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Marlborough as military commander

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An earlier era of scholarship considered that Britain had produced at least two "Great Captains". One was the Duke of Wellington, of Peninsular War and Waterloo fame. The other was John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, who shone in an earlier era of war against France. "Marlborough as Military Commander" is distinguished British historian David Chandler's well-written military biography of John Churchill.

The first third of Chandler's narrative is admittedly a bit slow. John Churchill came late to major military command, and Chandler only summarized the first 50 years of his life. The heart of the book is the description of the Duke of Marlborough's campaigns in Europe during 1702 to 1712, including his great victories of Blenheim, Ramilles, and Oudenard. Chandler establishes the Duke as a first rate military professional, adept at grand strategy, battlefield tactics, and most remarkably for his era, military administration. It was this latter skill, boldly applied, which enabled Marlborought to move his army from the Netherlands to the Austrian Danube to win his great victory of Blenheim and save the grand alliance he served.

Marlborough's battlefield successes are all the more remarkable, as Chandler makes clear, because he was simultaneously required to hold together a fragile military coalition and to serve as a member of government at home in Britain. Chandler's final assessment of the Duke of Marlborough provides remarkable insight into a man and his era. "Marlborough as Military Commander" is very highly recommended to students of the man and the era.

Readers may find it surprising that the late David Chandler actually wrote about another General besides Napolean! In this military study of the great duke we find Chandler at his chatty best. He gives a nice background of the Churchills' background and origins which can be hard to keep track of among all the drama of the late Stuart Kings and Queens as well as William of Orange. To study Marborough is to study the English history of the period. This can be quite complex. This being a military bio we are spared much of the detail here, and his stormy relations with Sarah are happily left to one of the other many works out there.

Chandler provides a nice chapter on warfare of the period which does give a decent background as to how it was conducted in this transitional period. Campaigns progressed slowly in the Spanish Succession War and thus readers use to the later action packed eras of Frederick II and Napolean will find the pace much different here. Even though Marlborough sought out decisive action through battle the nature of the warfare in this period tended to be manneaver and seiges. The four great battles that he fought did not happen in rapid succession. Armies in this period fought in very linear fashion. There were no columns of assault, and little use of other formations except for squares against cavalry sometimes. The marching pace was unknown at this time, which made it difficult for troops to advance and maintain formation. Some reference to these important points would certainly aid in understanding how battles were fought. Chandler prefers a more operational and strategic perspective and thus provides only a cursory look at tactics and formations.

Chandler gets a little lost sometimes in the details of these campaigns and often he mentions surprising events without much explanation. A prime example is when Marborough was almost captured in one of his early camapaigns while traveling by river. The French took the ship, but allowed Marborough to go on because he had a river pass! Surprising information and an example how different the rules of war were in this time!

The constant politics and slow progress of seiges combined with many obscure location names makes for tedious reading sometimes despite Chandler's attempts to keep things lively. The main battles are described crisply with average detail. This is surprising considering that they occur most infrequently. Decent maps help out.

The emphasis tends to be from a British perspective even though we do get some good looks at French planning. This is a period where Marlborough tends to dominate in most English written works. Those seeking French or Austrian views might find such works harder to come by in the English langauge. Although bios of Louis XIV and Prince Eugene might fill out some of the space.

This is a classic work and a very good introduction to the warfare of this period. One gets a good idea who Marlborough was and Chandler provides good, critical analysis of his generalship. At times slow, this work rewards the determined reader with some nice details and an overall well written text.