John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, Prince of Mindelheim, KG, PC ( born May 26, 1650 in Ashe, Devonshire, † June 16, 1722 in Cranbourn Lodge) was an English general in the War of Spanish Succession and the first Duke of Marlborough.
Life
At 15, he served as a Page in the Duke of York, later King James II His military career began with the entry into the Guard in 1667. Five years later, he was promoted to captain and after the war against the Netherlands, he became 1674 to colonel. The military craft he learned under the French generals Turenne. In 1677 he married Sarah Jennings, who was a close friend of the future Queen Anne. From 1685 to 1692 he was the third Governor of the Hudson 's Bay Company.
The suppression of the Monmouth Rebellion, he experienced active and was in 1685 promoted to Major General. Churchill said William III. of Orange, his loyalty and this brought him to the Earl of Marlborough. As Churchill maintained contacts with King James II, was followed by the inevitable disgrace William 1692-1698. Temporarily he had to stay in the Tower of London.
Only Princess Anne, the 1702 queen, patronized him and made him the commander of the British troops in the War of Spanish Succession 1701-1713. Conquest of Kaiserwerth 1702 brought him the able increase for Duke a, In 1704 he won by Prince Eugene of Savoy in the battle of Blenheim (English battle of Blenheim ) and 1706 at Ramillies and Malplaquet 1709 over the French.
In 1705, his reign was passed over the newly created Principality Mindelheim by the German Emperor for his services in the War of Spanish Succession. 1714 Mindelheim fell back to the Bavarian rule.
The Battle of Blenheim preceded Churchill's military historically important march from the Dutch border to the Danube. The bulk of the troops of both warring parties was previously either side of the Dutch border in a stalemate, while a strong Franco- Bavarian army Vienna, the capital of the Netherlands and England allied with the Emperor threatened. By Churchill defending the Netherlands almost completely denuded, first along the Rhine moved south with the bulk of the army, and by skillful maneuvering the French enemies for a long time in the dark about his real target - the relief of the endangered Kaiser - could be, he forced the French armies, largely to follow his line of approach at a certain distance, so that they could take on the Dutch border no initiative. Churchill's march to the Danube is still regarded as a prime example of skillful strategy, which is also a numerically much superior opponent can beat.
Churchill was henceforth regarded as a savior and hero of the Fatherland. To thank him, Queen Anne, therefore, gave a large tract of land in Woodstock near Oxford and the necessary resources to build a befitting house. With the donation was associated the requirement in the future on each anniversary of the battle to send a simulated flag of the defeated French troops to the royal house. There was a monument of size and strength, Blenheim Palace, which was designed by England's most influential Baroque architect John Vanbrugh. The tradition of the sent flag exists to this day. Supposedly based ownership of the Dukes of Marlborough Park and Blenheim Palace still exclusively on the follow this tradition, so that even today the successor of John Churchill could lose their lands to the British Crown, if they should forget the flag.
The electoral victory of the Tories in 1710 had 1711 meant that Churchill had to give up his political office and went to Hanover. After the political turn he received in 1714 under the reign of King George I and the Whigs his offices back.
Churchill died in 1722 in Cranbourn Lodge. He is an ancestor of the later British Prime Minister and Nobel laureate Sir Winston Churchill, who has also written a biography of him.