Second Bremen-Swedish War

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The Second Bremen-Swedish War ( Swedish Andra bremiska kriget ) was a military conflict between the Kingdom of Sweden and the city of Bremen in 1666. It was fought over the independence and status of Bremen as a free imperial city .

prehistory

In the First Bremen-Swedish War in 1654, Sweden had enforced its claims to the former Bremen land holdings in the Duchy of Bremen , but did not gain control of the city of Bremen itself. In addition, Bremen had paid homage to the Swedish crown in the wake of the First Stade settlement , but continued to accept invitations to the Reichstag , which Sweden saw as a provocation. Field Marshal Carl Gustav Wrangel in particular sought to integrate the city into the Swedish imperial territory of Bremen-Verden , but was militarily bound by the country's involvement in the Second Northern War .

negotiations

Carl Gustaf Wrangel

At the beginning of 1666 the smoldering conflict came to a head when Wrangel moved a large contingent of troops from Swedish Pomerania to the Duchy of Bremen. Initially, both sides relied on negotiations. In February and March of this traveled a delegation from the Bremen Bremer Council under Johann guard for talks with Wrangel to Stade . However, no agreement could be reached because the Swedes insisted that Bremen should give up its imperial immediacy and become a royal Swedish municipal city, but the city council categorically refused. The talks were accompanied by a diplomatic exchange of blows, in the course of which both parties published several pamphlets that substantiated their respective positions and campaigned for support - for example in the Swedish pamphlet “Thorough deduction of legitimate submissions, according to Her Royal Majesty and Highly Commended Crohn Sweden to the city Bremen have ” and in the Bremer pamphlet “ Sonnenklahrer announcement and evidence that if the stadic comparison de anno 1654 allowed the city of Bremen a quiet possession vel quasi their Reichsimmedietät etc. were reserved ” .

War preparations

Bremen artillery in the 17th century: the basilisk , the nightingale and the singer

In view of the tense situation, Bremen had already started to expand its defense in autumn 1665 and increased the usual garrison from 700 to 800 men to 1,530 men in nine companies and set up three squadrons of riders, all of them experienced soldiers - mostly from Brunswick . The council issued a decree that the recruited soldiers were to be quartered in "elegant houses" - those who refused to accept the request had to pay 8 marks. In addition, the city had around 4,000 men from the citizen companies . As in the first Bremen-Swedish War, Colonel Gerhard was in command of the troops . Bremen also had strong fortifications. Only a few years earlier, the city ​​walls had been reinforced with new bastions and well armed with guns.

In contrast, there were initially almost 7,000 men on the Swedish side under Field Marshal Wrangel, who had already fought in the Thirty Years' War . At the end of May / beginning of June they moved into the outskirts of Bremen - the “four Gohe ” - and paid the local population a contribution . The city was completely enclosed and all deliveries and mail to the city were intercepted. Wrangel set up his headquarters in habenhausen, south of the city, and had a ship bridge built over the Weser. North of the city near Lankenau , the "lower main camp" was set up, which was subordinate to General Christoph Delphicus von Dohna . Here, too, a ship bridge was built over the Weser . In addition to these two main camps, three jumps were built at the Warturm , the Kattenturm and between Walle and Gröpelingen .

The war

Siege of Bremen by Swedish troops in 1666

After the last talks in Vegesack in August 1666 were also unsuccessful, the first hostilities broke out on August 29th when Bremen soldiers tried to free two Ameland ships that were being held by Swedish soldiers on the Weser. In the course of the battle, some urban guards were taken prisoner and the people of Bremen fired field guns at Swedish positions in Vieland . In order to keep the city's bastions clear of fire, the council ordered that  numerous trees be felled in the suburbs - particularly in Woltmershausen - and that houses be demolished that were less than 600 feet away  from the fortifications. Compensation was awarded to the owners of the houses.

At the beginning of September the Swedes expanded their positions at Kattenturm and Wartum.  Skirmishes between the opposing parties broke out at the Ziegelwerder outside Neustadt and on the Alter Weg  - the Fuhrstrasse to Hamburg . At the farm called “Munte” on the edge of the Bürgerweide , Bremen soldiers captured Swedish pioneering material and brought cattle from Horn and Schwachhausen into the city. In return, the Swedes set fire to the mill on the Bürgerweide and plundered the village of Neuenland - Bremen soldiers who tried to prevent them were ambushed and had to retreat to the city with losses. In mid-September, Swedish riders captured around 200 cows while advancing into the pastures in front of Neustadt, but suffered losses when they were fired at by the artillery on the Neustadt ramparts. In the city , the Bremen military commandeered horses to reinforce the cavalry, and on September 15, with a total of 550 cavalry, musketeers and pikemen under Colonel auf dem Keller, they carried out a sortie from the stone tower . However, the soldiers soon withdrew behind the Landwehr in the eastern suburbs . At Hastedt the Swedes were able to capture the baronial-Lüneburg military master-general Heinrich von Uffeln and his unit of 30 men when they wanted to get to Bremen undetected to enter the service of the city. A few days later, a Bremen unit destroyed Swedish redoubts on the Ochtum in a commando operation at night .

In the second half of September, the supply situation deteriorated equally on both sides. In Bremen, for example, an ordinance was issued in order to conserve stocks that only thin beer may be brewed and served. The besiegers outside the city increasingly complained of hunger. There was also an outbreak of the plague in the village of Walle at the gates of the city . For the people of Bremen, the situation improved again when unexpectedly rich fishing was made on the Weser within the city limits. In the meantime, the skirmishes in the vicinity of the city continued: a battle broke out near the pig pasture near Walle when Swedish riders tried to capture grazing cattle there. For fear of a major Swedish advance, the grain and hay supplies from the Barkhof near the grinding mill were brought into the city, with embezzlement. There were other smaller skirmishes in front of the stone tower and near Neuenland. In order to prevent Bremen citizens from joining the Swedish troops, the council issued a draconian decree on September 21, banning Bremers from entering into enemy service:

"[...] Since this city is unfortunately besieged by royal Swedish troops against all fault and otherwise treated hostile, but among them there are various citizens and citizens' children of this city and allow themselves to be used illegally against their fatherland, an Edel Hochweiser council wants and all Wittheit [...] hereby warned against it and at the same time ordered by virtue of this [proclamation] that they should return here without delay and leave the enemy services if they lost their property, including life and limb. "
View from the Neustadt side to the Ostertor Bastion (1729)

At the beginning of October, Wrangel received reinforcements for his previously rather weak artillery with new heavy guns. On October 2nd and 4th, the Swedes then shot at the city with glowing bullets from habenhausen and Kreyenberg . (According to Johann Heinrich Moritz von Poppe, this was the first ever use of glowing bullets , but it is likely that such bullets were used much earlier.) The area around the Ostertor bastion and the wooden gate were hit, as was the cathedral courtyard and adjacent streets. To be on the safe side, fire fighting parties were formed from the town's citizen companies - but there was no major damage from fire. The people of Bremen responded by shelling Swedish troops from St. Stephen's Bastion. On October 7, a Swedish cannon exploded while being loaded with a glowing bullet, killing numerous soldiers.

In view of the worsening situation, Emperor Leopold I sent a letter to the Reich Directorate to accelerate negotiations and provide assistance to the city. In mid-October came the negotiators Chancellor Peter von Buschmann from the Electorate of Cologne , Marshal Georg Christoph von Hammerstein from the Principality of Calenberg , Baron Friedrich Casimir von und zu Eltz from the Principality of Lüneburg , Governor Hildebrand Christoph von Herdenberg from the Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel and Landdrost Johann from Ledebur from Brandenburg to the city and were received with all honors. They succeeded in agreeing a bilateral armistice , which said that the Swedes should not come within firing range of the fortifications and that the Bremen people should refrain from any sorties. Despite this agreement, there were several small incidents - Swedish soldiers looted farms in Werderland , Hollerland and Blockland , Bremen soldiers shot at opposing troops. In the days that followed, the negotiators commuted several times between Wrangels' main camp in habenhausen and the city to exchange resolutions and advance negotiations.

On October 22nd a 3,000-strong Swedish reinforcement - the blue Wrangel Regiment  - arrived from Pomerania in front of Bremen and was billeted in Hemelingen. In total, the Swedish troops had grown to over 10,000 men. Nevertheless, the situation for Wrangel became increasingly critical when the United Netherlands , Denmark , Brandenburg and Braunschweig-Lüneburg formed an anti-Swedish alliance on October 28, 1666 in The Hague , the Quadruple Alliance of 1666 . It was also known that in Thedinghausen an empire army to relieve the city with about 15,000 men - was contracted under Count Friedrich von Waldeck - particularly from Brunswick-Luneburg and Brandenburg. At the end of October, the Swedes therefore closed their camp near Lankenau, dismantled the ship bridge and concentrated their troops near habenhausen. The siege was thus partially lifted and goods and mail could get back into the city.

Peace treaty

Bremen pays homage to the Swedish crown

At the beginning of November the negotiations intensified and a compromise was finally reached. Wrangel gave up the plans to conquer the city and signed the Peace of habenhausen on November 15, 1666 . On July 8, 1667, the city of Bremen paid homage to the Swedish crown and celebrated the peace agreement in the presence of Wrangel.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Peter Koster : Chronicle of the Imperial Free Imperial and Hanseatic City of Bremen 1600–1700 . Edited and edited by Hartmut Müller, Edition Temmen, Bremen 2004, p. 193.
  2. ^ Johann Hermann Duntze : History of the free city of Bremen . Heyse Verlag, Bremen 1851, p. 161.
  3. ^ Herbert Schwarzwälder: Bremen in the 17th century. Glory and misery of a Hanseatic city . Edition Temmen , Bremen 1996, p. 138.
  4. ↑ Henry von Baensch: History of the von Wrangel family from the year twelve hundred and fifty to the present. Edited from documents and diaries , vol. 2. Wilhelm Baensch Verlagshandlung, Berlin and Dresden 1887, pp. 251–252.
  5. ↑ Cf. Johann Heinrich Moritz von Poppe: History of all inventions and discoveries: in the field of trade, arts and sciences from the earliest times to our day. Verlag J. Baer, ​​1847, p. 311.
  6. ↑ See Streffleur's military magazine. Verlag LW Seidel, 1821, p. 232.
  7. ^ Johann Hermann Duntze: History of the free city of Bremen. Verlag Heyse, 1851, p. 167.

literature

See also