Battle of Denain
| Battle of Denain | |||||||||
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| Part of the War of the Spanish Succession | |||||||||
 Marshal Villars leads the French charge at the Battle of Denain. Oil on canvas, 1839. (Galerie des Batailles, Palace of Versailles) |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Dutch Republic Holy Roman Empire
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 France
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Earl of Albemarle (POW) Eugene of Savoy
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Claude de Villars
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| Strength | |||||||||
| 120,000 | 100,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 6,500 dead, wounded, or captured | 880 dead 1,186 wounded |
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The Battle of Denain was fought on 24 July 1712, as part of the War of the Spanish Succession. It resulted in a French victory under Marshal Villars against Austrian and Dutch forces under Prince Eugene of Savoy.
The War of Spanish Succession had raged since 1701. After over a decade of war, France was in a dark period, both financially and militarily. The early victories of Marshal Villars at the Battle of Friedlingen and the Battle of Höchstadt were followed by numerous defeats to the Allied forces, most notably the armies under Prince Eugene of Savoy and the Duke of Marlborough. In 1708, after the rout of Oudenaarde, nearly all the strongholds of northern France were under the control of the Austro-British coalition. There was also an economic crisis (the winter of 1708-1709 was one of the most rigorous of the 18th century) leading to famine and high mortality in the populace.
The command of the French northern army went to Marshal Villars in 1709, who wasted no time in seeing to its reorganization. When the Allied campaign led by Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough engaged the French at Malplaquet, Villars was wounded and the French retreated from the field, but the Allies suffered twice as many casualties and their campaign soon sputtered out. France's precarious position had been stabilized, the Allies were unable to achieve their goal of forcing harsh terms on the Bourbons, and the war continued.
In May 1712, Villars prepared to take the offensive. The French gathered an army of 200,000 men on the northern border, stretching from Arras to Cambrai. The Allied northern army was positioned along the Scarpe between Douai and Marchiennes, occupying the communes of Denain and Landrecies. The successful but controversial Marlborough had recently been relieved of his command and the British forces were now under the leadership of the Duke of Ormonde, who was under secret orders not to fight alongside the Allies under the Prince of Savoy. In June, Prince Eugene besieged and captured Le Quesnoy. The Duke of Ormonde withdrew his forces during the siege, leading to a rift between the British and the rest of the Allies.
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Wikipedia