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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 The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...
, and the last major victory of
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 O.S.) was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reign ...
. 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
Douai Douai (, , ,; pcd, Doï; nl, Dowaai; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord département in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe some from Lille and from Arras, Dou ...
the previous year, manoeuvred indecisively in northern France, blocked by the French Lines of Ne Plus Ultra – a massive series of fieldworks stretching from the
Channel Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...
coast to the Ardennes at Namur. The allied army had been weakened by the withdrawal of Prince Eugene's army to cover the upper
Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...
, as the deposed
Elector of Bavaria The following is a list of rulers during the history of Bavaria. Bavaria was ruled by several dukes and kings, partitioned and reunited, under several dynasties. Since 1949, Bavaria has been a democratic state in the Federal Republic of Germ ...
attempted to take advantage of the disruption caused by the death of the Emperor
Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
. On 6 July, Marlborough captured the small fortress of Arleux, just to the north of the Lines, west of Bouchain, both to deny its use to the French as a sally-port, and to secure the water supply to Douai, which could be cut off by damming the canal that supplied the town. The Duke was then wrong-footed by Villars as the French army crossed the Lines on 22/23 July and retook Arleux, with the allied army too far to the west to intervene in time, and the defences were levelled before the French retreated back across the Lines. Marlborough, initially furious, soon retook the initiative by marching his army as if to assault the Lines near Arras, and carrying out a detailed personal reconnaissance there on 4 August in full view of Villars' covering army. That night the army struck camp, leaving their campfires burning to deceive the French, and marched eastwards to Arleux. At midnight a force from Douai under Cadogan crossed the unguarded French lines, and by 8 am the advance guard of the main army was also crossing over. Villars, arriving on the scene with a few hundred cavalry, realised he had been outmanoeuvred, and though he attempted to offer battle in front of Bourlon Wood, Marlborough declined to attack, the Marshal's position being even stronger than the one in which he had given Marlborough's army such a mauling two years earlier at Malplaquet. He thus drew off and attempted to hinder Marlborough's siege of Bouchain which followed.


The siege

To defend the town Bouchain's governor, de Ravignau, 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
Scheldt The Scheldt (french: Escaut ; nl, Schelde ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corresponding to ...
and
Sensée The Sensée (; pcd, Sinsée) is a river in northern France that crosses the département of Pas-de-Calais. The source is found at Croisilles and passes through Lécluse. It crosses the Canal du Nord at Arleux, and joins the canalized Escaut ...
. In addition, Villars' strong army had taken up position to the west of the allied camp, and had managed to open a tenuous link to the besieged garrison. Fagel, the Dutch commander who Marlborough had put in charge of the siege, responded by using earthwork gun batteries to counter Villars, used a crack assault force managed by 18 August to once more cut the Marshal's communication with Bouchain, and established a fieldwork-protected corridor from the siege camp to his main supply port at Marchiennes on the Scarpe. Frequent raids by Villars on both the supply convoys on the Scarpe, and towards Douai, failed to interrupt the siege, and the garrison marched out to become prisoners of war on 13 September 1711.


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
Duke of Ormonde The peerage title Earl of Ormond and the related titles Duke of Ormonde and Marquess of Ormonde have a long and complex history. An earldom of Ormond has been created three times in the Peerage of Ireland. History of Ormonde titles The earldom ...
, and strict limitations were placed on his freedom of movement. Particularly he was prohibited from engaging the French in battle, as Anglo-French peace talks were well advanced, and the opportunity of seizing Cambrai and marching on Paris, opened by Marlborough's gains the year before, was abandoned. Before the year was out, the British Army would withdraw from the alliance, leaving the remaining allies, under
Eugene of Savoy Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy–Carignano, (18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736) better known as Prince Eugene, was a field marshal in the army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty during the 17th and 18th centuries. He ...
to be defeated at
Denain Denain (; pcd, Dnain) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Denain had a population of 19,877, on a land area of 11.52 km² (4.448 sq mi). It is the largest of 47 communes which comprise the Communauté d'agglomération ...
. The following year, Bouchain was recaptured on 19 October 1712 by French forces under
Marshal Villars Claude Louis Hector de Villars, Prince de Martigues, Marquis then Duc de Villars, Vicomte de Melun (, 8 May 1653 – 17 June 1734) was a French military commander and an illustrious general of Louis XIV of France. He was one of only six Marshals ...
, after an 18-day siege.


Representation in art

The Siege of Bouchain may be represented in a painting, of the Flemish school.


Notes


References

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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) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bouchain 1711, Siege Of
Siege of Bouchain 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 Marlbor ...
Sieges involving France Sieges involving Great Britain Battles of the War of the Spanish Succession 1711 in France Sieges involving the Dutch Republic Battles in Hauts-de-France History of Nord (French department)