The Story of Britain by Patrick Dillon

Author:Patrick Dillon [Dillon, Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781406345919
Publisher: Walker Books Ltd.
Published: 2012-05-03T04:00:00+00:00

Marlborough’s War

AT just that time, though, the British showed how much they could achieve if they only worked together.

Louis XIV, France’s Sun King, didn’t like Britain’s Glorious Revolution because James II was a friend of his, while William of Orange was his deadliest enemy; so for most of William’s reign, Britain and France were at war. But although the war went on for nine years, Louis couldn’t beat the English and Scots, and another war started after Anne became queen. It began with an argument over who should be the next king of Spain, so it was called the War of the Spanish Succession.

“This is our chance to smash the British once and for all!” roared Louis as he ordered his generals to get ready.

But Britain was allied with Austria (which was a huge empire in those days) and had a brilliant general to lead its army – John Churchill.

Churchill had realized that the most successful armies weren’t always the largest, or even the bravest, but the ones who were commanded most cleverly. He was skilled at getting his soldiers into just the right position for a battle, and surprising his enemies by attacking when they least expected it.

He first beat the French at the Battle of Blenheim, in southern Germany. Thinking he was far away, the French had attacked Austria, but Churchill marched his soldiers two hundred miles, took them by surprise and defeated them.

After that, he beat the French again and again, at the battles of Oudenarde, Ramillies and Malplaquet. To thank him for all his victories, the government made him duke of Marlborough, and built him a mansion outside Oxford called Blenheim Palace.

Not long before, Europeans had joked that Britain was “the land of revolutions”. But in the War of the Spanish Succession the British showed they could defeat the strongest country in the world.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.