see another scene, and could wish to live a little longer." His keen
political foresight was soon confirmed. It was in March, 1702, he
died; in the May of the same year war was proclaimed, the combination
of powers known as the Grand Alliance on the one side, Louis XIV, the
Grand Monarque, on the other. The nations belonging to the Grand
Alliance were at first England, Holland, and the Empire; at later
dates Sweden, Denmark, and most of the States of Germany came in, a
strong league. But it was needed. Louis was the most powerful
sovereign in Europe, and France the richest nation. To its resources
were added those of Spain and her dependencies; for the most part, at
any rate, for there were portions even of Spain which would have
preferred the Archduke Charles to Philip of France, and it was the
cause of Charles that England and the other members of the Alliance
were espousing. Thus began the war known in history as the War of the
Spanish Succession, which for several years gave work to some of the
most remarkable generals in European story.

Of these great soldiers, John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, or
rather, as he was at the outbreak of the war, the Earl of Marlborough,
was at once the most gifted with military genius and the most
successful. He was now fifty-two years of age, and one of the leading
men at the Court of Queen Anne. He had seen a fair amount of military
service, and had earned the praise of William III, a judge of the
first order in such matters. But the England of that day could not be
blamed if it failed to foresee the brilliancy of fame with which its
general would ere long surround himself.

[Illustration: Map Of Western Europe In The Time Of Queen Anne. The
shading represents the dominions of Louis XIV.]