Battle of Dettingen - Prelude

Prelude

The allied army was known as the Pragmatic Army because it was a confederation of states that supported the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 agreements to recognize Maria-Theresa as Archduchess of Austria. The British force of 16,000 men under John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair had landed at Ostend in the Austrian Netherlands on 10 July 1742. Here it formed the Pragmatic Army, some 44,000 strong at the start of the campaign, also containing 16,000 Hanoverians with the balance made up of Austrians, Hessians and Dutch. The army remained here inactive until January 1743, when King George II ordered Dalrymple to march into Germany, leaving the Hessians and some Austrian troops to protect the Netherlands. The internal divisions in the Dutch Republic delayed their army of 20,000 so that it came too late to participate in the campaign.

The Austrian commander, the Duke of Arenberg, proposed to follow the Neckar and march towards Bavaria, but King George feared a Prussian attack on Hanover and decided to march along the north bank of the Main, keeping all options open.

On 17 June the army set up camp between Kleinostheim and Aschaffenburg. King George II, accompanied by 25 squadrons of British and Hanoverian cavalry, arrived there on 19 June and took up overall command.

By 27 June, the French had cut the allies' line of supply and the Pragmatic Army had suffered severely from a lack of supplies and, in a reduced state, decided to fall back on Hanau, just what the French wanted. This was the result of skillfull maneuvering and harassment by a French army of some 45,000 led by Noailles.