Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/687

Rh EUGENE (5ui and having on the 7th September 1706 attacked the French army in its entrenchments, he gained a complete victory, which, decided the fate of Italy. This brilliant achievement, the result of the most masterly combinations, uud in several respects the prototype of the campaign of Marengo in 1800, affords one of the most remarkable examples of the difficulty of defending extensive lines even against an inferior army, massed upon one or two points. As soon as the duke of Orleans observed the imperial army approaching, he wished to march out of the lines with the whole French army, and to deliver battle in the open field, where he could have availed himself of his great numerical .superiority, but he was restrained by Marsin, who, by this absurd interposition, sealed the fate of the French army, and lost Italy. In the heat of the battle Eugene received a wound, and was thrown from his horse into a ditch. As a recompense for so important services the prince received the government of the Milanese, of which he took possession with great pomp on the 16th April 1707. The attempt which he made against Toulon in the course of the same year failed completely, because the invasion of the kingdom of Naples retarded the inarch of the troops which were to have been employed in it, and this delay afforded Marshal de Tess6 time to make good dispositions. Obliged to renounce his project, therefore, the prince repaired to Vienna, where he was received with great enthusiasm both by the people and by the court. &quot; I am very well satisfied with you,&quot; said the emperor, &quot; excepting on one point only, which is, that you expose yourself too much.&quot; This monarch immediately dispatched Eugene to Holland, and to the different courts of Germany, in order to forward the necessary preparations for the campaign of the following year, 1708. Early in the spring of 1708 the prince proceeded to Flanders, in order to assume the command of the forces which his diplomatic ability had been mainly instrumental in assembling. This campaign was opened by the victory of Oudenarde, to which the perfect union of Maryborough and Eugene on the one hand, and the misunderstanding between Vendome and the duke of Burgundy on the other, soem to have equally contributed. The duke imme diately abandoned the Low Countries, and remaining in observation made no attempt whatever to raise the siege if Lille, where Boufflers distinguished himself by a ylorious defence. To the valour of the latter Eugene paid a natter ing tribute, and invited him to prepare the articles of capitu- l.ition himself, with the words, &quot;I subscribe to everything beforehand, well persuaded that you will not insert any thing unworthy of yourself or of me.&quot; After this import ant conquest, Eugene and Maryborough proceeded to the Hague, where they were received in the most flattering manner by the public, by the states-general, and, above all, by their esteemed friend the pensionary Heinsius. Negotiations w;re then opened for peace, but proved fruit less. The campaign of 1709 was opened in Flanders by two hostile armies, each a hundred and fifty thousand strong. That of the French was commanded by Villars, who, fearing to compromise himself in opposition to such great captains as Marlborough and Eugene, remained upon the defensive, and suffered them to take Tournay without opposition. Having gone to succour Mons he was followed by the allies, who attacked him at Malplaquet on the 9th of September, in a formidable position, where he had had time to entrench himself. The attack was made with equal vigour and ability ; but owing to the strength of the French position, and the tenacity with which it was maintained, the victory was purchased at the cost of twenty-five thousand men killed on the field of battle, and the Dutch infantry was almost annihilated. Although the allies remained masters of the field of battle, this barren advantage had been so dearly bought that they found themselves soou afterwards out of all condition to undertake any thing. Their army accordingly went into winter-quarters, and Prince Eugene returned to Vienna, whence the emperor almost immediately dispatched him to Berlin. From the king of Prussia the prince obtained every thing which he had been instructed to require ; and having thus fulfilled his mission, he returned into Flanders, where, excepting the capture of Douai, Bethune, and Aire, the campaign of 1710 presented nothing remarkable. On the death of the emperor Joseph I. in ^pril 1711, Prince Eugene, in concert with the empress, exerted his utmost endeavours to secure the crown to the archduke, who afterwards ascended the imperial throne under the name of Charles VI. In the same year the changes which had occurred in the policy, or rather the caprice, of Queen Anne, brought about an approximation between England and France, and put an end to the influ ence which Marlborough had hitherto possessed. When this political revolution became known, Prince Eugene im mediately repaired to London, charged with a mission from the emperor to re-establish the credit of his illustrious com panion in arms, as well as to re-attach England to the coalition. The mission having proved unsuccessful, the emperor found himself under the necessity of making the campaign of 1712 with the aid of the Dutch alone. The defection of the English, however, did not induce Prince Eugene to abandon his favourite plan of invading France. He resolved, at whatever cost, to penetrate into Champagne; and in order to support his operations by the possession of some important places, he began by making himself master of Quesnoy. But the Dutch, having been surprised and beaten in the lines of Denain, where Prince Eugene had placed them at too great a distance to receive timely support in case of an attack, he was obliged to raise the siege of Landrecies, and to abandon the project which he had so long cherished. This was the last campaign in which Austria acted in conjunction with her allies. Abandoned first by England and then by Holland, the emperor, not withstanding these desertions, still wished to maintain the war in Germany ; but the superiority of the French army prevented Eugene from relieving either Landau or Freiburg, which were successively obliged to capitulate ; and seeing the empire thus laid open to the armies of France, and even the hereditary states themselves exposed to invasion, the prince counselled his master to make peace. Sensible of the prudence of this advice, the emperor immediately entrusted Eugene with full powers to negotiate a treaty of peace, which was concluded at Ilast&amp;gt;.idt, on the 6th of March 1714. On his return to Vienna, Prince Eugene was em ployed fora time in matters of internal administration; but it was not long before lie was again called on to assume the command of the army in the field. In the spring of 1716 the emperor, having concluded an offensive alliance with Venice against Turkey, appointed Eugene to command tho army of Hungary ; and at Peterwaradin, with a force not exceeding sixty thousand men, he gained (5th August 1716) a signal victory over the Turks, who had not less than a hundred and fifty thousand men in the field. In recogni tion of this service to Christendom the pope sent to the victorious general the consecrated rapier which the court of Home was accustomed to bestow upon those who had triumphed over the infidels. But the ensuing campaign, that of 1717, was still more remarkable on account of the battle of Belgrade. After having besieged the city for a month he found himself in a most critical, if not hopeless, situation. The force opposed to him numbered six times his own army, which besides was become smaller every day owing to the prevalence of dysentery. In these circumstances the only possible deliverance was by a bold and decided stroke. Accordingly on the morning of the