page_title: Battle of Landen
section_title: Prelude
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Landen / Prelude
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Relief Positionskarte von Belgien English: Physical location map of Belgium, for geo-location purposes. Français&#160;: Carte physique vierge de la Belgique, destinée à la géolocalisation. Scales: Topography: 1:1,180,000 (precision: 295 m) Bathymetry: 1:3,716,000 (precision: 929 m) Equirectangular projection, WGS84 datum Standard meridian: 004° 33' E Central parallel: 50° 30' N Geographic limits of the map: Top: 51° 48' N Bottom: 49° 12' N Left: 002° 12' E Right: 006° 54' E
context_page_description: The Battle of Landen or Neerwinden took place on 29 July 1693, during the Nine Years' War. It was fought around the village of Neerwinden in the Spanish Netherlands, now part of the municipality of Landen, Belgium.
  After four years, all combatants were struggling to cope with the financial and material costs of the war. Hoping to end the war through a negotiated peace, Louis XIV decided to first improve his position by taking the offensive in the Rhineland, Catalonia and Flanders.
  Marshal Luxembourg, French commander in Flanders, outmanoeuvred the Allies. By doing so, he achieved local superiority and trapped their army under William III in an extremely dangerous position, with a river to their rear. Most of the fighting took place on the Allied right, which protected the only bridge over the river; this was strongly fortified and held the bulk of their artillery.
  The French assaulted the Allied position three times before the Gardes Françaises and the French cavalry under de Feuquières finally penetrated the allied defences and drove William's army from the field in a rout. The battle was, however, quite costly for both sides and the French failed to follow up on their victory.
context_section_description: Luxembourg had increased his field force to 116,000 by stripping garrisons from towns throughout Maritime Flanders, including Dunkirk and Ypres. On 9 June, he embarked on a series of marches, simultaneously threatening Liège, Huy and Charleroi; the Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, Maximilian of Bavaria, insisted on covering all three, forcing the Allies to divide their army of 120,000.
  On 18 July, Luxembourg ordered Villeroy to move against Huy; the Allies marched to its relief, but before they could do so, the town surrendered on 23 July. William now halted and reinforced Liège with an additional ten battalions, bringing the garrison to 17,000. His remaining troops established a line running in a rough semicircle from Eliksem on the right, to Neerwinden on the left; although this provided flexibility of response, movement was restricted by the Little Geete River, three kilometres to the rear.
  Seeing an opportunity, on 28 July Luxembourg reversed his route, and after a forced march of 30 kilometres, arrived at the village of Landen in the early evening. William was notified of the French approach by mid-afternoon, but decided to stand and fight, rather than risk a river crossing at night. His situation was extremely dangerous; Luxembourg outnumbered him 66,000 to 50,000, while the area enclosed by his troops was too shallow for manoeuvring.
  The Allied right was key to the position, as it protected their only line of retreat across the Geete. They constructed strong defences, anchored by the villages of Laar and Neerwinden; 80 of their 91 pieces of heavy artillery were placed behind them. In the centre, the open ground between Neerwinden and Neerlanden was solidly entrenched with the village of Rumsdorp as an advance post. The left rested on Landen brook and was the hardest to attack; this area saw little action until the end of the battle.
  Luxembourg concentrated his main assault force of 28,000 men against the Allied right, while his subordinates carried out secondary attacks on their left and centre, to prevent it being reinforced. These would be carried out by three lines of cavalry, supported by two lines of infantry and a further three lines of cavalry behind while a strong force of infantry and dragoons attacked Rumsdorp.
caption: The 1693 Flanders campaign; key locations
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