Siege of Bouchain (1711)
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Siege of Bouchain | |||||||
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Part of the War of the Spanish Succession | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
France[1] | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Duke of Marlborough François Nicolas Fagel | Ravignan | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
30,000[2] | 5,000[2] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
3,000 killed[2] |
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The siege of Bouchain (9 August – 12 September 1711), following the Passage of the Lines of Ne Plus Ultra (5 August 1711), was a siege of the War of the Spanish Succession, and the last major victory of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. Marlborough and François Nicolas Fagel broke through the French defensive lines and took Bouchain after a siege of 34 days. Its capture left Cambrai the only French-held fortress between the allied army and Paris.
Prelude
Throughout the early summer of 1711 Marlborough's army, having taken the important fortress of
The siege
To defend the town Bouchain's governor, de Ravignan, had some 5,000 men against Marlborough's besieging army of 30,000, and the advantage of one of the strongest fortresses left to France, surrounded by the marshy land of the confluence of the rivers
Aftermath
Bouchain was Marlborough's last campaign. On the last day of the year he was stripped of his position as Captain-General, and of all his other offices. Command of the army on the continent for the campaign of 1712 was given to the
The following year,
Representation in art
The Siege of Bouchain may be represented in a painting, of the Flemish school.[4]
Notes
- ^
- "... the standard of France was white, sprinkled with golden fleur de lis ..." (Ripley & Dana 1879, p. 250).
- On the reverse of this plate it says: "Le pavillon royal était véritablement le drapeau national au dix-huitième siecle ... Vue du chateau d'arrière d'un vaisseau de guerre de haut rang portant le pavillon royal (blanc, avec les armes de France)" (Vinkhuijzen collection 2011).
- "The oriflamme and the Chape de St Martin were succeeded at the end of the 16th century, when Henry III., the last of the house of Valois, came to the throne, by the white standard powdered with fleurs-de-lis. This in turn gave place to the famous tricolour"(Chisholm 1911, p. 460).
- ^ a b c d Bodart 1908, p. 166.
- ^ Ostwald, J. Vauban Under Siege: Engineering Efficiency and Martial Vigor in the War of the Spanish Succession. pp. 190–256.
- ^ "Image". Siege of a fortified town one of a pair. Milan, Italy: Bigli Art Broker listing.
References
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 454–463.
- Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A., eds. (1879). "Flag". The American Cyclopædia. Vol. 8. p. 250.
- "The Vinkhuijzen collection of military uniforms: France, 1750-1757". New York Public Library. 25 March 2011 [2004]. Archived from the original on 6 April 2015.
Further reading
Chandler, D. G.: Marlborough as Military Commander (1989 ed.), (Spellmount Publishers Ltd, 2003)
Hussey, J.: Marlborough: Hero of Blenheim, (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2004)
Ostwald, J. Vauban Under Siege: Engineering Efficiency and Martial Vigor in the War of the Spanish Succession. (Brill publishers, 2006)
- Bodart, Gaston (1908). Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618–1905). Retrieved 3 February 2023.