The Battle of Dettingen, a rather messy affair that occurred on the 27th of June, 1743, was a significant, if not entirely glorious, engagement during the sprawling War of the Austrian Succession . It took place not in some grand, strategic location, but rather near the rather unremarkable Karlstein am Main in Bavaria . The victors, a rather motley crew calling themselves the Pragmatic Army – a rather optimistic moniker, I’d say – comprised troops from Great Britain , Hanover , and Austria . They managed to best a French force under the command of the Duke of Noailles . Now, the interesting bit: while the Earl of Stair was the one actually running the show on the operational level, the figurehead was none other than George II of Great Britain . And this, my friends, was the last time a reigning British monarch decided to get their boots muddy on the battlefield. The battle itself? Well, it didn’t exactly rewrite the history books. It’s been rather accurately described as more of a “happy escape” than a resounding triumph, which, if you ask me, is a rather polite way of saying they stumbled out of it rather than marched out with heads held high.

Background

The whole kerfuffle, the War of the Austrian Succession , kicked off because Emperor Charles VI shuffled off this mortal coil in 1740. He was the last of the male Habsburg line, leaving his rather formidable daughter, Maria Theresa , as heir. Now, according to some dusty old rule called Salic law , women weren’t supposed to inherit the Habsburg throne. But, because the Imperial Diet had already passed the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 to ensure Maria Theresa could inherit, things got complicated. Enter Charles Albert of Bavaria , the closest male relative, who decided he fancied the crown.

What started as an internal family squabble quickly escalated into a full-blown European crisis. The Austrian monarchy was a pretty big deal within the Holy Roman Empire , a sprawling collection of mostly German states ruled by an Holy Roman Emperor . This position, theoretically elected, had been held by the Habsburgs for centuries. But Charles of Bavaria, with a little help from France , Prussia , and Saxony , managed to snag the imperial title in 1742, breaking a 300-year Habsburg streak. On the other side of the fence, Maria Theresa had the backing of the Pragmatic Allies: Britain, Hanover , and the Dutch Republic .

The French commander, a fellow named de Noailles , was clearly a man with a plan, or at least, he was supposed to be.

The whole mess truly ignited in December 1740 when Prussia, under Frederick the Great , decided to invade Silesia , a rather lucrative Austrian province. France, Saxony, and Bavaria followed suit, carving up Bohemia amongst themselves. Spain also jumped into the fray, hoping to reclaim some territories in Northern Italy that they’d lost back in 1713 . To counter this, Britain, in early 1742, committed to sending a naval force to the Mediterranean and about 17,000 troops to the Austrian Netherlands , all under the command of the aforementioned Earl of Stair .

However, the political landscape shifted. In June 1742, Austria managed to broker a peace with Prussia in the Treaty of Breslau . This diplomatic maneuver freed up the Pragmatic Allies to focus on Bavaria, most of which had been occupied by December anyway, while the French armies were decimated by disease. The real action in 1743 was slated for Germany. The Austrians had already trounced the Bavarians at Simbach . By mid-June, the Allied army had reached Aschaffenburg , situated on the northern bank of the River Main . It was here that George II joined them, apparently on a royal visit to attend the coronation of a new Elector of Mainz . By the end of June, the Allies found themselves in a rather precarious situation, critically short of supplies and forced to retreat towards their supply depot at Hanau . The most direct route, however, lay through Dettingen, a place where the French commander, Noailles , had strategically positioned 23,000 of his troops, under the command of his nephew, Gramont .

Battle

Around 1:00 AM on that fateful 27th of June, the Allied forces began their withdrawal from Aschaffenburg. They moved in three columns, hugging the northern bank of the Main as they made their way towards Hanau. The French setup at Dettingen was, to put it mildly, formidable. De Gramont’s infantry formed a defensive line, anchored on the village itself and extending towards the imposing Spessart Heights. To their left, on more open ground, their cavalry waited. Noailles, with a stroke of tactical (or perhaps disastrous) genius, ordered Florent-Jean de Vallière to position his artillery on the southern bank of the Main. This allowed the French guns to rain fire upon the Allied left flank, a rather inconvenient welcome.

The Allies, plagued by inadequate reconnaissance throughout the war – a common failing when your cavalry seems more interested in looking pretty than actually scouting – were caught completely off guard by the French presence at Dettingen. To add to the chaos, Noailles dispatched an additional 12,000 troops across the River Main at Aschaffenburg, effectively placing them in the Allied rear. His hopes of annihilating the entire enemy army were, understandably, sky-high. Ilton, who was in charge of the Allied infantry, responded by ordering the British and Hanoverian Foot Guards back towards Aschaffenburg. The rest of the army, caught in mid-march, had to quickly reform from a column into four distinct lines to confront the French. As they struggled to do so, the French artillery opened up. While it was certainly a terrifying spectacle, the casualties inflicted by the cannon fire were, surprisingly, not as catastrophic as one might expect.

The painting, “George II at Dettingen ”, by Robert Alexander Hillingford in 1902, attempts to capture the drama, though I suspect reality was far less picturesque.

Now, here’s where it gets truly French. Despite being ordered no less than three times by Noailles himself to hold their ground, around midday, the elite Maison du Roi cavalry launched a charge against the Allied lines. The exact instigator remains a subject of historical debate, though de Gramont is the most frequently cited culprit. One French historian, De Périni, posits that the Maison de Roi, who hadn’t seen significant action since the Battle of Malplaquet in 1709, saw this as their golden opportunity to seize victory single-handedly. Led by the duc d’Harcourt , they managed to smash through the first three Allied lines, throwing the less experienced British cavalry into utter disarray.

Following in their wake came the Gardes Françaises infantry. Their attack, however, was less a coordinated assault and more a series of disjointed, piecemeal efforts. This disarray forced de Vallière to cease his artillery fire, lest he start hitting his own men. This momentary lull was precisely the opening the British infantry in the fourth line needed to solidify their position. Simultaneously, a Hanoverian artillery battery began unleashing a devastating barrage at point-blank range into the French infantry ranks, while an Austrian brigade expertly flanked them. After a grueling three hours of fighting, the French forces were in full retreat, falling back to the left bank of the Main. Their retreat was made all the more disastrous when one of the bridges they were attempting to cross collapsed, sending many soldiers to a watery grave. The Pragmatic Army, battered but not broken, continued its march towards Hanau. While some might argue they missed an opportunity to press their advantage, the reality was they were in no condition to attempt a crossing of the river under fire. Their precarious situation was starkly illustrated by the grim necessity of abandoning their wounded simply to increase their speed.

Aftermath

Despite George II bestowing numerous promotions and rewards upon his troops, the Battle of Dettingen is largely remembered as a stroke of luck, a fortunate escape rather than a masterful military victory. The Allied army, forced to retreat due to a critical lack of supplies, managed to extricate itself from a potentially disastrous situation, albeit at the cost of leaving their wounded behind. One can only imagine the grim fate of those left behind. It’s widely believed that a more disciplined execution of Noailles’ orders could have resulted in a complete Allied collapse.

The performance of the Allied cavalry was, frankly, abysmal. They failed to detect a French force of 23,000 men lurking less than 13 kilometers away, right on their line of retreat. Reports even suggest that many of the troopers struggled to control their horses, which, in the heat of battle, is less than ideal. It was, in the end, the sheer training and unwavering discipline of the infantry that saved the army from utter annihilation. As a testament to their resilience, one of the training companies at the prestigious Royal Military Academy Sandhurst bears the name ‘Dettingen’ to this day, a rather somber commemoration of that day.

On September 30th, the Allied ranks were bolstered by the arrival of 14,000 Dutch troops under the command of Count Nassau-Ouwekerk. However, with the French threat to Hanover temporarily neutralized by their withdrawal, George II made the controversial decision to conclude the campaign. This decision went against the counsel of Stair, who clearly understood the strategic implications better. The army then dispersed to take up winter quarters in the Netherlands . In the aftermath, Noailles found himself appointed as France’s Foreign Minister in early 1744, while de Gramont met his end at the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745. The aged Stair, at 70, retired from active service, replaced by the equally elderly George Wade .

In a rather fitting tribute to the battle and his royal patron, George Friedric Handel composed the magnificent Dettingen Te Deum and the Dettingen Anthem, perhaps a way to imbue the chaotic escape with a sense of divine intervention.

Notes

• ^ Estimates for casualties vary, with some suggesting between 2,000 and 3,000 killed or wounded.
• ^ The Hesse State Archive in Marburg (collection 21 WHK, volume 21: Austrian War of Succession 1740–1748 to the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, Relation S3) provides a total of 4,104 killed or wounded. A separate German document indicates slightly higher figures for the artillery and cavalry. It’s important to note that many casualties were incurred when a bridge collapsed, and the number of “missing” is not included in these figures.
• ^ In German , the battle is known as the Schlacht bei Dettingen.
• ^ Those who supported the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 were generally referred to as the Pragmatic Allies.
• ^ While often referred to simply as ‘Austria’ in historical contexts, this designation encompassed the Archduchy of Austria , the Kingdom of Hungary , the Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg) , the Kingdom of Bohemia , and the Austrian Netherlands .