Siege of Mons

Siege of Mons

Part of: War of the Palatinate Succession

Surrender of Mons

date	March 15, 1691 to April 10, 1691
place	Mons
output	French victory

Parties to the conflict
France	United Netherlands Spain
Commander
Louis XIV. Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban Louis-François de Boufflers	Philipp Francois de Glimes, Prince de Berghes
Troop strength
40,000 siege army, maximum 66,000 observation army	5000 men

The siege of Mons in spring 1691 took place during the Nine Years War between a Spanish garrison and the French siege army. Under the nominal command of Louis XIV , the troops were under the command of Louis-François de Boufflers . The actual siege was directed by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban . An Allied Relief Army under Wilhelm III. was not used. The siege ended with the surrender of the city.

prehistory

The Spanish Netherlands became the main theater of the war. In 1690 the Allies suffered a heavy, but ultimately not decisive, defeat at Fleurus .

The following year, the French Minister of War, François Michel Le Tellier de Louvois , planned to conquer the city of Mons using a large army of 66,000 men . This was an important border fortress of the Allies. Conquering them would potentially open the way to Brussels , where the coalition's main base was located. An advantage for the attackers was that Mons was relatively isolated and could not get support from neighboring fortresses as quickly. In addition, it was near the French border, which made it easier to supply a siege army. In addition, the fortifications were no longer up to date. The city with about 5,000 inhabitants was located on a hill and was still surrounded by a medieval city wall. The newer fortifications showed weaknesses. There were areas in front of the city that the defenders' crossfire could not reach. The weakest point was in the east near the Bertemont gate. In the city there were only 5,000 soldiers in their winter quarters.

The siege was carefully prepared and unnoticed by the enemy. Large stores of food and feed were set up and 20,000 workers were drawn together for digging work. The siege guns from 130 cannons and 45 mortars were also provided.

course

The Allies did not expect an attack on Mons. The attack came early in the year while the troops were still in their winter quarters.

Louis XIV at the siege of Mons

The actual French siege troops, around 40,000 men, were commanded by boufflers. Another army of 16,000 under Louis de Crévant, duc d'Humières, was supposed to prevent neighboring Allied fortresses from sending soldiers to help Mons. A small force of 5000 men observed the opposing movements at Namur , Huy , Liège and Maastricht . Another 3,000 men occupied Trier in order to hinder the Brandenburg troops in Jülich and Kleve .

The siege began on March 15th. Vauban was responsible for the technical side. Louis XIV was present at the siege himself. On March 18, Vauban started the construction of trenches and other necessary structures. Vauban concentrated the main effort on the area around the Bertemont gate. In total, circumvallation lines with a total length of twenty-seven kilometers were built around the city .

The defenders had flooded parts of the area. Vauban employed 20,000 workers to dig canals to drain the water. The siege guns were mounted on wooden racks to prevent them from sinking into the damp ground. The bombardment began on March 27th. The bombardment started several fires in Mons. The defenders opened the locks again and some of the guns sank in the mud. Vauban relocated the siege's center of gravity a little further north, where a slightly elevated area allowed the attack on two hornworks in front of the Betremont gate.

The governor of the city, Prince Berghes, was initially confident that he could hold the city long enough until Wilhelm III. would come to the rescue with a relief army. Wilhelm tried to get a sufficiently strong army together. Friedrich III. von Brandenburg promised his support.

The bombardment by the French led to the destruction of large parts of the city and the guns of the defenders were partially switched off. The trenches moved closer and closer to the horn works.

Contemporary plan of the siege

William III. had considerable difficulties because the time of year was not suitable for supplying the troops. Without the necessary feed for the horses, his army of 50,000 men could not march towards Mons. The Spanish governor Francisco Antonio de Agurto, Marquis de Gastañaga finally supplied the necessary supplies. In the meantime, however, Marshal François-Henri de Montmorency-Luxembourg had come up with an army of equal strength to cover the siege army.

On the side of the besiegers, the preparations had been completed and the artillery attacked the horn works and other defenses. In total, 106,000 cannon balls, 7,000 bombs, 40,000 grenades and 1,000 tons of gunpowder were consumed during the entire time of the siege.

According to contemporary French reports, the bombardment led to the creation of a partial breach and a first assault which was repulsed. After further bombardments, a second breach was made and another attack was more successful, which ultimately led to surrender.

Recent research blames other reasons for the abandonment. After the destruction of the city, the urge to surrender grew among the civilian population. There were even demonstrations led by two priests demanding a surrender. When the governor announced that Wilhelm III. was only a few days away, he received the answer that it would be better to surrender to the French king than to be saved by a heretic. The fact that the French announced that they would raise a contribution of 100,000 Écus for each day of the siege certainly contributed to the willingness to surrender the city . Under pressure from the residents, Prince Berghes had no choice but to negotiate a handover with the French.

consequences

An honorable surrender was agreed and the siege ended on April 10th. After the siege was over, Louis XIV returned to Versailles . Officially, the success was viewed as his own victory and thanksgiving masses were held. Paintings showing the siege were created to glorify the city.

For the Allies, the loss of Mons was a heavy defeat. The French laid a strong garrison in the city and immediately began to repair the fortifications. Most of the troops initially returned to the winter quarters.

During the siege, although the crackdown on the Irish uprising was not yet completely over, the English troops were greatly increased from around 10,000 to over 50,000 men in the Netherlands. Nevertheless, after the campaign was resumed, the French, under the command of Luxembourg, initially remained on the offensive. It was taken to Halle fortress in May of that year. Boufllers had Liege bombed. In September Luxembourg defeated the Allied commander Georg Friedrich von Waldeck at Leuze . Mons reverted to the Spanish Netherlands in the Treaty of Rijswijk in 1697 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Jean-Denis Lepage: Vauban and the French Military Under Louis XIV: An Illustrated History of Fortifications and Strategies. Jefferson, 2000, p. 56
2. ^ Jean-Denis Lepage: Vauban and the French Military Under Louis XIV: An Illustrated History of Fortifications and Strategies. Jefferson, 2000, p. 54

literature

• John Childs: The Nine Years' War and the British Army, 1688-1697: The Operations in the Low Countries. Manchester 1991, pp. 158-162
• William Young: International Politics and Warfare in the Age of Louis XIV and Peter the Great. Lincoln 2004, pp. 228f.