Siege of Reval

Siege of Reval

Part of: Great Northern War

Revalia (Tallinn) around 1650 (copper engraving by Adam Olearius )

date	August 18 - September 30, 1710
place	Reval , today's Tallinn, the capital of Estonia
output	Surrender of the Swedish occupation

Parties to the conflict
Sweden	Russia
Commander
Dietrich Patkull Colonel Nieroth	Rodion Baur Wasilij Gothoff
Troop strength
six garrison regiments (4000 men)	nine dragoons six infantry regiments one grenadier battalion
losses
1420 men	k. A.

The siege of Reval was a military intervention in the Great Northern War . During the siege of Riga , the colonel and commander of Narva , Wasilij Gothoff, was sent to Reval with three dragoon regiments in order to block it from the land side. After the capture of Pernau , Lieutenant General Bauer joined the siege army with six dragoon regiments and Brigadier Iwanitzki with a grenadier battalion and six infantry regiments . The direct siege of the city began on August 18 and ended on September 30, 1710 with the surrender of the Swedish garrison.

In advance

After the defeat of the Swedes under Charles XII. In the Battle of Poltava , a Russian army led by Tsar Peter I marched into the remaining Swedish possessions in Livonia , Estonia and southern Finland . After the fortresses of Pernau and Kexholm had been conquered , Reval, the capital of Estonia, was the last Swedish fortification in the Baltic region.

During the siege of Riga, Lieutenant General Bauer was charged with the siege of Pernau; sent to Reval after the successful conquest of the fortress to conquer this fortress too. The commander of Narva, Colonel Wasilij Gothoff, was dispatched to the blockade of the port city with three regiments of dragoons beforehand.

During the sieges of Riga and Pernau, as well as the blockade of Reval, the population of Estonia was informed that they had to provide the Russian army with provisions, but that no further devastation had to be feared, as was the case in the fighting from 1700 to 1700 1709 was the rule in this region. This general guideline was issued by the Russian Tsar to make it easier for the local population to break away from the Swedes.

siege

Colonel Gothoff only marched about 15 miles from Reval when the blockade began. He was placed under the command of Lieutenant General Bauer, who thought it advisable to stay at a safe distance from the fortress and its artillery and to attack the supply convoys to Reval. In April he received the order to march closer to Reval. He took the small town of Oberpahlen . The nobles and farmers now recognized the danger posed by the Russians. They brought their belongings into town, and as Colonel Gothoff got even closer to Reval in August, they also brought their families and themselves to safety in Reval.

In August Gothoff took up position with his troops on Jerweküllschen Lake, near Reval. He set up his posts and from the end of August it was no longer possible for anyone to leave Reval or come to the city. Furthermore, he had the canal, which flowed from the lake into the city and fed all of the city's wells and mills, filled. As a result, the situation in the city deteriorated noticeably. Many townhouses had private wells, but some of them were of poor water quality or filled with salt water. The population was forced to use rainwater or polluted water to prepare food and drink. This and the excessive refuge of the rural population were reasons for the plague to break out within the city walls.

Brigadier Ivanitzki reached the siege troops on August 15 with a grenadier battalion and six infantry regiments. He took up position on a mountain not far from Reval. He was followed on August 18 by Major General Volkonsky and Lieutenant General Bauer with their six dragoon regiments, which came victorious from Pernau . Volkonsky's troops took up position on the Laksberg and the regiments of Lieutenant General Bauer on the Tönnisberg.

When the population of the suburbs of Reval saw the approaching siege troops, they fled to the fortress and burned the suburbs. The cathedral suburb as well as the Estonian Karlskirche on the Tönnisberg and the Finnish church were destroyed. Although the Russian tsar had promised the Estonian knighthood and the citizens of the city immunity, freedom of religion and the preservation of their ancestral property, both the knights and nobles and the citizens of Reval remained loyal to the Swedish king and began to organize the defense.

During the beginning of the siege of the city, several Swedish ships with supplies crossed in front of the city and shelled the positions of Brigadier Ivanitzki. The losses suffered as a result were minor. Also, the ships did not dock in port, on the one hand because of the rampant plague and on the other hand the ships were not allowed to the pier by the harbor master in order not to aggravate the siege and the bombardment. It was hoped that this would end the siege more quickly and wanted to protect the port from severe damage. On August 22nd, Reval was stormed from the land side. The attack was repulsed and the Russian artillery began to bombard.

From August 30, the situation in the city deteriorated further. The canals into the city were completely dry and food was becoming increasingly scarce. The plague fell victim to 150–170 Swedish occupation troops every day. The guns on the fortress wall could no longer be operated due to a lack of soldiers.

Entrance to the House of the Blackheads in Reval

On September 9th, Colonel Nieroth suggested an outbreak, but Commandant Patkull, who was seriously ill at the time, refused. Even in the council meeting held the following day, the knights, the guilds and the brotherhood of blackheads could not persuade the commanders to carry out the attempt to break out. The Brothers of the Blackheads declared: ... they would be willing to fulfill their Devoir (duty until death) for Your Royal Majesty and the City of Welfare!

On September 24th, the order of Peter the Great was read to the knighthood and the city council. The city told the lieutenant general that it would defend the city to the last drop of blood. As a further answer, the Sisterntor was closed and the ramparts were reinforced with volunteer citizens of the city. In the council meeting on September 26th there was serious discussion about handing over the city. The strongest regiments had shrunk to 90 men, the rest to 60–70 men. However, it was not until September 29th that a negotiator was sent to the Russian camp to negotiate the terms of surrender.

The surrender

On September 29, the surrender of the Swedish garrison was accepted by the Russian Major General Bauer. In the accompanying surrender treaty, the free and unhindered withdrawal of the Swedish troops, including their families and all belongings, was stipulated. The Swedish troops were ordered to leave Reval immediately. You have been granted an honorable deduction. The Swedes were allowed to leave the city through the main gate with their own weapons and a limited amount of ammunition (12 rounds per rifle) and eight cannons per regiment, with "sounding games and waving flags and standards" Hof Wieme and the surrounding goods to settle until enough ships have landed to bring them safely to Sweden.

Furthermore, out of consideration for his serious illness, Governor Patkull was offered to stay in Reval for the winter. As announced in his Universale, the Tsar guaranteed the residents of Reval freedom of religion. The following night, Captain Cornelius Anckarstjerna docked in the port of Reval. When he found out about the surrender treaty that had been concluded, he seized all ships in the port and took anyone in the Swedish garrison on board who wished it. The Russian artillery and navy did not fire at the Swedish ships. They respected the agreements of the treaty of surrender.

The consequences

The plague , which raged with devastating effects in Reval, killed around 15,000 people during the siege and in the months that followed. After the conquest of the last Swedish fortress in Estonia, the Russian tsar held a great festival in Saint Petersburg and on his orders all the guns in the Baltic fortresses fired salute . Peter I gathered new troops in Petersburg and then moved north with them to conquer the southern provinces of Sweden in Finland.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Livonian contributions, p. 143
2. ↑ ^{a b} Bacmeister p. 360
3. ↑ ^{a b} Bacmeister, p. 362
4. ↑ Fryxell, p. 351
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Livonian contributions, p. 144
6. ↑ ^{a b} Livonian contributions, p. 145
7. ↑ Lundblad, p. 210

literature

• Hartwich-Ludwig-Christian Bacmeister: Contributions to the History of Peter the Great , Volume 1, Riga (1774)
• Protestant Church: Livonian Contributions to Disseminating Thorough Information , Volume 1, Berlin (1867)
• Knut Lundblad, Georg Friedrich Jenssen-Tusch: History of Charles the Twelfth, King of Sweden , Volume 2, Hamburg (1835)

Web links

• Reval Surrender Treaty (Google Book Publication)