Series of sieges in the Great Northern War
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- Denmark and Holstein-Gottorp (1700)
- Swedish Baltic dominions
- Courland and Western Lithuania
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and
Saxony
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and Eastern Lithuania
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)
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The
siege of Stralsund
was a battle during the
Great Northern War
. The
Swedish Empire
defended her
Swedish Pomeranian
port of
Stralsund
against a coalition of
Denmark-Norway
, the
Electorate of Saxony
and the
Tsardom of Russia
, which was joined by the
Kingdom of Prussia
during the siege.
A first attempt to take Stralsund was made in 1711, when the allies closed in on the town. Swedish relief forced the coalition to withdraw from the fortifications, whereupon the besieging armies drew a wider ring along the lines of the
Recknitz
and
Peene
rivers.
Magnus Stenbock
's
victory at Gadebusch
for a short time distracted the allies, but after Stenbock's pursuit and subsequent defeat, Prussia as well as Hanover, ruled in personal union with
Great Britain
, joined the anti-Swedish alliance.
The allies agreed that Denmark should cede her claims to
Bremen-Verden
to Hanover, and in turn Denmark was promised the northern parts of
Swedish Pomerania
with Stralsund, while the southern parts were to become Prussian. In 1714,
Charles XII of Sweden
rode to Stralsund from his Turkish exile to lead the defense in person. From 12 July to 24 December 1715, the allies sieged the town and eventually forced its surrender. Charles XII escaped to Sweden.
Stralsund remained under Danish control until it was returned to Sweden by the
Treaty of Frederiksborg
.
Prelude
[
edit
]
In Poltava
, the
Swedish Empire
lost the initiative in the
Great Northern War
. With
Charles XII of Sweden
's main army destroyed, the anti-Swedish alliance of the
Tsardom of Russia
,
Denmark-Norway
and
Saxe
-
Poland-Lithuania
re-constituted in the
Treaty of Thorn
and the
Treaty of Copenhagen
, the Swedish king exiled to
Bender
and Sweden's provinces of
Finland
and
Livonia
invaded, the Swedish defense relied on 11,800 soldiers garrisoned in northern Germany, and an army of 10,000 men in
Greater Poland
commanded by
Ernst Detlof von Krassow
. The latter was in full retreat, harassed by Saxon forces and a
plague
[3]
that had broken out in Poland.
[4]
The Swedish government issued mobilization orders for
Swedish Pomerania
on 8 April 1711. 3,800 men aged between twenty and forty years were to be drawn to serve a five years term.
[5]
Stralsund had recovered from the
destruction of 1678
, but in 1711, the
plague
carried to Pomerania with the retreating Swedish forces of the Krassow corps
[6]
caused thousands of deaths.
[7]
The Swedes were pursued by the armies of the anti-Swedish coalition, who reached and laid siege to Stralsund in 1711.
[8]
This pursuit through formerly neutral
Reich
territory was made possible by the death of
emperor Joseph I
in April: until Joseph I's successor
Charles VI
was inaugurated, the imperial constitution ruled that
August the Strong
, one of the constituents of the anti-Swedish coalition, was in charge of northern Germany's imperial affairs.
[nb 2]
Thus, when the Swedish forces withdrew to their fortified strongholds of
Stralsund
, Stettin (
Szczecin
) and
Wismar
, 6,000 Saxons, 6,000 Poles, and 12,000 Russians were able to follow up from the southeast. Another 25,000 Danes moved into the empire via
Holstein-Gottorp
, and approached Stralsund from the west.
[8]
Siege
[
edit
]
Great Northern War
in
Swedish Pomerania
with
Stralsund
(center).
Swedish Empire
indicated in orange,
Denmark
in light ocre,
Prussia
in baby blue,
Brunswick-Luneburg
(Hanover) in dark pink,
Electorate of Saxony
in olive,
Poland-Lithuania
in yellow. Russian campaign arrows are shown in green, Danish in purple, Saxon-Polish-Lithuanian in ultramarine, Swedish in red, Prussian in light blue, and Hanoveranian in dark pink. Besieged towns are indicated by a collar of black rays.
Map of the
Stralsund
area showing the position of the siege armies in 1711 and 1712. Note that the map is not oriented northwards.
Map of
Stralsund
showing the siege army's positions in 1715
A Swedish relief force under
Magnus Stenbock
's command
[9]
with a strength of 6,000
[10]
to 10,000 men landed on
Rugen
on 25 September 1711,
[9]
whereupon the Danish-Saxon-Russian siege army withdrew to the
Recknitz
and
Peene
rivers. Instead of a launching another major assault on the town, the allies were content with minor raids and skirmishes into the
pocket
in the following years. Swedish general
Carl Gustaf Ducker
requested reinforcements, and in May 1712 was supplied with an additional 6,391 foot and 4,800 horse from Sweden. Also, Ducker concentrated all Swedish forces scattered in Pomeranian garrisons, another 8,000 men, in Stralsund, while the allied strength was about 23,000 men.
[10]
At this time,
Frederik IV of Denmark-Norway
was not interested in annexing Stralsund to his empire. When he
re-entered the war
in 1709, Frederik had promised to not attack Swedish territories in the
Holy Roman Empire
and protect their citizens wherever they pledge loyalty to him. Accordingly, Frederik IV had agreed in a convention of 1711 that Stralsund along with northern Swedish Pomerania should be annexed by
August the Strong
,
elector of Saxony
and king of
Poland-Lithuania
. However, after
George I
of
Brunswick-Luneburg
(Hanover) ascended the throne of
Great Britain
, who had dropped out of the
War of Spanish Succession
in the
Peace of Utrecht
in 1713 and was thus free to enter the anti-Swedish alliance in the Great Northern War, Frederik IV changed his mind.
[10]
Already in 1712, Denmark and Hanover had invaded and partitioned Bremen-Verden.
[nb 3]
[9]
The Stralsund area had been
tied to Denmark in the Late Middle Ages
, was of strategic importance as a bridgehead into the
Holy Roman Empire
, and a potent exporter of wool and grain.
[11]
First Danish claims to northern Swedish Pomerania were formulated in 1713,
[10]
and a respective treaty was drafted in May 1715 between Frederick IV and George I which guaranteed the Danish occupied
Swedish dominion
of
Bremen-Verden
to George I in return for him entering the war on Frederik's side, and Pomerania north of the
Peene
river as well as 30,000
talers
to Frederik IV. When
Prussia
, keen to annex Swedish Pomerania as well, joined the allies in summer, a Dano-Prussian treaty was concluded partitioning Swedish Pomerania along the Peene, with Denmark being assured her claims for the northern part with Stralsund, and Prussia for the southern part with
Stettin
. August the Strong's protests and Danish tendencies to minimize their military efforts in the coalition after the treaty, resulting from Frederik IV's understanding that he now would gain Stralsund anyway, led to quarrels in the siege force.
[12]
Stenbock's forces turned west with 16,000 men to
face the allies at Gadebusch
, leaving 3,000 men to garrison Stralsund.
[9]
Their victory and subsequent westward movement distracted the allies from the siege, yet when Stenbock burned down Danish
Altona
, Russian forces burned Swedish Pomeranian
Wolgast
east of Stralsund in revenge in 1713. The allies were free to concentrate on Stralsund again
[13]
after Stenbock's forces, pursued by 36,000 Poles, Russians and Saxons,
[9]
were defeated in the
Battle of Tonning
on 16 May 1713. Before re-joining with the siege army near Stralsund, Russian forces under
Alexander Menshikov
's command
[nb 1]
and a Saxon engineer corps were deployed from
Tonning
to
Stettin
, the second major Swedish fortress in Pomerania, and captured it on 29 September 1713. However,
Russian tsar
Peter the Great
had to withdraw his forces from the Holy Roman Empire by the terms of the
Treaty of Adrianople
, concluded on 25 June 1713 as a consequence of the
Pruth Campaign
.
[14]
Charles XII of Sweden
, exiled to
Bender
in the
Ottoman Empire
between the
Surrender at Perevolochna
and his return in 1714, had envisioned that Stralsund would constitute the base of a renewed Swedish attack on Peter the Great. Charles XII's plans foresaw a two-fold assault of a Swedish army from Pomerania and a Turkish army from the South.
[10]
When Charles XII reached Stralsund in November 1714, the town's garrison was reinforced to a strength of 17,000 men.
[14]
Searching for allies, Charles XII also negotiated with
Prussia
, but was unwilling to meet Frederick William I's demands on Stettin and 400,000
reichstalers
in tribute. In April 1715, Konigsberg declared war.
[15]
Though George I was not involved in the war as the king of Great Britain, but merely as the duke of Hanover,
[15]
the Danish navy was assisted in the siege by eight British vessels, detached by British admiral
John Norris
, who was ordered to guard the Maritime Powers' merchants in the
Baltic Sea
. In July, the allied forces closed in on Stralsund from the landside, and in November a combined Danish-Saxon-Prussian army landed at
Groß Stresow
and took the island of
Rugen
north of the town. When defeat became inevitable, Charles XII escaped
[16]
and the defenders surrendered on
Christmas Eve
. Stralsund became the capital of Danish Pomerania.
[17]
Aftermath
[
edit
]
After Stralsund's surrender, a Danish administration under commander von Stocken was set up,
[18]
and 1028 Swedish prisoners of war were detained in the town.
[19]
Yet, many noble and burgher families - Pomeranian, Swedish or intermarried - remained loyal to Sweden.
[18]
The Danish government reacted by prohibiting contacts to Sweden and obliging the landowners to pledge allegiance, otherwise, they would be stripped of their lands or expelled. As a consequence, an unknown number emigrated to Sweden, including Swedish prisoners of war who were able to escape with the help of the local population. Of sixty-nine high ranking Swedish officials and officers detained in Stralsund in January 1716, only thirty-one were still in town in March of the following year. When the local population continued to maintain close contacts with Sweden and aid Swedish refugees, Danish guards started to patrol the coast
[19]
and investigate the traffic with Sweden, before this traffic was prohibited altogether until 1719. Since only a few nobles had pledged allegiance to Frederik IV in August 1716, the Danish government issued a deadline, and in October started to expropriate those who had not given the oath to the Danish king.
[20]
Also in 1716, Swedish
Wismar
surrendered to the allies, eliminating Sweden's last stronghold on the southern Baltic coast.
[13]
By the end of the war however, Stralsund was restored to Sweden.
[21]
The siege of Stralsund marked the beginning of a friendship between
Frederick William I of Prussia
and
Huguenot
refugee
Jacques Egide Duhan de Jandun
, whom he first met when he was in the service of field marshal
Alexander von Dohna
in 1715. In the following year, Frederick William I entrusted Duhan den Jandun with the raising of his then four-year-old son, later known as
Frederick the Great
.
[22]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Russian tsar
Peter the Great
had entrusted baron
Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov
with the command of the sieges of Stralsund, Stettin
and Tonning
, yet in the first years of the campaign he was also present in Pomerania in person. Peter the Great left for
Hanover
and Russia in 1713, when
Magnus Stenbock
's defeat at Tonning became inevitable. Bushkovitch (2001), pp. 309-310.
- ^
Per the constitution of the
Holy Roman Empire
, the empire was to be governed by two vicars during an interregnum. The vicar in charge of the north was to be the
elector of Saxony
, while the south would be governed by the
Electorate of the Palatinate
. Wilson (1998), p. 138.
- ^
Denmark had invaded
Bremen-Verden
claiming the neutrality of the
Lower Saxon Circle
was no longer in effect (see note above), and forced the Swedish garrison in
Stade
, 2,600 men, to surrender. Hanover had invaded Bremen-Verden claiming they would protect it for the Swedes from the plague carried by the Danes. Effectively, Bremen-Verden was thus partitioned with Denmark occupying the former
archdiocese of Bremen
, and Hanover occupying the
Verden
area. Wilson (1998), p. 139.
Sources
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Wilson (1998), p. 136.
- ^
Zapnik (2006), p. 227.
- ^
Meier (2008), p. 57.
- ^
Zapnik (2006), p. 228.
- ^
Grabinski (2006), p. 33.
- ^
a
b
Wilson (1998), p. 138.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Wilson (1998), p. 139.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Meier (2008), p. 22.
- ^
Meier (2008), pp. 297-298.
- ^
Meier (2008), p. 23.
- ^
a
b
North (2008), p. 53.
- ^
a
b
Wilson (1998), p. 140.
- ^
a
b
Oakley (1992), p. 121.
- ^
Oakley (1992), p. 122.
- ^
Meier (2008), p. 297.
- ^
a
b
Meier (2008), p. 72.
- ^
a
b
Meier (2008), p. 73.
- ^
Meier (2008), p. 74.
- ^
North (2008), p. 54.
- ^
Kunisch (2004), p. 13.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Bushkovitch, Paul (2001).
Peter the Great. The struggle for power, 1671-1725
. New studies in European history. Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
0-521-80585-6
.
- Grabinsky, Anne (2006). "Die Stralsunder Doppelkatastrophe von 1678/80: Wiederaufbau nach zwei vernichtenden Stadtbranden".
Kleine Stadtgeschichte
(in German). Vol. II. Berlin-Hamburg-Munster: LIT Verlag.
ISBN
3-8258-8994-7
.
- Kunisch, Johannes (2004).
Friedrich der Grosse. Der Konig und seine Zeit
(in German) (5 ed.). CH Beck.
ISBN
3-406-52209-2
.
- Meier, Martin (2008).
Vorpommern nordlich der Peene unter danischer Verwaltung 1715 bis 1721. Aufbau einer Verwaltung und Herrschaftssicherung in einem eroberten Gebiet
. Beitrage zur Militar- und Kriegsgeschichte (in German). Vol. 65. Munich: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag.
ISBN
978-3-486-58285-7
.
- North, Michael (2008).
Geschichte Mecklenburg-Vorpommerns
. Beck Wissen (in German). Vol. 2608. CH Beck.
ISBN
978-3-406-57767-3
.
- Oakley, Steward (1992).
War and peace in the Baltic, 1560-1790
. War in Context. Abingdon - New York: Routledge.
ISBN
0-415-02472-2
.
- Wilson, Peter Hamish (1998).
German armies. War and German politics, 1648-1806
. Warfare and history. Routledge.
ISBN
1-85728-106-3
.
- Zapnik, Jorg (2006). "Pest in Stralsund wahrend des Großen Nordischen Krieges 1710-1711 und das Historische Informationssystem". In Kroll, Stefan; Kruger, Kersten (eds.).
Stadtesystem und Urbanisierung im Ostseeraum in der Fruhen Neuzeit: Urbane Lebensraume und historische Informationssysteme. Beitrage des wissenschaftlichen Kolloquiums in Rostock vom 15. und 16. November 2004
. Geschichte / Forschung und Wissenschaft (in German). Vol. 12. Berlin-Hamburg-Munster: LIT. pp. 226?255.
ISBN
3-8258-8778-2
.
- Kling, Steve; Summerfield, Stephen (2015).
Great Northern War Compendium: Frederick William I and Prussia's Involvement in the Great Northern War
. Vol. 2.
St. Louis
: THGC Publishing.
ISBN
978-0-9964557-3-2
.
- Poetzsch, Johnny (2018).
Phoenix ?Den ateruppstandne. Forsvaret av Stralsund och de svenska provinserna i Nordtyskland 1710-1716
(in Swedish).
Falun
: Poetzsch historica.
ISBN
978-91-984484-0-5
.
External links
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]
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