Battle of Kirchholm
The Battle of Kircholm was a battle during the Swedish-Polish Wars 1600–1629 . It took place at Salaspils (German: Kirchholm ) on September 27, 1605. In this battle, the Swedish troops under King Charles IX suffered . a heavy defeat against outnumbered Polish-Lithuanian troops under Jan Karol Chodkiewicz , the Grand Hetman of Lithuania .
prehistory
After the defeat of the Swedes in the Battle of Kokenhusen , they had to withdraw largely from Livonia and give up most of their conquests. The Swedish Reichstag then approved funds for military reinforcements. In 1605, a 5,000-strong Swedish army landed under Anders Lennartsson in Estonia and marched on Riga with the aim of taking this important Baltic port.
course
The Swedish troops under King Charles IX. and Andreas Lennartsson comprised 10,868 men after their union. Jan Karol Chodkiewicz spent four hours trying to lure the Swedes from their positions with his light cavalry. When Charles IX. believed that the Lithuanians were withdrawing and the supporting Poles were moving towards the bottom of the slope. The main battle began with the Polish-Lithuanian cavalry attack on the Swedish right flank, with around 1,000 winged hussars smashing the Swedish cavalry and disrupting the Swedish third line of infantry on their retreat. At the same time, 650 winged hussars under Jan Piotr Sapieha attacked on the Swedish left flank. After Karl sent his reserves of 700 cavalrymen, Chodkiewicz also sent his reserves. The entire force of the Swedish cavalry was eventually routed and disrupted their own infantry during their flight . The Swedish armed forces were crushed by the outnumbered Polish-Lithuanian army. The battle was mainly characterized by the attack of the Polish winged hussars on ten times superior Swedish infantry.
consequences
The international fame of this victory of the Poles against the Swedes was so great that the battle was depicted in an etching by Antonio Tempesta published only shortly after the event in Rome (Bartsch No. 634). However, the internal condition of Poland prevented Chodkiewicz from taking advantage of this victory. When the army stopped fighting because of the backward pay , he continued the fight for a while with his own resources.
literature
- Robert I. Frost: The Northern Wars - War, State and Society in Northeastern Europe, 1558-1721 , Longman Publishings, London / New York 2000, ISBN 0-582-06429-5
- Militair-Conversations-Lexikon: J, K and L, Volume 4, pp.290f