Marlborough followed him, and made
every effort to bring the French to a battle; but Villeroi fell
back behind the Lauter, and then behind the Motter, abandoning
without a blow one of the strongest countries in Europe.
On the 11th of September Ulm surrendered, with 250 pieces of
cannon; and upon the following day, Landau was invested. The Prince
of Baden with 20,000 men conducted the siege, and Marlborough and
Eugene with 30,000 covered the operations. Marlborough, however,
determined on ending the campaign, if possible, by driving the
French beyond the Moselle, and leaving Prince Eugene with 18,000
men, marched with 12,000 men on the 14th of October.
After a tremendous march through a wild and desolate country, he
arrived with his exhausted troops at Treves on the 29th, one day
before the arrival of 10,000 French, who were advancing to occupy
it. The garrison of 600 men in the citadel evacuated it at his
approach. He immediately collected and set to work 6000 peasants to
restore the fortifications. Leaving a garrison, he marched against
the strong place of Traesbach. Here he was joined by twelve Dutch
battalions from the Meuse; and having invested the place, he left
the Prince of Hesse to conduct the siege--which speedily ended in
the surrender of the place--and marched back with all haste to
rejoin Prince Eugene.
Leaving Eugene to cover the siege of Landau, Marlborough now
hurried away to Hanover and Berlin, to stimulate the governments of
Hanover and Prussia to renewed exertion; and by his address and
conciliatory manner succeeded in making arrangements for 8000 fresh
Prussian troops to be sent to the imperial armies in Italy, as the
Duke of Savoy had been reduced to the last extremity there by the
French.
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