The Military Campaign of 1705 in Lombardy. The Offensive of Eugene of Savoy and the Crossing of the Oglio River

The article examines the military art during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714). Focusing on the military operations in Northern Italy in 1705, the study aims to elucidate the distinctive features of early 18th-century warfare through the analysis of a military campaign. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the article presents a separate period of European military history based on sources that have not yet been reflected in Russian historiography. The article actualizes the problems of the general and the specific in military affairs of Western Europe and Russia, and focuses on the comparative analysis of military art during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) and the Great Northern War (1700–1721). As a result of the study, the author came to the conclusion that the military actions in Lombardy in 1705 manifested both general and distinctive features of the military strategy of the era. The peculiarity of the military actions was their activity and decisive nature, persistence and purposefulness. Typical features included a restrictive methodical approach to com-mand and control, the dominance of logistical considerations over operational maneuvers, a preference for strategic maneuvering over pitched battles, and the positional nature of military operations.