The Duke had assured the Dutch that if the French were to launch an offensive he would return in good time, but Marlborough calculated that as he marched south, the French commander would be drawn after him.

However, Marlborough was convinced of the urgency – " I am very sensible that I take a great deal upon me ", he had earlier written to Godolphin, " but should I act otherwise, the Empire would be undone ..."

In any case, Marlborough had promised to return to the Netherlands if a French attack developed there, transferring his troops down the Rhine on barges at a rate of a day.

Marlborough could not attack Dillingen because of a lack of siege guns – he was unable to bring any from the Low Countries, and Baden had failed to supply any despite assurances to the contrary.

The plan was sound if all its parts were implemented, but it allowed Marlborough to cross the Nebel without serious interference and fight the battle he had in mind.

Marlborough ( who had crossed the Nebel on a makeshift bridge to take personal control ), ordered Hulsen's Hanoverian battalions to support the Dutch infantry.

With the battle still not won, Marlborough had to rebuke one of his cavalry officers who was attempting to leave the field – " Sir, you are under a mistake, the enemy lies that way ..." Now, at the Duke's command, the second Allied line under von Bulow and the Count of Ost-Friese was ordered forward, and, driving through the centre, the Allies finally put Tallard's tired horse to rout, not without cost.

Marlborough now had to turn his attention from the fleeing enemy to direct Churchill to detach more infantry to storm Blenheim.

" Nevertheless, although the war dragged on for years, the Battle of Blenheim was probably its most decisive victory ; Marlborough and Eugene, working indivisibly together, had saved the Habsburg Empire and thereby preserved the Grand Alliance from collapse.

In February 1705, Queen Anne, who had made Marlborough a Duke in 1702, granted him the Park of Woodstock and promised a sum of £ 240, 000 to build a suitable house as a gift from a grateful crown in recognition of his victory – a victory which British historian Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy considered one of the pivotal battles in history, writing – " Had it not been for Blenheim, all Europe might at this day suffer under the effect of French conquests resembling those of Alexander in extent and those of the Romans in durability.

The Duke of Marlborough had intended the 1705 campaign – an invasion of France through the Moselle valley – to complete the work of Blenheim and persuade King Louis XIV to make peace, but the plan had been thwarted by both friend and foe alike.

The reluctance of his Dutch allies to see their frontiers denuded of troops for another gamble in Germany had denied Marlborough the initiative, but of far greater importance was the Margrave of Baden ’ s pronouncement that he could not join the Duke in strength for the coming offensive.

Moreover, Marlborough had to cope with the death of Emperor Leopold I in May and the accession of Joseph I, which unavoidably complicated matters for the Grand Alliance.

The Anglo-Dutch forces gained minor compensation for the failed Moselle campaign with the success at Elixheim and the crossing of the Lines of Brabant in the Spanish Netherlands ( Huy was also retaken on 11 July ), but a chance to bring the French to a decisive engagement had eluded Marlborough.

On 11 January 1706, Marlborough finally reached London at the end of his diplomatic tour, but he had already been planning his strategy for the coming season.

Marlborough wrote an appeal to the Duke of Württemberg, the commander of the Danish contingent – " I send you this express to request your Highness to bring forward by a double march your cavalry so as to join us at the earliest moment …" Additionally, the King in Prussia, Frederick I, had kept his troops in quarters behind the Rhine while his personal disputes with Vienna and the States-General at The Hague remained unresolved.

Villeroi still believed ( on 22 May ) the Allies were a full day ’ s march away when in fact they had camped near Corswaren waiting for the Danish squadrons to catch up ; for his part, Marlborough deemed Villeroi still at Jodoigne when in reality he was now approaching the plateau of Mont St. André with the intention of pitching camp near Ramillies ( see map at right ).

Marlborough later told Bishop Burnet that, ‘ the French army looked the best of any he had ever seen ’.

Although Henry Lumley ’ s British cavalry had managed to cross the marshy ground around the Petite Gheete, it was soon evident to Marlborough that sufficient cavalry support would not be practicable and that the battle could not be won on the Allied right.

Seeing that Schultz and Spaar were faltering, Marlborough now ordered Orkney ’ s second-line British and Danish battalions ( who had not been used in the assault on Offus and Autre-Eglise ) to move south towards Ramillies.

By the time Marlborough had closed down the Ramillies campaign he had denied the French most of the Spanish Netherlands west of the Meuse and north of the Sambre – it was an unsurpassed operational triumph for the English Duke.

The dukedom was created in 1702 by Queen Anne ; John Churchill, whose wife was a favourite of the queen, had earlier been made Lord Churchill of Eyemouth in the Scottish peerage ( 1682 ), which became extinct with his death, and Earl of Marlborough ( 1689 ) by King William III.

The title of Earl of Marlborough, which was created for Churchill in 1689, had been created one time previously in British history, for James Ley, in 1626.

Professor Henrick Hanstein, an auctioneer and art expert, provided key testimony in the case, stating that Schwitters was virtually forgotten after his death in exile in England in 1948, and that the Marlborough Gallery had been vital in ensuring the artist's place in art history.

They may have come from a quarry, around north of Stonehenge on the Marlborough Downs, or they may have been collected from a " litter " of sarsens on the chalk downs, closer to hand.

The V & A has its origins in the Great Exhibition of 1851, with which Henry Cole, the museum's first director, was involved in planning ; initially it was known as the Museum of Manufactures, first opening in May 1852 at Marlborough House, but by September had been transferred to Somerset House.

On the national level, New Marlborough is represented in the United States House of Representatives as part of Massachusetts's 1st congressional district, and has been represented by John Olver of Amherst since June 1991.

Marlborough's apologists though, including his most notable descendant and biographer Winston Churchill, have been at pains to attribute patriotic, religious, and moral motives to his action ; but in the words of Chandler, it is difficult to absolve Marlborough of ruthlessness, ingratitude, intrigue and treachery against a man to whom he owed virtually everything in his life and career to date.

Aware of this, William in turn began to speak openly of his distrust of Marlborough ; the Elector of Brandenburg's envoy to London overheard the King remark that he had been treated – " so infamously by Marlborough that, had he not been king, he would have felt it necessary to challenge him to a duel.

Since January 1691 Marlborough had been in contact with the exiled James II in Saint-Germain, anxious to obtain the erstwhile King's pardon for deserting him in 1688 – a pardon essential for the success of his future career in the not altogether unlikely event of a Jacobite restoration.

The French and the Tories in England dismissed arguments that only Dutch obstructionism had robbed Marlborough of a great victory in 1705, confirmed in their belief that Blenheim had been a lucky strike and that Marlborough was a general not to be feared.

' When his successor, the Duke of Ormonde, left London for The Hague to take command of British forces he went, noted Bishop Burnet, with ' the same allowances that had been lately voted criminal in the Duke of Marlborough '.

These traits may have been exaggerated for the purposes of party faction but, notes Trevelyan, nearly all other statesmen of the day were engaged in founding families and amassing estates at the public expense ; Marlborough only differed in that he gave the public much more value for their money.

The estate given by the nation to Marlborough for the new palace was the manor of Woodstock, sometimes called the Palace of Woodstock, which had been a royal demesne, in reality little more than a deer park.

Marlborough had obviously been impressed by this grandiose pile and wished for something similar at Woodstock.

The successful but controversial Marlborough had recently been relieved of his command and the British forces were now under the leadership of the Duke of Ormonde, who was under secret orders not to fight alongside the Allies under the Prince of Savoy.

More recently, Waipara in the South Island and Martinborough, Gisborne and Hawkes Bay in the North Island have been attracting attention for their Sauvignon Blanc releases, which often exhibit subtle differences to those from Marlborough ( Air New Zealand Wine Awards 2000-2006 ).

This was granted, but Marlborough kept them for personal use.

Norm Marlborough MLA, the Minister for Small Business and the South-West in the Carpenter Ministry, was forced to resign from the Ministry and from the parliament on 10 November 2006 after the Corruption and Crime Commission revealed he had kept a " secret mobile phone " to stay in touch with Burke.

Eight days later, on Commonwealth Day, the Commonwealth Secretariat unveiled at Buckingham Palace a portrait of Elizabeth, painted by Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy that had been commissioned to mark the Queen's 50 years as Head of the Commonwealth ; the work now hangs at Marlborough House, with a study kept as part of the Queen's collection at St James's Palace.

The following day, at 01: 00, Marlborough dispatched Cadogan, his Quartermaster-General, with an advanced guard to reconnoitre the same dry ground that Villeroi ’ s army was now heading, country that was well known to the Duke from previous campaigns.

It is uncertain who may have originally composed the melody, but it appears to be well known first as a French folk song called " Marlbrough s ' en va-t-en guerre " (" Marlborough has left for the war ") in the 18th century about John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough.

On the state level, New Marlborough is represented in the Massachusetts House of Representatives by the Fourth Berkshire district, which covers southern Berkshire County, as well as the westernmost towns in Hampden County.

Nevertheless, despite his Allies ' initial lassitude the campaign in the Low Countries ( the war's principal theatre ) began well for Marlborough.

Aided by an expert staff ( particularly his carefully selected aides-de-camp such as Cadogan ), as well as enjoying a close personal relationship with the talented Imperial commander, Prince Eugene, Marlborough proved far-sighted, often far ahead of his contemporaries in his conceptions, and was a master at assessing his enemy's characteristics in battle.

A new Junction, 15A, is being considered by Wiltshire Council and this would give access to South and Central Swindon as well as to Wroughton, Marlborough and Devizes via the existing A4361, as well as a possible Junction 18A which would connect with the A432 and A4174 giving better access to Bristol, via Mangotsfield, and also a direct link with Yate.

As well as showing at Marlborough Fine Art in London in 2010, the art critic Marco Livingstone organised a retrospective of her work at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Monterrey, Mexico, which was later shown at the Pinacoteca de São Paulo, Brazil.

Blankets and wooden-ware, including toys, have been manufactured in Marlborough as well.

He was President of the Royal Botanic Society and a member of numerous clubs, including White's, the Marlborough Club, the Bachelors ' Club, the Army and Navy Club, the United Service Club, the Cavalry Club, the Naval and Military Club, the Travellers ' Club, the St George's Club, the Hurlingham Club, the Ranelagh Club and the Jockey Club, as well as the Adels-Casino at Vienna and the Herren-Casino at Stuttgart.

In 2005 funding was given by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry towards a programme that uses the falcons to control birds that damage grapes and act as pests in vineyards as well as monitoring the birds and establishing a breeding population in the vicinity of the Marlborough wine region.

In honour of Princess Margaret and the Duchess of Marlborough, a Dior fashion show was held at the Blemhein Palace in 1954 as well.

Princess Anne wrote to her friend the Duchess of Marlborough, " My boy continues yet very well, and looks better, I think, than ever he did in his life ; I mean more healthy, for though I love him very well, I can't brag of his beauty.

The war elsewhere seemed to go well for France and her candidate for the Spanish throne initially, but at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704, Austria was saved from defeat by an English expedition under the Duke of Marlborough.

The novel is also a poignant example of art imitating life, since one of the stories resembles the ill-fated marriage of heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt and the Duke of Marlborough, as well as Lady Randolph Churchill's marriages, to some extent.

Her Imperial titles of Princess of the Holy Roman Empire did not pass to her children or to her heir, Charles Spencer ( patrilineal ancestor of the current Dukes of Marlborough as well as mixed-line ancestor of the Earls Spencer, blood family of Diana, Princess of Wales ) as the Empire operated Salic Law which prevented female succession.