The capture of Liège took place between 13 and 31 October of 1702 during the War of the Spanish Succession. It formed part of the Grand Alliance's campaign to secure the Dutch borders and capture the Meuse valley. Anglo-Dutch forces under the Duke of Marlborough and Earl of Athlone occupied the city without resistance on 15 October, but the Citadel of Liège and the Chartreuse fort continued to be held by Bourbon troops from France, Spain, the Bishopric of Liège, and the Electorate of Cologne.
After a week of intense bombardment and assaults directed by the Dutch engineer Menno van Coehoorn, the citadel capitulated on 23 October, followed by the surrender of the Chartreuse on 31 October. The victory resulted in the capture of several thousand French troops and laid the groundwork for further Allied operations along the Meuse and the Rhine.
Background
In May of 1702, the Dutch Republic, England, and the Holy Roman Empire declared war on France, thereby starting the War of the Spanish Succession. In accordance with the Treaty of Ryswick, Dutch troops occupied several barrier fortresses in the Spanish Netherlands, which served as the Dutch Republic's first line of defence. However, in February 1701 a French surprise attack, carried out with the assistance of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria and governor of the Spanish Netherlands, had replaced these garrisons with French troops. French troops took up positions in the Spanish Netherlands and the Rhineland with help from Joseph Clemens of Bavaria, who was the Elector of Cologne and Prince-bishop of Liège. These moves directly threatened the Dutch border. The situation was reminiscent of the Rampjaar of 1672, the opening year of the Franco-Dutch War.
These moves by France effectively dismantled the line of fortresses on which Dutch security relied, stripping away its first line of defence. The French, on the other hand, had as their second line the great fortresses within the French frontier, and thus enjoyed both their own defences and those which had belonged to their opponents. In addition, they had constructed the formidable Lines of Brabant, a continuous seventy-mile (110 km) defensive system from Antwerp to Namur, designed under the Marquis of Vauban, allowing their field armies to confront any Allied advance. Only a handful of strong fortresses remained under Dutch control, such as Bergen op Zoom, Nijmegen and Maastricht. Maastricht, a powerful fortress on the Meuse, lying within a Dutch enclave, had escaped both the French seizure of the Spanish Netherlands and the defection of the prince-bishop of Cologne and Liège. It was a fortress of the first order, with modern defences, a historic reputation, ample supplies, and a garrison of some 14,000 men; however, it was strategically isolated, cut off by the French-garrisoned towns of Venlo, Roermond, and Stevensweert.
Stadtholder-King William III of Orange, who had been the main commander of the Grand Alliance forces in previous conflicts, had died in March, and his death was viewed as a disaster. No one possessed the prestige to fill his place. While the Anglo-Dutch political leadership debated whom to appoint as his successor, a Dutch-Imperial army under the Prince of Nassau-Usingen captured Kaiserswerth on 15 June, securing the eastern flank of the Dutch Republic. The Duke of Boufflers' French army, to save Kaiserwerth, had pursued an Anglo-Dutch covering force under the Godard van Reede-Ginkel, Earl of Athlone, all the way to the gates of Nijmegen. Though he failed to save Kaiserswerth or bring Athlone's force to battle, Boufflers had almost taken Nijmegen, one of the last Dutch strongholds.
The close call at Nijmegen had caused significant unrest among the Dutch regenten (regents), and they were now determined to take decisive action. In response, they resolved to raise a substantial field army and to make a final decision on who would command the combined Anglo-Dutch forces. During a conference on 25 June, it was decided to appoint John Churchill, Earl of Marlborough as commander-in-chief. While he had limited military experience, the confidence that William III had previously placed in him, along with the strategic belief that his appointment would further solidify England's commitment to the war on the continent, ultimately outweighed other considerations.
The Prince of Nassau-Usingen refused to serve under Marlborough, while Athlone, encouraged by the other Dutch generals, made efforts to secure an equivalent position to Marlborough. Athlone was an experienced commander, famous for his victories in Ireland during the Nine Years' War, and the regenten agreed with Athlone that Marlborough was a lightweight compared to him. Although Athlone officially remained subordinate, the Dutch States General strongly limited Marlborough's power over the army. Marlborough could only command Dutch troops who were part of the combined field army and had to coordinate all his plans with Athlone. In cases of disagreement, Marlborough could not push through his plan; instead, the Dutch field deputies had to make the final decision.
Prelude
The unfought battles of Peer and Helchteren
The focus of the campaign shifted westward. With a field army of 68,000 men under their command, Marlborough and Athlone aimed to re-establish the Dutch connection to Maastricht by capturing Venlo, Roermond and Stevensweert. If the Allies could supply Maastricht it might serve as a springboard for the invasion of the Spanish Netherlands. On 24 July the Anglo-Dutch forces crossed the Meuse, threatening Boufflers' supply lines and forcing him to retreat towards Venlo. Marlborough saw an opportunity to bring Boufflers' smaller army to battle near Peer, but Athlone, mindful of the Dutch Republic's precarious strategic situation, refused to take the risk. As a result, Boufflers was able to withdraw. He discarded much of his baggage, which greatly increased his mobility, and received reinforcements that enabled him to attempt to push the Grand Alliance forces back across the Meuse.
On 9 August, the French positioned themselves northwest of Marlborough's army, near Balen, from where they threatened the Grand Alliance supply lines and the southern Dutch cities of Den Bosch and Breda. The supply situation in the Anglo-Dutch camp deteriorated rapidly and only improved when the Earl of Albemarle arrived with a large convoy on 19 August, enabling the Grand Alliance to move again. Three days later they advanced towards Boufflers, and on 23 August, the two armies deployed in battle order opposite each other on the Heath of Helchteren. For two days, the armies stared each other down, trading cannon fire that produced several hundred casualties, before Boufflers slipped away in the night of the 25th. To many in the Anglo-Dutch army, the episode felt like a missed chance to bring the French to battle.
The conquest of Venlo, Roermond and Stevensweert
With the French army in retreat, it became possible to invest Venlo on 11 September, the first city on the Meuse on the way to Maastricht. The Prince of Nassau-Usingen, who until then had refused to take part in the campaign, led the 25,000 men conducting the siege, while Marlborough and Athlone covered it with 45,000 men. After twelve days, the city surrendered. A French attempt to divert Allied troops away from Venlo by attacking Hulst failed. Stevensweert and Roermond were next. As both were considered weak, the Allies decided to besiege them simultaneously. Stevensweert capitulated on 2 October and Roermond five days later.
With these victories, the vital connection with Maastricht was reestablished, yet Marlborough remained dissatisfied with the campaign's results. He argued that the Allies needed to capture Liège to secure Maastricht fully and open the way for an attack on Huy and Namur in 1703. Liège, one of the wealthiest cities in Europe with a large population of 50,000 and the capital of the Bishopric of Liège, was a prize Louis XIV did not want to lose, and he ordered Boufflers to protect it. However, the terrain around Liège made this difficult, and positioning his army in front of the city would expose the weak fortresses in Brabant to an Allied incursion. Seeing no viable way to defend Liège, Boufflers withdrew behind the lines of Brabant, and on 13 October the Allied army arrived before the city.
Surrender of Liège
Liège was an open city without strong fortifications, and the city council of Liège was unwilling to sacrifice the city for France, or even for their own sovereign, Joseph Clemens of Bavaria. The mayor succeeded in concluding a favourable convention with the Allies on the evening of 13 October, allowing them entry into the city while obliging them not to attack the French occupied Citadel of Liège from within the city. When it came time to sign, Marlborough refused Athlone's signature, leaving only the Dutch deputies to represent the Dutch Republic. Athlone lodged a formal complaint with the States General, but no decision followed. Four days later, on 17 October, Nassau-Usingen died, and on the 19th, Athlone was promoted to Field Marshal of the Dutch States Army. The advancement gave him personal satisfaction, but it left the underlying issue between the Allied leaders untouched.
On the 15th, three Dutch and three English battalions entered the city, and the Allies began preparing for the siege of the citadel and the Chartreuse fortress, a detached stronghold of considerable strength. Menno van Coehoorn, the renowned Dutch engineer-general who had directed the sieges of Venlo and Roermond, was tasked with the technical command. It was decided to begin with the citadel. This was an irregular pentagon, with bastions, dry ditches, ravelins, and a covered way. Its main rampart was reinforced with stonework, while the other works were not, though they had been made storm-proof with palisades and cheval de frise. The garrison consisted of seven and a half battalions under Violaine, while Millon commanded five battalions in the Chartreuse, together about 7,200 troops. The Anglo-Dutch siege force numbered 23,000 men.
The sieges
Capture of the Citadel of Liège
At nine in the morning on 20 October, the Dutch artillery opened fire. The English contingent had no siege guns. By evening, two parallel attack trenches were begun, each worked by 500 sappers under the protection of four infantry battalions. The next night, they were deepened and widened, almost ready to serve as launching positions for the assault. Mortar bombardment began that evening as well and would continue until the citadel's surrender. During the preparations, Coehoorn had clashed with one of the Dutch deputies, who had ordered the guns to fire without his approval, and he threatened to abandon the siege until Athlone and others persuaded him to stay.
The effect of the bombardment soon became apparent when two ammunition magazines caught fire and exploded, while work on the trenches steadily progressed. Among the generals commanding operations in the trenches were, on the 21st, the Hereditary Prince of Hesse-Kassel, then a lieutenant general in Dutch service and later King of Sweden; on the 22nd, Major General Prince George of Hanover, the future King of Great Britain; alongside Danish General Jobst von Scholten, who would later distinguish himself at Ramillies. By the 23rd, the fort was considered ready for storming: the palisades had been destroyed, a sufficient breach had been made in the main wall, and much of the artillery had been silenced. Marlborough demanded the citadel's surrender, but the governor defiantly replied that he would not even think of such a thing for another six weeks. At a quarter to four, the signal for the assault was given, which was carried out with great resolve under a heavy fire from 72 cannons, 50 howitzers and mortars, and 250 hand mortars.
Lieutenant-Generals François Nicolas Fagel and Carl Christian von Sommerfeldt commanded the attack on the Dutch and English sides respectively. The covered way was quickly taken, during which the governor, Violaine, was captured. Without pause, the assault pressed on to the main wall; together with the fleeing defenders, the attackers broke into the citadel. In the heat of the fighting, many defenders were cut down, as the Anglo-Dutch troops initially gave no quarter. Some defenders managed to escape, but 2,100 men were eventually taken prisoner. The Dutch, under Fagel, lost 41 men killed and 255 wounded, while Sommerfeldt's command suffered 154 dead and 385 wounded, of whom 83 and 171 were English respectively.