Battle of Fontenoy

Uncommon card · No. 196963

The Battle of Fontenoy was fought on 11 May 1745 near Tournai in the Austrian Netherlands during the War of the Austrian Succession. A French army of 50,000 men under Marshal General Maurice de Saxe defeated a Pragmatic Army of 50,000 British, Hanoverian, Dutch and Austrian troops under Captain-general William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland. By 1745 France was close to bankruptcy and seeking an end to the war. The Austrian Netherlands offered the best opportunity for a decisive victory, and in April Saxe led a French army to besiege Tournai, a key strategic town on the upper Scheldt, compelling the main Pragmatic Army in the region to march to the town's relief. Leaving 22,000 men to continue the siege, Saxe placed his main force about 8 kilometres (5 mi) away in the villages of Antoing, Vezon and Fontenoy, along a naturally strong feature strengthened with defensive works. Following several unsuccessful Allied flank assaults an infantry column of 15,000 British and Hanoverian troops attacked...

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