3 - More victories but an endless war?

Summary

In military terms the campaign of 1706 was to prove the most successful of all in Marlborough's career, but in the weeks before it began he was consistently pessimistic about the prospects of the allies. He had expended a great deal of time during the winter in trying to persuade them to make a major and early military effort to put the maximum forces into the field, and he had attempted to allay their mutual suspicions and jealousies. But when he reached the Hague on 14 April it seemed that his work had had at best only limited effects. He feared that allied weaknesses could produce a succession of disasters since they faced a confident enemy who was fielding larger forces than ever before in a conscious attempt to reestablish an ascendancy in all theatres of war. Marlborough found his apprehensions about Dutch attitudes sadly confirmed. The concentration of French strength in the Low Countries continued to intimidate their political and military leaders, making them ultra-cautious, yet it was increasingly obvious that the public was becoming war-weary and would question the vast expenditure which yet another inconclusive campaign would necessitate. The danger of the States General being induced into accepting French offers of a separate peace (as in 1678) was now very real.