Schematic plan · King William's War

Battle of Steenkerque

3 August 1692
Spanish Netherlands
Victory for France

All battles The event in the chronicle Wikipedia

A schematic plan, generated from the statistics of the CAA Database of Battles: the armies' size and width, the hours of fighting, the plan of attack and the outcome are as recorded; the ground and the positions are not.

England (Allied Army, 63,000 men under William III) attacked France (Fr Army, 57,000 men under Luxembourg) in Spanish Netherlands. The CAA Database of Battles records 7 hours of fighting on a front of 2.4 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense and prepared defense, and that France held. Losses: England 8,000 (13%), France 7,000 (12%).

This plan is generated from those figures. It shows the shape of the battle the database describes: the size and width of the armies, the plan of attack and the outcome. It does not show where the units actually stood.

The armies

England

William III

Unit	Arm	Men
England left wing	Infantry	11,268
England centre	Infantry	15,024
England right wing	Infantry	11,268
England reserve	Infantry	9,390
England cavalry of the left	Cavalry	7,500
England cavalry of the right	Cavalry	7,500
England artillery (70 guns)	Artillery	1,050
William III	Commander	—
In this plan		63,000

France

Luxembourg

Unit	Arm	Men
France left wing	Infantry	10,584
France centre	Infantry	14,112
France right wing	Infantry	10,584
France reserve	Infantry	8,820
France cavalry of the left	Cavalry	6,000
France cavalry of the right	Cavalry	6,000
France artillery (60 guns)	Artillery	900
Luxembourg	Commander	—
In this plan		57,000

What the sources report

	England	France
Strength, this plan	63,000	57,000
Losses, this plan	8,000	7,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 45, “Steenkerke”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting: 7 hours
Winner: the defender
Terrain: Rugged, Mixed
Weather: Wet, Light precipitation, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture: Hasty defense, Prepared defense
Front width: 2.4 km (attacker), 5.2 km (defender)

Force	Strength	Losses	Horse	Guns	Plan and outcome
Englandattacker	63,000	8,000	15,000	70	Frontal attack; Penetration; Repulse; Withdrew
Francedefender	57,000	7,000	12,000	60	Defensive plan; Withdrew

Attacker’s advantages initiative +1

CDB90 (US Army Concepts Analysis Agency, 1990), tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold; data under ODC-BY 1.0.

Notes

On this reconstruction

Generated automatically from the statistics in CDB90. Frontages, depths, distances, the order of events and the terrain are schematic: they follow the recorded strengths, front widths, hours of fighting, tactical plan and outcome, not maps or accounts of the battle. The sources give no hours; the timing is conjectural.

Sources

US Army Concepts Analysis Agency; tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold, CAA Database of Battles (CDB90), no. 45 · ODC-BY-1.0Strengths, losses, front widths, hours of fighting, tactics and outcome.
Wikipedia contributors, Battle of Steenkerque · CC-BY-SA-4.0

Facts gathered from Wikidata (CC0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (licence per file); the plan and its text are timeastra’s own.