Following their victory in the Battle of Oudenaarde, the Allies decided to besiege Lille, an important French city and perhaps the strongest fortress in Europe.

After an obstinate defence of 120 days, the French garrison surrendered the city and citadel of Lille, commanded by Marshal Boufflers, to the forces of the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene.

They solved the supply problem by requiring Flemish villages to deliver their grain reserves to improvised warehouses in Menen and Oudenaarde.

Bernaldo de Quirós, a Spanish nobleman who had sided with the Allies after the battle of Ramillies, proposed the siege of Mons and Charleroi to secure Brabant and clear the way to advance into France.

Lille and Tournai were known as the "two eyes of France" because they controlled the two most important access routes to the northern French plains: the Lys and the Scheldt.

Additionally, at the point where the Deûle exited the city, there was a ravelin with two forward-facing tenailles, which would play a crucial role during the siege.

As was customary, the entire fortress was encircled by a covered way with glacis, featuring small forts in the re-entrant angles, which served as defensive strongpoints.

After the potential capture of the city, the siege of the citadel would follow—a fully fortified bastioned pentagon designed for maximum defense.

Through inundation, a third of the city's fortifications could be protected, as well as the entire outer perimeter of the citadel, making it impossible to capture from that direction.

While civilians were not allowed to take up arms, volunteer battalions were formed, providing valuable assistance in firefighting, transporting the wounded, and engineering tasks.

To prevent the city from suffering a bombardment similar to that of Brussels in 1695, the Allies were bought off with 50,000 daalders and 400 bottles of the finest wine.

Meanwhile, Marlborough and the Lord of Ouwerkerk, with over 60,000 men, were tasked with covering the siege against the French field army, led by Vendôme and the Duke of Burgundy.

Guillaume le Vasseur des Rocques and Lucas du Mée were appointed as the engineers responsible for directing the siege.

While the prince was getting dressed, a cannonball entered through an open window, passing just five or six fingers' breadth from his face and decapitating his valet, du Cerceau, who was assisting him.

The Dutch gunners aimed to breach the fortifications as quickly as possible, but since the covered way had not yet been captured, they were forced to fire from a great distance.

Although several breaches appeared in the walls, the decision to bombard so heavily from afar was later criticized, as the strategic situation made the resupply of ammunition difficult.

Initially, Vendôme had advocated for an assault, but as time passed, it became increasingly clear that, given the strengthened entrenchments of the Allied covering army and the low morale among the French troops, any attack would likely result in defeat.

[17] The French commanders shifted to a new strategy, deciding to split their forces into a blockade line along the Scheldt, stretching from Ghent to Tournai.

The fruitless actions of the French army had, until now, mainly allowed the Allies to supply their besieging forces, which were increasingly facing a shortage of ammunition.

Marlborough, Ouwerkerk and Quartermaster generals Daniël van Dopff, and the Earl of Cadogan were thus all in favor of forcing the blockade line and deciding whether to continue the siege based on its success.

Christian Louis de Montmorency-Luxembourg, the son of the famed Marshal Luxembourg, seized upon this opportunity by planning a daring cavalry raid to supply the city with gunpowder.

Given the French army's spread-out position along a long front, it was decided to avoid large-scale engagements with the Allies and instead make use of the geographical advantages of the coastal region.

Large areas of West Flanders were flooded by the French, and it was only through the extensive use of fascines and small boats that the Allied convoys were able to reach Lille.

The attacks on the exhausted Anglo-Dutch garrison at Leffinge continued relentlessly for several days, but Thomas Erle managed to hold the position.

Meanwhile, the Dutch artillery had advanced so close to Lille that it had even established positions within the ruins of the city walls at several locations.

[24][25] The severing of the connection with Ostend came too late for the French and on 22 October Boufflers surrendered the city to the Allies under favourable terms for its defenders.

However, Tilly was not officially promoted to field marshal, as the Dutch regents feared that the provinces of Friesland and Groningen would demand that the Prince of Orange be granted the position instead.

It wasn't until 9 December, after 40 days, that Boufflers finally surrendered the citadel and the remaining defenders marched out with the honours of war.

The determined resistance of the Brussels garrison, combined with the Allies' successful breach of the French blockade line, ultimately allowed them to force Maximilian to retreat.

Although the year had started poorly for the Allies with the French capture of Ghent and Bruges, the masterful generalship of Marlborough and Eugene, combined with the skillful management of supplies by the Dutch deputies, had reversed the situation.