Back Битка при Лауфелд Bulgarian Batalla de Lafelt Catalan Schlacht bei Lauffeldt German Batalla de Lafelt Spanish Bataille de Lauffeld French Lauffeldi csata Hungarian Battaglia di Lauffeldt Italian ラウフフェルトの戦い Japanese 라우펠트 전투 Korean Slag bij Lafelt Dutch
| Battle of Lauffeld | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of War of the Austrian Succession | |||||||
 Louis XV with Maurice de Saxe at Lauffeld | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Great Britain Dutch Republic Habsburg monarchy  Hanover |
 France | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Duke of Cumberland John Ligonier Prince Waldeck Karl Josef Batthyány von Daun .svg){kind=small} Frederick II |
Maurice de Saxe Louis XV Clermont-Tonnerre Count Löwendahl | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
80,000[1] [2] up to 200 guns |
82,000[1] to 98,000 [2] 170 guns | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
6,000[3](excluding prisoners) to 11,000 casualties [1][4][2] 23 guns[4] | c. 5,000[3] [4] to 11,000 casualties [2] | ||||||
The Battle of Lauffeld [a] took place on 2 July 1747, during the War of the Austrian Succession. Fought between the towns of Tongeren in modern Belgium, and the Dutch city of Maastricht, a French army of 80,000 under Marshal Saxe defeated a Pragmatic Army of 120,000, led by the Duke of Cumberland.
Arguably the most talented general of his generation, Saxe had conquered much of the Austrian Netherlands between 1744 and 1746. In early 1747, Cumberland planned an offensive to retake Antwerp, but was forced to fall back when the French threatened to cut him off from his supply base at Maastricht. When the two armies met at Lauffeld, a series of mistakes by Cumberland compromised his position, and only counterattacks by the Allied cavalry prevented a serious defeat.
The battle ended Allied hopes of regaining lost ground and Saxe captured Bergen op Zoom in September, then Maastricht in May 1748. However, by then France was close to bankruptcy, while severe food shortages caused by the Royal Navy blockade worsened after defeat at Cape Finisterre in October 1747 left the French unable to defend their merchant shipping. The stalemate resulted in the October 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
- ^ a b c Grant 2011, p. 421.
- ^ a b c d Bodart 1908, p. 211.
- ^ a b Castex 2012, p. 141.
- ^ a b c Périni 1906, p. 338.
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