When war broke out afresh between France and Spain, in 1667, Louis
XIV. made his first campaign under Turenne's guidance, and gained
possession of nearly the whole of Flanders. In 1672, when Louis
resolved to undertake in person the conquest of Holland, he again
placed the command, under himself, in Turenne's hands, and disgraced
several marshals who refused to receive orders from the viscount,
considering themselves his equals in military rank. How Le Grand
Monarque forced the passage of the Rhine when there was no army to
oppose him, and conquered city after city, till he was stopped by
inundations, under the walls of Amsterdam, has been said and sung by
his flatterers, and need not be repeated here. But after the king had
left the army, when the princes of Germany came to the assistance of
Holland, and her affairs took a more favorable turn under the able
guidance of the Prince of Orange, a wider field was offered for the
display of Turenne's talents. In the campaign of 1673 he drove the
Elector of Brandenburg, who had come to the assistance of the Dutch,
back to Berlin, and compelled him to negotiate for peace. In the same
year he was opposed, for the first time, to the imperial general,
Montecuculi, celebrated for his military writings as well as for his
exploits in the field. The meeting of these two great generals
produced no decisive results.

[Illustration: Turenne at the battle of the Dunes.]

Turenne returned to Paris in the winter, and was received with the
most flattering marks of favor. On the approach of spring he was sent
back to take command of the French army in Alsace, which, amounting to
no more than ten thousand men, was pressed by a powerful confederation
of the troops of the Empire, and those of Brandenburg, once again in
the field. Turenne set himself to beat the allies in detail, before
they could form a junction. He passed the Rhine, marched forty French
leagues in four days, and came up with the Imperialists, under the
Duke of Lorraine, at Sintzheim. They occupied a strong position, their
wings resting on mountains; their centre protected by a river and a
fortified town. Turenne hesitated: it seemed rash to attack; but a
victory was needful before the combination of the two armies should
render their force irresistible; and he commanded the best troops of
France. The event justified his confidence. Every post was carried
sword in hand. The Marshal had his horse killed under him, and was
sli