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Siege of Mons (1691)
Encyclopedia
The Siege of Mons, 15 March–10 April 1691, was a major operation fought during the Nine Years' War, and was the main French objective for the 1691 campaign in the Spanish Netherlands. The city was besieged and captured before the normal commencement of the campaigning season with minimal losses. The outcome was not in doubt, but in a conflict dominated by siege warfare, neither the French army of King Louis XIV
, nor the forces of the Grand Alliance under King William III
, could bring about a decisive battle. After the siege the duc de Boufflers
bombarded the neutral city of Liege, whilst the duc de Luxembourg captured Halle
, and scored a minor victory against the Prince of Waldeck
at the Battle of Leuze
in September. Strategically, however, little had changed in the war, and both combatants returned to winter quarters at the end of the campaigning season.
, nullifying any Allied hopes of invading France, whilst at sea, Admiral Tourville
defeated an Anglo-Dutch fleet off Beachy Head
. In August Catinat
had triumphed at the Battle of Staffarda
in northern Italy (although his force was too small to gain any strategic advantage). The only bright spot for the Grand Alliance in 1690 was King William’s victory over James II
in Ireland at the Battle of the Boyne
. Yet despite the battlefield successes, French forces in 1690 had failed to break the coalition ranged against the ambitions of King Louis.
In 1691 the French had planned for a double strike: Nice
in northern Italy, and Mons
in the Spanish Netherlands. The Netherlands were again where France would concentrate its main war effort, and was a theatre where Louis’ war minister, Louvois
, had striven to bring together an even larger army than had been assembled the year before. These attacks on Nice and Mons were planned for very early in the campaign season, illustrating Vauban
’s dictum that "It is a very favourable circumstance to be able to attack before the enemy takes the field in strength … "
Meanwhile in Ireland the war continued into 1691, but William now felt secure enough on his new throne in the British Isles to return to the war on the Continent. William entered The Hague
on 5 February to organise his army for the coming campaign. After securing forces totalling 220,000 men, the Stadtholder-King retired to his country home. In mid-March, surrounded by representatives of the Grand Alliance, he received news that Mons was under siege.
, Philippeville
, Dinant
and Givet
, and no less than 21,000 labourers were gathered for the construction of the lines of circumvallation
.
Louis, accompanied by members of his court, joined his army in the Spanish Netherlands to take control of the armies in theatre, arriving at the front on 21 March. The King’s besieging army of 46,000 (under the direction of his great engineer, Vauban) surrounded the town and its garrison of some 4,800 men. The Allies had formed an army of 38,000 under William to relieve the city, but Luxembourg’s army of observation, also 46,000 strong, denied the Allies any possibility of disrupting the operation.
Marshal Boufflers began the investment on 15 March; the trenches were opened ten days later. In one of the most intense attacks of all King Louis’ wars, two batteries
, each consisting of 12 mortars
, bombarded the city in preparation for the assault; by 30 March, the French had fired 7,000 cannonballs and 3,000 mortar shells. Inevitably, at 17:00 on 8 April, the besieged inhabitants beat the chamade
; conditions were settled, and the remaining men of the garrison marched out two days later.
The siege had begun and ended before the normal commencement of campaigning. Louis returned to Versailles
on 12 April, whilst William, after distributing his troops to various garrisons, returned to The Hague. The French now prepared for the rest of the 1691 campaign season with the creation of five large armies bound for five major fronts: Flanders, the Moselle
, the Rhine, Piedmont
, and Roussillon
. The largest of these forces, 49 battalions and 140 squadrons under the command Luxembourg, took station in Flanders, but little was accomplished after the siege by the either the French or the Grand Alliance. Luxembourg devastated Halle
at the end of May, whilst Boufflers bombarded neutral Liege in early June, but these aggressive acts had no political results. Louis’ personal military advisor and expert in the art of war, the Marquis de Chamlay
, argued that these victories should be followed by a field battle that would destroy the Allied army and force a conclusion to the conflict. Louvois, however, suggested a bombardment of Brussels would force the issue, but was opposed by Luxembourg and Vauban.
William, meanwhile, arrived at Anderlecht
on 2 June to take command of the Allied army of 63 battalions and 180 squadrons, totalling 56,000 men. Luxembourg successfully manoeuvred to prevent William besieging Dinant, but subsequent manoeuvres produced little action. After William left his troops in the command of the Prince of Waldeck
, Luxembourg’s cavalry routed part of the Allied army at Leuze
on 19 September, before all combatants returned to winter quarters.
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
, nor the forces of the Grand Alliance under King William III
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
, could bring about a decisive battle. After the siege the duc de Boufflers
Louis François, duc de Boufflers
Louis François, Duc de Boufflers, Comte de Cagny was a Marshal of France....
bombarded the neutral city of Liege, whilst the duc de Luxembourg captured Halle
Halle, Belgium
Halle , is a Belgian city and municipality in the district Halle-Vilvoorde of the province Flemish Brabant. The city is located on the Brussels-Charleroi Canal and on the Flemish side of the language border that separates Flanders and Wallonia...
, and scored a minor victory against the Prince of Waldeck
Prince Georg Friedrich of Waldeck
Prince Georg Friedrich of Waldeck was a German and Dutch Field Marshal .In 1641, Waldeck entered the service of the States-General of the Netherlands; later in 1651, in the service of Brandenburg, he reached the highest rank as minister...
at the Battle of Leuze
Battle of Leuze
The Battle of Leuze took place on 18 September 1691, and was a famous French cavalry victory in the Nine Years' War, against a superior allied force....
in September. Strategically, however, little had changed in the war, and both combatants returned to winter quarters at the end of the campaigning season.
Background
French forces had secured considerable success in 1690. In July Luxembourg fought and won his tactical masterpiece at the Battle of FleurusBattle of Fleurus (1690)
The Battle of Fleurus, fought on 1 July 1690, was a major engagement of the Nine Years' War. In a bold envelopment the Duc de Luxembourg, commanding Louis XIV’s army of some 35,000 men, soundly defeated Prince Waldeck’s Allied force of approximately 38,000 men comprising mainly Dutch, German, and...
, nullifying any Allied hopes of invading France, whilst at sea, Admiral Tourville
Anne Hilarion de Tourville
Anne Hilarion de Costentin, comte de Tourville was a French naval commander who served under King Louis XIV. He was made Marshal of France in 1693.-Military career:...
defeated an Anglo-Dutch fleet off Beachy Head
Battle of Beachy Head (1690)
The Battle of Beachy Head was a naval engagement fought on 10 July 1690 during the Nine Years' War. The battle was the greatest French tactical naval victory over their English and Dutch opponents during the war...
. In August Catinat
Nicolas Catinat
Nicolas Catinat was a French military commander and Marshal of France under Louis XIV. The son of a magistrate, Catinat was born in Paris on 1 September 1637...
had triumphed at the Battle of Staffarda
Battle of Staffarda
The Battle of Staffarda was fought during Nine Years' War in Piedmont-Savoy, modern-day northern Italy, on 18 August 1690. The engagement was the first major encounter in the Italian theatre since Victor Amadeus, the Duke of Savoy, had joined the Grand Alliance in opposition to France earlier that...
in northern Italy (although his force was too small to gain any strategic advantage). The only bright spot for the Grand Alliance in 1690 was King William’s victory over James II
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
in Ireland at the Battle of the Boyne
Battle of the Boyne
The Battle of the Boyne was fought in 1690 between two rival claimants of the English, Scottish and Irish thronesthe Catholic King James and the Protestant King William across the River Boyne near Drogheda on the east coast of Ireland...
. Yet despite the battlefield successes, French forces in 1690 had failed to break the coalition ranged against the ambitions of King Louis.
In 1691 the French had planned for a double strike: Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
in northern Italy, and Mons
Mons
Mons is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, of which it is the capital. The Mons municipality includes the old communes of Cuesmes, Flénu, Ghlin, Hyon, Nimy, Obourg, Baudour , Jemappes, Ciply, Harmignies, Harveng, Havré, Maisières, Mesvin, Nouvelles,...
in the Spanish Netherlands. The Netherlands were again where France would concentrate its main war effort, and was a theatre where Louis’ war minister, Louvois
François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois
François Michel Le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois was the French Secretary of State for War for a significant part of the reign of Louis XIV. Louvois and his father, Michel le Tellier, would increase the French Army to 400,000 soldiers, an army that would fight four wars between 1667 and 1713...
, had striven to bring together an even larger army than had been assembled the year before. These attacks on Nice and Mons were planned for very early in the campaign season, illustrating Vauban
Vauban
Sébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban and later Marquis de Vauban , commonly referred to as Vauban, was a Marshal of France and the foremost military engineer of his age, famed for his skill in both designing fortifications and breaking through them...
’s dictum that "It is a very favourable circumstance to be able to attack before the enemy takes the field in strength … "
Meanwhile in Ireland the war continued into 1691, but William now felt secure enough on his new throne in the British Isles to return to the war on the Continent. William entered The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
on 5 February to organise his army for the coming campaign. After securing forces totalling 220,000 men, the Stadtholder-King retired to his country home. In mid-March, surrounded by representatives of the Grand Alliance, he received news that Mons was under siege.
Siege
Louvois engineered the considerable preparations for the siege throughout the preceding winter: stores were filled with supplies in NamurNamur (city)
Namur is a city and municipality in Wallonia, in southern Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia....
, Philippeville
Philippeville
Philippeville is a Walloon municipality located in Belgium in the province of Namur. The Philippeville municipality includes the old communes of Fagnolle, Franchimont, Jamagne, Jamiolle, Merlemont, Neuville, Omezée, Roly, Romedenne, Samart, Sart-en-Fagne, Sautour, Surice , Villers-en-Fagne,...
, Dinant
Dinant
Dinant is a Walloon city and municipality located on the River Meuse in the Belgian province of Namur, Belgium. The Dinant municipality includes the old communes of Anseremme, Bouvignes-sur-Meuse, Dréhance, Falmagne, Falmignoul, Foy-Notre-Dame, Furfooz, Lisogne, Sorinnes, and Thynes.-Origins to...
and Givet
Givet
Givet is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France very close to the Belgian border. It lies on the river Meuse where Emperor Charles V built the fortress of Charlemont....
, and no less than 21,000 labourers were gathered for the construction of the lines of circumvallation
Investment (military)
Investment is the military tactic of surrounding an enemy fort with armed forces to prevent entry or escape.A circumvallation is a line of fortifications, built by the attackers around the besieged fortification facing towards the enemy fort...
.
Louis, accompanied by members of his court, joined his army in the Spanish Netherlands to take control of the armies in theatre, arriving at the front on 21 March. The King’s besieging army of 46,000 (under the direction of his great engineer, Vauban) surrounded the town and its garrison of some 4,800 men. The Allies had formed an army of 38,000 under William to relieve the city, but Luxembourg’s army of observation, also 46,000 strong, denied the Allies any possibility of disrupting the operation.
Marshal Boufflers began the investment on 15 March; the trenches were opened ten days later. In one of the most intense attacks of all King Louis’ wars, two batteries
Artillery battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...
, each consisting of 12 mortars
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
, bombarded the city in preparation for the assault; by 30 March, the French had fired 7,000 cannonballs and 3,000 mortar shells. Inevitably, at 17:00 on 8 April, the besieged inhabitants beat the chamade
Chamade
In war, a chamade was a certain beat of a drum, or sound of a trumpet, which was given the enemy as a kind of signal, to inform them of some proposition to be made to the commander; either to capitulate, to have leave to bury their dead, make a truce, etc. Ménage derives the word from the Italian...
; conditions were settled, and the remaining men of the garrison marched out two days later.
Aftermath
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
on 12 April, whilst William, after distributing his troops to various garrisons, returned to The Hague. The French now prepared for the rest of the 1691 campaign season with the creation of five large armies bound for five major fronts: Flanders, the Moselle
Moselle River
The Moselle is a river flowing through France, Luxembourg, and Germany. It is a left tributary of the Rhine, joining the Rhine at Koblenz. A small part of Belgium is also drained by the Mosel through the Our....
, the Rhine, Piedmont
Piedmont
Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...
, and Roussillon
Roussillon
Roussillon is one of the historical counties of the former Principality of Catalonia, corresponding roughly to the present-day southern French département of Pyrénées-Orientales...
. The largest of these forces, 49 battalions and 140 squadrons under the command Luxembourg, took station in Flanders, but little was accomplished after the siege by the either the French or the Grand Alliance. Luxembourg devastated Halle
Halle, Belgium
Halle , is a Belgian city and municipality in the district Halle-Vilvoorde of the province Flemish Brabant. The city is located on the Brussels-Charleroi Canal and on the Flemish side of the language border that separates Flanders and Wallonia...
at the end of May, whilst Boufflers bombarded neutral Liege in early June, but these aggressive acts had no political results. Louis’ personal military advisor and expert in the art of war, the Marquis de Chamlay
Jules Louis Bolé, marquis de Chamlay
Jules-Louis Bolé de Chamlay was a French military and diplomat.He was born in a noble family, his father was procureur of the Paris Parlement....
, argued that these victories should be followed by a field battle that would destroy the Allied army and force a conclusion to the conflict. Louvois, however, suggested a bombardment of Brussels would force the issue, but was opposed by Luxembourg and Vauban.
William, meanwhile, arrived at Anderlecht
Anderlecht
Anderlecht is one of the nineteen municipalities located in the Brussels-Capital Region.There are several historically and architecturally distinct districts within the Anderlecht municipality.-Pronunciation:* Dutch: * French:...
on 2 June to take command of the Allied army of 63 battalions and 180 squadrons, totalling 56,000 men. Luxembourg successfully manoeuvred to prevent William besieging Dinant, but subsequent manoeuvres produced little action. After William left his troops in the command of the Prince of Waldeck
Prince Georg Friedrich of Waldeck
Prince Georg Friedrich of Waldeck was a German and Dutch Field Marshal .In 1641, Waldeck entered the service of the States-General of the Netherlands; later in 1651, in the service of Brandenburg, he reached the highest rank as minister...
, Luxembourg’s cavalry routed part of the Allied army at Leuze
Battle of Leuze
The Battle of Leuze took place on 18 September 1691, and was a famous French cavalry victory in the Nine Years' War, against a superior allied force....
on 19 September, before all combatants returned to winter quarters.