Atlas of Battles

battle, major, early modern

Battle of Malplaquet

Battle of Malplaquet was a battle fought on 11 September 1709 at Taisnières-sur-Hon, in what is now France. It was part of the War of the Spanish Succession, which ran from 1701 to 1714. The recorded result: Allied victory.

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Battle of Malplaquet
Royal Collection, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Fought11 September 1709
WhereTaisnières-sur-Hon, France50.320N, 3.837E
OutcomeAllied victory
Part ofWar of the Spanish Succession1701 to 1714

Where it sits in the War of the Spanish Succession

Siege of Venlo, 1701Battle of Carpi, 1701Battle of Chiari, 1701Siege of Mantoue, 1701Battle of Cremona, 1702Siege of Kaiserswerth, 1702Battle of Castiglione, 1702Siege of Landau, 1702Battle of Luzzara, 1702Battle of Cádiz, 1702Siege of Hulst, 1702Siege of Venlo, 1702Action of August 1702, 1702Capture of Liège, 1702Battle of Friedlingen, 1702Battle of Vigo Bay, 1702Siege of Kehl, 1703Siege of Guadeloupe, 1703Siege of Bonn, 1703Battle of Cap de la Roque, 1703Battle of Krottensee, 1703Battle of Stekene, 1703Battle of Ekeren, 1703Invasion of Trentino, 1703Siege of Huy, 1703First Battle of Höchstädt, 1703Raid on Nassau, 1703Battle of Speyerbach, 1703Siege of Mirandola, 1704Siege of Namur, 1704Battle of Schellenberg, 1704Capture of Gibraltar, 1704Battle of Blenheim, 1704Battle of Málaga, 1704Twelfth Siege of Gibraltar, 1704Siege of Landau, 1704Siege of Verrua Savoia, 1704Siege of Colonia del Sacramento, 1704Siege of Nice, 1705Battle of Cabrita Point, 1705Battle of Elixheim, 1705Bombardment of Alicante, 1705Battle of Cassano, 1705Siege of Zoutleeuw, 1705Siege of Hagenau, 1705Siege of Badajoz, 1705Battle of Alcántara, 1706Battle of Calcinato, 1706March to Madrid, 1706Battle of Ramillies, 1706Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, 1706Siege of Cartagena, 1706Second Siege of Alicante, 1706Battle of Murcia, 1706Siege of Turin, 1706Battle of Castiglione, 1706Battle of El Albujón, 1706Austrophile invasion of Mallorca, 1706Siege of Pavia, 1706Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1706Battle of Biniatap, 1707Battle of Almansa, 1707Action of 2 May 1707, 1707Siege of Gaeta, 1707Siege of Toulon, 1707Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, 1707Battle at The Lizard, 1707Wager's Action, 1708Battle of Oudenarde, 1708Siege of Lille, 1708Capture of Minorca, 1708Battle of Wijnendale, 1708Siege of Brussels, 1708Battle of La Gudiña, 1709Siege of Tournai, 1709Battle of Malplaquet, 1709Battle of Rio de Janeiro, 1710Battle of Syracuse, 1710Battle of Brihuega, 1710Battle of Villaviciosa, 1710Siege of Bouchain, 1711Capture of the San Joaquin, 1711Battle of Rio de Janeiro, 1711Grovestins' Cavalry Raid, 1712Battle of Denain, 1712Siege of Marchiennes, 1712Siege of Campo Maior, 1712Siege of Bouchain, 1712Siege of Castellciutat, 1713Siege of Cardona, 1713Attack on Can Navarro, 1713Rhine campaign of 1713, 1713Battle of the Malacca Strait, 1714Battle of Balsareny, 1714La Gleva Massacre, 1714Siege of Castellciutat, 1714Capture of Gironella Castle, 1714Battle of Manresa, 1714Attack on the first parallel, 1714Battle of Manresa, 1714Bourbons conquer Majorca, 171517011715Battle of Malplaquet, 1709
101 placed engagements of the War of the Spanish Succession in time order; taller ticks are more widely documented. Each tick is a link.

Record

Date11 September 1709
PlaceTaisnières-sur-Hon, France
50.320N, 3.837E
KindBattle, early modern
Battle of MalplaquetBattle of MalplaquetSiege of MaubeugeSiege of MaubeugeSiege of MaubeugeBattle of JemappesSiege of Le QuesnoySiege of MaubeugeBattle of JemappesBrusselsAntwerpenLuxembourgMetzReimsBruggeAmiensNamur100 km50.320N, 3.837E
The recorded site, with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

The ground today

Relief of the ground around the site of Battle of Malplaquet
Relief within about 10.0 km of the site, contours every 10 m. Copernicus DEM GLO-30, ESA.
Satellite view of the site of Battle of Malplaquet today
The same ground from Sentinel-2 on 2025-08-17. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2025.

The recorded site stands at about 145 m; within 10.0 km the ground runs from 81 to 184 m, 103 m of relief, gently rolling country and today it is 51% cropland, 30% grassland, 15% tree cover.

cropland: 51%grassland: 30%tree cover: 15%built-up: 4%cropland 51%grassland 30%tree cover 15%built-up 4%
west to east, 10.0 km103 to 172 mnorth to south, 10.0 km126 to 154 m
Elevation from the Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (ESA, Airbus); land cover from ESA WorldCover 2021 (CC BY 4.0), within about 5 km of the recorded site. Computed, not recorded.

Nearest engagements

In the same war

Elsewhere in 1709

Combat data (CDB90)

Attacker: ALLIED ARMYDefender: FR & BAV ARMY
Strength110,00080,000
Casualties24,000 (21.8%)12,000 (15.0%)
Mission accomplishment, 1 to 1087
Outcomeattacker won
Duration1 day
Front width8.2 km8.8 km
Attacker advanced1.4 km

From the US Army Concepts Analysis Agency Database of Battles (CDB90, battle 53), public domain, in the CC0 tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold. Figures are the database's estimates, compiled in 1990 from published histories, and may differ from the Wikipedia infobox above.

Battle of Malplaquet is one of 2,126 engagements of the 18th century in the atlas and one of 1,495 in present-day France.

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q316897, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Battle of Malplaquet, revision 1383919011, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.