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.

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

" 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 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.

The resilience of the French King, and the efforts of his generals, also added to Marlborough ’ s problems.

The year 1705 proved almost entirely barren for the Duke whose military disappointments were only partly compensated by efforts on the diplomatic front where, at the courts of Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Vienna, Berlin and Hanover, Marlborough sought to bolster support for the Grand Alliance and extract promises of prompt assistance for the following year ’ s campaign.

With a short lift in the mist, Cadogan soon discovered the smartly ordered lines of Villeroi ’ s advance guard some four miles ( 6 km ) off ; a galloper hastened back to warn Marlborough.

Moreover, this disposition – concave in relation to the Allied army – gave Marlborough the opportunity to form a more compact line, drawn up in a shorter front between the ‘ horns ’ of the French crescent ; when the Allied blow came it would be more concentrated and carry more weight.

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.

It is still not clear how far Orkney ’ s advance was planned only as a feint ; according to historian David Chandler it is probably more accurate to surmise that Marlborough launched Orkney in a serious probe with a view to sounding out the possibilities of the sector.

Marlborough ’ s younger brother, General of Infantry, Charles Churchill, ordered four brigades of foot to attack the village.

Therefore, unbeknown to the French who remained oblivious to the Allies ’ real strength and intentions on the opposite side of the Petite Gheete, Marlborough was throwing his full weight against Ramillies and the open plain to the south.

Marlborough ’ s horse tumbled and the Duke was thrown – " Milord Marlborough was rid over ," wrote Orkney some time later.

" Fortunately Marlborough ’ s newly appointed aide-de-camp, Richard Molesworth, galloped to the rescue, mounted the Duke on his horse and made good their escape, before Murray ’ s disciplined ranks threw back the pursuing French troopers.

After a brief pause, Marlborough ’ s equerry, Colonel Bringfield ( or Bingfield ), led up another of the Duke ’ s spare horses ; but while assisting him onto his mount, the unfortunate Bringfield was hit by an errant cannonball that sheared off his head.

One account has it that the cannonball flew between the Captain-General ’ s legs before hitting the unfortunate colonel, whose torso fell at Marlborough ’ s feet – a moment subsequently depicted in a lurid set of contemporary playing cards.

The final Allied reinforcements for the cavalry contest to the south were at last in position ; Marlborough ’ s superiority on the left could no longer be denied, and his fast-moving plan took hold of the battlefield.

" Malines, Lierre, Ghent, Alost, Damme, Oudenaarde, Bruges, and on 6 June Antwerp, all subsequently fell to Marlborough ’ s victorious army and, like Brussels, proclaimed the Austrian candidate for the Spanish throne, the Archduke Charles, as their sovereign.

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.

Count Horn's Dutch infantry managed to push the French back from the water's edge, but it was apparent that before Marlborough could launch his main effort against Tallard, Oberglauheim would have to be secured.