• Home

The Complete Pilgrim - Religious Travel Sites

Howard Kramer's, The Complete Pilgrim, Religious Travel Site

  • AMERICAN RELIGIOUS SITES
  • CHRISTIAN SITES
  • JEWISH SITES
  • CATHOLIC SITES
  • ISLAMIC SITES
  • INDIAN/HINDU SITES
  • HOLIDAY SITES
  • CASTLES
  • BATTLEFIELDS
  • MOUNTAINS
  • NATURE
  • WILDLIFE SITES
  • PHOTO GALLERIES
  • ARCHIVES
  • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

BATTLE OF BLENHEIM (BLENHEIM BATTLEFIELD)

December 9, 2015 By Howard Kramer Leave a Comment

Blindheim, Germany (1704 AD)

The Battle of Blenheim was one of the most important, if not decisive, battle of the War of the Spanish Succession.  It was also the largest military engagement in Central Europe between the Thirty Years War and the Napoleanic Wars.  Essentially a showdown between the French and the Hapsburgs for influence in the lands of the Holy Roman Empire, it was one of the greatest victories of the Austrians during the Colonial era, and a sobering check to the military and political ambitions of France’s Sun King, Louis XIV.  It also displayed the growing influence and strength that the British were wielding in continental affairs.

History

In the wake of the Thirty Years War, France became the most powerful state in continental Europe.  The Holy Roman Empire and Hapsburg territories were a shambles, and after years of war with the British and Dutch the Spanish colonial empire was bankrupt and weakening.  Louis XIV, whose reign began during the Thirty Years War, saw the chaos engulfing his neighbors as the perfect opportunity to expand his realm; and for most of the seven decades he ruled France was in a nearly perpetual state of war.

In the late 17th century, concerned about French ambitions, a Grand Alliance, the first in Europe’s history, was formed to oppose Louis XIV.  It consisted of Great Britain, many of the smaller states of the Holy Roman Empire and Central Europe, Portugal and Spain.  In 1701 a dispute over the dynastic succession in Spain led the French Bourbons and Austrian Hapsburgs to support different claimants, and not surprisingly war broke out between France and the Grand Alliance.

Fighting took place throughout Western Europe and at sea, but the major showdown took place in Southern Germany, the frontier between France and Austria.  In 1704, the France, allied with Bavaria, launched a campaign with the intention to knock the Austrians out of the war.  After a small but important defeat at Donauworh in July, the French assembled a major force with the hopes of finishing off the Hapsburgs once and for all by marching on Vienna.

The Alliance, under the brilliant leadership of the British commander John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, managed to assemble a roughly equal, if patchwork, army.  The two sides met at Blindheim in Bavaria.  Despite the seemingly overwhelming assaults, the allies managed to hold firm until the French exhausted themselves.  Outmaneuvered, the French were surrounded and suffered nearly two-thirds casualties.  The survivors were forced to withdraw from Bavaria, ending the French threat to Austria for the next century.

Visiting

The Battle of Blenheim took place in a widely spread out area in the area between the city of Hochstadt and the smaller towns of Blindheim and Lutzingen.  Today the battlefield is almost completely farmland.  A memorial stone in Lutzingen commemorates the battle.  The Hochstadt Museum has an exhibit on the battle, including a fairly massive diorama depicting the high point of the engagement.

The Blenheim battlefield is located in a wide arc approximately two miles northeast of Hochstadt and fifty miles northwest of Munich.  The Hochstadt Museum is in the city center of Hochstadt.  The battlefield is an open site.  As of this writing no visitor information was available for the museum.  Web: www.bavaria.by (official tourism website of Bavaria).

Filed Under: Battlefield Tagged With: Germany

Where would you like to go?

Africa (North) Africa (Sub-Sahara) Arabia Armenia/Azerbaijan/Georgia Australia/Pacific Austria/Switzerland Balkans Belgium/Netherlands British Isles Canada Caribbean Central Asia China Czech Republic Egypt France Germany Greece Hungary/Romania/Bulgaria India (NE)/Nepal India (NW) India (South)/Sri Lanka Iran/Iraq Israel Italy/Malta Japan/Korea Latin America Mexico Palestine Poland/Lithuania Russia Scandinavia Southeast Asia Spain/Portugal Syria/Jordan/Lebanon Turkey/Cyprus Ukraine US-California US-Mid Atlantic US-Midwest US-New England US-New York US-Pacific Northwest US-South US-Southwest

About Howard Kramer

Howard Kramer is the creator and author of The Complete Pilgrim. He first took an interest in religious sites in his early twenties when traveling through Italy after college. In the two decades since he has traveled to more than two dozen countries and almost every state, visiting and photographing hundreds of the world’s greatest churches, synagogues and other places of religious interest. Howard has been writing about religious sites for the better part of the last decade, and The Complete Pilgrim is a culmination of years of his work and passion.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

THE COMPLETE AMERICAN PILGRIM – NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

THE COMPLETE PILGRIM

Welcome to The Complete Pilgrim(TM)! This site, created by Howard Kramer, is a combination travel blog and online guide to the world's greatest sites of religious interest (with some historic and recreational places thrown in for good measure). All written content has been originally researched and produced and is provided free for public research and enjoyment. Thank you for visiting!

Site of the Week

WITTENBERG CASTLE CHURCH

WITTENBERG CASTLE CHURCH

Wittenberg, Germany The … [Read More...]

Friends of TCP Spotlight

5 PLACES TO VISIT IN HISTORIC PHILADELPHIA – MUSLIM TRAVEL ROCKS

5 PLACES TO VISIT IN HISTORIC PHILADELPHIA – MUSLIM TRAVEL ROCKS

by Glory Ali The City of Brotherly Love offers tons to see and do and get this, it’s FREE. That’s right you heard it right it’s FREE. Click here for complete article  

MOVING THE U.S. EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM – FAITH IN FAITHS

MOVING THE U.S. EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM – FAITH IN FAITHS

by Mary Neuhauser President Trump recently announced his intentions to move the United States Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, thereby recognizing Jerusalem as the official capital of Israel. The purpose of this article is to give you a brief overview of what this decision means and why it matters. Click here for […]

Photo of the Week

BASILICA OF ST. DENIS

Last month, I visited one of the most fascinating churches I have ever been to, the almost completely ignored Basilica of St. Denis in the northern suburbs of Paris.  Almost every French monarch is buried here, and almost nobody goes here.  Here are some pics I took:

Basilica of St. Denis

Tomb of Clovis

Tomb of Clovis

Tombs of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette

Tombs of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette

Tomb of Louis XIV The Sun King

Tomb of Louis XIV The Sun King

Royal Tombs

Royal Tombs

The Crypt

The Crypt

 

 

 

 

Follow us!

Where would you like to go?

Africa (North) Africa (Sub-Sahara) Arabia Armenia/Azerbaijan/Georgia Australia/Pacific Austria/Switzerland Balkans Belgium/Netherlands British Isles Canada Caribbean Central Asia China Czech Republic Egypt France Germany Greece Hungary/Romania/Bulgaria India (NE)/Nepal India (NW) India (South)/Sri Lanka Iran/Iraq Israel Italy/Malta Japan/Korea Latin America Mexico Palestine Poland/Lithuania Russia Scandinavia Southeast Asia Spain/Portugal Syria/Jordan/Lebanon Turkey/Cyprus Ukraine US-California US-Mid Atlantic US-Midwest US-New England US-New York US-Pacific Northwest US-South US-Southwest

Contact Us

Have a comment, a great photo or a religious site you'd like to nominate for the weekly spotlight? We would love to hear from you. Email us at hkramer@thecompletepilgrim.com.

About the Author

Howard Kramer is the creator and author of The Complete Pilgrim. He first took an interest in religious sites in his early twenties when traveling through Italy after college. In the two decades since he has traveled to more than two dozen countries and almost every state, visiting and photographing hundreds of the world’s greatest churches, synagogues and other places of religious interest. Howard has been writing about religious sites for the better part of the last decade, and The Complete Pilgrim is the culmination of years of his work and passion.

Return to top of page
Copyright © 2023 The Complete Pilgrim, LLC || Marietta, GA 30068 || Legal Disclaimers

Website by: Kristina McInerny, Notes From Kris, Inc.