Hoping to end the war with a favourable negotiated peace, Louis XIV of France decided first to improve his position by taking the offensive.

Since the outbreak of the Nine Years' War in 1689, the French generally held the advantage in the Spanish Netherlands, but failed to achieve a decisive victory or divide the Grand Alliance.

[16] These factors made military operations more problematic, especially due to an increase in the average size of armies from 25,000 in 1648 to over 100,000 by 1697, levels unsustainable for pre-industrial economies.

[17] Fighting a multi-front war on his own, Louis XIV of France was keen to reach a negotiated peace, but sought to improve his position before doing so.

When the attack in Germany proved unexpectedly successful, in early June Luxembourg was ordered to reinforce it with 28,000 of his own troops and prevent the Allies doing the same.

To further stretch French resources, William sent 15,000 men under Ferdinand Willem of Wurttemberg into Artois, and on 18 July, the latter broke through the lines of the Scheldt near Dottignies.

William increased the Liège garrison to 17,000, [22] while his remaining troops established a line running in a rough semicircle from Eliksem on the right, to Neerwinden on the left.

Factors behind this decision included lack of cavalry to cover an orderly retreat, while the small battlefield would prevent Luxembourg making full use of his superior numbers.

[27][6] Luxembourg concentrated his main assault force of 28,000 men against the Allied right, while his centre and right under Villeroy and Prince de Conti respectively conducted simultaneous attacks to prevent William reinforcing his right.

This important counterattack, carried out with the help of English battalions from the centre sent by William III, restored the original allied lines.

The foremost line of the French cavalry, comprising the elite Maison du Roi, advanced as if to storm it, but encountered a formidable gunfire, prompting a hasty retreat.

William with reinforcments,[36] while Luxembourg expressed his displeasure and ordered that they should fall back and stick to holding the outer fence of Rumsdorp.

He reorganised and reinforced this wing with 7,000 men from his general reserve and ordered a second attack on Laar and Neerwinden, this time led by the Prince de Conti.

Again, Laar was taken first; in Neerwinden the defender fought behind hedges and walls and from the houses with great courage and perseverance, without however being able to prevent de Conti from slowly penetrating to the northern edge of the village.

The stubbornness with which 44 French and probably 33 German and English battalions, 30,000 to 40,000 men in all, fought here in a confined space and a short distance caused very heavy losses on both sides.

William again moved additional English units to meet this threat, but this could not prevent the villages from finally both falling into French hands after very heavy fighting.

[41][39] At the same time as the assault on Neerwinden and Laar de Feuquières ordered French infantry from Rumsdorp to secure a passage through the Allied centre, which had been largely deserted.

William led a number of cavalry charges himself, was nearly captured, but succeeded in slowing the French down and gained time for his pursued troops to scramble across the river.

During their retreat his troops faced not only the enemy infantry in Rumsdorp and Attenhoven, but also the majority of the 125 French squadrons under Feuquières, which surrounded them from all sides.

[b][45][35] Another Nine battalions of Dutch and Danish infantry under brigadier François Nicolas Fagel who were cut off close to Rumsdorp fought a stubborn rearguard action, but also crossed the river in good order.

[48] A few hundred allied horsemen had drowned trying to cross the Geete, but, supported by several British units holding positions around the bridge most of the army had reached the other side of the river by 17:00 and continued their retreat, undisturbed by the French cavalry.

This was partly propaganda to counter the Battle of Lagos on 27 June, when the French intercepted a large Anglo-Dutch convoy and inflicted serious commercial damage, but there was also truth to the claim.

[55] Luxembourg's infantry was so battered that he indeed had to refrain from besieging Liège,[12] while the return of Württemberg's corps meant that the Allies were able to replace their losses within days.

[56] A mutiny even broke out in the French army in which entire regiments rioted and demanded payment of back pay in threatening fashion.

Still, the loss of Namur in 1692 followed by the defeat at Landen was evidence to William and Anthonie Heinsius, the Dutch Grand Pensionary, that the numerical inferiority of the Allies made it difficult to effectively protect the Spanish Netherlands.

[59] Although Luxembourg has been criticised for failing to exploit his victory, his troops were exhausted, while the poor harvests of previous years meant a lack of forage for the horses and baggage train needed to pursue his opponents.

However, Corporal Trim refers to the Battle of Landen as follows: Your honour remembers with concern, said the corporal, the total rout and confusion of our camp and army at the affair of Landen; every one was left to shift for himself; and if it had not been for the regiments of Wyndham, Lumley, and Galway, which covered the retreat over the bridge Neerspeeken, the king himself could scarce have gained it – he was press'd hard, as your honour knows, on every side of him...[64] It is during this battle that, seeing the French determination to gain the high ground in spite of the murderous Allied bombardment, William is alleged to have exclaimed "Oh!