The Road to Glory and Destruction.

Campaign map of Great Northern War

If the three allied powers harboured any thoughts of a rapid and decisive campaign they were soon disillusioned. Even as Peter declared war on Sweden in August 1700, and while the Saxons settled down once again to lay siege to Riga, Denmark had been knocked out of the war. Calling for help from the Anglo-Dutch, which had been agreed upon in the terms of the Treaty of Rijswick, and the Altona agreement* the Swedish fleet made a bold move along the Swedish coast, evading the Danish fleet and joining up with an Anglo-Dutch squadron which enabled them to land 10,000 troops on Zealand, from where they marched on Copenhagen. Faced by the possibility of a blockade of his capital, and being pressurised by the Maritime Powers, the Danish king, Frederik IV withdrew from the war.[i]

After dealing with the Danes, Charles wasted no time, and in October 1700 he marched east intending to relieve Riga. However news soon reached him that the Russians had invested the fortress town of Narva in Estonia, and he immediately turned north, halting at Wernburg until 13^th November in order to collect his army.[ii]

With only 10,500 men Charles struck out for Narva. The roads were all but washed out due to the autumn rains, and Russian cavalry had devastated the countryside. Food and fodder were scarce, with the troops being forced to rely on only what they carried in their packs.[iii] After four days of marching the Swedes came upon 5,000 Russian cavalry guarding the exit from the Pyhäjöggi Pass, eighteen miles west of Narva. Charles immediately ordered forward some 400 of his foot Guard, together with his own small escort of dragoons and eight cannon. Stunned at the rapidity of the Swedish attack the Russians retired, but were not routed, their commander, Field Marshal Count Boris Sheremetev having orders to only observe the enemy movements and not to engage their main field army in any major action.[iv]

Tsar Peter the Great

The sudden appearance of the Swedish army near Narva, according to General Fuller, caused Peter to panic and abandon his troops.[v] This seems a little harsh. Peter had no reason to believe that Charles would not conform with the excepted principles of warfare of the day, and that the Swedes would take their time in planning any attack against the Russian lines of contravallation which were defended by over 40,000 Russian regular and militia troops supported by 140 cannon. Also Peter was anxious to meet up with Augustus and find out why the Saxons had once more abandoned the siege of Riga. These facts, plus the overriding responsibilities of being the sole arbiter of Russian policy determined Peter’s actions. If we wish to find fault with anything then it lies with his choice of the man whom he placed in command at Narva when he departed- Charles Eugéne, Duc du Croy. Du Croy spoke hardly any Russian and was not familiar with the other officers. He was also much concerned in regard to the length of the Russian position, which he considered to be far too long and could easily allow the Swedes to penetrate at one point before troops could be pulled from other parts of the line to block them.[vi]

The surrender of the Russians at Narva

Du Croy’s worst fears were to be realised when, at around 10 a.m. on the morning of the 20^th November the Swedish army began to appear along the tree-covered slopes of the Hermansberg ridge. Although outnumbered by almost four to one Charles launched his infantry directly at the Russian lines. Under cover of a fortuitous snowstorm the Swedes swept forward piercing the defences in two places, putting the Russians to flight. In all they lost some 8,000 killed and wounded, together with thousands of prisoners, all of whom, with the exception of the officers were set free, the Swedes having no facilities for handling such numbers. Swedish casualties were fewer than 2,000 – the making of a legend had begun.

The Swedish army went into winter quarters around Dorpat after its victory at Narva, Charles intending to deal with Augustus in the spring of 1701. For his part the Polish king found no real enthusiasm for war among his Commonwealth subjects and many among the nobles favoured an alliance with Sweden against Russia that might recover lands lost in 1667.[vii]

With the warmer weather melting the snow and fresh troops arriving from Sweden, which increased his army to 24,000 men, Charles moved south into Courland. Leaving 6,000 men to watch the Russians he came up against a mixed Saxon and Russian army in July 1701 at the River Dvina near Riga. Here, under cover of a smokescreen made from damp straw and horse manure the Swedish infantry crossed the river in boats, and supported by ships anchored in the river giving covering fire, Charles himself landed with the first wave. The speed of his assault caused consternation in the allied army, which promptly fled the field. The victory however was far from complete as the Swedish cavalry were unable to cross over the river and finish off the panic stricken fugitives.[viii]

It was at this stage of the war that Charles made the momentous decision to concentrate all his efforts on the overthrow of Augustus rather than pushing on into Russia to deal with Peter. His reasons for doing so were based upon sound military principles. Having defeated the Russians at Narva Charles felt confident that they posed no great threat, while the Saxons still fielded a strong army in Poland. He also wanted to teach Augustus a lesson for his duplicity in invading Livonia, and considered it, “derogatory to myself and my honour to have the slightest dealings with a man who had acted in such a dishonourable and shameful way.”[ix] However, the main problem, which Charles failed to grasp, was the difficulty in winning over the Polish nobility, and the Herculean task of appeasing the Polish people and the church with a replacement for the Polish throne.

Undeterred by these problems Charles marched on Warsaw in January 1702, occupying the city on 14^th May. On July 8th he defeated a mixed Saxon and Polish army at the battle of Kliszów. In this battle he once again demonstrated his uncanny grasp of timing and tactical judgment. His army was outnumbered by almost two to one and he had only four small three- pounder cannon to the enemy’s forty-six field pieces. Realising that the allied weakness lay on their right flank Charles decided upon a daring enveloping manoeuvre. Reinforcing his own left at a crucial stage of the battle the Swedes withstood two massive Polish cavalry onslaughts before advancing in their turn on the Saxon flank, which had suddenly become exposed as the Polish horse retired. Caught on the bayonets of the Swedish infantry and unable to meet this threat effectively owing to marshland which constricted their left and rear, the Saxons were forced to retire leaving over 2,000 killed and 1,000 prisoners on the field.[x]

In the spring of 1703 Charles again defeated the Saxons at the battle of Pultusk (21^st April), thereafter proclaiming Augustus dethroned and his own puppet monarch, Stanislaus Leszcznski crowned king. The election of the new king was nothing short of a travesty. On July 2^nd 1704 Charles ordered a rump session of the Polish Diet to be gathered together by force of arms in a field outside Warsaw, and under the close guard of Swedish soldiers, they went through the sham ceremony of proclaiming Stanislaus I King of Poland.[xi]

While Charles was campaigning in Poland, Peter had not been idle. In January 1702 he had invaded Ingria, defeating the weak Swedish force under General Schlippenbach at Errestfer (7^th January). The following year he founded St Petersburg, and in early 1704 his troops were once again before Narva, the siege of which he left in the capable hands of the Scottish mercenary Field Marshal George Ogilvie while he pressed on to Dorpat, which was also under siege by the Russians. The town surrendered on 13^th July, and on 30^th July Peter was back before the walls of Narva, which fell on 9^th August, but resulted in a bloodbath for the defenders because the Swedish commander, General Arvid Horn did not accept Peter’s generous terms of capitulation.[xii]

Charles paid little attention to events that occurred in the Baltic, considering that the Russians would soon be dealt with and towns and provinces restored to Swedish control after Augustus was cornered and forced to admit defeat. This proved easier said than done as Augustus still commanded a powerful army, and fractional intrigues within the Polish nobility divided his enemies rather than unite them against him.[xiii]

Seemingly undeterred by anything or anyone, Charles suddenly made a forced march into eastern Poland in January 1706 where he hoped to force Ogilvie, who was in winter quarters around Grodno, to give battle. Staying firmly behind their entrenchments the Russians refused to be drawn into a confrontation with the Swedes in the open field, however Augustus, who had moved from Grodno towards Posen attempting to come in on the Swedish rear, was hoping that Ogilvie would move to attack their front. The whole plan never materialised and Augustus was defeated by the Swedish general Rehnskjöld at Fraustadt on 3^rd February. Meanwhile Peter had ordered Ogilvie to abandon his artillery and heavy baggage train and fall back across the river Niemen, a move that was carried out with the Swedish army close on his heels. Charles followed the retreating Russians as far as Pinsk where he decided once again to turn south intending to march into Augustus’s homeland of Saxony. Once Charles and his veteran army were firmly established in their own back yard the Saxon ministers in Dresden were forced to conclude a peace with the Swedish monarch, which was signed at Altranstädt on the 26^th September 1706, and ratified by Augustus himself on 20^th October. By its terms Augustus renounced his alliance with Russia and recognized Stanislaus as King of Poland.

The appearance of Charles and his army at the very heart of Europe caused panic among the Dutch, Austrians and British, all of whom were worried that the Swedish monarch had agreed to an alliance with the king of France. So concerned were they that The Duke of Marlborough himself was sent to Altranstädt to hold an interview with Charles. At this meeting, which took place in April 1707 the Duke concluded that the Swedish presence in Germany posed no threat, and that Charles had no intention of upsetting the balance of Catholic and Protestant powers allied against Louis XIV. At the conclusion of this meeting between two of the greatest commanders in history Marlborough stated his wish to, “…serve in some campaign under so great a campaigner as the Swedish king so that I might learn what I yet want to know in the art of war.” Charles himself was not quite so impressed with the Duke, saying afterwards that he thought Marlborough overdressed for a soldier, and his language a bit overdone.[xiv]