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The Battle of Fontenoy was a major battle of the War of the Austrian Succession which was fought between a French army and a British-Austrian-Dutch army in the Austrian Netherlands in 1745.

After Dettingen, the fortunes of war had favored the French, who overran Flanders and in May 1745, led by Marshal Maurice de Saxe, were laying siege to the fortress of Tournai. At nearby Fontenoy, an English army under the Duke of Cumberland, George II's 25-year-old son, encountered the French force. Saxe had planned meticulously, hiding his forces in undulating countryside. Although the British and Hanoverian forces broke the French ranks, the fire from the concealed French positions was too punishing and Cumberland had to withdraw. The French victory led to the conquest of much of the Netherlands, including Tournai.

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