What do you think?
Rate this book
Marlborough as Military Commander
This is a detailed analysis of the Duke of Marlborough as a commander—informed, dispassionate, and erudite, set in the context of the military realities of the 18th century. It offers a description and analysis of Marlborough's qualities; details the battle of Sedgemoor, Marlborough's first engagement in which he played a leading role; examines the Art of War in early 18th century warfare; and explores Continental campaigns such as Donauworth, Hochstadt, Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet.
408 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
2 people are currently reading
100 people want to read
About the author
David G. Chandler
62 books71 followersDavid G. Chandler was a British historian whose study focused on the Napoleonic era. As a young man he served briefly in the army, reaching the rank of captain, and in later life he taught at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. According to his obituary in the The Daily Telegraph, his "comprehensive account of Napoleon's battles" (his classic "The Campaigns of Napoleon") is "unlikely to be improved upon, despite a legion of rivals". He was also the author of a military biography of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and of "The Art of War in the Age of Marlborough".
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 12, 2011
Its Chandler so you get what you'd expect: good analysis burdened by dull prose.
September 16, 2020
David Chandler's modern military biography of the Duke of Marlborough makes it clear why Winston Churchill was so fond of his distant relative: a master of alliances; a shunner of normal party politics; a brilliant startegist that deployed modern tactics to win battles and campaigns - all make Marlborough perhaps the greatest soldier in Britain's history.
Chandler romps through Churchill's early life, picking up the narrative in more detail with Churchill's campaigns in Ireland and the opening salvoes of the War of Spanish Succession. The book is laden with military facts, battle formations, and minute details of each of Marlborough's sterling victories, from Blenheim to Malplaquet. However, Chandler also delivers an illuminating overview of early 18th Century warfare and a helpful guide to the players involved in the War of Spanish Succession (a war whose commanders and campaigns seem particularly alien to a generation that feels World War II slipping into the surly bonds of history).
For military history readers, "Marlborough as Military Commander" is a fine introduction to the Duke's mastery. While not a full biographical portrait, the book excavates the Duke's military genius, particularly in the context of alliance-building and maintenance. In a 21st Century world where even superpowers cannot wage unilateral wars without troubles (and quagmires at worst), the story of the Duke serves as a perpetually-timely lesson in how to win a war with friends, and sometimes-friends, in tow.
Chandler romps through Churchill's early life, picking up the narrative in more detail with Churchill's campaigns in Ireland and the opening salvoes of the War of Spanish Succession. The book is laden with military facts, battle formations, and minute details of each of Marlborough's sterling victories, from Blenheim to Malplaquet. However, Chandler also delivers an illuminating overview of early 18th Century warfare and a helpful guide to the players involved in the War of Spanish Succession (a war whose commanders and campaigns seem particularly alien to a generation that feels World War II slipping into the surly bonds of history).
For military history readers, "Marlborough as Military Commander" is a fine introduction to the Duke's mastery. While not a full biographical portrait, the book excavates the Duke's military genius, particularly in the context of alliance-building and maintenance. In a 21st Century world where even superpowers cannot wage unilateral wars without troubles (and quagmires at worst), the story of the Duke serves as a perpetually-timely lesson in how to win a war with friends, and sometimes-friends, in tow.
February 3, 2018
Chandler is better with Napoleon than he is with Marlborough - but this is still an excellent military history... albeit that the politics were just as important and doesn't do quite as well with this side
August 8, 2022
I read this book as a follow-up to Blenheim: Battle for Europe, How Two Men Stopped The French Conquest Of Europe to learn more about all of Marlborough's campaigns.
It is a shame he is not better known to the 21st Century reader but I suspect it has a lot to do with several facts:
* The War of the Spanish Succession ended after national exhaustion by both sides. The ultimate peace tinkered around the edges but basically left Europe as is in terms of the balance of power.
* Marlborough lost favor with the Queen in 1711 (as well as with the Tories in the current government) and was forced to leave his post as Britain lost interest in the war (except on the seas)
* Each successful year's campaign in Flanders starting in 1706, although beating the French time and again, only incrementally pushed the tides of an Allied victory because the campaigning seasons were so short and the French could regroup in the winter.
Marlborough was a great commander, markedly superior to his French opponents but more importantly, able to succeed despite so many limitations of early 18th century warfare. These included:
* Logistic issues when everything had to be done by wagon or boat and enemy fortresses were built in seemingly every town that commanded a river passage. And there were lots of towns in the Spanish Netherlands. And, it rains in Flanders making things muddy.
* Slow sieges -- these could take weeks or months with huge casualties jut to clear the way to get to the next town on the rivers leading to northern France.
* A French army that often refused to fight -- so lots of maneuvers and counter-maneuvers. Then, whoops, the end of the campaigning season
* Coalition warfare - Marlborough's armies were an amalgam of various German princely states, some Hapsburg units from time-to-time, and forces from the United Provinces (modern day Netherlands). These would arrive late or be restricted from battle in certain ways by their political masters for various risk-adverse reasons.
Despite all these obstacles, Marlborough succeeded and was universally recognized at the time as a great commander.
Ok -- enough background (which I learned from reading the work) - was the book any good?
It was written by David Chandler, best known for his magisterial The Campaigns of Napoleon . Chandler knows his material and clearly had dived into the available primary sources, mostly British and some French to tell his narrative. Each chapter is one year of campaigning with an accompanying map. If a major battle ensued, you'll also get a battle map (e.g. Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malplaquet). You'll refer to the maps often, especially as the armies marched across modern day Belgium. Battles are described in detail with first person accounts woven in where available.
In between campaigns, Chandler goes into the political side of things as factions vied for power back in London (there's a side plot of Marlborough's wife (Sarah Churchill) influence on Queen Anne. Whigs and Tories abound and there are various complexities with Church of England issues. This could get confusing as personages known by one name in one chapter became a Duke of X or Earl of Y in a later chapter. Bottom line, Marlborough had his enemies back home and perhaps that is all I ended up taking away. Just like today, people with influence and money wanted more of both. And, since in those times, economics and power was seen as a zero-sum game, there were always opponents seeking every advantage to take from others.
The reason to read this book is to educate yourself on this man, his life, and especially his campaigns and battles. Should you visit Blenheim Palace outside of Oxford, this is a perfect complement. With Marlborough's leadership, the Allied forces smashed the myth of French army invincibility that had been present from nigh on the 1660s. And in doing so, Britain was able to gain some economic advantages at the Treaty of Utrecht. France, although still a major continental power, no longer played an expansionary role until the time of Napoleon.
The book is well-written (though a tad dry) and sticks to Marlborough as the central figure with considerable focus of military operations. You can think of it as roughly comparable to a book of Lee's or Grant's campaigns - but, sadly, with many fewer first hand accounts to draw from than in the 1860's. It is definitely not a social history of the era.
I gave t 4 stars because I've yet to read anything better on this topic.
I have a companion work by Chandler in my library that I have yet to read that dives into more details:
The Art of Warfare in the Age of Marlborough
It is a shame he is not better known to the 21st Century reader but I suspect it has a lot to do with several facts:
* The War of the Spanish Succession ended after national exhaustion by both sides. The ultimate peace tinkered around the edges but basically left Europe as is in terms of the balance of power.
* Marlborough lost favor with the Queen in 1711 (as well as with the Tories in the current government) and was forced to leave his post as Britain lost interest in the war (except on the seas)
* Each successful year's campaign in Flanders starting in 1706, although beating the French time and again, only incrementally pushed the tides of an Allied victory because the campaigning seasons were so short and the French could regroup in the winter.
Marlborough was a great commander, markedly superior to his French opponents but more importantly, able to succeed despite so many limitations of early 18th century warfare. These included:
* Logistic issues when everything had to be done by wagon or boat and enemy fortresses were built in seemingly every town that commanded a river passage. And there were lots of towns in the Spanish Netherlands. And, it rains in Flanders making things muddy.
* Slow sieges -- these could take weeks or months with huge casualties jut to clear the way to get to the next town on the rivers leading to northern France.
* A French army that often refused to fight -- so lots of maneuvers and counter-maneuvers. Then, whoops, the end of the campaigning season
* Coalition warfare - Marlborough's armies were an amalgam of various German princely states, some Hapsburg units from time-to-time, and forces from the United Provinces (modern day Netherlands). These would arrive late or be restricted from battle in certain ways by their political masters for various risk-adverse reasons.
Despite all these obstacles, Marlborough succeeded and was universally recognized at the time as a great commander.
Ok -- enough background (which I learned from reading the work) - was the book any good?
It was written by David Chandler, best known for his magisterial The Campaigns of Napoleon . Chandler knows his material and clearly had dived into the available primary sources, mostly British and some French to tell his narrative. Each chapter is one year of campaigning with an accompanying map. If a major battle ensued, you'll also get a battle map (e.g. Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malplaquet). You'll refer to the maps often, especially as the armies marched across modern day Belgium. Battles are described in detail with first person accounts woven in where available.
In between campaigns, Chandler goes into the political side of things as factions vied for power back in London (there's a side plot of Marlborough's wife (Sarah Churchill) influence on Queen Anne. Whigs and Tories abound and there are various complexities with Church of England issues. This could get confusing as personages known by one name in one chapter became a Duke of X or Earl of Y in a later chapter. Bottom line, Marlborough had his enemies back home and perhaps that is all I ended up taking away. Just like today, people with influence and money wanted more of both. And, since in those times, economics and power was seen as a zero-sum game, there were always opponents seeking every advantage to take from others.
The reason to read this book is to educate yourself on this man, his life, and especially his campaigns and battles. Should you visit Blenheim Palace outside of Oxford, this is a perfect complement. With Marlborough's leadership, the Allied forces smashed the myth of French army invincibility that had been present from nigh on the 1660s. And in doing so, Britain was able to gain some economic advantages at the Treaty of Utrecht. France, although still a major continental power, no longer played an expansionary role until the time of Napoleon.
The book is well-written (though a tad dry) and sticks to Marlborough as the central figure with considerable focus of military operations. You can think of it as roughly comparable to a book of Lee's or Grant's campaigns - but, sadly, with many fewer first hand accounts to draw from than in the 1860's. It is definitely not a social history of the era.
I gave t 4 stars because I've yet to read anything better on this topic.
I have a companion work by Chandler in my library that I have yet to read that dives into more details:
The Art of Warfare in the Age of Marlborough
April 12, 2015
Not a period that interests me particularly, but David Chandler could write about apes throwing rocks at each other and make it engaging.
July 31, 2024
This book is yet another of Chandler's great efforts demonstrating how a proper history book should be written. Simply excellence! He has a way of telling the reader a story that just captures you and keeps you plowing onward through the book. Every detail is well referenced and noted, and the book's bibliography is outstanding. I'm not sure one could find a better written book on Marlborough as it relates to his skills as a commander on the fields of battle. Highly recommended.
5+ Stars
5+ Stars
October 22, 2018
The only reason it didn’t get all 5 stars is that the political aspect seems underplayed although the title might nave something to do with that. I think any assessment of Marlborough has to recognise the peculiar restrictions of a coalition that he virtually ran for most of the war & the domestic influences that first allowed him to wax then wane. In terms of military manoeuvres & strategic clarity, this book is excellent, however.
October 5, 2016
This is a great overview of Marlborough's military achievements, with some interesting insights into how he managed to arrive at his many victories.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews