MALPLAQUET, a village of France in the department of the Nord, close to the Belgian frontier and about lc) m. S. by E. of Mons, famous as the scene of the battle, September 1709, between the Allies under the duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene and the French commanded by Marshal Villars, in which the former were victorious. The country to the west and south of Mons is enclosed by a semicircular wall of woods and broken ground, through which there are only two important gaps—that of Jemappes (q.v.) (famous in 1792) to the west, and that of Aulnois, in which stands the village of Malplaquet, to the south. In the latter gap and the woods on either side Villars took up his position facing north-eastwards, on August 29/September 9. The forces present, over 90,00o on each side, were exceptionally large, and the French army in particular represented the spirit of its nation to a degree unusual in the armies of that time. Villars was the best general in the service of Louis XIV. and the veteran Marshal Boufflers, though senior to him, had volunteered to serve as his second in command. Marlborough and Eugene lay with their army between Mons and the French camps, which were almost within cannon shot. Marlborough's own wish was for an immediate battle, but he was opposed by the Dutch deputies at his headquarters, and even by Eugene, so that it was only on August 31/September 11 that the attack actually took place. Villars had made full use of his respite. The French right stood at the fringe of the wood of Laniere, the left was strongly posted in the midst of the wood of Taisniere, and across the two and a half miles of open ground between the woods the position was en trenched with several successive lines of works. The troops were almost equally distributed along the whole line as usual, and the cavalry was massed in rear of the infantry. In the Allied army the mounted troops were also kept back, but for the most part dis tributed to the various infantry commands.
The intention of Marlborough and Eugene, when on the morning of the battle they examined this formidable position, was to deliver the main attack upon the French left wing, combining the assaults of several columns on its front and flanks. In this
quarter the French not only held the interior of the wood but also were thrown forward so as to occupy the edges of its north eastern salient, and upon the two faces of this salient Count Lottum with the Prussians, and Count von der Schulenburg with the Austrian infantry were to deliver a convergent attack, while farther to the Allied right a column under the English General Withers was detached to make a wide turning movement through the woods. Marlborough took command on the right, Eugene on the left. The centre, which was intended only to observe the enemy until the decision had been forced at the wood of Taisniere, consisted of Lord Orkney's British corps and the prince of Orange's Dutch contingent. The salient of the Taisniere wood was duly attacked, after a heavy cannonade, on its two faces by the Prussians and Austrians about 9 A.M. They encountered a sterner resistance than in any of the battles and combats of the past seven campaigns, for on this field th. defenders were fighting, not as hitherto for the interests of their king, but to defend their country, and the regiments of Picardie and Champagne which held the salient were the oldest and most famous of the French line. Lottum attacked again and again without success, until three British battalions had to be sent to reinforce him, and Marl borough placed himself with a corps of cavalry in close support. At last the entrenchments were stormed. Schulenburg had by this time fought his way through the woods and undergrowth, and the united force pressed back the French. Still, so stubborn was the defence and so dense the wood that the impetus of the assault died away and the troops on both sides broke up into small dis connected bodies, fighting too fiercely to be amenable to superior control.