nk on
the Danube, while opposite the centre was the marshy valley of the
River Nebel, with several branches running through the swampy ground.
Marlborough decided that a battle {47} was absolutely necessary and he
attacked the next day. Like Hannibal, he relied principally on his
cavalry for achieving his decisive success, and this predilection was
known to the opposing commanders. He attacked the enemy's right and
left wings, and when heavily engaged with varying fortunes launched his
decisive attack against the centre, where the difficulties of the
ground caused it to be least expected. Marlborough lost 5,000 killed
and 8,000 wounded. The vanquished armies were almost destroyed, at
least 40,000 being accounted for, with 12,000 killed, 14,000 wounded
and missing, and 14,000 prisoners.

THE DEFENSIVE-OFFENSIVE BATTLE.--The Defensive-Offensive system
consists in taking up a position which the enemy must attack, and in
delivering a decisive counter-stroke when the adversary has exhausted
his strength. This system has been employed in almost every campaign.
By such means Napoleon achieved his classic victories of _Marengo_
(June 14, 1800), _Austerlitz_ (December 2, 1805), and _Dresden_ (August
27, 1813); and Wellington his Peninsular victories at _Vittoria_ (June
21, 1813), _Orthez_ (February 27, 1814), and _Toulouse_ (April 10,
1814), in addition to his final triumph at _Waterloo_ (June 18, 1815);
and it was the method adopted by Marshal Foch in the decisive campaign
of 1918, which endured from March until the Armistice in November.

At the _Battle of Waterloo_ (June 18, 1815), the decisive
counter-stroke was delivered, in accordance with Wellington's
pre-arranged plan, by a force coming from a distance to the scene of
action. On the morning of June 17, when Wellington resolved to make a
stand at Waterloo, he was aware that the Prussians, who were mostly
young troops, had been beaten at Ligny; that Napoleon had, before that
battle, over 120,000 men, and that he himself had, all told, 68,000, of
whom 31,000, including the King's German Legion, were {48} British.
Yet he withdrew from Quatre Bras with the full determination of
standing at Waterloo and of fighting Napoleon's army, if Marshal
Bluecher would come to his assistance with one Army Corps. Napoleon
attacked on June 18 with 72,000 men and 246 guns, against Wellington's
68,000 men with 156 guns, at 11 a.m., but he was unable to shift the
line or break through