Historedia
EuropeEvent

Alleged Death of Duke of Berwick at Philippsburg

When
1734
Where
Siege of Philippsburg
Episodes
1

James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, died on 12 June 1734 at the Siege of Philippsburg. He was decapitated by a cannonball. He had been chosen to lead the Army of the Rhine in 1733.

Episodes

  1. 12 June 1734 · Siege of PhilippsburgDeath at Philippsburg

    The Duke of Berwick was killed by a cannonball during the 1734 siege.

Background and detail

Background. James FitzJames was a French-English officer and Marshal of France. After serving in the War of the Spanish Succession, he was not called to field service until 1733, when he was chosen to lead the Army of the Rhine in the War of the Polish Succession.

The Siege of Philippsburg. The fortress of Philippsburg was besieged in 1734. During this engagement, the Duke of Berwick was killed. Historical records state he was decapitated by a cannonball on 12 June 1734. This date differs from the 17 June date in the legacy row.

People involved

Sources

  1. James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-01
  2. Philippsburg Wikipedia, revision of 2025-06-22

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.