The Military Campaign of 1703 in the Netherlands according to the Correspondence and Memoirs of Its Participants

Abstract

The article studies the military campaign of 1703 in the Netherlands of the War of the Spanish Succession of 1701– 1714. The presented campaign, still undervalued by military historiography, is the most typical of the European military art of the early 18th century. The article shows the activities of the Anglo-Dutch and French command in the planning and organizing of military operations. Based on the correspondence of Louis XIV, Duke of Marlborough, French Marshals Villeroy and Bouffler, the article traces the course of the fighting in Flanders and Brabant in the summer and autumn of 1703. At the same time, the war is considered as a combination of careful maneuvering and rapid marches, false demonstrations and decisive strikes, methodical sieges of fortresses and unexpected breakthroughs of fortified lines. As a result, the little-known stage of the War of the Spanish Succession of 1701–1714 is studied in detail.On the example of the above-mentioned campaign, the article reveals such features of Western European military affairs as the limited operational goals and plans, positional nature of strategy, rejection of decisive forms of struggle, commitment to siege warfare and maneuver tactics, increasing role of engineering and fortification and rear services, communications and logistics.