For much of the War of the Austrian Succession, with the assistance of John Ligonier, Cumberland commanded the main allied field army in Flanders acting in defence of the Austrian Netherlands and the Dutch Republic. At the head of the largest deployment of British troops on the continent since the days of Marlborough and opposed to the experienced French Marshal Maurice de Saxe, Cumberland's campaigning could not prevent the fall of the Dutch Barrier Forts. Between 1748 and 1755 he attempted to enact a series of army reforms that were resisted by the opposition and by the army itself.Davies, p. 277; Glover, p. 148; Royle, p. 25 Following the Convention of Klosterzeven in 1757, he never again held active military command and switched his attentions to politics and horse racing.
For much of the War of the Austrian Succession, with the assistance of John Ligonier, Cumberland commanded the main allied field army in Flanders acting in defence of the Austrian Netherlands and the Dutch Republic. At the head of the largest deployment of British troops on the continent since the days of Marlborough and opposed to the experienced French Marshal Maurice de Saxe, Cumberland's campaigning could not prevent the fall of the Dutch Barrier Forts. Between 1748 and 1755 he attempted to enact a series of army reforms that were resisted by the opposition and by the army itself.Davies, p. 277; Glover, p. 148; Royle, p. 25 Following the Convention of Klosterzeven in 1757, he never again held active military command and switched his attentions to politics and horse racing.