(1) CAMPAIGNS AND NEGOTIATIONS If the action of Louis XIV in accepting the will of Charles II of Spain had proved insufficient to rouse England and the United Provinces to war, at Vienna its effects had been greater. The Emperor had steadily rejected the compromise of a partition, because he had always trusted that a will would leave the whole inheritance to the Archduke, and he was not inclined to swallow this disappointment without a protest or to acquiesce without resistance in the accession of Philip V. Yet the prospects of successfully disputing Philip's claim were not of the brightest. A great war was impending in the Baltic; the Emperor's hereditary dominions were still feeling the strain and exhaustion of the recent wars in east and west; Hungary, quite recently reconquered from the Turk, was seething with discontent; and the lukewarmness displayed by the Princes of Germany in the defence of the Empire against Louis promised ill for their support of Leopold's claims on the Spanish inheritance. And as, moreover, the Maritime Powers hung back and compelled the reluctant William III to recognise the new King of Spain, it is not wonderful that a party among the Emperor's advisers, headed by Margrave Lewis of Baden-Baden, should have counselled submission. These counsels were, indeed, so far followed that overtures were made in order to discover if any compensation could be obtained. Moderation and slight concessions might have avoided war; but Louis, blinded by the success he had already achieved, adopted an uncompromisingly aggressive attitude, and, by rejecting the idea of providing a "satisfaction" for the unsuccessful claimant to the Spanish inheritance, drove the Emperor over to the way party in his "conference," of whom Prince. Eugene of Saxony and Archdukes Charles and Joseph were the leaders. Accordingly, in the spring and early summer of 1701, while Austria's diplomats sought to rouse Europe in the Emperor's cause, a considerable army was gradually collected in southern Tyrol to contest the French Occupation of Lombardy. Here the connivance of the Dukes of Savoy and Mantua had enabled the French to secure the Spanish possessions in the valley of the Po; and Marshal Catinat was able to push forward to C. M. H. V. 401 26 402 Eugene's operations against Catinat [1701 Lake Garda and there take up his position, in order to bar the advance of the Austrians from Tyrol upon Lombardy. Deficiencies of transport and organisation for the time rendered the Imperial army immobile; but it appeared most probable that, when Eugene's energy and administrative talents should have overcome these obstacles, his advance would follow the Adige. A more direct advance on Milan by the Engadine or Valtelline would involve the passage of more difficult country and the violation of Swiss neutrality; a move west of Lake Garda on Brescia meant taking an equally unsatisfactory route; and, though the Venetians, whose territory separated Tyrol from the Milanese, had not absolutely refused a passage to the Imperialists, it was understood that they had forbidden them the use of the country between the Adige and the Adriatic. Catinat, at any rate, trusted Venetian neutrality to protect his right flank, which rested on the Adige, and, relying on this, confidently awaited an attack. This was some time in coming, for Eugene's force was far short of the numbers promised him; and it was not till the end of May that, under cover of a feint down the right bank of the Adige against Chiuse, he carried the bulk of his 6000 horse and 16,000 foot over Monte Baldo by difficult and little-known mountain-paths, and, moving by Verona (May 28) and thence down the left of the Adige, established himself on Catinat's flank. Eugene had thus scored the first trick in the game; but Catinat might have restored matters, had he either fallen on Guttenstein's exposed division, which had threatened Chiuse, or concentrated his troops, and, imitating his adversary's disregard of the neutrality which Venice seemed powerless to defend, crossed the Adige to force a decisive battle on the inferior force opposed to him. He did neither; but, harassed by Eugene's feint and unable to discover whether he intended to strike west across the Adige or southward over the Po against Modena or Naples, he scattered his army in detachments along the Adige from Rivoli to Carpi, a front of over 60 miles. Eugene did not miss such a chance. On July 9 he fell in force on Saint-Fremont's division at Carpi, and drove it and the reinforcements which Tessé brought up from Legnago back on Nogara with heavy loss, thus piercing the French line and forcing Catinat to recoil behind the Mincio, where the French rallied, their right at Mantua, their left at Goito. But this position also Catinat failed to maintain. A move north-west enabled Eugene to rejoin Guttenstein (July 15); and, crossing the Mincio almost unopposed at Peschiera (July 28), he again placed himself on Catinat's flank, threatening his communications with Milan. To cover Milan, the French fell back to the Oglio (August 16), Eugene pressing on westward by Brescia, and being on the point of forcing this line also near Pontoglio, when he heard (August 24) that Marshal Villeroi had arrived from France and superseded the unfortunate Catinat. The Imperialists thereupon fell back to Chiari, where, on September 1, they sustained the attack of Villeroi's superior numbers, inflicting on them a sharp repulse. This success allowed Eugene to retain his position unmolested; and, when with November both sides went into winter-quarters, the Imperialists were left in possession of the greater part of the duchy of Mantua, though a closely blockaded French garrison held out in the capital. The winter was made memorable by Eugene's celebrated raid on Cremona and capture of Marshal Villeroi (February 1, 1702) - an exploit which, though the town was finally recovered, compelled the French to fall back behind the Adda, leaving their magazines to Eugene, who also occupied the territory of Parma. The Dukes of Modena and Guastalla now declared for the Imperialists; and the outbreak of an insurrection in the Emperor's favour in Naples compelled the Spanish contingent with the French army to withdraw thither. Meanwhile the diplomats had not been idle, and, when the campaign of 1702 opened, hostilities were no longer confined to Italy, but had assumed the dimensions of a general European war. The arrogance and aggressions of Louis had effected what the warnings of William III and Heinsius had failed to do. By securing for French traders the Asiento, or monopoly of the supply of slaves to Spanish America (August), Louis so roused England, that William felt able to conclude with the Emperor the Treaty of the Hague (September 7), which pledged the Emperor and the Maritime Powers to secure Europe against the union of France and Spain, and to obtain territorial compensation for the Habsburgs and commercial concessions for the Maritime Powers. The recently recognised kingdom of Prussia was already bound by the "Crown Treaty" to support the Emperor, and during the winter of 1701-2 the majority of the German Princes were enlisted on the side of the Grand Alliance among them the Electors of Mainz and Trier, the Landgraves of Hesse-Cassel and Hesse-Darmstadt, and the Electors John William of the Palatinate and George Lewis of Hanover, with his uncle, Duke George William of Celle. The Franconian and Swabian Circles at first contemplated declaring themselves neutral, but they were soon won over to unite with the two Rhenish Circles, the Austrian, and the Westphalian; and a conference of these Circles held at Nördlingen in March, 1702, promised to put into the field a joint force of 54,000 men. The Baltic Powers held aloof from the Coalition; but, thanks to the intervention of England and Holland in the conflict between Denmark and Sweden in 1700, the troops both of Denmark and of Holstein-Gottorp were available for hire by the Maritime Powers. Not all the German Powers, however, were mustered among the adherents of the Coalition. Hatred of his Lüneburg cousins inclined Antony Ulric of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel to take the side of Louis, but Celle and Hanover overpowered him; he was put to an ignominious flight, and his brother Rudolf Augustus (with whom he ruled conjointly) had to conclude an "accord" which allowed the Brunswick 404 Bavaria's action. The military situation [1701-2 - Wolfenbüttel troops to be taken into the Emperor's service. More useful to Louis were the two Wittelsbach brothers, Electors Maximilian Emanuel of Bavaria and Joseph Clement of Cologne. Maximilian, hitherto one of the most consistent opponents of Louis, had been acting as Governor of the Spanish Netherlands since 1695; but he had not opposed the occupation of that country by French troops, and, after carrying on simultaneous negotiations with Louis and the Coalition, decided, in March, 1701, to throw in his lot with France, though he was not to commit any overt act of hostility until a suitable opportunity. In addition to his Wittelsbach followers, Louis could also reckon among his allies two States whose adhesion to his cause was dictated by fear rather than by enthusiasm. Duke Victor Amadeus II of Savoy, true to the family policy of balancing dangerous neighbours against each other, had been suspected of supplying information to Eugene as to the movements of Catinat's army with which the Savoyard troops were serving, while Portugal had thrown in her lot with Louis, mainly to avert attack from Spain. In that kingdom Philip V had been readily acknowledged, save only in Catalonia, and the resources of Spain's Indian possessions were thus placed at the disposal of Louis. Thus, at the outset of the War, the forces of the two sides seemed by no means unequally matched. Against the superior numbers and financial resources of the Coalition France could set the great ad vantages of unity of command and purpose, while her central position gave her the strategic asset of operating on interior lines. Moreover, certain special features of the strategical situation were greatly in her favour. By securing without opposition military possession of the Spanish Netherlands, she at once menaced the United Provinces with invasion, and placed herself in a strong position on the lines of communication between the Maritime Powers and Austria. At the same time, the alliance with Bavaria secured to her armies an open door into the Danube valley, the easiest and most direct line of advance against Vienna; and, though the alternative route, by the valley of the Po and the head of the Adriatic, was disputed by Eugene's army, the situation in northern Italy added to the tasks and difficulties of Austria. Further, though the joint naval forces of England and Holland considerably outnumbered those of France, the fact that the harbours of Spain and the two Sicilies were under French control, and that those of Portugal were closed to the Maritime Powers through her alliance with France, seemed to secure Louis against that advent of a superior hostile fleet in the Mediterranean by which William III had turned the scale against France in the previous war. On land things were more equal it was not till the later campaigns of the war that Louis XIV ceased to oppose approximately equal numbers to the armies of the Grand Alliance; and, even when the Allies enjoyed a slight numerical superiority, it was balanced by the advantages of homogeneity. Before 1702 the 1701-2] Marlborough 405 prestige of the French armies had not yet been seriously challenged, and, though Luxembourg was gone, France seemed to have successors worthy of him in Villars, Boufflers, Catinat, Vendôme and Berwick. The real weakness of France and the great asset of the Allies were only to be revealed by war. The French administration, formerly, under Louvois, the direct cause of the triumphs of Louis XIV, was no longer what it had been: Chamillart, conceited, incapable, though personally honest, was a poor substitute for the great organiser, and deficiencies in supplies and equipment hampered the French throughout. The mantle of William fell on worthier shoulders. Marlborough possessed all the resolution and endurance which had sustained William through so many disappointments; he had also a marvellous power of managing men, whether in the council-chamber or in the field, which William had never possessed. As a general too William had failed in execution, being without that capacity for careful attention to details which is essential to the securing of success. But it was precisely in this that, with all his brilliance, Marlborough's greatness lay. Both as a strategist and as a tactician he was to prove himself superior to all of his opponents; nor is there any soldier of his time whom it is possible so much as to compare with him except his colleague, Eugene. Unruffled by the interference of Dutch deputies and by the failure of half-hearted Princes of the Empire to fulfil their promises, Marlborough was always resourceful, always ready for the unexpected, quick to perceive and to utilise his enemy's errors, careful of his men, but prepared to demand necessary sacrifices from them. He had readiness, alertness and an originality which rose superior to the conventional strategy of the day; while at the same time his soundness of judgment and great common sense saved him from recklessness or from rash attempts at the impossible. An adroit and accomplished tactician, it was perhaps in the domain of strategy that his pre-eminence was most marked; here his broad grasp of the general situation, combined with his great capacity for dealing with the details of administration, enabled him to frame great enterprises and to carry them to a successful conclusion. And, almost alone among great generals, he showed a singular insight into naval affairs, inspiring the strategy by which the Allies obtained and utilised the control of the Mediterranean. In this, as in other respects, he may have learnt from William ; but his use of his lessons was all his own. The campaign of 1702 was opened in Italy. Here Eugene, ill supported by the inefficient War Council at Vienna, found himself outnumbered by Vendôme and forced to choose between evacuating Italy altogether and allowing the French to sever his communications with Vienna. He chose the latter course; and it was no small achievement that he nevertheless succeeded in maintaining his position in the Modenese throughout the campaign, even though severed from his base, subsisting on the produce of the country, and inflicting a sharp check |