After William III left for England in 1688 to claim the English throne, Prince Georg Friedrich of Waldeck had been appointed Field Marshal of William's forces during the War of the Grand Alliance in the Spanish Netherlands.

He is successful in the battle of Walcourt, fought near the ancient walled town of Walcourt near Charleroi in the Spanish Netherlands, which brings to a close a summer of uneventful marching, maneuvering, and foraging.

The battle is the only significant engagement in the theater during the campaign of 1689.

The exiled François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg, who had been one of King Louis XIV's most successful generals in the Dutch War of 1672 to 1678), had been recalled to court as captain of the king's guards in 1681.

Made commander in chief of the royal armies shortly after France went to war with the other major European powers in 1689, he prevents an invasion of France by crushing Waldeck’s army at Fleurus, in the Spanish Netherlands, on July 1, 1690.

Marshal Luxembourg follows Boufflers’ triumph at Mons with a victory on September 19 against Waldeck at Leuze.

After this defeat, Waldeck is appointed chief-of-staff of the Dutch States Army (he will die in Arolsen on November 19, 1692).