Capture of Warsaw (1704)
Warsaw around 1656
| date | September 1704 |
|---|---|
| place | Warsaw , capital of Poland |
| output | Victory of the Saxons |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
|
|
| Troop strength | |
| 1,500 Swedes 6,000 Poles |
20,000–30,000 men (Saxons, Russians, Poles) |
| losses | |
|
1,500 prisoners of war |
k. A. |
1st phase: Swedish dominance (1700–1709)
Riga I • Jungfernhof • Varja • Pühhajoggi • Narva • Pechora • Düna • Rauge • Erastfer • Hummelshof • Embach • Tartu • Narva II • Wesenberg I • Wesenberg II
Arkhangelsk • Lake Ladoga • Nöteborg • Nyenschanz • Neva • Systerbäck • Petersburg • Vyborg I • Porvoo • Neva II • Koporje II • Kolkanpää
Vilnius • Salads • Jacobstadt • Walled Courtyard • Mitau • Grodno I • Olkieniki • Nyaswisch • Klezk • Ljachavichy
Klissow • Pułtusk • Thorn • Lemberg • Warsaw • Posen • Punitz • Tillendorf • Rakowitz • Praga • Fraustadt • Kalisch
Grodno II • Golovchin • Moljatitschi • Rajowka • Lesnaja • Desna • Baturyn • Koniecpol • Weprik • Opischnja • Krasnokutsk • Sokolki • Poltava I • Poltava II
2nd phase: Sweden on the defensive (1710–1721)
Riga II • Vyborg II • Pernau • Kexholm • Reval • Hogland • Pälkäne • Storkyro • Nyslott • Hanko
Helsingborg • Køge Bay • Gulf of Bothnia • Frederikshald I • Dynekilen Fjord • Gothenburg I • Strömstad • Trondheim • Frederikshald II • Marstrand • Ösel • Gothenburg II • Södra Stäket • Grönham • Sundsvall
Elbing • Wismar I • Lübow • Stralsund I • Greifswalder Bodden I • Stade • Rügen • Gadebusch • Altona • Tönning II • Stettin • Fehmarn • Wismar II • Stralsund II • Jasmund • Peenemünde • Greifswalder Bodden II • Stresow
The capture of Warsaw in 1704 was a military intervention in the Great Northern War . After the Swedish King Charles XII. Having left the capital of Poland and headed for Lemberg , the Saxon Elector marched and dethroned Polish King August II with his army to Warsaw to recapture the capital.
prehistory
The Confederation of Warsaw dethroned the Saxon Elector on January 20, 1704 and proclaimed the Interregnum in the Kingdom of Poland-Lithuania . The Cardinal-Primate Michael Stephan Radziejowski justified the deposition of the king by pointing out that a peace between Poland and Sweden could only be maintained through this step. On July 12, 1704, they declared the voivode of Poznan , Stanislaus I. Leszczyński , with the military support of the Swedish King Charles XII. , as the new King of Poland, which in fact amounted to a usurpation , since the Polish head of state could only be elected in a free election by the entire nobility. The Polish supporters of King August II then formed the Sandomir Confederation on May 20, 1704.
The Swedish King Charles XII. set out on August 30, 1704 in the direction of Lemberg to conquer the city. The castle captain Galetzki and the residents of the city had previously not complied with the demand for war aid for the Swedish crown and refused the alleged allegiance. Now Charles XII wanted. Demand both by force of arms and storm the fortress. He left only a small Swedish detachment (1500 men) under the command of General Arvid Horn and around 6,000 Polish soldiers under the command of Crown Field Lord Lubomirski in Warsaw. Horn had considered this constellation of a few Swedish soldiers and a large number of unpredictable Polish soldiers very questionable. Charles XII. reassured him that he would keep an eye on the Saxon elector and stand in his way if necessary.
Together with the Russians, August II marched in the direction of Warsaw to capture the anti-king Stanislaus I Leszczyński and to regain political rule in Poland.
The capture of the city
When August II unexpectedly appeared before Warsaw, the Swedes were not at all prepared. A corps of 500 men under the command of Major Löwenhelm was encircled by the attackers near Lakowicz and taken prisoner. Some of the Swedish horsemen were massacred by Cossacks who did not abide by the surrender agreements.
When Stanislaus I. Leszczyński and Arvid Horn found out about this incident, they decided to jointly take action against the Saxon-Russian army. Only the commander of the Polish troops, Crown General Lubomirski, refused. He declared that he was not ready to face August II with an unreliable Polish corps with no war experience, which would probably leave the battlefield in a wild flight anyway if the Saxon attack began. Indeed, at the first sign of the approaching army, many Polish soldiers deserted. Lubomirski also entered the service of August II a little later.
The anti-king Stanislaus I. Leszczyński also fled the city. His mother, as well as his wife and children, were also still in Warsaw and had to leave the city in a hurry. With the great confusion, the youngest daughter was forgotten in the crib of a horse stable. This daughter was Maria Leszczyńska, who later became the wife of the French King Louis XV.
The Polish primate Michael Stephan Radziejowski was also almost captured. But he made it from Warsaw to Charles XII in disguise. to save Lviv.
Attack on the Warsaw Castle
The only ones who offered resistance were the commander Arvid Horn and his Swedes. They holed up in Warsaw Castle and vowed to sell their lives dearly. August II asked Horn to surrender, who replied that what had been entrusted to him by the Swedish king would be defended to the end. As a result, the Saxon elector had his former residential palace bombarded for several days, so that it started to burn in many places. The Swedish soldiers also returned the artillery fire from four fields which they had taken with them behind the walls of the castle.
When the Swedes successfully fought the fire in the castle, August II cut off the water supply to the castle and prepared for the castle to burn down.
General Horn recognized this and sent a messenger to inform him that he was ready to surrender. But only if you ended the siege with a duel. He offered that the Polish General Brand could choose three of his soldiers, who were to duel with only one Swedish soldier in a field in front of the castle. This proposal was rejected by the Polish king and Arvid Horn, who saw no way out, surrendered. He was received and treated with great respect by August the Strong.
The consequences
The Saxon elector, who returned to his capital as an angry monarch, had all the houses of Stanislaus's followers looted and burned down. In Cardinal Radziejowski's cellar, wine for 50,000 Reichstaler is said to have been found.
After this success the army of the Polish king united with that of the Saxon general Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg and invaded Greater Poland . Here all possessions were plundered and pillaged by noblemen loyal to Stanislaus.
Charles XII. learned from Stanislaus I of the loss of the capital. He gave his troops only a two-week break and then moved back towards Warsaw. In mid-October August II left Warsaw with 2,000 men for Krakow . At the end of October the Swedish army marched into Warsaw again without fighting. Charles XII, who was annoyed about the course of the war that year, stayed only briefly in the city and left it on October 30th to pursue the Saxons.
On November 7th it came to the battle of Punitz , in which Karl XII. the 4900 strong Saxon army corps of General Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg faced. The Swedish king won the battle and moved his army on towards the Saxon border. He set up his winter quarters near Ravitz. In 1706 he marched into Saxony and cut August II off from all supply routes in Poland.
literature
- Hermann Meynert : History of the Saxon people from the oldest to the most recent times , Leipzig, 1835
- Knut Lundblad: History of Charles the Twelfth King of Sweden Volume 1, Hamburg 1835
- Anders Fryxell: Life story of Karl the Twelfth, King of Sweden Volume 1, Braunschweig, 1861