Battle of Valkininkai | |||||||
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Part of the Great Northern War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Swedish Empire Pro-Leszczyński forces | Tsardom of Russia Sandomierz Confederation | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Carl Gustaf Dücker Józef Potocki Jan Kazimierz Sapieha the Elder | Christian Felix Bauer Michał Serwacy Wiśniowiecki Grzegorz Antoni Ogiński | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
1,000 Swedes [1] Several thousand Poles and Lithuanians | 1,600 Russians [2] 3,000 Poles and Lithuanians [1] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
60 wounded, unknown number of killed [1] | 50 killed and 100 wounded Russians [2] 70 killed and 70 wounded Poles and Lithuanians [3] |
The Battle of Valkininkai took place at 6 March 1706 close to the town of Valkininkai in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the Great Northern War.
A Swedish detachment of 1,000 dragoons sent out by Charles XII of Sweden from Grodno under Carl Gustaf Dücker [1] sought to meet up with a larger Polish contingent under Józef Potocki and Jan Kazimierz Sapieha the Elder at Valkininkai, before marching towards Vilnius in order to secure the Swedish connection to Swedish Livonia which had been disturbed by Russian forces ever since the Battle of Gemauerthof. [4] However, at the same time an allied force of about 4,600–7,000 Russians, Poles and Lithuanians under Christian Felix Bauer, Michał Serwacy Wiśniowiecki and Grzegorz Antoni Ogiński marched in their direction in order to beat the pro-Swedish Poles and Lithuanians before regrouping with their Swedish allies. [5] The Swedish and Russian–Polish forces soon, rather unexpectedly, stumbled upon each other outside of the town where a fierce fight took place. The Swedes repulsed two attacks executed by their enemies, before withdrawing a distance away to some woods, in order to initiate a third attack prepared by the allied forces. Meanwhile, the battle was witnessed from a distance away by the Swedish–friendly Poles and Lithuanians who had yet to participate in the fighting. The Swedes soon, however, counterattacked on their own and managed to beat the allied forces from the field, after which the Poles and Lithuanians on the Swedish side decided the intervene and pursued the allies for a distance. The battle resulted in more than 60 wounded Swedes [5] and up to 50 killed and 100 wounded Russians [2] and another 70 killed and equally many wounded Poles and Lithuanians siding with the Russians. [3] The Swedes soon arrived at Vilnius where they captured a large bulk of Russian supplies. [5]
The Battle of Lesnaya was one of the major battles of the Great Northern War. It took place on October 9 [O.S. September 28] 1708 between a Russian army of between 17,000 and 29,000 men commanded by Peter I of Russia, Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn, Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov, Rudolph Felix Bauer and Nikolai Grigorovitj von Werden and a Swedish army between 12,500 and 16,000 men commanded by Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt and Berndt Otto Stackelberg, at the village of Lesnaya, located close to the border between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russian Empire. The Swedes were escorting a supply column of more than 4,500 wagons for their main army in Ukraine.
The Battle of Poltava was the decisive and largest battle of the Great Northern War. The Russian army under the command of Tsar Peter I defeated the Swedish army under the command of Carl Gustaf Rehnskiöld. The battle put an end to the status of the Swedish Empire as a European great power, as well as its eastbound expansion, and marked the beginning of Russian supremacy in eastern Europe.
The Deluge was a series of mid-17th-century military campaigns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In a wider sense, it applies to the period between the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648 and the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667, comprising the Polish theatres of the Russo-Polish and Second Northern Wars. In a stricter sense, the term refers to the Swedish invasion and occupation of the Commonwealth as a theatre of the Second Northern War (1655–1660) only; in Poland and Lithuania this period is called the Swedish Deluge, or less commonly the Russo–Swedish Deluge due to the simultaneous Russo-Polish War. The term "deluge" was popularized by Henryk Sienkiewicz in his novel The Deluge (1886).
The Battle of Kliszów took place on July 19, 1702, near the village of Kliszów in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Great Northern War. A Swedish army under the command of King Charles XII of Sweden defeated a Polish–Saxon army twice the size that was led by King Augustus II the Strong.
The Battle of Kłecko was fought on May 7, 1656, between forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth commanded by Regimentarz Stefan Czarniecki and Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski and a Swedish force commanded by prince Adolf Johan av Pfalz-Zweibrücken. The Polish–Lithuanian force was more than 12,000 strong and consisted mostly of cavalry, while the Swedes numbered around 7,000 artillery, infantry and cavalry. The Swedes achieved a tactical victory in that they escaped destruction by the Poles, who were unable to get to the Swedish army entrenched behind the Welnianka River, and various ditches and swamps. Swedish army lost 428 dead, while the Polish army sustained 70 dead and wounded, 2,000 dead or 3,000 dead, including 40 companions dead.
The Battle of Kalisz took place on 29 October 1706 in Kalisz, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Great Northern War. The battle was fought between an anti-Swedish army of Russians, Saxons and Poles led by Augustus the Strong and Russian general Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, and a Swedish–Polish–Lithuanian army headed by colonel Arvid Axel Mardefelt, loyal to Stanisław Leszczyński. The battle, which occurred as peace had been concluded between Sweden and Saxony, marked Sweden's only major defeat in Poland during the war and temporarily secured a major part of Greater Poland for the coalition. However, they failed to exploit their success as Augustus returned to Saxony soon thereafter to abide by the peace treaty, while Charles XII sent a new corps of 8,000 Swedes into Greater Poland.
The Battle of Warsaw was fought on 31 July 1705 near Warsaw, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, during the Great Northern War and Swedish invasion of Poland (1701–1706). The battle was part of a power struggle for the Polish–Lithuanian throne. It was fought between Augustus II the Strong and Stanisław Leszczyński and their allies. Augustus II entered the Northern war as elector of Saxony and king of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and had formed an alliance with Denmark–Norway and Russia. Stanisław Leszczyński had seized the Polish throne in 1704, with the support of the Swedish army of Charles XII of Sweden. The struggle for the throne forced the Polish nobility to pick sides; the Warsaw Confederation supported Leszczyński and Sweden, and the Sandomierz Confederation supported Augustus II and his allies. The conflict resulted in the Polish civil war of 1704–1706.
The Treaty of Warsaw was concluded on 18 November (O.S.) / 28 November 1705 during the Great Northern War. It was a peace treaty and an alliance between the Swedish Empire and the faction of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth loyal to Stanisław Leszczyński.
The Battle of Saločiai, or Battle of Saladen, was a military engagement that took place on 19 March 1703 near Saločiai, Lithuania during the Great Northern War. Despite being heavily outnumbered, the Swedish, under command of Lewenhaupt, managed to crush the combined Russo-Lithuanian Army while taking very few casualties. After the battle the Russians were forced to retreat. The battle followed the pattern of upset Swedish victories in the Great Northern War. After the battle, Count Lewenhaupt decided to remain in Swedish controlled Lithuanian instead of chasing the Russian army, since his force was so small.
The Battle of Kletsk took place on 30 April 1706, in- and outside the city of Kletsk, Belarus during Charles XII's Polish campaign of 1701–1706, in the Great Northern War. The Swedish forces were led by Carl Gustaf Creutz who defeated a larger Russian–Cossack force under the command of Semjon Nepljujev and Danylo Apostol. Many of the Russian and Cossack regiments participating in the battle were wiped out and ceased to exist as fighting units. Some historians consider the main reason for the defeat to be the actions of the Ukrainian Cossacks, who immediately turned into a blameless flight at the sight of the Swedish attacks, disrupting the formation of the Russian units behind them.
The Battle of Krasnokutsk–Gorodnoye took place on February 20–22, 1709, in the Swedish campaign of Russia during the Great Northern War. The Swedish troops were directly led by Charles XII of Sweden who pursued a force of Russians commanded by Otto Rudolf von der Schaumburg from the minor battle of Krasnokutsk to the town of Gorodnoye (Horodnje) where a new battle took place, with the Russians now commanded by Karl Evald von Rönne. The Swedes were victorious but cancelled their offensive as night fell.
The Swedish invasion of Poland (1701–1706), also known as Charles XII's invasion of Poland or the Polish front of the Great Northern War, was a conflict in eastern Europe overshadowed by the ongoing Great Northern War fought between the Swedish Empire against the Russian Empire, Denmark-Norway, Saxony and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Polish front was a major part of the greater conflict, and it included some decisive battles in favor of the Swedes that contributed to the length of the war.
The Battle of Darsūniškis took place on March 24, 1702 near the town of Darsūniškis during the Swedish invasion of Poland in the Great Northern War. The Swedish army of about 240 men under the command of Alexander Hummerhielm was defeated by the Polish–Lithuanian army of 6,000 men under Michał Serwacy Wiśniowiecki.
The Battle of Praga took place on October 25, 1705, near the town of Warsaw, Poland during the fifth year of the Great Northern War. The Swedish army of more than 270 men assisted by approximately 140 soldiers from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth under the command of Valentin Dahldorf defeated a combined Polish–Saxon–Russian force of about 5,000 men under Michał Serwacy Wiśniowiecki and Aleksandr Menshikov.
The Campaign of Grodno was a plan developed by Johann Patkul and Otto Arnold von Paykull during the Swedish invasion of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a part of the Great Northern War. Its purpose was to crush Charles XII's army with overwhelming force in a combined offensive of Russian and Saxon troops. The campaign, executed by Peter I of Russia and Augustus II of Saxony, began in July 1705 and lasted almost a year. In divided areas the allies would jointly strike the Swedish troops occupied in Poland, in order to neutralize the influence the Swedes had in the Polish politics. However, the Swedish forces under Charles XII successfully outmaneuvered the allies, installed a Polish king in favor of their own and finally won two decisive victories at Grodno and Fraustadt in 1706. This resulted in the Treaty of Altranstädt (1706) in which Augustus renounced his claims to the Polish throne, broke off his alliance with Russia, and established peace between Sweden and Saxony.
The Battle of Vilnius took place on 16 April 1702 in Vilnius, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, during the Great Northern War.
The Battle of Varja took place on November 7, 1700, close to the villages of Varja and Aa, in the Duchy of Estonia of the Swedish Empire during the Estonian campaign of the first year in the Great Northern War.
The Battle of Tryškiai, (Tryszki or Triski), on 4–5/5–6/15–16 December 1701, was a small engagement between the Swedish forces under the command of the Swedish King Charles XII and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth’s forces under the command of the Polish–Lithuanian Field Hetman Grzegorz Antoni Ogiński, in the town of Tryškiai of the Duchy of Samogitia. After the Crossing of the Düna Charles XII went into an alliance with the Sapieha family to gain his support in dethroning Augustus II the Strong from the Polish–Lithuanian throne, in exchange for protection from rival families in Samogitia, such as the Ogiński family. After initial engagements between the Swedish forces and those loyal to Grzegorz, the Swedish King personally takes command of the troops and engages Grzegorz at the town of Tryškiai; after a brief encounter, Grzegorz is forced on the run and, with Charles XII being hot on his heels, eventually retreats out of Samogitia altogether. A Swedish detachment is established at Kaunas in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, as a sort of forward operating base before the inevitable Swedish invasion of Poland (1701–1706); further engagements, foremost the Battle of Darsūniškis, confirms the Swedish invasion. Although only a small action in a major war, the battle quickly sparked false rumours to be spread around Europe; one spoke of Charles XII’s death somewhere in Lithuania, while the other mentioned a major defeat for Grzegorz, involving many thousands of participants.
Count Carl Gustaf Dücker was a Swedish field marshal (Fältmarskalk) and Royal Councillor.
The Battle of Palanga, or the Battle of Polangen, was fought on 13 February 1705 between a Swedish army commanded by Joachim Danckwardt and a Russian–Lithuanian army under Iwan Stephan Gogaron Morbirun. Danckwardt was sent to Palanga in Samogitia with 387 cavalry to reopen the line of communication between Courland and eastern Prussia, in which he was successful. The Russians and Lithuanians gathered a force of about 2,000 cavalry and intercepted him at Palanga. Danckwardt was able to fend off their attacks for a while, before winning the battle with a counterattack against their lines. The Swedish detachment then participated in Lewenhaupt's short-lived offensive in Samogitia. At the Battle of Gemauerthof later that year, Danckwardt was killed in action.