Master of Maneuver Warfare: Turenne, Campaign of 1674

🔔 Subscribe for more history

🚩 I am very pleased to share with you “Turenne: Campaign of 1674”, which outlines the brilliance of maneuver that even Napoleon admired. In the summer of 1674, France’s Marshal Henri de la Tour d’Auvergne, Viscount of Turenne, found himself facing one of the most perilous tests of his career. Europe was convulsed by the War of the Dutch, and the Holy Roman Empire had cast its weight behind France’s enemies. The Rhine frontier, long a region of uneasy peace, was now a corridor of fire and steel.

Turenne, seasoned by decades of war, moved with the precision of a master strategist. The Rhine crossings became scenes of constant maneuvering before the coming decisive clash. As December set in, snow blanketed the valleys, masking troop movements and blurring the lines between friend and foe. Turenne’s scouts reported enemy columns shifting under cover of darkness, their intentions as cold and sharp as the winter air.

Something was coming—something that would not only decide the fate of this campaign, but perhaps reshape the very balance of power in Europe. And as Turenne looked across the frozen fields, he knew the hour was almost upon him.

🚩 If you like what you see, consider supporting my work on Patreon and you get ad-free early access to my videos for as little as $1 https://www.patreon.com/historymarche — You can also show your support by subscribing to the channel and liking the video. Thank you for watching.

📢 Narrated by David McCallion

🎼 Music:
EpidemicSound
Filmstro

📖 Sources and Citations:
The Battle of Turckheim – Ch. Gerard (Author), G.F.Nafziger (Translator) – 2015
Atlas of World Military History – Richard (ed). Brooks (2000)
The Wars of Louis XIV 1667-1714 – John A. Lynn (1999)
An Encyclopedia of Battles – David Eggenberger (1985)

#history #documentary #france

It is late autumn 1674, and in the great halls of 
the Holy Roman Empire, the high commands of the Emperor Leopold I and Elector Frederick William 
of Brandenburg have made a fateful decision. Following the despoilation of the Palatinate 
by the forces of the French King Louis XIV, and with French gains in the war against the 
Dutch Republic increasing on the victory of the Great Conde at Seneffe the previous August, 
the Imperial alliance has decided that France itself will be subject to invasion, and the 
war taken to the very soil of the Sun King. To this end, a huge army under Alexander 
de Bournonville, Count of Henin-Lietard, moves like a juggernaut and occupies the neutral 
city of Strasbourg, using it as a bridgehead to cross the Rhine and move into French territory.
To oppose this force, Louis can only call on his stalwart, Henri de la Tour d’Auvergne – known 
to all simply as Turenne – and a relatively paltry 30,000 French soldiers.
Turenne’s difficult cause is made exponentially more acute by the news 
that a second – Brandenburger – army under the Grand Elector himself is en route 
to link up with Bournonville, a development that would render almost any set piece battle 
between the two sides a foregone conclusion. With the Emperor’s companies 
still pouring over the Rhine, Turenne moves out to save France from what 
is almost certain to be a ruinous onslaught. The French state of Louis XIV is 
a wonder of the early modern age. Not only does it lead Europe in science, art, 
and philosophy, the king heads the first regular army in a millennium that approaches those of 
the ancient Caesars in size and capability. While the medieval armies of the French kings had 
numbered barely over 10,000 men during peacetime and increased by one or two fold by the hiring 
of mercenaries or the drafting of high nobility and their retainers, Louis had built on the 
considerable advancements of his namesake father, and now, with his conflict against the Dutch 
and the Empire raging all around his borders, his army numbers close to 300,000 
men – an astronomical force. Yet only a fraction of these are available 
to Turenne in the declining months of 1674. The main French field army is to the north with 
Conde, mopping up in the aftermath of Seneffe, and the rest are occupied with operations 
against the still dangerous Spanish in the shadow of the Pyrenees to the south.
Turenne looks at his situation while Bournonville musters to reduce the Rhineland, 
and he realizes that to sit in a defensive posture is to invite his already fragile 
force to melt away due to desertion and disease over the debilitating winter.
The Frenchman thus decides that elan will be the order of the day, and he sets out to 
confront his enemies and prevent their union. With Bournonville’s main force at Entzheim, 
Turenne arrives at Molsheim on 3rd October, having marched his men through the night.
This position has the effect of disrupting Bournonville’s contact with his main headquarters 
at Strasburg, but Turenne is not finished yet. The next day, the 4th October, he marches out 
from Molsheim to confront the Imperials. Bournonville is confident enough in his 
superiority to march and meet the French, but he deploys in a defensive posture, reasonably 
gauging that the cold and precipitous conditions will favor the stationary host.
When Turenne surveys the Imperial host, he notes that its center is formed 
around the village of Entzheim itself, with woods on both the right and left flanks.
The woods to Bournonville’s right are far enough away by the river Ill to be of little 
disturbance, but the woods on the imperial left will be vital if Turenne is to break the 
enemy center and take control of the village. As such he orders his lines to focus 
on an attack there at the outset. Both armies deploy in the front and 
reserve lines, with cavalry on the wings. The influence of the great Swedish king 
general Gustavus Adolphus is still seen four decades on from his death in Turenne’s 
deployment of infantry support units placed between his cavalry squadrons.
Interestingly, the French army also contains a British contingent – four regiments 
in total, who are a holdover from the earlier official English involvement in the war.
Though it is a secret, Charles II has promised Louis of France that he will eventually 
return England to the Catholic fold when the time is correct. In the meantime, 
Louis will give him much needed funding in return for his clandestine troops.
For the initial attack on the wood, Turenne elects to utilize infantry and a dragoon unit 
to be sent forth to the trees – eight battalions of foot plus the mounted detachment.
They move quickly toward the thicket, the artillery duel between the 8 French 
artillery pieces in their front line against the Imperial guns churning up 
clots of earth amidst the companies and filling the air with a quaking roar.
There is no movement from the woods. The French soldiers hurrying toward the tree line begin to 
dream that Bournonville has been overwhelmed by Turenne’s sudden appearance after the forced march 
and somehow overlooked the strategic point. They come within the last 100 yards and are 
allowed one more moment of exquisite optimism before a sharp snap emits from the woods and the 
hidden Imperial force opens up and cuts down the front line of French marauders.
Bournonville has indeed recognized the importance of the woods, and so they 
have been solidly reinforced with 8 guns, as well as half a dozen battalions of infantry, 
who are now firing on the floundering Frenchmen. The dragoons attempt a charge, but it 
comes to naught save death and injury, and even though the French officers quickly 
bring their men to order and fire in volleys, the hidden enemy within the woods has an 
open target on Turenne’s men in the open. The French infantry and the dragoons try 
again, but the woods are too well defended. Withdrawal is the only option 
save suicidal frontal attack. It is a dispiriting setback, but 
Turenne knows that he must have the woods if he is to have the battle, and 
so he draws companies from the reserve. Two of the regiments from the reinforcements 
are of the British Brigade, and they number amongst their officers one John Churchill 
– the future Duke of Marlborough and a man pivotal to British and European history.
In spite of Churchill’s presence amidst his compatriots, the second operation to seize the 
woods is no more successful than the first, and the two sides settle into a grim back and 
forth of musket and small artillery fire. The October cold has not abated with the onset 
of afternoon, and the rain has continued to fall, hampering the ability of both sides to bring 
their main guns to bear in the contest. Turenne ratchets up the pressure on the units in 
the woods by sending a cavalry detachment around to attempt an envelopment from the far side of the 
tree line, but to the commander Vaubrun’s dismay, they discover that Bournonville has placed no 
fewer than 8 battalions behind the main force in reserve, and these easily deal with the 
onrushing cavalrymen, stinging musket volleys cutting riders down from every direction.
Bournonville himself, watching the proceedings with satisfaction, decides that the moment has 
come for action, and with his French opponent stretched thin on his lines and with companies 
out of position, he orders an advance. The attack is quick and strong enough 
that the Imperial mounted right quickly push back and scatter their opposite numbers 
on the French side, but though outnumbered, the French center and left wing reserve hold 
and the soft ground soon turns to morass for the Imperial infantry and their rear units.
They cannot bring their advantage to bear, and the French guns now have the advantage of 
range. They cut deep holes in the Imperial lines, and when the offensive has juddered to a certain 
halt, a counter attack begins, the French left having regrouped, and the Imperial lines are 
pushed back to their initial positions. Simultaneously, the focus on the main action 
has taken Imperial attention from the woods, and the combined French and British 
forces are at last able to cut through the defenses and take the position.
The French advance across the entire field, but they are finding the same problems of terrain 
the Imperials suffered during their offensive. The French guns cannot be brought 
forward, and the conditions are worsening as the light starts to fade.
Vauban regulates his company and squadrons, and then with a flourish of trumpets 
that sounds flattened in falling mist, a major charge is mounted over the 
sodden ground toward Entzheim itself. Bournonville’s units steel themselves and the 
officers and commanders beat men into line as the riders encroach out of the gloom.
Pistol and musket flash like lightning strikes out of the grey, and the 
sabers and bayonets are deployed in a struggle that results in terrible wounds.
Grenadiers to the fore in both sides lock weapons, but the Imperial guns are now in the 
advantage, and the French are forced back when the Imperials hold their line.
The French guns reach a position of range, and they begin to bombard the enemy line while 
the dusk finally settles in for the night. Bournonville has seen enough, and 
he begins an organized withdrawal. Turenne, eventually seeing any gains 
will have to go unpursued in the dark and that more attacks will only lead to 
further losses, begins to do the same. Only a holding force of French cavalry is left on 
the field, and that too departs into the night. The French call the Battle of Enshiem a great 
victory, but the fact is that Bournonville and the Great Elector can now unite and still 
stand ready to invade France again when the new campaign season begins in the spring.
Thus, Turenne elects to do what no one expects and many believe to be impossible.
At his new headquarters in Deittweiler, he prepares for a winter offensive.
From Louis comes royal assent, and from the army of Conde, the king sends “twenty 
infantry battalions and twenty four cavalry squadrons” to aid in the effort.
The man who has virtually invented the role of Minister for War, Francois-Michel le Tellier, 
the Marquis of Louvois, begins the organization of the massive amount of food, fodder, and clothes 
for the men who will fight the winter battles. Turenne also receives around 6,000 men 
under the command of the Marquis of Crequi, but he dismisses them within seven 
days, for they are ill disciplined, old style units raised by entitled nobles, and the 
French army is now a place for real fighting men, professional soldiers in all but name.
As the snow starts to fall and Turenne waits for Bournonville and the Elector to let down 
their guards, Louis puts the royal power behind an even greater effort to draw supplies from the 
nearby provinces to keep the army in the field. Finally, after a month of waiting in freezing 
conditions, Bournonville and Frederick William take their armies out of the field and into 
“Colmar and Selestat” to see out the season. It is the moment Turenne has been waiting for. 
He makes a show of going into winter quarters himself, placing token garrisons in towns like 
Saverne, Haguenau, Rambervillers, and Remiermont. But instead of staying in camp, he sets out 
with his strongest men and animals two weeks before Christmas.
It is a bold move. To elude spies and scouts, 
he leads his men through a snowstorm and heads for the Vosges Mountains.
He breaks the army into smaller detachments to take different routes, and over the next fortnight 
they battle against the cold to reach Alsace. Finally, they emerge from the beech and spruce 
lined trails, to the shock of the townspeople of Belfort, as they ready themselves 
for the holy season of Christ’s birth. The Imperial army, led by Bournonville, is spread 
out across Alsace, thinking they have the region secured. But Turenne catches them off guard.
On December 29, he crosses the Ill River and launches a surprise attack 
near the town of Mulhouse, a strategic spot close to the Rhine River.
Bournonville did not expect the French to show up in the middle of winter. The 
scattered Imperials scrambled but could not effectively coordinate a defense.
Turenne’s winter maneuver was risky, but it paid off.
Led by Montauban, the French cavalry strikes hard and fast, hitting 
the Imperial left held by Hermann of Baden-Baden. The Imperials had managed to take a defensive 
position, with their right resting on the forest and their left anchored near the town.
But the French frontal assault is a feint. The real pressure is yet to come.
Turenne had secretly reinforced his right wing with a large concentration of 
troops, including elite cavalry and fresh infantry. These reinforcements were concealed 
during the initial approach and brought up quickly to swing around the Imperial left.
The French right, now heavily bolstered, threatened to outflank the Imperial 
left. The shock of this sudden mass of fresh French troops caused the collapse of 
Hermann’s left wing. Once the left gave way, the rest of the Imperial line became exposed 
and started to fall back in disorder. Hermann attempted to organize a retreat, 
but the French cavalry—especially those from the reinforced right wing—pressed hard 
and turned the withdrawal into a rout. Although not a major pitched battle, Mulhouse was 
an important, sharp action that gave the French control over Alsace. Turenne’s surprise winter 
campaign had arguably flipped the momentum in France’s favor and showed just how brilliant 
and daring the French commander could be. Turenne orders his 30,000 
men to proceed to Colmar. By now, Bournonville and the Great Elector – 
who had arrived in the wake of Entzheim – have realized the staggering audacity of their 
opponent’s maneuver and they rush to take their unconditioned men from their 
billets and back into the field. On the 5th January, on a field near 
the road between Colmar and Turckheim, a manic and wild eyed army of Frenchmen comes 
face to face once more with the bemused and agitated army of the Holy Roman Empire, 
along with their Brandenburger allies. French scouts reconnoiter the Imperial 
positions in the dark and see that it stretches almost the entire length between 
the two towns – with the Imperial right at Turckhim and the left at Colmar.
This left flank is protected by the Lauch, Thur, and Ill rivers, while the 
right is bordered by the Fech, of which a tributary seems to run entirely 
in front of the army’s forward position. When the weak and late winter sun starts to rise, 
Turenne can see for himself that the natural boundaries have been augmented by artillery 
batteries as well as ramparts and balustrades. Bournonville and Frederick 
William have done well. Turenne’s army is roughly the same strength 
as that which he commanded at Entzheim, being in the order of 30,000 men.
Bournonville’s army is still larger, however, anywhere from a couple of thousand greater 
than Turenne’s roster to 50,000 in total. Again taking a defensive posture, 
they await Turenne’s opening moves, which come around 11 o’clock.
Marching forward from the center with an emphasis on their right wing, the French make for 
the Colmar positions. This advance is led by the Comte de Lorges, who spreads his men out as far 
as possible, looking for crossing points over the river to the Imperial positions beyond.
The French have some large guns, but most of their heavy ordnance could not be 
brought through the mountains on the march. Nevertheless, the offensive is sustained to such 
a degree that Bournonville and Frederick William begin moving troops from the center and the 
environs of Turckheim to reinforce their left. Once again, this is the action for 
which Turenne has been waiting. He has secreted himself on his own far left 
wing – “behind a hill, in a gorge, which led between two spurs of the Vosges Mountains.”
From there, Turenne leads his concealed force on a wide march around the gorge, emerging at 
the Fech River on the outskirts of Turckheim. In the meantime, the battle at the center 
and around Colmar continues with constant exchanges – but the two infantry centers 
of the armies grapple from a distance, the blizzards of musket balls never extending 
to a close order clash with bayonets. The Imperials, realizing their mistake in ignoring 
their right, rush units into Turckheim – “six guns, twelve battalions and several squadrons 
of cavalry” – but Turenne, despite holding the advantage, decides to pause the assault.
The battle settles for a time into a deadlock, with the Turckheim forces awaiting imminent 
deadly attack, and the main armies in Colmar still battling on in vicious but limited forays.
Finally, when it appears that the Imperials will not simply withdraw from the field and 
spare the necessity of a costly fight, Turenne gives the order to advance at 3 o’clock.
His cavalry units, having waited with exceeding discipline under the Imperial guns from 
Turckheim for what seemed like hours, now surge forward like Furies unleashed from 
Tartarus – crossing the freezing river as though it were not there – and firing pistol and swinging 
saber at the now confounded and rattled enemy. Everything happens in a rush.
The Imperial defenders flee Turckheim, and Turenne is able to bring infantry 
into the village while his cavalry move forward to secure the outer section.
But the Imperials launch a counter attack – brimming out of their still intact center and 
with the regrouped elements of their right wing. For a moment, all hangs in the balance, the 
Imperials have the opportunity to catch Turenne’s attack force and turn them – upending the result 
of the day and handing the French general a defeat that will open the doors of France to them.
They might even come close to capturing or killing Turenne himself, for he is now in 
the town and caught up in the fighting. His cavalry commander Foucault 
has already been killed. The Imperials get within the town once more 
and they can feel the hand of providence at their back, pushing them forward.
But they run onto a wall of French muskets, fired with a frequency borne of interminable 
drill and deadly accuracy from the same. The bravest men of the front fall and then the 
attack pauses, giving the remaining French cavalry their moment to charge forward.
The Imperial assault is repulsed, and retreat is the only option.
The setting of the sun almost immediately after puts paid to any 
thoughts of forming another attack. Turenne holds the village, and 
when the sun rises next morning, he sees that Bournonville and the Great 
Elector have gone, robbing him of the chance of annihilating their army in its entirety 
but leaving thousands of the dead in their wake. Turenne moves on and occupies Colmar, 
where he finds that the Imperials have left behind 3,000 of the injured in their 
rush over the Rhine and back to Strasburg. The Rhineland is French once more and Turenne 
– with his veritably insane gamble in crossing mountains during the midst of winter – has saved 
his nation from certain invasion and ruination. Louis awards him titles and cash rewards, and the Sun King’s rule continues in the 
ascendant over the greatest power in Europe.