PART III

THE MARCH TO THE DANUBE

The position of the enemy at the moment when Marlborough's march to the
Danube from the Netherlands was conceived may be observed in the sketch
map on page 59.

Under Villeroy, who must be regarded as the chief of the French commanders
of the moment, lay the principal army of Louis XIV., with the duty of
defending the northern front and of watching the Lower Rhine.

It was this main force which was expected to have to meet the attack of
Marlborough and the Dutch in the same field of operations as had seen the
troops in English pay at work during the two preceding years. But Villeroy
was, of course, free to detach troops southwards somewhat towards the
Middle Rhine, or the valley of the Moselle, if, as later seemed likely,
an attack should be made in that direction.

On the Upper Rhine, and in Alsace generally, lay Tallard with his corps.
This marshal had captured certain crossing-places over the Rhine, but had
all his munitions and the mass of his strength permanently on the left
bank.

Finally, Marcin, with his French contingent, and Max-Emanuel, the Elector
of Bavaria, with the Bavarian army, held the whole of the Upper Danube,
from Ulm right down to and past the Austrian frontier.

Over against these forces of the French and their Bavarian allies we must
set, first, the Dutch forces in the north, including the garrisons of the
towns on the Meuse which Marlborough had conquered and occupied; and, in
the same field, the forces in the pay of England (including the English
contingents). These amounted in early 1704 to 50,000 men, which
Marlborough was to command.

Next, upon the Middle Rhine, and watching Tallard in Alsace, was Prince
Eugene, who had been summoned from Hungary by the Imperial government to
defend this bulwark of Germany, but his army was small compared to the
forces in the north.

Finally, the Margrave of Baden, Louis, with another separate army, was
free to act at will in Upper Germany, to occupy posts in the Black Forest,
or to retire eastward into the heart of Germany or towards the Danube as
circumstances might dictate. This force was also small. It was
supplemented by local militia raised to defend particular passes in the
Black Forest, and these, again, were supported by the armed peasantry.

It is essential to a comprehension of the whole scheme to understand that
_before_ the march to the Danube the whole weight of the alliance against
the Fr