Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. In 1690, this hunch-backed member of the House of Montmorency, recently disgraced, began, with the Battle of Fleurus, a period of unbroken victories against the Allied army (mainly Dutch and Imperialist) which only ended with his sudden death in 1695.
2. Mainly famous as a diplomat and courtier, this Marshal had the victory of Speyer (1703) to his credit, when he was placed in command of the joint army which was doomed to be destroyed by Marlborough and Prince Eugene at Blenheim in 1704. He spent his captivity in England and was sympathetically received by Louis XIV on his eventual return.
3. Even more of a courtier than the previous answer, this Marshal owed his position to the fact that his father was Louis XIV's Guardian. He commanded armies in the 1690s, but came up against Marlborough and Eugene at Ramillies in 1706, where his army was destroyed.
4. The illegitimate son of the Duke of York (later King James II), he rose to eminence in the French Army and, at Almanza in 1707, his victory virtually won Spain for Louis and his allies. He subsequently served against Marlborough. His service to France ended when he was killed at the siege of Phillippsbourg in 1734.
5. Probably the best, and certainly the most successful Marshal of the War of the Spanish Succession, he was 49 years of age when he was promoted to the rank of Marshal in 1702. An unbroken career of success was partly halted at Malplaquet, where he was wounded, but his tactics and leadership prevented Marlborough and Prince Eugene from invading France, and, after the British had left the Alliance, his victory at Denain in 1712 enabled the French to come out of the war with some credit. He was one of the few men to be promoted to Marshal General.
6. From an illustrious noble family, which produced four Marshals of France, this very talented Marshal, who was a close confidant of Louis XV, had the misfortune to completely out-manoeuvre the Pragmatic Army at Dettingen in 1743, only to be let down by his nephew who foolishly advanced against a trapped Army and was soundly beaten. He was also present at Fontenoy as an adviser to the king.
7. Another illegitimate son, this time of the Elector of Saxony (also King of Poland), he was a innovative thinker about tactics and had the honour of leading the French Army at a trio of victories between 1745 and 1747, commencing with Fontenoy. He was also promoted to the rank of Marshal General.
8. This Marshal came from a family distinguished mainly for their courtiers and, more particularly, naval officers, two of whom were made Marshals of France, one of whom was his uncle. Distinguished at Fontenoy and at Rocoux and Lauffeldt, he was promoted to the rank of Marshal in 1757 and, in that year, heavily defeated the Duke of Cumberland at Hastenbeck, only to find that intrigue against him at Versailles had meant that his replacement, the Marshal Duke de Richelieu, was already on his way to take over command from him.
9. A trusted subordinate of the Marshal Comte de Saxe, serving in all of his campaigns, this Marshal was in command of one of the main assulting columns at Hastenbeck in 1757. In the following year, he took over command of the Army of Germany from Clermont, leading it in successful campaigns against the allies. Having out-manouevred his opponents prior to the Battle of Minden in 1759, he had the misfortune to fall foul of his colleague, the Marshal de Broglie, and to find that a small force of British infantry could break through successive lines of crack cavalry. The defeat ended his military career, but he lived to be the doyen of the Marshals.
10. An extremely gallant naval officer, he served under Duguay-Trouin in his early career. Promotion to Capitaine de vaisseau in 1734 was followed by further swift promotions, although he was captured by the British in 1747, whilst sailing to join his new command in the Caribbean. Exchanged for General Ligonier in 1748, he was promoted to be one of the Lieutenant-Generals of the Navy in 1751, to Vice-Admiral in 1756 and, finally, to Marshal of France in 1758. In the following year, however, in command of what amounted to part of a fleet which was being assembled for the invasion of England, he met with disaster at Quiberon Bay against Admiral Hawke.
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