#OTD in 1745 the Irish Brigade led a decisive charge at Fontenoy, securing victory for the French over an allied army led by Britain's Duke of Cumberland. Louis XV wrote the next day describing the battle that restored France's military prestige.( NAM London) #WildGeese (1/7)

The French were in a strong position: the regiments of Lally, Dillon, Roth, Bulkeley, Clare & Berwick (c 3800 men) were on the French left (no. 9), & led a decisive counterattack when the British column penetrated the French first line. A British victory turned into defeat. 2/7

As @clpichichero has pointed out, Fontenoy was quickly framed as a distinctly French (royal) victory, despite Marshal Maurice de Saxe being the real architect of victory, and Voltaire's poem in praise of the victory ignored the Irish Brigade in favour of French troops. 3/7

The Irish Brigade lost 1/4 of its officers & 1/3 of its men at Fontenoy, one of the bloodiest battles of the decade. The Irish Brigade captured the only Allied colours that day (later burned in Les Invalides by Napoleon's men in 1814 to deny its possession by the Russians). 4/7

Irish also fought on the Allied side, incl. the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons. Some of the Irish Brigade would end up facing the same regiments (& Cumberland) a year later at Culloden. Lt Col Walter Stapleton, promoted to Brig. General after Fontenoy, would be killed at Culloden. 5/7

Fontenoy was the high water mark for the Irish Brigade in the French army, and was evoked many times in later nationalist rhetoric, right up to the early 20thC. It still is to an extent, but has been superceded by later events. 6/7
https://www.theirishstory.com/2020/05/11/the-battle-of-fontenoy-in-irish-nationalist-tradition/#.YJo7kewo80O

My thanks to @RIAdawson for helping fund this research. #RIAgrants For more on the #WildGeese and the Irish military tradition in the armies of France and Britain see my blog post. 7/7 https://irishdiasporahistory.wordpress.com/2020/04/24/from-the-wild-geese-to-waterloo-irishmen-in-the-armies-of-france-and-britain-in-the-long-eighteenth-century/