[History] The Great Northern Showdown

[Publius]

Author: Atterdag
Original Thread: The Great Northern Showdown

The Great Northern Showdown

Young kings
When the end of the 17. century came, there sat on the thrones of Denmark and Sweden two young cousins.
Of Denmark Frederik IV. the oldest and from Sweden Karl XII.
Though young of age and being kin their attributes were as different as any could be.


To the lef Karl XII of Sweden to the right Frederik IV of Denmark

The father of Frederik king Christian V. was no literate man. And therefore he did not put any interest in the education of his son.
Frederik was only taught in language, and only when he seized the throne after the death of his father did he become a part of the supreme court and the royal counsil. His interests were art, architecture and beautiful young noble women.

Karl however was raised by the best teacher available. His young life was spent on the teachings of warriors, great statesmen and history. He also practiced fencing, shooting and learned early how to ride a horse into combat.
At the age of 16 he rose to the throne of the Swedish Empire. He enjoyed living the soldier’s life. Women did not interest him hence he never married and had no mistresses.

It was those two completely different monarchs who would face each other in one last great war.

A very short war

In 1699 Swedish troops were transferred into Gottorp. The Swedes and the Gottorpians started to evolve the crude ramparts in Stabelhorm and Ejdersted into regular fortifications.
Gottorp was formally a part of Denmark, but the dukes had always been pro-Swedish. This the Swedes had used before to fight a two-fronts war against Denmark.
This clearly provocation of Danish superiority was what became the reason for a war which would last for 21 years.
Alone stood the Dano-Norwegian forces very poorly. Gottorp would be sure of Swedish support and also Lüneburg had clearly shown their willingness to fight for the Gottorp cause.
However two great powers were ready to help Frederik of Denmark with dismantling the Swedish empire.
Peter tsar of Russia and August the Strong of Poland and Sachsen were ready to join the Danish cause.
An alliance against Sweden was soon agreed.

Frederik now demanded that the Swedish withdrew from Gottorp and that the fortifications were to be dismantled.
The answer was no, and in March 1700 the army of Denmark launched an assault on Gottorp, which fell without to many Danish losses. Gottorp lost a lot of men as prisoners to the Danes. These POW now willingly joined the assailing army.
Soldiers from Sweden and Lüneburg marched hastily towards Gottorp and reached the duchy. The armies lined up and it looked like a decisive battle was to be fought.
The Germans however lost their will to fight and retreated. The Swedish army, now outnumbered, also withdrew.

As fighting stopped in Gottorp it became most intensive at another scene. Karl XII landed with an army at Sjælland. The navy of Denmark dared not to exit it's harbour. The reason was a large English navy anchoring up in the Sund. The intention of England was fair, to create peace. Not because the king of the United Kingdom hated to see the Northern countries ravaged by war, but because a war was not in his interest, with the War of the Spanish Succession approching.

Unchallenged the Swedes landed at Humlebæk and defeated the local milita. A siege of Copenhagen was prepared both by the inhabitants and by the Swedes.

There was no other way than peace. Signing the treaty of peace in Travental, Holsten. The victor was the duke Gottorp. He was assured of his right to raise army and build fortifications.
With one blow Denmark had been forced out of the war.
War continued however with the remaining two allies against Sweden.


Eastern Euorpe 1700

Danish neutrality, Swedish success and failure

Despite the swift and humiliating defeat, king Frederik had by no means given up his plan of defeating Sweden.
He had become aware of the fragile Danish border. This he reinforced by gaining support from Hannover by acknowledging the state as a duchy. More important was the relationship with the German emperor. As Denmark had signed a 9 year long truce with Sweden, and because the German Empire was engaged in the War of Spanish Succession against France Frederik lend a Danish corps to the Allies. The corps fought in many battles and was respected by the duke of Marlborough as a brave and dependable contingent.
12.000 men joined the Allies as mercenaries.
Those fighting with the Emperor arrived back home in 1709. while those campaigning together with the Western powers returned in 1713.

In the meantime Karl of Sweden led his forces against the Russians, crushing them at Narva in November 1700.
8100 Swedes defeated 30.000 Russians which suffered 50% in casualties.
It is said the Karl XII enjoyed shooting fleeing Russians, who had fallen into the nearby river with his rifle.
The rest of the Russians surrendered and were pardoned if only they left their weapons. 20.000 muskets were conquered.
The Swedish monarch now forced them to march a humiliating procession where they had turn over their standards.
An act which was not to be forgotten by the Russians.


Swedish victory at Narva - Painted 1910

Turning west the hero king Karl now marched towards Poland. He defeated August the Strong and put his own puppet on the Polish throne. All this happened until 1706.
The Russians now continued to press the Danish king to rejoin the alliance. It was denied due to the reduced force of Danish troops, 12.000 as said before fighting against France.

Karl with his victory over Poland earning him the respect over all of Europe now decided to crush Tsar Peter.
The now modernised Russian armies had more or less taken over all the Swedish possessions in the Baltic.
Himself commanding 40.000 Swedish troops and General Lewenhaupt leading another 10.000 the Swedes entered Russia.
It took Napoleon 2 months to reach Moscow, but the Swedes used a year just to reach Mogilev.
By then the Swedes went South into Ukraine, where messengers had told about a large revolt led bu the Cossacks.
The revolt had however been crushed and the detour resulted in the defeat of Lewenhaupts army group in Lesna.
When the winter was hard enough the Russians stroke.

At Poltava, the 28. June 1709 the Swedish king found his first defeat. But he escaped with an squadron of riders into Moldavia, which was under the rule of the Ottomans. Due to the cold only half of the Swedish army was ready to fight.


Peter the Great Tsar of Russia at Poltava 1709

Last invasion of Skåne

Now or never! The rallying cry for revenge sounded over Denmark. Sweden had been defeated in battle and Karl XII was the 'guest' of the Turkish Sultan.
Diplomats secured the promise of neutrality from England-Holland and some Northern German states.
War was declared, and in 1710 a Danish force landed in Skåne. The Swedes withdrew and the inhabitants joined in small groups the Danish army. The reason for the reduced joy towards the Danish invasion force, was the priests. Stockholm had through a web of pro Swedish clerks and harsh punishments for any resistance intimidated the Danes of Skåne.

The commander of the Swedish army Magnus Stenbock now gathered what he could and raised a new army.
He met the Danes under Christian Ditlev Reventlow. He matched Stenbock in the art of manoeuvre and for a time the army seemed even. But then he became ill and Jørgen Rantzau took up the role as commander.
A brave soldier, but nothing like Stenbock, was he forced to retreat to Helsingborg where a defence where insecure.


Magnus Stenbock

Battle soon followed. The Swedish outnumbered the Danes and prepared an assault. Jørgen Rantzau led the right wing personally, thus proving that he was a chivalrous and skilled soldier, but also that he understood nothing of tactics.
While he was slaughtering Swedes to the right with his cavalry, Stenbock led the Sewdes forward from behind.
The main Danish line had no access to orders and fought randomly, the Swedish fought camly after a battle plan.

The defeat was crushing. 5000 Danes dead, 2500 captured. The Swedes lost 3000. The only thing to do was to evacuate the remains and put the trust in the navy.

While Stenbock was busy in Skåne, Tsar Peter captured all the Baltic provinces and threatened Finland. He reaped where Denmark had sewed.

To Germany!

Despite the plague ravaging the land, the Danes raised a new army and advanced on Northern Germany.
The campaign in 1711 wasn't very encouraging. The Russians and Saxons had joined in and a lot of disputes arose.
One of the only bright events was the marvellous victory won by Jørgen Rantzau outside Wismar.
Next year the Danes advanced on Bremen and captured it shortly after.
Reinforcements from Sweden under Magnus Stenbock had arrived and he met the Danes once again at Gadebusch.
Stenbock launched his attack while the Danish line was in disorder and secured himself another victory.

He pursued the Danes all the way to Holsten, but was the forced to retreat into Gottorp. This the Danes used as an excuse to attack Gottorp and the Swedish army was besieged inside Gottorp castle. After 3 months of siege the 10.000 strong defending army surrendered 16. May 1713. Stenbock became a Danish prisoner and died in Danish custoty in 1717.

Stralsund was besieged by a force of Danes, Russians and the newly joined Prussians.
Karl XII had finally returned to the stage of conflict in 1714. He led a brave defence of Stralsund, but was forced to flee the city in a small boat. Wismar fell in 1716 and one of the primary goals of war had been reached. Sweden had been driven from Germany.

Prussia and Sachsen had now reached their primary goal, and seized more or less to contribute to the war effort.
Russia on the other hand still wanted to finally break Sweden and togehter with Denmark a new invasion of Skåne was planned. It had to be abandoned due to disputes between the Tsar and king Frederik.

Dynekilden

With Finland and the German and Baltic provinces lost, Karl XII turned his attention north.
In March 1716 he started a campaign against Norway, which where in personal union with Denmark.
Swedish forces advanced quickly. The Norwegian army was surprised and easyly dispatched. The attackers reached Kristiania (Oslo) the 16. March.
The city was occupied, but the castle, Askerhus, held out.
A Dainsh navy unit threatened Karl XII's flank. The unit drove the Swedes from a strategical important island very close to Oslo and thus forcing the Swedish to retreat.

The Swedish Monarch had not given up and dug in at the fortress of Frederikssten.
His only need was provisions and they where close to his position having anchered up at the deep fjord Dynekilden.
From here they would be transported to Frederikssten by land, and the campaign continued.


The battle at Dynekilden

The 8 of July 1716 an attack on the Swedish navy in Dynekilden was carried out by the famous comodore Peter 'Tordenskjold' Wessel.
Of him I will tell more in a later essay, which I also have wanted to write for a long time.
Swedish commanders thought that a naval attack was completely out of mind, due to the narrowness of the fjord.
At some points soldiers could shoot straight down on enemy ships from the cliffs.
Never the less Tordensjold attacked and out of 13 fighting ships 9 were captured and the rest sunk.
On top of this 8 ships with provisions and gunpowder were captured.
The Swedes lost 44 ships that day, and as a result the Swedes withdrew from Norway.

Death of the Northern Lion

But Karl XII was not completely beaten. Already the next year he began preparations for a new assault on Norway.
He would himself command 37.000 troops towards Frederikssten and general Armfeldt was to lead 10.000 men towards Northern Norway.
The Swedish people was however very tired of the war and the campaign started late 1718.
Frederikssten was besieged and the Swedes constructed the necessary equipment.
It was during an inspection of the trenches that the Lion of Sweden, the victor from Narva found his death. The 11. December at 8 pm outside the ramparts of Frederikssten Karl XII was shot through the head.
Where the bullet came from is still a mystery. Some say that a Danish sniper killed him, others claim that a war-tired general shot him.

Peace

A council of war was held and the two Swedish armies decided (independently) to retreat.
The first Danish suggestions of peace were harsh and also turned down by the Swedish government.
Reluctantly the Danish goverment ordered an attack on Sweden through Norway.
However foreign politics dictated that peace should be sealed.
A 6 month long truce was signed in October 1719.
The final peace was signed in March 1720.
Bremen-Verden was given to Hannover, the Baltic provinces went to Russia, Vorpommern to Prussia and Gottorp was annexed into the Danish kingdom. England and France promised to defend the possession of Southern Jutland. A promise they would forget later in history..

The threat from the Swedish neighbour was eliminated and there was now a possibility of political cooperation between the Scandinavian countries.

On that hope the future was build.

______________________________
Scources

Danmarks historie bind 6
'Den unge enevælde'
www.milhist.dk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Narva
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Poltava