Siege of Reval (1577)

Siege of Reval
Part of the Livonian War
Siege of Reval, by Johann Jakob Wick
Date January 23 – March 13, 1577 Location Reval (Modern day Tallinn), Estonia Result Swedish victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Sweden	Tsardom of Russia
Commanders and leaders
Henrik Klasson Horn Carl Henriksson Horn  [ sv ] Ivo Skenkenberg Lars von Köllen  †	Ivan IV Fjodor Mustislavski Ivan Kolzoff  † Ivan Men'shoi Sheremetev  †
Units involved
Reval Garrison	Unknown
Strength
Unknown amount of men 100 guns	28,000 [1] to 50,000 men 28–200 guns
Casualties and losses
100 killed	3,000–4,000 casualties

The siege of Reval (1577) was a failed siege conducted by Tsar Ivan IV against the Swedish city of Reval during the Livonian War. Despite being able to occupy eastern Livonia, the Russian campaign eventually ended in failure due to the Russians failing to capture Reval. ^[2]

Background

Ivan the Terrible

Portrait of Tsar Ivan IV by Viktor Vasnetsov

In early January of 1577, two men snuck away from Reval and secretly told the Russians about the terrible conditions in the city, they told the Russians that the people in Reval were very concerned that Sweden was going to emerge victorious in the ongoing war, ^[3] after which the Russians decide to attack the city. ^[4]

Siege

On 23 January, a Russian army numbering around 50,000 ^{[5] [3] [6]} came up to Reval led by, Ivan IV, ^{[7] [8]} Fjodor Mustislavski, Ivan Kolzoff, and Ivan Men’shoi Sheremetev. ^{[3] [4]} This army had less artillery, almost 5 times, 28 Russians guns and more than 100 Swedish guns. ^[9] Other sources claim that the Russian army had some 200 guns, of which 50 were mortars. ^[10] The Russians establisged a camp around the city, and began bombarding the city four days later. ^{[10] [3]}

However, the city's defenses had been well prepared for this, and the commanders, Henrik Klasson Horn along with his son had done their best to make the defenses as effective as possible. A man by the name of Ivo Skenkenberg was given command of a force of Estonian peasants. ^[3]

The Swedish commanders managed to effectively lead the defense, with soldiers, burghers, and peasants inside the city being determined to defend it from the Russians. Initially for the defenders, the incendiary shells fired from the Russian positions pose the greatest danger to them, but this is effectively fixed by storing away any particularly flammable material, and introducing a reward for every "fireball" handed over to the commander. The Swedes also carried out many successful sorties against the besiegers, like one killing Ivan Kolzoff. Another one of the sorties was so successful that the leader, Ivo Skenkenberg, received the nickname "Reval's Hannibal" ^[3] During one of the sorties, the överste Lars von Köllen was killed. ^[10]

The artillery inside the fortress also inflicts heavy casualties on the Russians, with Ivan Men'shoi Sheremetev being killed by a cannonball from the fortress. ^{[4] [11]} On March 13, Ivan gave up and lifted the siege, with the Russians burning their camp and retreating the same day, with the Russians losses being estimated at 3,000 ^{[3] [4] [12]} –4,000. ^[10] It is also possible that the Russian losses are heavily exaggerated. ^[10] In comparison, the Swedes only lost some 100 men. ^[10]

Aftermath

After the Russians withdrew from Reval, the Swedes went on a counteroffensive, recapturing several smaller strongholds around Reval. ^[3]

References

1. Smirnov, Nikolai V. (2010). Ливонская война и города Ливонии. Бальтйский вопрос в конце XV-XVI вв. Сборник научных статей (in Russian). Moscow: Квадрига. pp. 454–481.
2. Kasekamp, Andres (2017-10-26). A History of the Baltic States. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN   978-1-350-30728-5.
3. Sundberg 1998, p. 80.
4. Skrynnikov, Ruslan G. (2015-01-01), "19 The Last Crisis", Reign of Terror: Ivan IV, Brill, pp. 473–505, ISBN   978-90-04-30401-7 , retrieved 2024-05-09
5. Veli-Matti, Syrjö (2008). "HORN, Henrik Klasson". www.blf.fi. Biografiskt lexikon för Finland . Retrieved 2025-01-06.
6. Grey, Ian (2016). Boris Godunov. New Word City. ISBN   978-1-936529-09-4.
7. Oakley, Stewart P. (2005-06-28). War and Peace in the Baltic, 1560-1790. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-134-97451-1.
8. "350 (Svenska folket genom tiderna / 3. Den äldre Vasatiden)". runeberg.org (in Swedish). Retrieved 2024-05-09.
9. Shapran, Alexander (2009). Ливонская война 1558-1583[Livonian War of 1558-1583] (in Russian). Ural University Press. p. 385. ISBN   978-5-94614-123-9.
10. Landgrén 2008, p. 89.
11. "Revel besiegements in 1570–1571 and 1577". baltic-way.spbu.ru.
12. Clodfelter, Micheal (2017-04-24). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015, 4th ed. McFarland. ISBN   978-1-4766-2585-0.

Works cited

• Sundberg, Ulf (1998). Medeltidens svenska krig (in Swedish) (1st ed.). Stockholm: Hjalmarson & Högberg Bokförlag. ISBN   978-91-89080-26-3.
• Landgrén, Lars-Folke (2008). Tvekampen 1521-1611[The Duel 1521-1611]. Krigen kring Östersjön (in Swedish). Helsinki: Schildts. ISBN   9789515018212.