Siege of Tournai (1709)

Siege of Tournai
Part of the War of the Spanish Succession
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough at the Siege of Tournai, 1709 by John Wootton
Date 28 June – 3 September 1709 Location Tournai, France 50°36′20″N 03°23′17″E / 50.60556°N 3.38806°E / 50.60556; 3.38806 Result Grand Alliance victory
Belligerents
Dutch Republic  Great Britain Habsburg monarchy  Prussia	France
Commanders and leaders
Duke of Marlborough Eugene of Savoy François Nicolas Fagel Reichsgraf von Wylich und Lottum Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg	Marquis de Surville
Strength
~50,000	7,700
Casualties and losses
5,300	1,729 dead 1,482 wounded
Tournai class=notpageimage| Location of Tournai in modern day Belgium

The siege of Tournai was a siege of the city of Tournai, then part of the Kingdom of France, between 28 June and 3 September 1709.^[1] A Grand Alliance army under the British Duke of Marlborough successfully forced the surrender of the French garrison during the War of the Spanish Succession.^[2]

The siege was the first significant engagement of the 1709 campaign. Marlborough intended to take the city quickly, thereby enabling an Allied advance into northern France. The garrison however, under the Marquis de Surville, held out for considerably longer than had been expected and the siege consumed much of the fighting season. It saw extensive use of mining and countermining as the Allies sought to break through strong French fortifications, particularly Tournai's citadel.^[3] The British historian, David G. Chandler, described the siege as "one of the hardest fought and least pleasant of modern history".^[4]