The siege of Douai, which lasted from 22 April 1710 until the capitulation of the garrison under lieutenant-general François Zénobe Philippe Albergotti on 25 June 1710 was part of the Allied Campaign of 1710 in the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict fought between 1701 and 1714. The immediate cause was the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700, which led to a struggle for control of the Spanish E ...

. The siege was conducted under the joint command of the Princ of Orange and

Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (3 July 1676 – 7 April 1747) was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the Principality of Anhalt-Dessau from 1693 to 1747. He was also a ''Generalfeldmarschall'' in the Prussian Army. Nicknam ...

and successfully concluded despite the fact that halfway through the French army under marshal Claude Louis Hector de Villars, 1st Duke of Villars made an attempt to relieve the fortress city, which led to an indecisive stand-off for four days with the Allied Army under

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough General (United Kingdom), 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 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) was a Briti ...

and

Prince Eugene of Savoy Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy-Carignano (18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736), better known as Prince Eugene, was a distinguished Generalfeldmarschall, field marshal in the Army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty durin ...

. After Douai the Allies went on to besiege

Béthune Béthune ( ; archaic and ''Bethwyn'' historically in English) is a town in northern France, Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department. Geography Béthune is located in the Provinces of Fran ...

Background

At the start of the new campaign season of 1710 of the War of the Spanish Succession the Allies hoped to be able to break through the double line of fortresses (the ''

frontière de fer ''Frontière de fer'' or ''pré carré'' is the name given in military historiography to the double line of fortresses that king Louis XIV of France had constructed after the Peace of Nijmegen in 1678 to protect what was then Northern France agai ...

'' or iron border) that had protected northern France since 1708 to be able to finally march on Paris. Like in 1709 the allied forces were divided into two armies, one Anglo-Dutch force of 106 battalions and 169 squadrons under command of the Duke of Marlborough (with Claude Frédéric t'Serclaes, Count of Tilly as his Dutch second-in-command) and an

Imperialist Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power ( diplomatic power and cultural imperialism). Imperialism fo ...

force of 64 battalions and 109 squadrons under Prince Eugene. On the advice of Quartermaster General

Daniël van Dopff Daniël Wolf baron van Dopf (10 January 1650 – 15 April 1718) was a Dutch States Army officer and nobleman. He was, among other things, general of the cavalry of the Dutch army during the War of the Spanish Succession, Quartermaster general of ...

Marlborough decided to start the campaign with the siege of the strong fortress of

Douai Douai ( , , ; ; ; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord (French department), Nord département in northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe (rive ...

, with its important arsenal and

gunpowder mills A powder mill was a mill where gunpowder is made from sulfur, saltpeter and charcoal. Milling steps Crude grinding and mixing operations such as the Frankford Powder-Mill of Philadelphia were a cottage industry until the Industrial Revolution ...

. Afterwards they hoped to go on to

Arras Arras ( , ; ; historical ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department, which forms part of the region of Hauts-de-France; before the reorganization of 2014 it was in Nord-Pas-de-Calais. The historic centre of the Artois region, with a ...

Cambrai Cambrai (, ; ; ), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the Escaut river. A sub-pref ...

, and if this was also successful the road to Paris would be open. Initially it proved difficult to control the (for the time) enormous mass of soldiers of 165,000 men and to prevent looting and disturbing the populace. So the commanders promulgated severe punishments for soldiers who contravened the

articles of war The Articles of War are a set of regulations drawn up to govern the conduct of a country's military and naval forces. The first known usage of the phrase is in Robert Monro's 1637 work ''His expedition with the worthy Scot's regiment called Mac-k ...

on 23 April 1710 (incidentally, the day the siege of Douai was opened), and this proved successful. The supply of the army was an enormous undertaking: each day 1500 carts with the bread for the troops had to depart from the bakeries in

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

and

Tournai Tournai ( , ; ; ; , sometimes Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicised in older sources as "Tournay") is a city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies by ...

(both in Allied hands at this time).Van Nimwegen, pp.323-324

The siege

Preliminaries

The situation on the ground in Douai was as follows: the fortress was situated on the banks of the river Scarpe and the terrain was marshy, also because the French had inundated the countryside. The garrison of the fortress consisted of about 8000 men under Albergotti. North of the actual fortress there was a second, smaller fortress called the Scarpe fortress, at a distance of"a cannon shot" (a few hundred meters). This had a garrison of three battalions and six companies of "invalids". The defenses of the city included a system of

mines Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun Mi ...

, which would make it necessary to go underground for the besiegers too. The Allied main force surrounded the city in a wide semi-circle anchored on the Scarpe between Vitry and the canal to

, to the other side of the city at the bridge of

Râches Râches () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Population Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 647 communes of the Nord department of the French Republic. The communes ...

over the Scarpe. The besieging force under the technical direction of engineer general

Guillaume le Vasseur des Rocques Guillaume may refer to: People * Guillaume (given name), the French equivalent of William * Guillaume (surname), the French equivalent of Williams Places * Guillaume (crater), Moon, Earth-Moon System, Solar System * Guillaumes, Vence, Nice, Alpes ...

and the tactical command of the Princes of Orange and Anhalt consisted of 40

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...

s and 32

squadrons Squadron(s) may refer to: Military * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 ...

, 70 siege guns and 80

mortars Mortar may refer to: * Mortar (weapon), an indirect-fire infantry weapon * Mortar (masonry), a material used to fill the gaps between blocks and bind them together * Mortar and pestle, a tool pair used to crush or grind * Mortar, Bihar, a village i ...

.Quincy, p.319 They were complemented by 6000 laborers to dig the trenches and construct the

circumvallation Investment is the military process of surrounding an enemy fort (or town) with armed forces to prevent entry or escape. It serves both to cut communications with the outside world and to prevent supplies and reinforcements from being introduced ...

. After the circumvallation had been completed on 5 May 1710 the trenches were started on the West side of the city, to attack two objectives: the

Esquerchin Esquerchin () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 647 communes of the Nord department of the French Republic. The communes cooperat ...

gate on the right (under the Prince of Anhalt), and the Okre gate (under the Prince of Orange) on the left. The garrison discovered this too late to prevent it, so they performed a

sortie A sortie (from the French word meaning ''exit'' or from Latin root ''surgere'' meaning to "rise up") is a deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft, ship, or troops, from a strongpoint. The term originated in siege warf ...

on 7 May with 1200 men under the Duc de Montemart from the Okre gate that scattered the workforce and killed many men from the covering battalion. They succeeded in partially destroying the parallel trenches near that gate, before they were driven back by the troops of brigadier Macartney who pursued them to 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, the ...

.Quincy, pp. 323-324 The next day the prince of Anhalt brought up eight kartouwen against a

redoubt A redoubt (historically redout) is a Fortification, fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on Earthworks (engineering), earthworks, although some are constructed of ston ...

on the southwest side of the city that had been firing on the neighboring trenches making many casualties under the laborers. After 11 May several batteries started to batter this part of the defensive works, taking it out of commission.De Vryer, pp. 114-117 This type of skirmish became routine in the following weeks. The siege progressed steadily, but slowly, in this way, because of the spirited defense the garrison put up. Marlborough and Prince Eugene visited the siegeworks on a daily basis to inform themselves of the progress, but they could not hurry along the pace of events. Time was of the essence, because Villars was of course not sitting still and it was expected that he would arrive any moment to relieve the city with his army.De Vryer, p. 118

The Standoff

Villars had been handicapped by the fact that, unlike the Allies, the French forces had been slow in preparing for the new campaign season. Only around mid May was he ready to concentrate the French army.Quincy, p. 317 On 14 May at Péronne (with the

duke of Bourbon Duke of Bourbon () is a title in the peerage of France. It was created in the first half of the 14th century for the eldest son of Robert of France, Count of Clermont, and Beatrice of Burgundy, heiress of the lordship of Bourbon. In 1416, wi ...

and the Chevalier de St. George) he ordered the army to concentrate around

, where on 20 May he convened a

Council of War A council of warBerwick,

Montesquiou Montesquiou (; Gascon: ''Montesquiu'') is a commune in the Gers department, Southwestern France. It is the historic seat of the Montesquiou family. Geography Population See also *Communes of the Gers department The following is a list ...

, and the Bavarian general d'Arco and other generals, where it was decided to raise the siege of Douai.The French army of Flanders left Cambrai on 22 May. It consisted of 153 battalions and 262 squadrons.De Vryer, pp.119-120 Marlborough and Prince Eugene had not been idle in the meantime. As they expected Villars to act, they had been studying the terrain around Douai to prepare for a possible decisive battle with the French army. As the terrain north and south of the city was too difficult for an enemy to use, they decided on two possible battlefields, one to the east of the city on the way to

Bouchain Bouchain (; ) 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 century a ...

and

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

, the other in the plain of

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

that stretched from Vitry on the Scarpe to Montigny on the

Deûle The Deûle (; ) is a river of northern France which is channeled for the main part of its course (from Lens to Lille). The upstream part is still partly free-flowing and is known as the Souchez. The Deûle flows into the Lys (right bank) in De� ...

river, where the two rivers came closest. Both potential battlefields were then reinforced with fieldworks consisting of

redan Redan (a French language, French word for "projection", "salient") is a feature of fortifications. It is a work in a V-shaped Salients, re-entrants and pockets, salient angle towards an expected attack. It can be made from earthworks or other ...

s that could hold at least a battalion each behind an earthen

berm A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier (usually made of Soil compaction, compacted soil) separating areas in a vertical way, especially partway up a long slope. It can serve as a terrace road, track, path, a fortification line, a b ...

. The fieldworks were made ready to hold artillery, including heavy siege guns to cover the

field of fire The field of fire or zone of fire (ZF) of a weapon, or group of weapons, is the area around it that can easily and effectively be reached by projectiles from a given position. Field of fire The term originally came from the ''field of fire'' in f ...

. They concentrated their army near the village of Esquerchin, and improved the roads from that location, to either prepared battle site, and put several new bridges across the Scarpe, to make swift movement possible.De Vryer, pp. 120-122 Villars approached the Allied army on 24 May, when he captured the castle of Oizy near

Arleux Arleux () is a commune in the Nord département in northern France. Geography The river Sensée joins the Canal du Nord at Arleux. Population Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 647 comm ...

where general Tilly had his headquarters. This led to spirited artillery duels between both sides. Villars then decided that the approach from the direction of

would be more advantageous, so he crossed the Scarpe on several places on 28 and 29 May to travel to that city, where he concentrated his army in the next few days. He did not experience any opposition from the Allied forces as Marlborough and Prince Eugene had decided to concentrate their own forces in the prepared line in the plain of Lens in view of Villars' movement.De Vryer, pp. 122-124 On 30 May Villars ordered his army to advance to the Allied line in three divisions commanded by Berwick (right wing), Arco (left wing), and Montesquiou and himself (center). They deployed opposite the already deployed Allied army in the usual way with the infantry in the middle and the cavalry on either wing. This movement surprised the Allied commanders somewhat, as the fieldworks had not been fully completed yet. In all haste 20 battalions from the besieging troops of the Prince of Orange were also directed to the front line, to reinforce the field army. That army was deployed in one line of infantry formations, with two lines of cavalry formations behind them.Quincy, p. 332 The Allied left wing, consisting mostly of British and Dutch troops under Marlborough and Tilly was supported on the Scarpe river on its extreme left, while the Imperialist troops of Prince Eugene in the right wing were supported on the extreme right on a marsh on the bank of the Deûle. The village of Esquerchin lay in the middle in front of the battle formation. The battle formation of the French was the mirror image of the Allied one, with the village of Bernard in the middle, which was located on a slight elevation that enabled Villars to overlook the battle site. This advantageous location, however, had the significant disadvantage that a deep brook with steep banks ran through the plain, that divided his army. Villars rode with his staff to Bernard to reconnoitre the opposing dispositions and the Allied fieldworks, which may have made him a bit uncertain. In any case that night he convened another council of war where opinions were divided between those who thought the prospect of an open battle too dangerous (which also was the opinion of the government in Paris), and those who were optimistic that with a slight change in disposition of the French army the Allies could be beaten. The first opinion prevailed. In any case Villars remained for four more days in his position, before he finally decided to retreat on 4 June in the direction of Atrecht. Nothing had been accomplished; the only result was that it had been demonstrated to the garrison of Douai that no speedy relief was to be expected.De Vryer, pp. 124-128

The endgame

During the period in which Villars made his threatening movements the siege had been more or less on hold, as the detachment of the Prince of Orange troops to the front had weakened the besieging forces significantly. De Vryer tells the anecdote that a patrol sent out by Albergotti to Valenciennes ecountered no opposition at all.De Vryer, p. 131 But now that the threat had diminished the circumvallation was again fully manned by the besieging troops and the trenches extended closer and closer to the fortress's walls, despite numerous sorties that Albergotti ordered to hinder that work. Underground the Allied miners and French counterminers fought each other on life and death. Attempts to storm the defenses were thwarted by mines the French exploded under the

Forlorn hope A forlorn hope is a band of soldiers or other combatants chosen to take the vanguard in a military operation, such as a suicidal assault through the breach of a defended position, or the first men to climb a scaling ladder against a defended ...

. Between 5 and 19 June the besiegers, especially on the right, made steady progress, making several lodgements on first the

glacis A glacis (, ) in military engineering is an artificial slope as part of a medieval castle or in early modern fortresses. They may be constructed of earth as a temporary structure or of stone in more permanent structure. More generally, a glaci ...

and counterscarp, and later even on the

covertway In military architecture, a covertway or covered way (, ) 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 to give the fort's garrison a position be ...

. The artillery was able to make several breaches in the ramparts. On 19 June these breaches were judged large enough to chance a storm attack. This resulted in heavy casualties on both sides. On the 24th of June the Prince of Anhalt launched a successful attack on two

ravelin A ravelin is a triangular fortification or detached outwork, located in front of the innerworks of a fortress (the curtain walls and bastions). Originally called a ''demi-lune'', after the ''lunette'', the ravelin is placed outside a castle a ...

s, so that his troops could lodge there with little resistance.Rapin de Thoyras, p. 281 The small Scarpe fortress north of the city was finally also invested by the Allies on 22 June. This ever more narrowing encirclement made Albergotti see that the game was up. It was not his task to fight to the bitter end. On the contrary, the surrender of the fortress had always been calculated by the French government, and it was deemed important by that government that in such a case the damage should be minimized. It was the usual policy for besieged commanders that they would sue for an advantageous capitulation if it became clear that the end was near. So on 25 June Albergotti hoisted a white flag to signal his desire to talk terms. After the usual exchange of hostages

parlimentaire A parlimentaire or parlementaire is defined by the U.S. Department of Defense as "an agent employed by a commander of belligerent forces in the field to go in person within the enemy lines for the purpose of communicating or negotiating openly an ...

s met and after some haggling Albergotti agreed to surrender both the city and the outlying Scarpe fortress on the condition of the

honours of war The honours of war are a set of privileges that are granted to a defeated army during the surrender ceremony. The honours symbolise the valour of the defeated army, and grew into a custom during the age of early modern warfare. Typically a surre ...

and a

safe conduct Safe conduct, safe passage, or letters of transit, is the situation in time of international conflict or war where one state, a party to such conflict, issues to a person (usually, an enemy state's subject) a pass or document to allow the enemy ...

for him and his troops to Cambrai; they left the fortress on 29 June 1710 as free men.De Vryer, p. 134 Albergotti left with 4500 troops, which implies that the French losses had amounted to about 3000 men. The Allied forces on the other hand lost 8000 killed and wounded.

Aftermath

As the fortress was now in Allied hands the commanders appointed general

Reinhard Vincent Graf von Hompesch Reinhard Vincent Graf von Hompesch (1660 – 20 January 1733) was a Dutch States Army officer and nobleman who served as the governor of Luxembourg, Namur and ’s-Hertogenbosch. His parents were Johann Dietrich II von Hompesch zu Bollheim and R ...

as the new governor of the city and the military engineer Des Roques as the governor of the Scarpe fortress.Quincy, p. 341 The original plan had been to invest Cambrai as the next fortress on the way to Paris, but too much time had been lost. Besides Villars had by now concentrated his mobile army there, which made a siege virtually impossible. Quartermaster general Van Dopff preferred to invest Arras instead, because in that case Villars would be forced to engage in an open battle, as he had just narrowly avoided near Douai. As alternatives he proposed either Béthune or

Aire Aire may refer to: Music *''Aire'', a song on the album Chicago VII by the group Chicago (band), 1974 * ''Aire'' (Yuri album), 1987 * ''Aire'' (Pablo Ruiz album), 1997 *''Aire (Versión Día)'', an album by Jesse & Joy Places * Aire-sur-la-Ly ...

, but those were less useful to break through the ''frontière de fer''. The commanders nevertheless decided to invest Béthune first, and not Arras, because the horses of the French army had by then devoured all grass near Arras, so Arras was infeasible for practical reasons.Van Nimwegen, pp. 324-326 Supply problems remained severe for both armies. The Allies used the Lys for their supply transports from their base of operations in Ghent. One such transport under the direction of general

Frederick Christiaan van Reede, 2nd Earl of Athlone Frederick Christiaan van Reede, 2nd Earl of Athlone (20 October 1668 – 15 August 1719) was a Dutch States Army officer, diplomat and nobleman who fought during the Nine Years' War and the War of the Spanish Succession. Life Personal life Frede ...

was intercepted by a force from the fortress city

Ypres Ypres ( ; ; ; ; ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres/Ieper ...

on 19 September 1710 and decisively defeated by the superior French force, with a large loss of men, while Van Reede was made prisoner. The French completely destroyed the convoy, blowing up the vessels that transported gunpowder which caused such an explosion that the riverbed of the Lys was severely damaged, further hindering transport by water for a while.De Vryer, pp. 166-167 King

Louis Louis may refer to: People * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer Other uses * Louis (coin), a French coin * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also ...

rewarded Albergotti with the blue ribbon of the

Order of the Holy Spirit The Order of the Holy Spirit (; sometimes translated into English as the Order of the Holy Ghost) is a French order of chivalry founded by Henry III of France in 1578. Today, it is a dynastic order under the House of France. It should not be c ...

and the governorship of the

Saarlouis Saarlouis (; , ; formerly Sarre-Libre and Saarlautern) is a town in Saarland, Germany, capital of the district of Saarlouis (district), Saarlouis. In 2020, the town had a population of 34,409. Saarlouis is located on the river Saar (river), Saar. ...

fortress. Other officers of the French garrison were also awarded appropriate honors.Quincy, pp. 340-341

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Douai 1710 Conflicts in 1710 Sieges involving the Kingdom of France (987–1792) Sieges involving Great Britain Sieges of the War of the Spanish Succession 1710 in France Sieges involving the Dutch Republic Military history of Nord (French department) Sieges of the Anglo-French wars Siege 1710 18th-century military history of France