Fleurus, battles of (1690 and 1794). These two battles, fought just over a century apart, had very different results. The first, a French victory during the League of Augsburg war, on 1 July 1690, saw Marshal Luxembourg with 35, 000 troops devastate Gen Waldeck and his 38, 000 Dutch and German soldiers. Taking great risks, Luxembourg divided his army in two as he approached Waldeck's position and then struck both of the enemy flanks simultaneously. In the fighting that followed, the French killed, wounded, or captured half of Waldeck's army. Luxembourg had crushed his foe with Napoleonic daring, but he did not exploit his impressive victory with the same vigour and simply imposed war taxes on the surrounding area. As a result the battle was not as decisive as it might have been, although in fairness battles of the period rarely were, and generals did not expect them to be so.
The second battle, on 26 June 1794, occurred during the French Revolutionary wars, and it would have a more dramatic impact. The Allies who opposed the fledgling French Republic had suffered a nasty defeat at Tourcoing the previous month, and the tide of the war ran against them. After several false starts, French forces besieged Charleroi, some 6 miles (9.7 km) south-west of Fleurus. In an attempt to relieve the fortress, a dispirited prince of Saxe-Coburg marched with 52, 000 Austrian and Dutch troops against the 73, 000 republican soldiers led by Gen Jean-Baptiste Jourdan. Coburg split his forces into five columns to try to surround the French, but they defeated his forces in detail. After tough resistance repelled Coburg's attacks, he withdrew across the Meuse on the following day. Although suffering fewer casualties than did his French opponents, he had spent his energy. Soon the French chased the Austrians out of the southern Netherlands, which France annexed and retained for twenty years.
Bibliography
- Lynn, John A., The Wars of Louis XIV (London, 1999).
- Phipps, Ramsay, The Armies of the First Republic,
5 vols. (London, 1926-39)
— John A. Lynn
