Fontenoy

Did you know that the famous Battle of Fontenoy was fought in the past at Fontenoy? It was on May 11, 1745. The War of the Austrian Succession was then underway. The plan of the French marshal Maurice de Saxe (who was under the orders of Louis XV) was very simple: he would besiege and capture Tournai in the spring to subsequently invade the Austrian Netherlands. Remarkably, Louis XV himself appeared on the battlefield and took part in the fight. The battlefield was a slightly rolling plateau on the right bank of the Escaut. The small village of Antoing was located on the left flank, and Fontenoy formed a fortified strong center in the middle of the line. The siege engineers took care of transforming the entire line up to the Bois de Barry (right flank) into a stubborn and difficult obstacle to cross: numerous infantry soldiers (mainly dragoons) and artillery occupied the villages, and cavalry was stationed behind the line so they could intervene wherever necessary, and a redoubt was raised three times between the reinforced ramparts. The French defeated most of the English and Dutch. They continued their conquest of the southern Netherlands but were unable to sufficiently capitalize on their victories after the battle of Lafelt (1747) and the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748.

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