1807 Siege during the Franco-Swedish War
The
siege of Stralsund
lasted from 24 July to 24 August, 1807, and saw troops from the
First French Empire
twice attempt to capture the port city from
Lieutenant General
Hans Henric von Essen
's 15,000-man Swedish garrison. Early that year,
Marshal
Edouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier
blockaded the city for two months before he was called elsewhere. In his absence, the Swedes drove back the inferior blockading force. After Mortier returned and pushed Essen's troops back in turn, the two sides quickly concluded an armistice. The truce was later repudiated by King
Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden
, and Marshal
Guillaume Marie Anne Brune
then led 40,000 French, German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch soldiers against the fortress. Fearfully outnumbered, the Swedes abandoned the
Baltic Sea
port of
Stralsund
to the Franco-Allies in the action during the
War of the Fourth Coalition
, part of the
Napoleonic Wars
. As a consequence, Sweden also lost the nearby island of
Rugen
.
Prelude
[
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]
Sweden was established in
Stralsund
since the
Battle of Stralsund (1628)
,
[1]
and in the rest of the
Duchy of Pomerania
since the
Treaty of Stettin (1630)
.
[2]
By the
Peace of Westphalia
(1648) and the
Treaty of Stettin (1653)
, the duchy was partitioned into a
Swedish part
, including Stralsund, and a
Brandenburg-Prussian part
.
[3]
After minor losses in the
Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1679)
,
[4]
Swedish Pomerania was reduced to the area north of the
Peene
river with
Greifswald
, Stralsund and
Rugen
in the
Treaty of Stockholm
in 1720.
[5]
When
Napoleon Bonaparte
started to expand eastwards in the
Napoleonic Wars
, the
Swedish Empire
initially maintained a neutral stance. In 1805, Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden entered the
War of the Third Coalition
on the anti-French side, primarily to strip Napoleon's ally
Denmark
of
Norway
. His Norwegian ambitions were thwarted by several military and diplomatic setbacks.
[6]
The blockade
[
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]
Stralsund
, a port in
Swedish Pomerania
, was defended by the
Swedish
governor Hans von Essen.
[7]
On 28 January,
[8]
French forces commanded by Marshal Mortier crossed the
Peene
River in an attempt to impose a blockade on Stralsund. To the east,
General of Division
Charles Louis Dieudonne Grandjean
's division crossed the Peene at
Anklam
, driving back the Swedish outposts. To the west, General of Division Pierre Louis Dupas' division crossed the stream unopposed near
Demmin
. On the 29th, Mortier's two divisions appeared before the port and on 30 January began the blockade.
[9]
For the next two months, the two sides fought a number of skirmishes as the French strengthened their lines of investment. Without control of the island of
Rugen
, the French were unable to interrupt Stralsund's sea communications and were harassed by Swedish gunboats. During the blockade, one French cavalry and three infantry regiments were taken from Mortier to fight against the Russians in Poland and replaced by troops from the
Kingdom of Holland
.
[9]
On 29 March, Mortier received orders to leave Grandjean's division to maintain the blockade and march to assist in the
siege of Kolberg
in
Brandenburg-Prussian Pomerania
.
[7]
After Mortier left,
Essen drove Grandjean's
outnumbered troops from their lines. Grandjean fell back to Anklam where he was attacked again on 3 April and forced to retreat southeast to the fortress of
Stettin
on the
Oder
, arriving there on the 7th. Mortier retraced his steps and by 13 April had assembled 12,000 to 13,000 men at Stettin, about the same number as Essen. In very wet weather, Mortier began pressing Essen back to Anklam.
[10]
On 16 April, Mortier defeated the Swedes in the
Battle of Belling
.
[11]
The next day, Essen retreated to the north bank of the Peene.
[10]
Beginning on 18 April, the French and Swedish forces arranged the truce of Schlatkow.
[8]
Anxious to employ Mortier's men against the Russians and Prussians, Napoleon had authorized the marshal to make a truce with the Swedes. For their part, the Swedes were upset that England had given them very little support. By the 29th, the terms were worked out. The Swedes were to stay on the north side of the Peene. They handed over the islands of
Usedom
and
Wolin
at the mouth of the Oder and promised not to help the Prussians at the sieges of
Kolberg (Kolobrzeg)
or
Danzig
.
[12]
The siege
[
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]
King Gustav IV Adolf landed in Stralsund on 12 May, and denounced the truce on 3 July.
[8]
By this time, the
Treaties of Tilsit
had just deprived Sweden of all her allies but
Great Britain
.
[6]
King Gustav IV Adolf however viewed Napoleon as the "monster of the apocalypse" and was unwilling to compromise on his anti-French policies.
[13]
On 24 July, French Marshal
Guillaume Brune
attacked the Swedish positions on the
Peene
river
[8]
and reoccupied the investing lines around Stralsund. Reinforced by troops from the failed siege of Kolberg, Brune massed a total of 40,000 men. His French troops included General of Division
Jean Boudet
's 7-battalion French infantry division of 7,773 infantry and 200 artillerymen and General of Division
Gabriel Jean Joseph Molitor
's 8-battalion French infantry division of 8,712 infantry and 205 gunners. The Dutch contingent had General of Division
Jean-Baptiste Dumonceau
's 11-battalion infantry division of 9,924 foot soldiers and 570 gunners, General of Division
Henri Gatien Bertrand
's 6-battalion infantry division of 3,932 infantry and 159 artillerymen, and General of Division Carteret's 5-squadron cavalry brigade of 1,112 troopers.
[14]
Brune's Spanish allies included General
Pedro Caro, 3rd Marquis of la Romana
's 14 infantry battalions and 12 cavalry squadrons. This corps totalled 9,763 infantry, 2,340 cavalry, 324 gunners, and 104 sappers. General of Division Domenico Pino led a
Kingdom of Italy
division consisting of eight battalions, eight squadrons, two foot artillery batteries, and one horse artillery battery. The
Grand Duchy of Baden
contributed six battalions, one squadron, and one foot artillery battery. The small German states were represented by the
Grand Duchy of Wurzburg
, two battalions,
Duchy of Berg
, two battalions, and
Duchy of Nassau
, three battalions.
[14]
The 15,000 Swedish defenders included three Finnish battalions, Pommeranian
Landwehr
garrison troops, one battalion of the King's Household Infantry Regiment and one battalion of the
Engelbrechten
Infantry Regiment. There were 500 cannons in the fortress. Subordinate to Essen were Lieutenant General Armfelt, General-Major Vegesack, and General-Major Peyron.
[14]
Gustav IV Adolf left the town on 20 August.
[8]
Deciding that resistance was useless, the Swedes spiked the cannon and burned the gun carriages. They evacuated the port and transported the powder and shot to Rugen. During the second siege, the Franco-Allies lost 38 officers and 960 soldiers killed, wounded, missing, or died of illness. Swedish losses are unknown.
[14]
Stralsund and Rugen were surrendered to France in the course of an armistice.
[7]
Stralsund was handed over to the French on 24 August and Rugen on 7 September 1807.
[8]
On 25 August,
General of Brigade
Francois Nicolas Fririon and naval Captain Peytes de Montcabrie attacked the fortified island of
Danholm
near Rugen. The 1,200-man and two-gun force comprised one battalion of the 30th Line Infantry Regiment, artillery, sappers, pontonniers, miners, and sailors of the Imperial Guard. The successful operation cost the French 15 killed and 26 wounded.
[15]
The 600
[16]
to 800
[17]
Swedish defenders lost between 26
[18]
and 125
[19]
men in dead and wounded, while between 300
[18]
and 517 were captured. Eight fortress guns and six field pieces also fell into French hands.
[20]
Aftermath
[
edit
]
After Sweden was driven out of northern Germany in 1807, she became subject to attacks from
Denmark-Norway
and the
Russian Empire
in 1808. Military mismanagement and lack of support led to Gustav IV Adolf being arrested on 13 March 1809 in the course of an insurrection. He was deposed in May and he and his family were expelled in December after Sweden lost a third of its realm in the
Treaty of Fredrikshamn
.
[6]
French occupation of
Stralsund
was temporarily interrupted when a
Prussian
freikorps
under
Ferdinand von Schill
seized the city in May 1809, but after a few days it was recaptured in the
Battle of Stralsund
.
[7]
When the
Napoleonic Wars
were concluded by the
Congress of Vienna
in 1815, Stralsund along with all of
Swedish Pomerania
became part of the
Prussian
Province of Pomerania
.
See also
[
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]
Sources
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Langer (2003), p.402
- ^
Sturdy (2002), p.59
- ^
Shennan (1995), p.19
- ^
Heitz (1995), p.241
- ^
Heitz (1995), p.244
- ^
a
b
c
Barton (2008), p.118
- ^
a
b
c
d
Jacques (2006), p.973
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
von Daniels (1863), p.214
- ^
a
b
Petre, p.264
- ^
a
b
Petre, p.265
- ^
Manso (1835), p.293
- ^
Petre, pp.265-266
- ^
Porter (1988), p.174
- ^
a
b
c
d
Smith, p.253
- ^
Smith, pp 253-254
- ^
Bjorlin (1882), p.221
- ^
Smith, pp 253-254
- ^
a
b
von Vegesack (1840), p.91
- ^
Smith, pp 253-254
- ^
Smith, pp 253-254
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Barton, H. Arnold (2008).
Essays on Scandinavian History
. Southern Illinois University Press.
ISBN
978-0-8093-2886-4
.
- Bjorlin, Gustaf (1882).
Sveriges Krig i Tyskland aren 1805?1807
. Stockholm: Militarlitteratur-Foreningens Forlag.
- Heitz, Gerhard; Rischer, Henning (1995).
Geschichte in Daten. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
(in German). Munster-Berlin: Koehler&Amelang.
ISBN
3-7338-0195-4
.
- Jaques, Tony (2006).
Dictionary of Battles And Sieges: A Guide to 8,500 Battles from Antiquity Through the Twenty-first Century
. Greenwood Publishing Group.
ISBN
0-313-33536-2
.
- Langer, Herbert (2003).
"Die Anfange des Garnisionswesens in Pommern"
. In Asmus, Ivo; Droste, Heiko; Olesen, Jens E. (eds.).
Gemeinsame Bekannte: Schweden und Deutschland in der Fruhen Neuzeit
(in German). Berlin-Hamburg-Munster: LIT Verlag.
ISBN
3-8258-7150-9
.
- Manso, Johann Kaspar Friedrich (1835).
Geschichte des Preussischen Staates vom Frieden zu Hubertsburg bis zur zweiten Pariser Abkunft: Bd. 1797-1807
(in German). Vol. II (2 ed.). J. C. Hermann.
- Petre, F. Loraine
.
Napoleon's Campaign in Poland 1806-1807
. London: Lionel Leventhal Ltd., 1976 (1907).
- Porter, Roy; Teich, Mikula? (1988).
Romanticism in national context
. Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
0-521-33913-8
.
- Smith, Digby
.
The Napoleonic Wars Data Book.
London: Greenhill Books, 1998.
ISBN
1-85367-276-9
- Sturdy, David J. (2002).
Fractured Europe, 1600-1721
. Wiley-Blackwell.
ISBN
0-631-20513-6
.
- von Daniels, Alexander (1863).
Handbuch der deutschen Reichs- und Staatenrechtsgeschichte
(in German). Vol. III. Laupp.
- von Vegesack, Ernst (1840).
Svenska armeens falttag uti Tyskland och Norrige aren 1805, 1806, 1807 och 1808
(in Swedish). Stockholm: L.J. Hjerta.
External links
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