" Marlborough, spotting this error, now countermanded Cutts ’ intention to launch a third attack, and ordered him simply to contain the enemy within Blenheim ; no more than 5, 000 Allied soldiers were able to pen in twice the number of French infantry and dragoons.

Marlborough now requested Eugene to release Count Hendrick Fugger and his Imperial Cuirassier brigade to help repel the French cavalry thrust.

There was now a pause in the battle: Marlborough wanted to concert the attack upon the whole front, and Eugene, after his second repulse, needed time to reorganize.

" With Marlborough ’ s departure north, the French now transferred troops from the Moselle valley to reinforce Villeroi in Flanders, while Villars marched off to the Rhine.

With these reverses, the Dutch now refused to contemplate Marlborough ’ s ambitious march to Italy or, indeed, any plan that denuded their borders of the Duke and their army.

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 ).

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.

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.

Marlborough realised the great opportunity created by the early victory of Ramillies: " We now have the whole summer before us ," wrote the Duke from Brussels to Robert Harley, " and with the blessing of God I shall make the best use of it.

Although Queen Alexandra never treated her sister badly and they spent time together at Marlborough House in London and at Sandringham House in Norfolk in Great Britain, Maria felt that she was now " number two ".

The firm's lavatorial equipment was manufactured at premises in nearby Marlborough Road ( now Draycott Avenue ).

The solution was now a new branch of the Bakerloo line from Baker Street to serve St John's Wood and Swiss Cottage, thereby rendering the existing stations of Lord's, Marlborough Road and Swiss Cottage on the parallel route redundant, and negating the need for the Met's extension from Edgware Road station ( it should be noted, however, that Swiss Cottage ( Metropolitan ) was proposed to remain open during peak hours for interchange with the Bakerloo, and that Lord's station would further open for special cricketing events.

Formerly a crossroads of sorts, travelers would stop to rest at the heart of what is now Marlborough center during colonial times, and eventually a petition was filed to the Colonial Government to form an Ecclesiastical Society in 1747.

At that time, the boundaries Sudbury included ( by 1653 ) all what is now of Wayland ( which split off in 1780 ), and parts of Framingham, Marlborough, Stow and Maynard.

Marlborough was given command of the English, Dutch, and hired German forces, but he had not as yet commanded a large army in the field, and had far less experience than a dozen Dutch and German generals who must now work under him.

By now Marshal Villeroi had replaced Boufflers as commander in the Spanish Netherlands, but although Marlborough was able to take Bonn, Huy, and Limbourg in 1703, continuing Dutch hesitancy prevented him from bringing the French to a decisive battle.

With the subsequent fall of Landau on the Rhine, and Trier and Trarbach on the Moselle, Marlborough now stood as the foremost soldier of the age.

Marlborough now wished to march directly on Paris, but counselled by a more cautious Eugene, the Allies instead resolved upon the Siege of Lille, the strongest fortress in Europe.

While Marlborough achieved honours on the battlefield, the Whigs, now in the ascendancy, drove the remaining Tories from the Cabinet.

Marlborough and Godolphin, now distanced from Anne, would henceforth have to conform to the decisions of a Whig ministry, while the Tories, sullen and vengeful, looked forward to their former leaders ' downfall.

Harley, now master of the Tory party, did all he could to persuade his colleagues that the pro-war Whigs – and by their apparent concord with Whig policy, Marlborough and Godolphin – were bent on leading the country to ruin.

By an exercise of brilliant psychological deception, and a secretive night march covering nearly 40 miles in 18 hours, the Allies penetrated the allegedly impregnable lines without losing a single man ; Marlborough was now in position to besiege the fortress of Bouchain.

Oxford's period of predominance was now at an end, and Anne turned to Bolingbroke and Marlborough to assume the reins of government and ensure a smooth succession.

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.

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.

" 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.

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.

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.