Time Astra

Schematic plan · War of the Spanish Succession

Battle of Ramillies

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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 groundCentreCentreLeft wingRight wingLeft wingRight wingReserveHorseHorseReserveHorseHorseGunsGuns01 km2 kmN

England (Allied Army, 62,000 men under Marlborough) attacked France and Bavaria (Fr & Bav Army, 60,000 men under Villeroy & Max Emmanuel of Bavaria) in Spanish Netherlands. The CAA Database of Battles records 6 hours of fighting on a front of 4.8 km, a single envelopment, right flank against hasty defense and prepared defense, and that England won. Losses: England 3,620 (6%), France and Bavaria 19,000 (32%).

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

Marlborough

UnitArmMen
England left wingInfantry10,608
England centreInfantry14,144
England right wingInfantry10,608
England reserveInfantry8,840
England cavalry of the leftCavalry8,000
England cavalry of the rightCavalry8,000
England artillery (120 guns)Artillery1,800
MarlboroughCommander—
In this plan62,000

France and Bavaria

Villeroy · Max Emmanuel of Bavaria

UnitArmMen
France left wingInfantry10,068
France centreInfantry13,424
France right wingInfantry10,068
France reserveInfantry8,390
France cavalry of the leftCavalry8,500
France cavalry of the rightCavalry8,500
France artillery (70 guns)Artillery1,050
Villeroy & Max Emmanuel of BavariaCommander—
In this plan60,000

What the sources report

EnglandFrance
Strength, this plan62,00060,000
Losses, this plan3,62019,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 51, “Ramillies”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
6 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense, Prepared defense
Front width
4.8 km (attacker), 5.2 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Englandattacker62,0003,62016,000120Single envelopment; Right flank; Breakthrough; Pursued
France & Bavariadefender60,00019,00017,00070Defensive 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.