Battle Of Fleurus (1690)
The Battle of Fleurus, fought on 1 July 1690, was a major engagement of the Nine Years' War. In a bold envelopment the Duc de Luxembourg, commanding Louis XIV’s army of some 35,000 men, soundly defeated Prince Waldeck’s Allied force of approximately 38,000 men comprising mainly Dutch, German, and Spanish troops. Despite suffering some 6,000 casualties, the battle was a clear victory for the French commander; yet typical of the period it proved far from decisive. Although the French War Minister, Louvois, wished to press ahead and secure further success, King Louis overruled him and ordered Luxembourg to reinforce the Dauphin’s army on the Rhine and forego any major siege. The Allies, meanwhile, withdrew to Brussels to recover and rebuild their army.
Read more about Battle Of Fleurus (1690): Background, Prelude, Battle, Aftermath
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“It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tossed upon the sea: a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battle and the adventures thereof below: but no pleasure is comparable to standing upon the vantage ground of truth ... and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in the vale below.”
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626)