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The Hello and welcome to a history of Europe Key Battles podcast.

Today we talk about the war of Spanish succession, and this is the second part of four.

In the town of Woodstock, not far from Oxford stands a monumental country house, Blenheim Palace.

One of England's largest houses, the palace, was built between year 1705 and 1722,

and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

The palace is named after the Battle of Blenheim of 1704 in Bavaria

as a reward to John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough,

for his military triumphs against the French and Bavarians

in the War of Spanish Succession.

The palace is also notable as the birthplace, the ancestral home of Sir Winston Churchill,

a descendant of the First Duke of Marlborough.

Marlborough had commanded troops effectively in Ireland early in the nine years' war.

His capture of the cities of Cork and Kinsale in October

1690 marked him as a commander of merit, but he was suspected falsely of plotting for James

II against William. He would not again achieve royal favour until William began to prepare his forces for renewed war with France at the start of the Spanish War of Succession.

William's death in March 1702 further strengthened Marlborough's position because he was already close to Queen Anne, who succeeded William.

Marlborough's wife, Sarah, had been a favourite of Queen Anne since the 1690s,

as portrayed by a recent Hollywood film from the year 2018 called The Favorite.

As described in the previous episode, the first engagements of the war in northern Italy

went badly for France. The forces which were combining against Louis XIV and his grandson,

Philip, who were just accepted the Crown of Spain, were impressive. The English,

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