Illegitimate son of James Duke of York, the later James II, and Arabella Churchill, Marlborough's sister, Berwick had been educated in France. In 1686-7, he served as a volunteer in the war against the Turks before coming to England to use this military experience in his father's attempts to professionalise the English army. When William of Orange took over, he fled to France with James, and served through the subsequent war, first in Ireland and then in the Netherlands.
Ability allied to his high birth brought quick advancement, and in 1703 he was sent to Spain with reinforcements, commanding with great skill on the Portuguese frontier in 1704. He was recalled due to political intrigues, but further successes in the Cevennes and Nice only confirmed his reputation as a thorough professional - not a star performer, but one whose methods, while not necessarily exciting, always produced the result he wanted.
These methods he used to perfection manoeuvring Galway out of Castile in 1706, refusing to risk his inexperienced forces in battle, exploiting terrain and Allied supply difficulties to achieve his ends. After Almansa, he spent most of the rest of the war defending France's Italian frontier, using inferior forces in difficult terrain with his habitual skill and success. Recalled to service for the War of the Polish Succession, he was killed next year by a cannon-ball at Philipsburg.
More Battle of Almansa 25th April 1707
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