Battle of Ramillies their disastrous defeat at Blenheim in 1704, the next year brought the French some respite. 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 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
Strategy of the central position Prussian forces. At the battle of Blenheim (1704), the Duke of Marlborough and his ally Prince Eugene of Savoy realising the French were weak in the centre initially concentrated their attacks on the wings. When Marshal Tallard, the French Commander, further weakened his central position to reinforce the fortified villages on the wings of his position, Marlborough launched a battle winning attack through the centre. Central position also describes the overall strategic situation of Frederick the Great during the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War in the Eighteenth Century where, although Prussia was surrounded by enemies,