Time Astra

Schematic plan · War of the Spanish Succession

Battle of Blenheim

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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.
Rolling, Mixed groundCentreHorseHorseCentreLeft wingRight wingHorseHorseReserveLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsGuns02 km4 kmN

England and Holy Roman Empire (Allied Army, 52,000 men under Marlborough & Eugene) attacked France and Bavaria (Fr & Bav Army, 56,000 men under Tallard, Marsin & Max Emmanuel of Bavaria) in Bavaria. The CAA Database of Battles records 8.5 hours of fighting on a front of 6.4 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that England and Holy Roman Empire won. Losses: England and Holy Roman Empire 12,883 (25%), France and Bavaria 34,190 (61%).

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 and Holy Roman Empire

Marlborough · Eugene

UnitArmMen
England left wingInfantry7,464
England centreInfantry9,952
England right wingInfantry7,464
England reserveInfantry6,220
England cavalry of the leftCavalry10,000
England cavalry of the rightCavalry10,000
England artillery (60 guns)Artillery900
Marlborough & EugeneCommander—
In this plan52,000

France and Bavaria

Tallard · Marsin · Max Emmanuel of Bavaria

UnitArmMen
France left wingInfantry9,036
France centreInfantry12,048
France right wingInfantry9,036
France reserveInfantry7,530
France cavalry of the leftCavalry8,500
France cavalry of the rightCavalry8,500
France artillery (90 guns)Artillery1,350
Tallard, Marsin & Max Emmanuel of BavariaCommander—
In this plan56,000

What the sources report

EnglandFrance
Strength, this plan52,00056,000
Losses, this plan12,88334,190

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 50, “Blenheim”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
8.5 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
6.4 km (attacker), 7.1 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
England & Holy Roman Empireattacker52,00012,88320,00060Frontal attack; Breakthrough; Pursued
France & Bavariadefender56,00034,19017,00090Defensive plan; Withdrew with heavy losses

Attacker’s advantages leadership +2 · 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

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.