Ramillies, battle of, 1706. Marlborough's second major victory in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Spanish Netherlands (modern Belgium) north of Namur, is regarded as his masterpiece. A bold advance by a French army of about 70,000 under Villeroi was intercepted by a roughly equal number of allied forces (British–Dutch–Danish) under Marlborough, and routed in a battle dominated by tactical subtleties. French losses were over 13,000, allied losses about 3,500. As a result France was forced permanently onto the defensive in the war, any French threat to the United Netherlands was ended, and Brussels, Antwerp, and most of the Spanish Netherlands came under allied control.

Stephen Badsey

Ramillies, Battle of a battle in the War of the Spanish Succession which took place in 1706 near the village of Ramillies, north of Namur, in Belgium, when the British army under Marlborough defeated the French.