Malplaquet

Hilaire Belloc turns the Battle of Malplaquet into more than a clash of armies: it becomes a struggle over dynasties, state power, and the balance of Europe. With a strategist's eye for geography and politics, he traces the road to this defining episode of the War of the Spanish Succession, where Marlborough and Prince Eugene drive an exhausted France toward a desperate defense. After the collapse of peace talks in 1709, the north-eastern frontier stands exposed, with Lille in Allied hands and French garrisons isolated at Ypres, Tournai, and Mons. Villars answers by building the Lines of La Bassée across marshes, canals, and rivers, hoping to block the road to Paris. The Allies feint against the line, then invest Tournai with overwhelming force, battering its fortifications through rain, bombardment, and brutal subterranean fighting until the city falls. As both armies maneuver around the forest gaps near Mons, Boufflers arrives to steady French morale, joining Villars in a final attempt to hold the line. At Malplaquet, the Allies win the field but cannot break the French army. Belloc presents the battle as a costly tactical victory that becomes a strategic setback, helping push England toward peace and the Treaty of Utrecht. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.