What were the Lines of Ne Plus Ultra in the War of the Spanish Succession?
score:10
In one sense, it might be better to say that Marlborough "bypassed", rather than "defeated", the Lines of Ne Plus Ultra. The following quote is from the 2011 biography of Marlborough by Angus Konstam:
The French had built a defensive line, named Ne Plus Ultra (No Farther). To Marlborough this was the perfect challenge. It ran from Arras to Cambrai and Valenciennes, then linked up with the existing defensive lines at Sambre.
In the end, Marlborough breached these lines whilst losing almost no casualties. Marlborough feinted elsewhere to distract Marshal Villars, and then on 6 July [1711] stormed and captured Arleux near Arras. Marlborough retired again, and the French retook the town, but the defences had been razed. In effect it created a breach in the Ne Plus Ultra line. Marlborough moved to the west to the countryside around Denain, and Villars followed. At that point, Marlborough doubled back and crossed the lines at Arleux, which was virtually undefended. It was a magnificent piece of manoeuvring.
It goes to show that it doesn't matter how impressive the defensive structures may be, if they are not effectively manned they will be ineffectual.
You can find a more detailed description of the Ne Plus Ultra line in Chapter 18 of Marlborough: The Hero of Blenheim by John Hussey (2015). In brief,
These Lines ran from the sea to the Ardennes, a total distance of some 160 miles, being a combination of defended riverbank, marsh, earthworks, formal town defences and individual forts. Garrisons held certain fixed points and could be supported by a mobile army which would shadow the movements of any attacking force.
Hussey includes a lot more detail.
Upvote:5
The Ne PluS Ultra line was based on a system of fortresses built by Vauban. Its claim to fame was that it "extended" from the English Channel to the Swiss border, but it was only about two (fortresses) deep.
The line was not a cure-fall for the French defensive system. Basically, the fortresses were the hinges of the "line," which was only as good as the ability of the French to cover the gaps between the fortresses. Another answer discussed how Marlborough was able to "pick off" an underdefended fortress at Ariex, near Arras. When the French army moved to repair this breach, Marlborough went for his real objective, the strongest fortress of Bouchain, at the heart of the line, and on the direct road to Paris.
Both sides had about 90,000 men, but Marlborough detached 30,000 to conduct the siege (against 5,000 defenders), so his covering force of 60,000 was outnnumbered 3 to 2 by the French. Not only did he defeat attempts at relief, but he strengthened his supply line going back to Belgium. When the siege was over, there was only one fortress between Marlborough and Paris. This victory is less heralded than others because it involved less than 10,000 French casualties, but Winston Churchill (a descendant of Marlborough's), considered it his "finest" victory, because it was won at a location, and on terms and conditions of the French choice.
Like the Maginot Line, the Ne Plus Ultra Line was "porous" because the British army outmarched the French, first at Arieux, then at Bouchain. (Wellington won battles with similar tactics in Spain.) In "A War to be Won" Professor Williamson Murray attributes the German victory in France in 1940 to the fact that the German Army (and armor) went on "long training marches" in the winter of 1939-40 and the French did not. Basically, Marlborough's penetration of the Ne Plus Ultra Line was an "attack through the Ardennes," so it's unfortunate that it is so poorly understood.
More post
- 📝 Did men carry talisman on them against threats or to bring luck during Medieval Times?
- 📝 What is the other ancient Indian magic trick described by Adi Shankaracharya?
- 📝 What Were the Types of Sieges?
- 📝 Street Team Games played by boys in Balkans of early 20th Century
- 📝 Do more Britons than Americans profess Christianity?
- 📝 Why did the USSR give Crimea to Ukraine?
- 📝 How did medieval serfs obtain their iron goods?
- 📝 What’s this odd hat/crown and is it related to Baal?
- 📝 Has historical revisionism ever led to problems in history?
- 📝 Are there any scientific estimates for the population of Mycenaean Greece?
- 📝 What's the Ancient Egyptian phrase/word for “Royal Road of Life”? And how would it have been spelt?
- 📝 What is the origin of Americans sometimes refering to the Second World War "the Good War"?
- 📝 What is the current location of the "Cauldron of Trun and Chambios" from August 1944?
- 📝 Chemical Evidence for Ancient Trans-Atlantic Trade
- 📝 Why were there so many known (and caught) stage coach robbers?
- 📝 Where was the site of Mary Seacole's store in Aldershot?
- 📝 Were slave plantations economically superior or inferior to plantations with paid labor?
- 📝 How many trucks did Russia and Germany have at the start of Barbarossa?
- 📝 How can I date this carved wood sculpture?
- 📝 What, if any, futurists that went to war actually denied the movement later?
- 📝 Jewish Slave Owners in the United States
- 📝 Why does Europe have so few skyscrapers compared to East Asia?
- 📝 Who are the Cathari in the Canons of the council of Nicaea?
- 📝 What evidence do we have to claim the Ancient Romans kept African grey parrots as pets?
- 📝 Can anyone help identify this painting? (Western, representative, c19-c21)
- 📝 Did this "sledge rigged like a sloop" vehicle ever exist, or was it an invention of Jules Verne?
- 📝 What social relationships existed between the popular mobility and the political elites in the revolutionary American colonies?
- 📝 Why was religion used as the basis of Turkey-Greece population exchange instead of language, ethnicity, etc.?
- 📝 Why did the Swedish colonies in America and Africa fail?
- 📝 What police uniforms are being worn in the film "Alone in Berlin"?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What were the Lines of Ne Plus Ultra in the War of the Spanish Succession?
- 📝 What were the post World War 2 effects on Germany?
- 📝 What were the individual soldiers motivated by during World War 1?
- 📝 What benefits were there to the USA of developing both Uranium and Plutonium bombs in World War 2?
- 📝 What were the consequences of the bankruptcies of the Spanish Empire?
- 📝 What were factors that led to a decline in bond yields during World War II given that the opposite should have happened?
- 📝 What were the causes of the "Dardanelles" fiasco in World War I
- 📝 What deaths were caused by weapons deployed during a war long after the war has ended?
- 📝 What were conditions like for Chinese men subject to recruitment by the army during the Second Sino-Japanese War and Chinese Civil War?
- 📝 To What Extent Were St. Augustine's Just War Principles Used In The First Crusade?
- 📝 What were the plans to use the atomic bomb if it had been in time for the war in Europe?
- 📝 What were the German "general" ranks in World War II?
- 📝 What Were the Main Causes of World War One?
- 📝 What were the influences of Freemasonry in the wars of liberation of Latino American countries from Spanish Colonialism?
- 📝 What were an American soldier's chances of being wounded on the front lines of Vietnam?
- 📝 What were the differences between mortars and other artilleries in world war I?
- 📝 In Shanghai before World War II what were relations like between the Europeans living there and the local Chinese?
- 📝 What were John Profumo's responsibilities as the Secretary of State for War in Macmillan's government?
- 📝 Up to what levels were World War II commanders known for fighting at the battle front?
- 📝 What were the incentives for war during the Warring States Period?
- 📝 What did the Germans believe were the causes of WWI during the war and after?
- 📝 What were the technological differences between Japan and the USA in World War 2?
- 📝 What drugs were used in England during the High Middle Ages?
- 📝 What were the reasons for the Renaissance / scientific revolution in Europe?
- 📝 What did Germany do in World War II about the different rail gauge in the Soviet Union?
- 📝 What were the acceptance criteria in universities of medieval Europe?
- 📝 What were Germany's long-term aims in World War I?
- 📝 What language(s) were spoken within the Holy Roman Empire?
- 📝 What was the reason for Soviet troops to withdraw from Yugoslavia in World War II?
- 📝 What were the reasons for making Prohibition a constitutional amendment?