Siege of Maastricht (1673)

The siege where d’Artagnan died — yes, the real one — and a showcase of how warfare was becoming a science.

The Siege

In June 1673, Louis XIV personally led 40,000 French troops against Maastricht, a heavily fortified Dutch city on the Meuse River. The siege was directed by Vauban, who used his systematic approach: parallel trenches, calculated approaches, and controlled escalation. Instead of throwing men at walls and hoping, Vauban turned siege warfare into engineering. Maastricht fell in thirteen days — a speed that shocked Europe.

The Assault

The most famous moment came during a night assault on a key outwork. Charles de Batz-Castelmore, Comte d’Artagnan — the real Gascon soldier Alexandre Dumas would later fictionalize — led the attack and was killed by a musket ball. The young John Churchill also fought in this assault, reportedly saving the Duke of Monmouth’s life. It was one of Churchill’s first major actions, the start of a military career that would reshape Europe.

The Bigger Context

England and France were allied against the Dutch at this point (the secret Treaty of Dover, 1670). English soldiers fought under French command, which meant future enemies were fighting side by side. The Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678) was the conflict that made William of Orange into a wartime leader and set the stage for decades of Anglo-French rivalry.

In the Novel

The siege and the broader fighting in the Low Countries connect to the Shaftoe brothers’ military world. Bob Shaftoe is a professional soldier in this era of shifting alliances, where English troops might serve French commanders one year and fight them the next. The siege also connects to the Churchill family’s rise — battlefield courage at Maastricht helped launch John Churchill’s career.