Friedrich Engels

Blindheim

Written about 28 January 1858.

From the English.

[“The New American Cyclopædia”, Vol. III]

Blindheim, or Blenheim, a village about 23 miles from Augsburg in Bavaria, the scene of a great battle fought on 13 August 1704 between the English and Austrians under Marlborough and Prince Eugene, and the French and Bavarians under Marshal Tallard, Marsin, and the Elector of Bavaria, Maximilian II Emanuel. The Austrian states being threatened by a direct invasion on the part of Germany, Marlborough hurried from Flanders to their aid. The Allies agreed to remain on the defensive in Italy, the Netherlands, and on the Lower Rhine, and to concentrate all their available troops on the Danube. After the storming of the Bavarian entrenchments on the Schellenberg, Marlborough crossed the Danube and joined Eugene, after which both at once marched directly to attack the enemy. They came upon him behind the marshy ground of the Nebel, flanked by the strongly held villages of Blindheim and Kitzingen. The French held the right wing, the Bavarians the left. Their line of battle was nearly five miles wide; each army had its cavalry on the flanks, so that part of the centre was formed by the French as well as by the Bavarian cavalry. Nevertheless, according to the rules of tactics then in force, the position had still not been taken up correctly. The mass of the French infantry, 27 battalions, was crammed into Blindheim, consequently in a position which, for troops of the then organisation, who were only used for fighting in line on open ground, was completely hopeless. The attack of the English and Austrians, however, surprised them in this dangerous situation, and Marlborough very soon took advantage of all the opportunities the occasion offered him.

After he had attacked Blindheim in vain, he suddenly concentrated his main force against the centre and, with it, broke through the centre of his opponent. Eugene easily dealt with the Bavarians thus isolated and took up the general pursuit, while Marlborough, after having completely cut off the retreat of the 18,000 Frenchmen enclosed in Blindheim, forced them to lay down their arms. Among them was Marshal Tallard. The total losses of the French and Bavarians amounted to 33,000 killed, wounded, and prisoners, those of the victors about 11,000 men. The battle decided the campaign; Bavaria fell into the hands of the Austrians, and the prestige of Louis XIV was gone.

This battle is of the highest interest with regard to tactics, since it shows very clearly the immense difference between the tactics of that time and those of today. The very circumstance which one would now regard as one of the greatest advantages for a defensive position, namely the possession of two villages in front of the flanks, was, with 18th-century troops, the cause of defeat. At that time the infantry was completely incapable of that sort of skirmishing and apparently irregular combat which today make a village of stone houses, occupied by good troops, almost impregnable. This battle is generally called in France and on the Continent the Battle of Höchstädt, after a small town of that name situated nearby, which had already become known through a battle fought there on 20 September of the preceding year.