Prince Eugene of Savoy

Recorded sideHoly League (Holy Roman Empire/Habsburgs + Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth)

Recorded resultdecisive victory

Decisive Holy League victory; the siege was broken and the Ottoman army routed

The Ottoman army was strung out and exhausted by two months of siege and unprepared for a major relief force descending from the heights; a massive coordinated cavalry charge spearheaded by Sobieski's Polish Winged Hussars broke the Ottoman line and collapsed their morale while the garrison held the walls.

What followed

Marked the high-water mark of Ottoman expansion into central Europe; began the Habsburg reconquest of Hungary, ultimately confirmed by the 1699 Treaty of Karlowitz.

Recorded sideGrand Alliance (Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy)

Recorded resultdecisive victory

Decisive Allied victory; the French army was destroyed and Marshal Tallard captured

Marlborough crossed the Nebel and deliberately fed attacks into the flank villages of Blenheim and Oberglau, drawing the French to cram their best infantry into Blenheim where ~27 battalions became trapped and useless. With the enemy center thus stripped of infantry support, he massed his cavalry and broke the weakened French horse on the plain, splitting Tallard's wing from Marsin's and driving many into the Danube. Inter-allied coordination with Eugene, who pinned the other wing, was essential.

What followed

Saved Vienna and the Grand Alliance, ended French hopes of knocking the Empire out of the War of the Spanish Succession, and shattered the myth of French invincibility under Louis XIV. One of the most celebrated victories in British military history.