French School, Last Quarter Of The 18th Century, The Battle Of Denain

French school, last quarter of the 18th century

The Battle of Denain

Oil on circular paper, diameter 8 cm

With frame, cm 13.5 x 13.5

The Battle of Denain was fought on 24 July 1712, in the context of the War of the Spanish Succession, and saw the victory of the French army led by Marshal Claude de Villars against the Austro-Dutch forces of Prince Eugene of Savoy. After 11 years of war - the struggle for the succession to the Spanish throne began in 1701 - France was going through a difficult period both financially and militarily. Villars’s initial victories at the battles of Friedlingen and Höchstadt were followed by a series of defeats at the hands of Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough. In 1708, following the Battle of Oudenaarde, almost all the fortresses of Northern France were in the hands of the Austro-British coalition. In addition, the economic crisis and the very harsh winter of 1708 had led to a severe famine. In 1709, the command of the northern French army was entrusted to Villars who immediately began a reorganization of the forces at his disposal. The first effects of this turn came in the Battle of Malplaquet, where Villars - who was wounded in combat -inflicted on the troops of Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough twice as many casualties as he had sustained and, above all, he prevented his opponents from imposing their own conditions on the king of France. In May 1712 Villars, having gathered 200,000 men, was able to resume the offensive along the northern border, near Arras and Cambrai. The Austro-Dutch army was positioned along the river Scarpe between Douai and Marchiennes and occupied the towns of Denain and Landrecies.