken dustup I make no claim to some secret knowledge. That being said, I’ve read; a lot. And the one thing among many that comes up time and again when looking at the great commanders is their uncanny ability to force their enemy to fight the battle they themselves want. It’s some kind of sleight of hand that boxes an opponent into a position where they feel compelled to react, even in cases when they have the upper hand. Blenheim is an excellent case study for this, as Tallard had all the right cards and Marlborough, though not having nothing, brought a knife to a gun fight and won. He did this by playing into his enemies' fears. 

Before dawn on the 13th Marlborough dispatched Eugene on his mission; attack the French left flank, Marzin and the Elector who had 20k+ men, with a coalition force of just over 15k. Marlborough made it clear to his friend and cohort, this attack had to be vicious and would likely be a slog, with many casualties taken. It had to not only look like the main push, but it had to feel that way to Eugene’s counterparts. Because, Marlborough explained, they needed to feel so hard pressed that when the real attack came across the Nebel with the coalition force of 36k from Oberglau to Blenheim, Marzin and the Elector needed to feel like they couldn’t part with a single man to lend Tallard’s 33k then under attack. Added to the attack on the French left by Eugene, Marlborough stacked up a heavy column under Lt Gen John Cutts, and like a battering ram pointed him at Blenheim itself. The idea here is that with both flanks engulfed Tallard would so weaken his center that when the main attack came the French line would fold from the middle out. Picture an inch roll of silly putty or playdough; when it's compact it’s strong but as you pull on each end eventually the center sags and breaks. This was Marlborough’s hope, the French reserves will be distributed to the left and right leaving nothing but a thin white line of French forces in the center. 

The French did come up with what against a normal enemy would likely have been a sound plan. They would use their advantage in artillery to hammer the enemy approach and then let them cross the Nebel with their infantry. Then at what Tallard hoped was the correct moment, the French cavalry would swoop in and cut down the exhausted coalition infantry. The towns of Blenheim and Oberglau were stuffed with men and cannon to make them not only deadly to attack but to work as bastions and flanking attack launch pads once Marlborough struck. Against another foe this probably works.

By mid-morning Marlborough hoped to have the deployment phase done. I could go into the minutiae of all the various battalions, squadrons, and such but it’s a lot and I encourage you, if that kind of thing is your bailiwick go seek it out. The source material is available, just shoot me a dm or email.

Marlborough was hoping Eugene would be in place by 10-11am but that rough terrain we talked about earlier slowed his men down considerably. The Prussians and Danes under Eugene would prove themselves exceptionally hard fighters but even they couldn’t make any kind of speed in the junk on the French left. While they slogged along, on the French right Cutts had his bulldozer column ready and pointed at Blenheim. Unfortunately for them, Marlborough’s plan was all about timing and the two flank attacks had to happen simultaneously for greatest effect. For two hours Cutts' men stood awaiting the word to attack all the while getting smashed up by French cannon. 

But for all the bloody punishment they endured it was Cutts’ men that sealed the deal for the French at the very beginning of the battle. At 1pm a rider alerted Marlborough that Eugene was in position and shortly would begin his attack if it pleased his friend. Undoubtedly chuffed MArlborough said it would very much please him and would Eugene please begin. He then turned another rider loose towards Cutts imploring him to begin his assault on Blenheim. Cutts’ men where frothing and attacked with great vigor but the first strike faltered. Chaos reigned and a second attack, just as bloody and vigorous, was also pushed back. It’s at this point that a foolish French commander saw shadows. He believed the day would be won or lost in the little village of Blenheim and without checking in with his CO he sent Tallard’s reserve into the little village. The French numerical superiority was shot all to hell, as Tallard’s entire tactical reserve crammed into the town. Not only did they serve no purpose, they actively hindered the fighting as French soldiers where so packed in that nobody could figure out what was going on. Marlborough realized the French in Blenheim didn’t need to die, they just needed to be penned up. He ordered Cutts to hold the enemy in Blenheim in Blenheim, essentially putting under house arrest around 10k French troops at minimal cost to the Coalition numbers. 

On the left flank of the French Eugene was doing some hot work. He and his men where outnumbered and outgunned, but they persisted. Eugene understood the intricacies of Marlborough’s plan and he got that his continued attacks, even in the face of withering cannon crossfire from Lutzingen and Oberglau, where essential to the whole thing working. The Prussian and Danish infantry crossed the Nebel again and again only to be sent reeling back across the little river. At one point the two sides' cavalry clashed so fiercely that even though the French side won, it was too exhausted to pursue. The only thing that kept Eugene and his men in the fight was the presence, courage, and leadership of Eugene himself, and the fact that the French forces where just as tired, beat up, and as much in disarray as the coalition forces. 

While the fighting on either flank intensified and continued the two generals, Tallard and MArlborough, stared across the Nebel trying to decipher the other’s plan. By mid afternoon Marlborogh was on the move urging his infantry and cavalry across the marshland and towards Tallard’s forces. The British general sent forward a cavalry force to mix it up with the French special Gendarme cavalry and surprisingly they sent the famous French riders running. This was good news for Marlborough and bleak stuff for Tallard. He immediately went to MArzin looking to siphon off some troops from the left flank, and it’s here we see MArlborough’s plan panning out. MArzin and the Elector declared that they where far too hard pressed to spare a man and that Tallard was on his own. Still Tallard had a strong defensive line anchored by Oberglau on the left, if he could make a wedge between the coalition forces he might be able to save the day. Marlborough realized that the town of Oberglau had to be taken or neutralized before he sent his full force across the Nebel. If it wasn't, Oberglau would be a staging position for Tallard to devastate the Coalition army’s flank and roll up Marlborough’s entire front. 

A Dutch column was sent to take the town but heavy French fire, supported by the “Wild Geese'' a famous group of Irish warriors fighting under King Louie's banner, cut them down. Every general’s worst nightmare now came to MArlborough, a gap was forming in his line and if the French filled it the jig was up. Gaps, especially in a line, especially in this time period and when dealing with coalition forces, often proved the nail in the coffin of even great commanders. On the modern battlefield tactics are obviously less rigid and keeping line integrity isn’t a priority, if it’s even considered; but still, no soldier in any war in any period wants to look over, or worse behind, and see an enemy force where they should see friendlies. For the first time in the battle Marsin looked not to the fight in front of him but to Tallard and the grander scope. He sent a cavalry force at full tilt into the gap, heading at speed into Marlborough’s now exposed flank. 

Once more the bond of Marlborough and Eugene proved its mettle; the British commander urgently requested aid from his hard pressed friend and without thought or resistance Eugene delivered. He sent curiassers careening into Marsin’s cavalry, thereby dispersing the threat to Marlborough and assisting in the neutralization of Oberglau. From that point on the battle was all but decided. 

By 5 oclock, after allowing some time for Eugene to reestablish his line, the entire coalition army moved forward. One account writing “With trumpets blaring and kettle drums crashing and stndards tossinf proudly above the plumage and the steel, the two long lines, perfectly timed from end to end, swung into a trot, that quickened ever as they closed upon the French.” The French cavalry, exhausted and unsupported, somehow managed to push the front line of Marlborough’s attack back, but they soon overstretched themselves and collapsed under the counterattack fleeing pell mell from the field. Then with momentum on their side the coalition forces swamped the French infantry. One witness wrote "[They] died to a man where they stood, stationed right out in the open plain – supported by nobody." At this point in the battle, like in all pre-modern fighting the casualties sky-rocketed. Fleeing horsemen ran into the Danube, where thousands of Frenchmen and their sorry mounts drowned. Infantry, out in the open and without cavalry support, where ridden down in droves. Hundreds of desperate last stands blossomed, withered, and died all across the plain between Sonderheim and Blenheim. Even Tallard himself, trying to salvage some kind of fighting force, found himself encircled and imprisoned. Upon being handed over to Marlborough, the British general displaying the etiquette of the time and a kind of grudging sportsmanship the british warrior is famous for, said to Tallard "I am very sorry that such a cruel misfortune should have fallen upon a soldier for whom I have the highest regard." He the penned on the back of a napkin a now famous note to his wife “I have not time to say more, but to beg you will give my duty to the queen, and let her know her army has had a glorious victory.”

On the French left the fighting raged on. Eugene again saw his cavalry repulsed and after repeated failures he’d had enough. Charging with the men in a last-dash onslaught, the coalition forces finally took the guns near Lutzingen. Marsin and the Elector saw how the day was playing out and like the rest of the French army turned tail and ran. The fighting had been too hard in this sector for any kind of organized pursuit to follow up victory but the win was so complete Eugne can be forgiven this little thing. Meanwhile, across the long field of battle Blenheim still stood, bristling with French guns and defenders; surrounded but unbeaten. For hours the coalition forces assaulted and for hours they where pushed back. With the village burning and the enemy at hand and their main army destroyed the defenders of Blenheim eventually saw sense and parlied. 10k French warriors became POWs without having had a real hand in the overall battle. 

“Such was the celebrated battle, which the French call the battle of Hochstadt, the Germans Plentheim, and the English Blenheim. The conquerors had about 5k killed and 8k wounded, the greater part being on the side of Prince Eugene. The French army was almost entirely destroyed: of 60k, so long victorious,there never reassembled more than 20k effectives. About 12k killed, 14k prisoners, all the cannon, a prodigious number of colours and standards, all the tents and equipages, the general of the army, 1,200 officers of mark, in the power of the conqueror, signalised the day!” wrote Voltaire years after the battle. 

The battle ended with a resounding coalition victory and because the man that delivered it was from the tiny island in the north that victory had a decidedly British bent to it, in Churchill’s summation Blenheim “changed the political axis of the world.”Almost 30k Frenchmen lay dead, wounded, or imprisoned. For his part Marlborough had lost a touch over 10k, sizable for sure but as far as butcher’s bills go, not bad. The real aftermath was in the strategic realm. The field of Blenheim meant nothing really, other than it was the place chosen to have this fight out. Schellenberg was more strategically important. But the toll Blenheim took on French credibility cannot be overstated. It was the first truly disastrous defeat in the long reign of Louis the Sun King. French armies, before the battle the most feared and experienced in the world, where shown for what they where; simply men, capable of being poorly led and beaten, just like any other army. The Elector of Bavaria lost his kingdom for all intents and purposes, for the rest of the war the coalition would have total access to Bavaria's many resources. Added to that, the Habsburgs and Vienna where now safe and would continue the war with vigor. Which was needed as the war raged on for another decade, but never again did the French have the power to dictate events or much prospect of victory. And the real historical truth was that at Blenheim Marlborough ensured British dominance over the sea and an outsized influence on the continent for the next 200 years, albeit with a few hiccups along the way, looking at you Boney!

Blenheim was the birthplace of one Winston Spencer Churchill by the by and if anyone has pics of the place I’d love to share them!