War of the Spanish Succession
On
4 May 1702 (O.S) England formally declared war on France. Marlborough was given command of the British, Dutch and hired German forces, but the command had its limitations: as Captain-General he had the power to give orders to Dutch generals only when Dutch troops were in action with his own; at all other times he had to rely on the consent of accompanying Dutch field deputies or political representatives of the
States-General – his ability to direct Allied strategy would rely on his tact and powers of persuasion. But despite being frustrated by his Dutch allies' initial lassitude to bring the French to battle, the war began well for Marlborough who managed to out-manoeuvre the French commander,
Marshal Boufflers. In 1702 he had captured
Venlo, Roermond, Stevensweert and
Liege in the
Spanish Netherlands for which, in December, a grateful Queen publicly proclaimed Marlborough a
duke.
On
9 February 1703, soon after the Marlboroughs' elevation, their daughter Elizabeth married Scroop Egerton,
Earl of Bridgewater; this was followed in the summer by an engagement between Mary and John Montagu, heir to the Earl of, and later
Duke of, Montagu, (they later married on
20 March 1705). Their two older daughters were already married:
Henrietta to Godolphin's son
Francis in April 1698, and
Anne to the hot-headed and intemperate Charles Spencer,
Earl of Sunderland in 1700. However, Marlborough's hopes of founding a great dynasty of his own reposed in his eldest and only surviving son, John, who, since his father's elevation had borne the courtesy title of Marquess of Blandford. But while studying at
Cambridge in early 1703, the 17 year-old was stricken with a severe strain of smallpox. His parents rushed to be by his side, but on Saturday morning,
20 February the boy died, plunging the duke into 'the greatest sorrow in the world'; he later lamented to
Lord Ailesbury – "I have lost what is so dear to me."
Bearing his grief, and leaving Sarah to hers, the Duke returned to The Hague at the beginning of March. By now Boufflers had been replaced by
Marshal Villeroi as commander in the Spanish Netherlands, but although Marlborough was able to take
Bonn, Huy, and
Limbourg in 1703, continuing Dutch hesitancy prevented him from bringing the French in Flanders to a decisive battle. Domestically the Duke also encountered resistance. Both he and Godolphin were hampered by, and often at variance with, their
High Tory colleagues who, rather than advocating a European policy, favoured the full employment of the
Royal Navy in pursuit of trade advantages and colonial expansion overseas. For their part, the
Whigs, although enthusiastic for the European strategy, had dropped all pretence at supporting the conduct of the war, accounting Marlborough and Godolphin guilty of failing to provide gains commensurate with the funds generously granted them in Parliament. The moderate Tory ministry of Marlborough and Godolphin found itself caught between the political extremes. However, Marlborough, whose diplomatic tact had held together a very discordant Grand Alliance, was now a general of international repute, and the limited success of 1703, was soon eclipsed by the Blenheim campaign of 1704.
Pressed by the French and Bavarians to the west and
Hungarian rebels to the east,
Austria faced the real possibility of being forced out of the war. Concerns over
Vienna and the need to ensure the continuing involvement of Emperor
Leopold I in the Grand Alliance, had convinced Marlborough of the necessity of sending aid to the
Danube; but the scheme of seizing the initiative from the enemy was extremely bold. From the start the Duke resolved to mislead the Dutch who would never willingly permit any major weakening of the Allied forces in the Spanish Netherlands. To this end, Marlborough moved his English troops to the
Moselle, (a plan approved of by The Hague), but once there, he resolved to slip the Dutch leash and march south to link up with Austrian forces in southern Germany.
A combination of strategic deception and brilliant administration enabled Marlborough to achieve his purpose. After covering approximately 250 miles in five weeks, Marlborough – together with
Prince Eugene of Savoy – delivered a crushing defeat of the Franco-Bavarian forces at the
Battle of Blenheim. The whole campaign, which historian John Lynn describes as one of the greatest examples of marching and fighting before
Napoleon, had been a model of planning, logistics and tactical skill, the successful outcome of which had altered the course of the conflict – Bavaria and
Cologne were knocked out of the war, and Louis' hopes of an early victory were destroyed. The campaign continued with the capture of
Landau on the
Rhine, followed by
Trier and
Trarbach on the Moselle. With these successes, Marlborough now stood as the foremost soldier of the age; even the Tories, who had declared that should he fail they would "break him up like hounds on a hare", could not entirely restrain their patriotic admiration.
The Queen lavished upon her favourite the royal manor of
Woodstock and the promise of a fine
palace commemorative of his great victory, but since her accession, her relationship with Sarah had become progressively distant. The Duke and Duchess had risen to greatness not least because of their intimacy with Anne, but Sarah had tired of petty ceremony and formality of court life and increasingly found her mistress's company wearisome. For her part, Anne, now Queen of England and no longer the timid adolescent so easily dominated by her more beautiful friend, had grown tired of Sarah's tactless political hectoring and increasingly haughty manner.
After the success of Blenheim, the campaign of 1705 brought little reason for satisfaction on the continent. Endless delays and evasions from his allies had once again frustrated Marlborough's attempts at any major offensive. "I find so little zeal for the common cause that it is enough to break a better heart than mine," he confided to
Anthonie Heinsius. Although Marlborough had been able to
penetrate the Lines of
Brabant in July, Allied indecision had prevented the Duke from pressing his advantage. But if 1705 had proved frustrating, 1706 was to provide ample compensation.
On
23 May 1706, near the village of
Ramillies in the Spanish Netherlands, Marlborough inflicted "the most shameful, humiliating and disastrous of routs" on French forces, this time commanded by Marshal Villeroi. Town after town fell, but although the campaign was not decisive, it was an unsurpassed operational triumph for the English general. When Marlborough eventually closed down the Ramillies campaign, he had completed the conquest of almost all the Spanish Netherlands. Good news also arrived from the Italian front – Prince Eugène had routed the French army at
Turin.
