The History Chap Podcast

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Chris Green is The History Chap; telling stories that brings the past to life.
The Bloodies European Battle in the 18th Century - Malplaquet 1709.
The Duke of Marlborough's fourth victory over the French and the one that led to his downfall.
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Other episodes in this series:
The Battle of Blenheim 1704
The Battle of Ramillies 1706
The Battle of Oudenarde 1708

You might also be interested in this book, that I used extensively during my research for this series.
"Marlborough: Britain's Greatest General" by Richard Holmes
(This is my Amazon affiliate link)

The Battle of Malplaquet, fought on the 11th September 1709 was the Duke of Marlborough's fourth victory over the French. 

It was also the bloodiest European battle of the whole 18th century.Between 30,000 - 40,000 men were killed or wounded in just one day.

Despite, been forced from the field by the comined allied army consisting of Dutch, German, Austrian, Danish and British soldiers, , the French were able to keep their army intact, ready to fight another day - their (sort of) Dunkirk moment.

That French escape, along with his heavy losses, was the beginning of the end for John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough. Within two years, arguably the greatest military commander in British history, was sacked. 

Despite it being a tactical victory, malplaquet was a pyrrhic victory for Marlborough and his allied army.
The Allies  lost nearly 21,000 men killed or wounded (almost a quarter of their army).The Dutch alone had lost over 8,000 men, whilst the British had lost nearly 1,800.
The French army, on the other hand had suffered somewhere between 11,000 - 14,000 casualties.

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Chris Green is The History Chap; telling stories that brings the past to life.
The Battle of Oudenarde 1708, Marlborough's Forgotten Battle.

The book I mentioned, and used as part of my research:
"Marlborough: Britain's Greatest General" by Richard Holmes
(This is my Amazon affiliate link)

Ways You Can Support My Channel:
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Make A Donation

"The Devil Must Have Brought Them" - The Battle of Oudenarde, 1708

When French general Vendôme learned that Marlborough's army had appeared on the banks of the River Scheldt, he was incredulous: "The Devil must have brought them!" 

The Duke had marched 60 miles in just 72 hours to catch the French completely off guard.

The Battle of Oudenarde, fought on 11 July 1708 during the War of the Spanish Succession, was the Duke of Marlborough's third great victory over the French - yet it remains probably his most forgotten. 

This video explores how Marlborough's lightning advance wrong-footed two quarrelling French commanders, how a future King of Great Britain had his horse shot from under him in the opening clash, and how French Huguenot officers tricked enemy stragglers into captivity by shouting regimental rallying cries in the gathering darkness.

It is also a battle gifted by French dysfunction. Marshal Vendôme fought so furiously in the front line that he lost all command of his army, whilst his co-commander the Duke of Burgundy sat motionless with 60 battalions, refusing to attack.

 Watching from Burgundy's staff was the 20-year-old Old Pretender, James Stuart - serving incognito as the "Chevalier de St George" against the countrymen he claimed as subjects.

Among the British regiments were veterans of Blenheim and Ramillies including the Royal Welch Fusiliers, the Grenadier Guards and the Cameronians - battle-hardened redcoats who helped Marlborough encircle 50,000 Frenchmen in what one survivor called a "vast horseshoe of flame."

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HMS Peterel: The Royal Navy's Defiant Last Stand at Shanghai, 1941

Chris Green is The History Chap; telling stories that brings the past to life.
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Hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a small Royal Navy gunboat faced impossible odds in Shanghai. 

When Japanese officers boarded HMS Peterel demanding surrender, her captain - 62-year-old Lieutenant Stephen Polkinghorn - gave them a defiant reply: "Get off my bloody ship!"

What followed was a one-sided battle against the armoured cruiser Izumo and shore batteries. With her main guns deliberately disabled, Peterel's crew fought back with Lewis guns and small arms. 

She became the first British warship sunk by the Japanese in the Second World War - but she went down fighting, White Ensign still flying.

This video explores why British and American gunboats were in Shanghai, the strange "Solitary Island" existence of the International Settlement surrounded by Japanese forces since 1937, and the dramatic events of 8 December 1941.

 It also reveals the remarkable story of CPO James Cuming, who evaded capture and spent the entire war as a spy in occupied Shanghai.
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The real Blackadder who fought at the Battle of Blenheim, 1704.
Chris Green is The History Chap; telling stories that brings the past to life.
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Long before Rowan Atkinson's comic creation, a real Blackadder was fighting in some of the bloodiest battles in British military history. Lieutenant-Colonel John Blackadder was a Scottish soldier who served under the Duke of Marlborough and fought at the Battle of Blenheim—where he nearly died from a musket ball to the throat.
Born in 1664 to a firebrand Covenanter preacher who died imprisoned on the Bass Rock, John Blackadder joined the newly-raised Cameronians in 1689. This distinctively religious Scottish regiment—nicknamed the "Psalm-singing Regiment"—would become his military home for over two decades. His first taste of battle came at Dunkeld, where 800 Cameronians held off more than 3,000 Jacobite Highlanders.
During the Nine Years War, Blackadder fought at Steenkirk, Landen and the Siege of Namur. But his career was nearly derailed when he killed a fellow officer in a duel at Maastricht—an act that haunted this devout Presbyterian for the rest of his life.
The War of the Spanish Succession brought Blackadder to Marlborough's greatest victories. He survived Schellenberg, was wounded at Blenheim, served at Ramillies, and was hit twice more at the Siege of Lille. At the catastrophic Battle of Malplaquet in 1709, Marlborough personally promoted him to Lieutenant-Colonel on the battlefield when his commanding officer fell wounded.
After retiring in 1711, Blackadder returned to service during the 1715 Jacobite rebellion, commanding the Glasgow Volunteer Regiment. He ended his days as Deputy-Governor of Stirling Castle, and his diaries—published in 1824—remain an invaluable account of early 18th-century military life.
Timeline of John Blackadder's Life:
1664: Born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland
1689: Joins the Cameronians; fights at Battle of Dunkeld
1691: Kills Lieutenant Robert Murray in a duel at Maastricht
1693: Promoted to Captain
1704: Fights at Schellenberg and Blenheim (wounded)
1705: Promoted to Major
1706: Present at Battle of Ramillies
1708: Wounded twice at Siege of Lille
1709: Battlefield promotion to Lieutenant-Colonel at Malplaquet
1711: Sells commission and retires
1715: Commands Glasgow Volunteer Regiment during Jacobite rebellion
1729: Dies aged 64; buried in Stirling
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Fought in 1706, the Battle of Ramillies is arguably the Duke of Marlborough's greatest victory.

Chris Green is The History Chap; telling stories that brings the past to life.
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Support the show