MARLBOROUGH. 78 Duke of Monmouth (q.v.), and liis coolness pre- vented a serious disaster to the royal troops at bedgeuioor (q.v.). Churchill was .stronfjiy at- tached to the English Church, and his eulogists have maintained that he would not have betrayed it under any circumstances. This may he douhted. hut he certainly did not desert the cause of the Church when he noticed the current ot jiuMic opinion turning; more and more a^^ainst Kini; James. The result was that he witlidrew ijradu- ally from participation in the acts of this rcigii. and. though still aUVctiiij; loyalty to the King, lie began negotiations with William of Orange, and when the latter landed in England in lliS8. Churchill wa-< one of the first to go over to him with his troops. During the early part of the reign of William 111. he was in liigli favor: in 1080 was made Earl of Marli>orough. and dis- tinguished himself greatly during the invasion of Ireland, but lost all favor when he was sus- pected, and justly so, of preparing to betray Wil- liam 111. and aid James II. to recover the throne, of which he had helped to deprive him. Nevertheless, on the coiiimcnccMient of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701 Marlborough was jntrustetl by William III. with the comnumd of the British army in the Xetlicrlands, On March 8, 1702, however, the King died. With the accession of . ne began the" great epoch of Marlborough's life. Through his wife he controlled the Queen, while the son of the powerful minister (iodolphin (q.v.) had in 1008 married his daughter. Thus he had a fairly free hand to carry out his great military exploits, though the .llie-i. Diitch and (icrmaiis, often caused dilTiculties. The troops of the Emperor Leo- pold 1. were commanded by the great Prince Eugene (q.v.). Marlborough, who had been elected also CaptaintJeneral of the Dutch forces, took conunand in ^lay. 1702, and in December was created Duke of Marlborough. He had un- der him about 10,000 English troops, 20.000 Dutch troops, and as many mercenaries, chielly Germans. He was opposetl by a Krench army of seventy-five thousancl men. The great dangi'r to the Allies was that the French wouhl control the Rhine Valley, and thus completely isolate .us- tria. In onli'r to prevent this, Marlborough, who had l)een conducting a series of brilliant opera- tions in the Low Countries, in the sununer of 1704 made a rapid march to Bavaria, and there joined Prince Eugene. His march was not so marvelous a performance a~ has sometimes Im-cii claimed, but it enabled the .Mlies to meet the French on equal terms at Blenheim (q.v.) on .ugilst 13, 1704. The battle was decided when Marlborough, by a skillful use of his cavalry, broke through the French centre, and the enemy retired in great confusion. In this series of operations, in^tcail of the old method of detailed operations and sieges, the two great leader-* hail concentrated all their forces in the important territfiry, and there by one decisive victory had won the whole campaign. Xot the whole credit of the succeiies of the .Allies is due to Marl- borough, a full half belonging to Eugene. For this victory great honor'* and pecuniary rewards were bestowed on Marlborough, and he wa-i made a Prince of the Empire (.Austria). (.Se<> Hi.en- IIKIM HorsK. I He won other important vii'tories during the war. as when he com[)elleil the French under 'illerol to evacuat>' the whole of Flander» bv his victorv at Itamillies on Mav 2.'t, I7IH«, MARLBOROUGH. and. together with Eugene, defeated VendSme at t)udenarde on July 11, 1708. By this last victory and the capture of Lille the road to I'aris was opened, but ilarlborough had no longer a free hand. His wife had had several quar- rels with Anne, and the Queen Avas ridding her- M'lf of the complete ascendency of the Duchess, .Moreover, England was sutTering from the bur- dens imposed by the long struggle, and the Tories, who opj)oscd the war, were coming into power. On Sepfcnilicr 11, 1700. Marlborough and Eugene won a doubtful victory at Malplaquet, but it was the last great battle of the English general. The same year the Duchess was dismissed by Anne, a Tory Ministry assumed ollice, and in 1711 Marl- borough was relieved of his command. His enemies accused him of having embezzled the |)ublic money, and for a time he was deprived of Ills ollices, though the charge was not pressed. In his last years he was without influence or friends, being, in spite of his victories, impopu- lar on account of his avaricf, Godol[)hin ha<l died and most of the great lords were his ene- mies. Upon the accession of George I. in 1714 he was made Captain-Cieneral and master of the ordnance, but took little part in public af- fairs. He died June 16, 1722, leaving a large fortune, Marlborough ha.s often been severely treated by historians, lie was unquestionably unscrupidous and avaricious. On the other hand, it was a time when this was true of nearly all public men, re- gardless of party, and Marlborough has received more blame simply because he was more promi- nent. His military abilities, however, have never been questioned. Inlike his two great sue cessors, Frederick the (Jrcat and Napoleon, he was never entirely unhampered. He was al- ways compelled to have regard for the wishes of his allies and the political situation in England, But he was the first since classic times to im- press upon generals the need of rapidity of move- ment and the execution of campaigns as a whole. Moreover, he had the ability, which only the greatest commanders have, to amalgamate the ditTcrcnt elements of his army, to become the hero of his soldiers. His campaigns always showed a grasp of the proportion of things. He never frittered his strength away on details. bit waited for the decisive battle. Among generals, he is one of the very few who never lost a bat- tle, and never failed in a campaign. Consult: Murray, Lettrns and Diapnlche/t of John. Diil.r nf Mnrlhoroui]]!. from 1702 to 1712 ( "i vols.. London, 184.t1 : id.. Private Correspond' rnre of thr Piikr tinil niichesa of ilarlhoroiifjh (2 vols., London, 1838) : id., ficllrnt nf thr DurhrDs of Mnrtltorouijh (London, 187,t). The most com- plete life is that of Coxe, .1/cnioir,? nf the Duke nf Marllmrniirfh Ci vols., London, 1847-48), but it is too partial to Marlborough. A bitter attack on Marlborough is in Macaulay's niston/ : while an impartial character-study is to be fovind in Saintsbury, Marllinmiirih (London, 1870). For the military history of Marlborough, and an cstimat(> of lilm as a L'cneral, con-iult : Dodge, flux- liiiiii! Adolphns and Ihr Tlryrlnpmrnt nf thr Art of 'nr (Boston and New A'ork, 180.5) ; FortesciH', "Marlborough," in From CrnmtreU to Wellinfiton (London, 1800); .lison, MilHarit Life of the. rtiile nf Marlhnrniitih (London, 1870) : also gen- eral histories like Oreen, niston/ of the English J'rnplr (New York. 1870).
