CHAP. XVI.] EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CAMPAIGNS. 21)0 



couraged with the result of the previous combat, and 

 dismayed by the imposing effect of the advancing rush 

 of the charging squach'ons, fired a scattered volley from 

 their carbines at a distance, and immediately wheeled 

 about and fied. The victory was won, the allied cavalry 

 virtually inundated the whole plain in the centre of 

 Tallard's position, swept around Blenheim, and cooped 

 up in it the bulk of the French infantry which sur- 

 rendered at discretion, then rolled up the debris of the 

 right of Tallard's cavalry in the village of Sonderheim, 

 captured the Marshal himself, his staff", and a large force 

 of his horsemen, and attacking the exposed flank of the 

 Elector's army, precipitated their retreat, and completed 

 a most decisive victory. ^ 



Although the successes gained by the cavalry in this 

 action were so great, although the part played by it was 

 so decisive and so important, yet the whole particulars 

 prove that the service was not properly understood, 

 and that it was only because the system was equally 

 faulty on both sides that Marlborough's successes 

 were so great. We still see in this action the pernicious 

 habit of mingling infantry with the horsemen, even in a 

 general attack, and we see the cavalry still using firearms 

 to a great extent. Marlborough's first charge (so-called) 

 must have been delivered at a very slow pace, for the 

 infantry and artillery evidently kept up with the cavalry. 

 Tallard's system of tactics was equally bad, for he 

 evidently expected to defend a position in an open plain 

 with cavalry at the halt. Who can doubt for one instant 

 that, if Tallard had ordered a charge at full speed, sword 

 in hand, upon the English cavalry at the critical moment 

 when they recoiled the sixty paces, he would not have 

 swept the whole force back in confusion upon the fords 

 and marshes of the Nebel in their rear ? 



Marlborough was equally faulty in not relying more 

 upon speed. He appreciated the effect of the w^eight 

 in massing' such large bodies of horse, but he left out 

 an important item when he neglected the speed. Again, 

 the moral effect in war is the most powerful element in 



^ Coxe's Life of Marlborough. 



