Battle of Oudenarde - Aftermath

Aftermath

The French army retired to Ghent, with its commanders furiously quarreling. It can be said that only darkness and a few broken pontoon bridges saved the army from total destruction.

For unknown reasons, about half of the French army was kept in reserve, without participating at all. There was a great mass of French cavalry and infantry in some raised ground north of the Norken River, and many of Burgundy's troops remained inactive. There were many bad decisions in the French army. The cavalry had remained in reserve, mainly because of the advice that the ground was impassable. The entire left wing (the troops under Burgundy and the large mass north of the Norken) was kept in reserve. They could easily have destroyed the rather weak right wing of the Allied army. Had a concerted attack been carried out, with Vendôme attacking with his main body to envelop the Allied right, while Burgundy attacked with the left (before Overkirk and the rest of Argyll's troops arrived), the French army could have easily won.

The French army lost about 15,000 soldiers (about 8,000 of whom were prisoners) and 25 guns, while the Allies lost fewer than 3,000.