Holstein campaign
The first operations in the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein in the Great Northern War from March to June 1700 are known as the Holstein campaign . The campaign ended with the defeat of the Danish attackers against a united Swedish-Lüneburg-Dutch army.
prehistory
Through the Altona Treaty of 1689, Duke Christian Albrecht had been granted the independence of the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf . The guarantee powers of the treaty were Sweden , England and the Netherlands. For Denmark the sovereignty of the small duchy, whose lands were split between the royal portions of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, was a nuisance. Since Sweden had used this as a base for troops against Denmark in the previous wars, the Danish king saw his fiefdom violated. In addition, the ducal house was related to the Swedish royal family, since Christian Albrecht's son, Duke Friedrich IV of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf, was married to the Swedish princess Hedwig Sophia .
Towards the end of the 17th century, a new coalition was formed against the Swedish great power ambitions in the Baltic Sea region through the three traditional Swedish opponents Denmark , Saxony-Poland and Tsarism Russia .
From a military point of view, the Great Northern War began with an invasion of the Saxons in Livonia in February 1700. When the Danish King Frederick IV received news of this, in March 1700 he stopped hostilities against Charles XII's brother-in-law . , Duke Friedrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf. He was also the commander-in-chief of all Swedish troops in Germany. This meant that King Frederick IV of Denmark also declared war on Sweden on March 11, 1700.
armor
The Danish army consisted of ten infantry regiments and two free companies, a total of 16,250 men, the cavalry consisted of 13 cavalry regiments with 360 riders each and two dragoons, a total of 3800 riders and 820 dragoons. The artillery consisted of several companies totaling 742 men. The general staff consisted of General Ferdinand Wilhelm von Württemberg-Neuenstadt , who led the operation as a whole, two lieutenant general, eight major general and three brigadiers. In 1700 the Danish army consisted of a total of 23,021 soldiers and officers.
course
At the beginning of the war, a Danish corps of 14,000 men had been assembled on the Eider near Rendsburg under the command of Duke Ferdinand Wilhelm von Württemberg . These troops set off on March 17, 1700 and occupied Friedrichstadt , Husum and some entrenchments on the Untereider . In addition, the offices of Reinbek , Trittau , Tremsbüttel and Steinhorst were filled. Danish troops enclosed Tönning on April 22nd, 1700 . This was occupied by 4,000 men under General Johan Banér . During the siege of Tönning , the city was bombarded with grenades from April 26th and the crew had to leave the external works. In southern Holstein, however, there were only unsuccessful operations. An invasion of Saxon auxiliary troops into the Lüneburg territory failed.
The attacked Swedes benefited from financial aid from the Kingdom of France . Even England's King William III. , also governor in the Netherlands , supported Sweden. Both wanted to keep the peace in the north.
In May 1700, however, a 7,000-strong Swedish army from the regiments in Swedish-Pomerania and Bremen-Verden rallied under the command of Field Marshal Nils Karlsson Gyllenstierna . Danish soldiers recruited from the four Holstein offices tried to stop the crossing over the Elbe. But they withdrew. Also a Danish frigate, the Hummer , was sunk on the Elbe by Allied forces. 40 Danes were taken captive by the Allies while retreating.
From the summer this was also supported by the guarantee powers of the Altona Treaty and a 3,000-man Dutch and an 8,000-man Hanoverian auxiliary corps strengthened the Swedish army. The troops united on May 28, 1700 at Altona and hurried to relieve Tönning. The Allied troops were led by Major General Anton Simon von Boisdavid .
List of Allied Reinforcements:
- Luneburg-Celle
- Major General Anton Simon von Boisdavid
- Cavalry (Five Squadrons)
- Dragoons (Six Squadrons)
- Infantry (Seven Battalions)
- Total 1760 cavalry and 3550 infantry
- Cure Hanover
- Lieutenant General Sommerfeld
- Cavalry: Seven squadrons
- Infantry: Five battalions
- Total: 1500 cavalry men, 3500 infantry
Later the Hanover corps received reinforcements under GM HP Ohr totaling 900 cavalry men and 2,800 infantry.
After a shelling, the Danes made their last attempt to storm the fortress on May 31. This attempt failed. The Duke of Württemberg thereupon gave up the siege of the city on June 2 and avoided a battle against the Swedish troops. During the siege, 50 soldiers and four officers were killed and 40 injured by the defenders.
The Danish king had gone to the Holstein theater of war and, after the siege of Tönning was broken off, went to the fortress of Rendsburg . The 18,000-strong Allied army had positioned itself near Seedorf . The Danes brought their army, which consisted of 23 squadrons and 18 battalions , into position near Hamdorf (today part of Negernbötel ). At the beginning of July there was a skirmish between parts of the two armies near Segeberg in which the 300-man Danish division as the defeated party against 700 Allied soldiers lost 62 dead and 70 prisoners.
There was no further fight, however, because the situation of the Danes on all fronts, including at sea, had deteriorated so much that they felt compelled to start peace negotiations. After the Peace of Traventhal on August 18, 1700 five kilometers south of Bad Segeberg, the Gottorper Duke received his territories back.
Assessment and reminder
The campaign proceeded without major skirmishes. Several commemorative medals for the course of the campaign were struck by both sides.
The campaign was thwarted mainly by the Swedish landing on Zealand . This forced the Danish king to an immediate peace, as his capital Copenhagen was uncovered because most of his troops were tied up in Holstein. The company in Holstein ultimately led to an outperformance on the geostrategic level.
See also
Web link
literature
- Walter Westphal: From Bornhöved to storming the Düppeler Schanzen, 2001, ISBN 3-8311-2305-5
- Otto Haintz : King Karl XII. von Schweden: First volume: Sweden's struggle for supremacy in Northern and Eastern Europe (1697–1709) , Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1958
- Eva Susanne Fiebig: The Great Northern War 1700–1721. In: Eva Susanne Fiebig / Jan Schlürmann (eds.): Handbook on Nordic military history. Army and wars in Schleswig, Holstein, Lauenburg, Eutin and Lübeck, 1623–1863 / 67 . Husum 2010, pp. 367-408
Individual evidence
- ^ Bidrag til the Nordiske Krigs Historie store. Dansk general staff. B. 1. Kobenhavn, 1900. pp. 97-99.
- ↑ Sichart L .: History of the Royal Hanoverian Army, Volume 1 [1631-1705], Hanover, 1866. pp. 574-576; Danska generalstaben, Bidrag ... IS 321–323.
- ↑ Knut Lundblad: History of Karl the Twelfth, King of Sweden. Translated from the Swedish original, corrected and expanded by Georg Friedrich von Jenssen-Tusch, Vol. 1, Hamburg 1835, pp. 58–61 .
- ^ Theatrum Europaeum, Volume 15, Frankfurt am Main 1707, p. 756.
- ^ Theatrum Europaeum, Volume 15, Frankfurt am Main 1707, p. 770.
- ↑ Bernhard Christian Jäger: European Historicus about the recently decided and highly marvelous 17th Seculum. Volume 2, Leipzig 1701, p. 2216
- ^ Künker auction 145, Sweden and Europe, the collection of the Barons Bonde at Schloss Ericsberg Part 2, Numismatischer Verlag Künker, 2008, p. 147ff.