Partizan - Forlorn Hope

Several historians of the Battle of Oudenarde have called it a perfect example of an encounter battle - one where both sides bump into each other and are obliged to fight.

As will be revealed, this may have been the case for the French Army but the Allied Army had marched with the express intention of coming to grips with their foes and when the collision occurred, the bump was more of a deliberate crash as far as John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough was concerned.

Initially Vendome had no intention of getting involved in a full scale battle unless he was defending the high ground overlooking Oudenarde, but he was drawn into one. Once engaged he seized what he saw as an opportunity to inflict a stinging blow on Marlborough's army.

It was only when he failed to do so early in the battle that it all went wrong for him, and Marlborough and Eugene were major instruments in directing just far how wrong it went.