"Admittedly the Battle of Blenheim is not exactly an "obscure battle," at least to seasoned history buffs and wargamers. So you may wonder why I'd write an article about so momentous an event under my inconsistently themed blog title. In fact, in terms of its historic significance it probably ranks up there with Waterloo, Gettysburg, and Stalingrad.
Many far better authors have given us thumpingly good narratives of Blenheim, not the least of whom is Winston Churchill in his epic biography of his ancestor, the First Duke of Marlborough (and my ancestor, too…at least obliquely…on Marlborough's wife's side). Toward the end of this post I will add a bibliography of excellent works on the Great Battle for those of you interested in what really happened.
The purpose of this arrogant submission, then, is to indulge in my own take on this battle, which I hope is itself obscure--if not downright quirky. And I'll also offer some considerations for playing it as a wargame.
However, so that you don't have to read the whole post to find out what my point is, let me jump to the chase and claim that Blenheim seems to me like an another object lesson in success-induced failure.
In abstract, my thesis is that the French, who had, from Rocroi in 1643 clear up to 1704, been the world's Super Power. They had enjoyed an uninterrupted record of military success for the last sixty years of the 17th century and were just too cocky to take the battle seriously. They "phoned it in" as they say in Hollywood of has-been performers. In fact, the French commanders couldn't even believe that Marlborough and Eugene, lining up opposite them the morning of August 13th, were actually intending on attacking them. It looked like a bluff, one they had seen many times during the first two years of the war. The French and their allies, the Bavarians, had superior numbers, a superior defensive position, and a far more professional army of veterans. Moreover, they had contempt for the English troops and their hodge-podge of German allies. Their opponents weren't "real soldiers." It reminds me of the taunting by the French knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, "You don' frighten us, you English pig dogs!"…"
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