The siege of Bouchain (1 October – 19 October 1712), was a

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...

of the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

, and a victory for the French troops of the

Duc de Villars Claude Louis Hector de Villars, Prince de Martigues, Marquis then Duc de Villars, Vicomte de Melun (, 8 May 1653 – 17 June 1734) was a French military commander and an illustrious general of Louis XIV of France. He was one of only six Marshals ...

. A French army of 20,000 men besieged and captured the Allied-controlled fortifications after an 18-day siege, with the 2,000-strong

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

- Imperial garrison under Major-General Grovenstein capitulating on 19 October.

Prelude

The allies had captured Bouchain from French forces the previous year after a 34 day siege, ending on 12 September 1711. Having taken advantage of the overstretched Allied lines of communications by crushing a Dutch-Imperial detachment at

Denain Denain (; pcd, Dnain) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Denain had a population of 19,877, on a land area of 11.52 km² (4.448 sq mi). It is the largest of 47 communes which comprise the Communauté d'agglomération ...

in July 1712, the French Marshal Villars' army captured the forts of Marchiennes,

Douai Douai (, , ,; pcd, Doï; nl, Dowaai; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord département in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe some from Lille and from Arras, Dou ...

and

Le Quesnoy Le Quesnoy (; pcd, L' Kénoé) is a commune and small town in the east of the Nord department of northern France. It was part of the historical province of French Hainaut. It had a keynote industry in shoemaking before the late 1940s, followed ...

over the next three months. Displaying great energy, Villars' advance guard besieged

Bouchain Bouchain (; vls, Boesem) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It lies halfway between Cambrai and Valenciennes. Bouchain, seat of the early medieval County of Ostrevent, was taken by Arnulf I, Count of Flanders, in the 10th ...

on 1 October even before the French siege of

was complete on 4 October. Villars and

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

decided to conduct a siege instead of a

blockade A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are leg ...

, to spare their troops the discomfort and because cutting off the water-logged town would be too difficult. Villars wrote

Siege

French provincial intendants provided the French army with siege material and

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasant ...

workers. The Allied garrison had 23

gun A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, p ...

s, 2 mortars and 2 swivel guns, while the French besiegers had 40 artillery pieces. The French approach on the left was slowed by Allied countermines that forced the French to

sap Sap is a fluid transported in xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a separ ...

the

counterscarp A scarp and a counterscarp are the inner and outer sides, respectively, of a ditch or moat used in fortifications. Attackers (if they have not bridged the ditch) must descend the counterscarp and ascend the scarp. In permanent fortifications th ...

. Eight grenadier

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...

stormed and captured the

covered way In military architecture, a covertway or covered way (french: chemin couvert it, strada coperta) is a path on top of the counterscarp of a fortification. It is protected by an embankment which is made up by the crest of the glacis. It is able ...

on the right at the cost of 18 killed and 100 wounded. Thanks to the protection provided by sapping, the French troops on the left lost only 12–15 men while making their attack on the covered way. Villars was aware of the heavy casualties caused by assaults only lightly supported by artillery fire and without preparatory sapping, but judged the increased speed worth it against the protestations of his engineers. The French also made use of a

feint Feint is a French term that entered English via the discipline of swordsmanship and fencing. Feints are maneuvers designed to distract or mislead, done by giving the impression that a certain maneuver will take place, while in fact another, or e ...

attack to distract the garrison and constructed only two trench parallels instead of Vauban's recommended three.

Aftermath

Villars' victory nullified the

Duke of Marlborough General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 O.S.) was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reign ...

conquest Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...

of Bouchain a year earlier and concluded the Anglo-Dutch portion of the war in the

Treaty of Utrecht The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne ...

on terms that kept the fortified zone constructed by Vauban in northern France under French control.

Casualties

The French lost 400 killed and wounded (2% of their force). The Allied garrison was taken prisoner.

Citations

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bouchain 1712, Siege Of

Siege of Bouchain The siege of Bouchain (9 August – 12 September 1711), following the Passage of the Lines of ''Ne Plus Ultra'' (5 August 1711), was a siege of the War of the Spanish Succession, and the last major victory of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlbor ...

Sieges involving France Sieges involving the Dutch Republic Battles of the War of the Spanish Succession 1712 in France Battles in Hauts-de-France History of Nord (French department)