Battle of Oudenarde

Overview

The Battle of Oudenarde, also known as the Battle of Oudenaarde, was a major engagement of the War of the Spanish Succession, pitting an Anglo-Dutch force consisting of eighty thousand men under the command of the Duke of Marlborough, Lord Overkirk and Prince Eugene of Savoy against a French force of eighty-five thousand men under the command of the Duc de Bourgogne and the Duc de Vendôme, the battle resulting in a great victory for the Grand Alliance. The battle was fought near the city of Oudenaarde, at the time part of the Spanish Netherlands, on 11 July 1708. With this victory, the Grand Alliance ensured the fall of various French territories, giving them a significant strategic and tactical advantage during this stage of the war. The battle was fought in the later years of the war, a conflict that had come about as a result of English, Dutch and Habsburg apprehension at the possibility of a Bourbon succeeding the deceased King of Spain, Charles II, and combining their two nations and empires into one.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Oudenarde, fought on 11 July 1708 near the city of Oudenaarde in the Spanish Netherlands, was a major engagement of the War of the Spanish Succession in which an Anglo-Dutch force under the Duke of Marlborough, Lord Overkirk, and Prince Eugene of Savoy defeated a French army under the Duc de Bourgogne and the Duc de Vendôme. French casualties, estimated between 9,000 and 14,000, substantially exceeded those of the Grand Alliance, which suffered between 3,000 and 6,000. The victory delivered a significant strategic and tactical advantage to the Grand Alliance at a late stage of the war, securing the fall of various French-held territories in the region. The War of the Spanish Succession had been set in motion by English, Dutch, and Habsburg concern over the prospect of a Bourbon monarch uniting the Spanish and French crowns and empires; Oudenarde reinforced the Alliance's capacity to press that objective and constrain French ambitions in the Spanish Netherlands.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (5)