Marlborough's War Machine 1702-1711

by James Falkner

Blenheim, Ramilles , Oudenarde, Malplaquet – much has been written about the brilliant victories of the Duke of Marlborough's Anglo-Dutch army over the armies of Louis XIV of France during the War of the Spanish Succession. Less attention has been focused on the men and the military organization that made these achievements possible - the soldiers, the commanders, the army structure and administration, the logistics, engineering, weapons and finance. That is why James Falkner's penetrating account of the composition and operation of Marlborough's army is of such value. His clear analysis gives a fascinating insight into Marlborough's war machine and into the conduct of war in Europe 300 years ago.

Genres: History

233 pages, Hardcover

First published November 10, 2014

Reviews

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Just as the Duke of Wellington became famous in the 19th century century, the Duke of Marlborough was famous for his service to Queen Anne in the 18th century. John and Sarah Churchill were close to their sovereign for a number of years which allowed them both political and military infleuence especially because of Britain's frequent enemy, Louis XIV of France. The War of the Spanish Succession brought to a head this animosity, and also enabled Britain to develop an army instead of just a navy.

This book talks about the way Marlborough developed his army, his officers and allies, Eugene of Savoy in particular. It also talks about the logistical needs of the time. It's a valuable book, but the descriptions of the battles are limited. Maps could be improved as well.

[Bill V · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a solid read. It is broken down into various sections. First and foremost is the narrative of the war itself. Then there are brief biographies of the various commanders and personalities. There are sections on weapons and tactics used, organization, etc. The book is not exhaustive but helpful.

[Anton Tomsinov · Rating 2 out of 5]

I beg pardon, whose war machine? I thought the War of the Spanish Succession was waged by an Alliance rather than England alone. Not to mention that ‘war machine’ is too much in vogue for modern popular history titles. All in all, this is a mediocre and biased, but readable overview of the warfare in the beginning of the eighteenth century. While this book doesn’t advance our knowledge of the subject even by an inch, its value lies in it being a good copy-paste of the great books that are hard to reach nowadays: it is heavily based on works of Chandler, Childs, Kemp and other prominent scholars. The title is a telling one: despite the fact that the war was waged against the French by an allied army, English soldiers are declared the most important part of it and a lot of space is wasted on typical British hymns to the great brilliant genius Marlborough. Even old Churchill’s book on his distant relative Marlborough got heavy citing for that aim. Other allied commanders and efforts are underestimated, as you may expect, while usage of non-English sources is close to zero. The author even defends Marlborough when tells about his pocketing of state money.