ation performed with
organisation more exact, or with obedience more prompt. Three days later
Mons was contained, and by Monday the 9th of September Villars awaited,
some few miles to the west of that fortress, the assault of the allies.

There followed two days of delay, which will be discussed in detail
later. For the purposes of this introductory survey of the political
meaning of the battle, it is enough to fix the date, Wednesday, 11th
September 1709. A little before eight o'clock on the morning of that day
the first cannon-shot of the battle of Malplaquet was fired. To the
numerical superiority of the allies the French could oppose entrenchment
and that character in the locality of the fight, or "terrain," which will
be fully described on a later page. To the superior _moral_, equipment,
and subsistence of the allies, however, it was doubtful whether any factor
could be discovered on the French side.

An unexpected enthusiasm lent something to the French resistance; the
delay of two days lent something more to their defensive power. As will be
seen in the sequel, certain errors (notably upon the left of Marlborough's
line) also contributed to the result, and the whole day was passed in a
series of attacks and counter-attacks which left the French forces intact,
and permitted them in the early afternoon to rely upon the exhaustion of
the enemy and to leave, in order and without loss, the field to the enemy.

Marlborough's victory at Malplaquet was both honourable and great. The
French were compelled to withdraw; the allies occupied upon the evening
of the battle the ground upon which the struggle had taken place. It is
with justice that Malplaquet is counted as the fourth of those great
successful actions which distinguish the name of Marlborough, and it is
reckoned with justice the conclusion of the series whose three other terms
are Blenheim, Ramillies, and Oudenarde. So much might suffice did war
consist in scoring points as one does in a game. But when we consider war
as alone it should be considered for the serious purposes of history--that
is, in its political aspect; and when we ask what Malplaquet was in the
political sequence of European events, the withdrawal of the French from
the field in the early afternoon of September 11, 1709, has no
significance comparable to the fact that the allies could not pursue.

Strategically the victory meant that an army which it was intended to
destroy had maintained it