John Churchill is‚ by any reasonable analysis‚ Britain′s greatest ever soldier.
He mastered strategy‚ tactics and logistics. His big four battles‚ Blenheim
(which saved the Holy Roman Empire)‚ Ramilies‚ Oudenarde and Malplaquet were
events at the very centre of the European stage. He captured Lille‚ France′s
second city‚ overran Bavaria and beat a succession of French marshals so badly
that one‚ the squat and energetic Bofflers‚ was rewarded by Louis XIV for only
losing moderately.
A coalition manager long before the phrase was invented‚ he commanded a huge
polyglot army with centrifugal political tendencies and bending it to his will
by sheer force of personality.
He was also a politician on the domestic stage‚ intimate with two monarchs‚
James II and Queen Anne‚ and the prop of successive cabinets. He had
extraordinary strength and durability. His family connections wove him into the
fabric of Europe: his sister Arabella was James II′s mistress‚ and their son‚…
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