Battle of Valkininkai (1706)

Last updated
Battle of Valkininkai
Part of the Great Northern War
DateFebruary 23, 1706 (O.S.)
February 24, 1706 (Swedish calendar)
March 6, 1706 (N.S.)
Location 54°22′N24°50′E / 54.367°N 24.833°E / 54.367; 24.833 Coordinates: 54°22′N24°50′E / 54.367°N 24.833°E / 54.367; 24.833
Result Swedish victory
Belligerents
Naval Ensign of Sweden.svg Swedish Empire Flag of Russia.svg Tsardom of Russia
Polish Royal Banner of The House of Wettin.svg Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
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.

History

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]

Related Research Articles

Battle of Lesnaya 1708 battle of the Great Northern War

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 26,500 and 29,000 men commanded by Peter I of Russia, Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn, Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov, Christian Felix Bauer and Nikolai Grigorovitj von Werden and a Swedish army of about 12,500 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 Russia. The Swedes were escorting a supply column of more than 4,500 wagons for their main army in Ukraine.

Charles XII of Sweden King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718

Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII or Carolus Rex, was King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of Wittelsbach. Charles was the only surviving son of Charles XI and Ulrika Eleonora the Elder. He assumed power, after a seven-month caretaker government, at the age of fifteen.

Battle of Poltava Major battle of the Great Northern War

The Battle of Poltava was the decisive victory of tsar Peter the Great against an army of the Swedish Empire under Swedish king Charles XII. It was the largest and most decisive battle in the Great Northern War (1700–1721).

Deluge (history) Devastating series of foreign invasions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1655-60

The term Deluge denotes a series of mid-17th-century 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, thus 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).

Battle of Kliszów Battle during the Great Northern War

The Battle of Kliszów took place on July 19, 1702, near Kliszów in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Great Northern War. A numerically superior Polish–Saxon army led by Augustus II the Strong, operating from an advantageous defensive position, was defeated by a Swedish army half its size under the command of King Charles XII.

Battle of Jakobstadt

The Battle of Jakobstadt was a battle fought in the Great Northern War. It took place on 25 July 1704 (O.S.) / 26 July 1704 / 5 August 1704 (N.S.) between a Swedish army under Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt and a combined Polish/Russian force under Great Hetman Michał Serwacy Wiśniowiecki at the town of Jēkabpils in the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia. The Swedes were victorious.

Battle of Kłecko

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.

Battle of Kalisz

The Battle of Kalisz took place on 29 October 1706 in Kalisz, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Great Northern War. It was a three-hour fight which could have been prevented if Augustus II of Poland had informed the Swedes and Russians of certain matters. At the time, an alliance existed between the Poles, Saxons, and Russians. The battle was fought by Russian cavalry, led by commander Aleksandr Menshikov; against a smaller Swedish force headed by colonel Mardefelt. The Russians played a role of significance here because they needed to support their Saxon allies under Augustus.

Battle of Warsaw (1705) Battle near Warsaw in 1704, between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Saxony, against Sweden

The Battle of Warsaw was fought on 31 July 1705 near Warsaw, Poland, during the Great Northern War. 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.

Battle of Valkininkai (1700)

The Battle of Valkininkai took place on November 18, 1700, during the Lithuanian Civil War, between forces of the Sapieha family, led by Michał Franciszek Sapieha, and an anti-Sapieha coalition of Wiśniowiecki, Ogiński, Radziwiłł and Pac families and their supporters, led by Michał Serwacy Wiśniowiecki.

Battle of Kletsk (1706)

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.

Landing at Humlebæk

The Landing at Humlebæk took place on August 4, 1700, in the Swedish invasion of Denmark during the Great Northern War 1700-1721. It was the first offensive during the war by the Swedish army, and it was directly led by Charles XII of Sweden commanding the right flank and Arvid Horn together with Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld at the left. The Swedes were victorious and utterly routed the Danish forces led by Jens Rostgaard.

Swedish invasion of Poland (1701–1706)

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–Saxon army of 6,000 men under Michał Serwacy Wiśniowiecki.

Battle of Praga (1705) Battle in the Great Northern War

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.

Campaign of Grodno 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

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 was a battle which 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 at the villages of Varja and Aa, in the Swedish Empire during the Estonian campaign of the first year in the Great Northern War.

Battle of Tryškiai

The Battle of Tryškiai, Tryszki, or Triski, on December 14, 1701, was a small engagement between Swedish forces under Charles XII of Sweden and Polish–Lithuanian forces under Grzegorz Antoni Ogiński, in the town of Tryškiai, Samogitia. After the Crossing of the Düna Charles 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 Swedish forces and those loyal to Grzegorz Antoni Ogiński, 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 being hot on his heels, eventually retreats out of Samogitia altogether. A Swedish detachment is established at Kaunas in 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' death somewhere in Lithuania, while the other mentioned a major defeat for Grzegorz, involving many thousands of participants.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Ett kort dock tydeligit utdrag utur then öfwer konung Carl den Tolftes lefwerne och konglida dater, Jöran Andersson Nordberg (1745). p. 477
  2. 1 2 3 Giov. van Ghelen. Avvisi italiani, ordinarii e straordinarii, Volume 23. Paragraph, MIETAVIA 15. Marze
  3. 1 2 Giov. van Ghelen. Avvisi italiani, ordinarii e straordinarii, Volume 23. Paragraph, OLKIENIKI
  4. Svensson, Axel. Karl XII som fältherre. Svenskt Militärhistoriskt Bibliotek, (2001). p. 87
  5. 1 2 3 Gustaf Adlerfeld. The Genuine History of Charles XII. King of Sweden. pp. 291–292