THE WAR OF AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION
French Marshal Maurice de Saxe earned a formidable battlefield reputation during the second phase of the war
Operations had already opened in the Low Countries when the Austrians and Prussians ended hostilities for the second time. The French had made inroads into the Austrian Netherlands in 1744, and the next year Marshal Maurice de Saxe persuaded his political masters that a renewed assault on the Low Countries would be the best way of straining British resources. Worries over a potential rebellion in Scotland meant that Britain had one eye on the situation at home and one on the continent, and Saxe took advantage, launching an offensive against the most important of the so-called Dutch ‘barrier forts’, Tournai.
The move drew out the British and forced them to face Saxe with a Dutch-German-English army commanded by the Duke of Cumberland – the two armies met at the Battle of Fontenoy (11 May 1745). They were more or less equal in size, but their commanders were in stark contrast. Saxe had already demonstrated an eye for strategy and now proved his worth as a battlefield tactician, outclassing Cumberland.
Critically, Saxe had a realistic assessment of his infantry’s capabilities – he did not rate them highly and therefore put them in a strong defensive position and invited the Pragmatic Army to attack. Obliging his opponent, Cumberland failed to secure solid intelligence on enemy numbers, and believed that the main French line comprised the vast bulk of their army. He therefore ignored strong French positions on their flanks and instead launched a powerful attack on the centre.
Legend has it that British Guards, occupying the front rank of the advancing troops, invited their French counterparts to fire the first volley. Whether or not this is true, the French did fire first, and the British were then able to advance and deliver a far more devastating volley of their own. Even though Cumberland’s infantry broke the French and then held firm against a cavalry counterattack, Saxe was able to use the men from his flanks to wrap around Cumberland’s ranks, employing field artillery to force the Allies to withdraw. French losses were steep, at around 6,000 of the 50,000 who took part in the battle, but Cumberland’s losses were twice that, making this a humiliating defeat for George II’s third son.
Following the Allied retreat, the French were able to take Tournai and then benefitted from the temporary withdrawal of Britain from the war – the feared revolt in Scotland had manifested itself in the Jacobite Rising of 1745. Not part of the War of the Austrian Succession, it still played a role, giving the French a much easier road through the Low Countries.
This was fortuitous, because the French state was creaki
