A few thoughts, the annexation of Lauenburg is a inspired choice, it could potential also go to Mecklenburg. Interesting outside the Saxon annexation of the corridor there’re pretty good legitimate reasons for every annexation. I’m of course not a fan of Gottorp takeover of Oldenburg, but it still a claim the Gottorps can push. Of course if I was Gottorps I would trade it for Plön in Holstein,
No GNW (or “Peter goes South”)
- Thread starter alexmilman
- Start date
A few thoughts, the annexation of Lauenburg is a inspired choice, it could potential also go to Mecklenburg. Interesting outside the Saxon annexation of the corridor there’re pretty good legitimate reasons for every annexation. I’m of course not a fan of Gottorp takeover of Oldenburg, but it still a claim the Gottorps can push. Of course if I was Gottorps I would trade it for Plön in Holstein,
I really like the above suggestions.
I think that a land bridge to Poland will be very alluring to Saxony. I also agree that the Polish magnates would love to eliminate brandenburgian influence over Vistula and the potential threat to their incomes. If I had to make an educated guess, Frederick William would prefer to lose Pomerania than Prussia so as to keep his royal title. If the Emperor feels left out and uncomfortable there is something that might interest him: by 1703 the Estates in brandenburger holdings in the Empire had lost the right to appeal to the Emperor unless it was for issue worth more than 2,500 thalers. To regain the right of appeal would satisfy both the Estates that don't like centralization and the Emperor.
I want to ask though a few questions:
- Sweden has strongest claims in Farther Pomerania or Ducal Prussia?
- Farther Pomerania or Ducal Prussia provided more income to the state?
I think that a land bridge to Poland will be very alluring to Saxony. I also agree that the Polish magnates would love to eliminate brandenburgian influence over Vistula and the potential threat to their incomes. If I had to make an educated guess, Frederick William would prefer to lose Pomerania than Prussia so as to keep his royal title. If the Emperor feels left out and uncomfortable there is something that might interest him: by 1703 the Estates in brandenburger holdings in the Empire had lost the right to appeal to the Emperor unless it was for issue worth more than 2,500 thalers. To regain the right of appeal would satisfy both the Estates that don't like centralization and the Emperor.
I want to ask though a few questions:
- Sweden has strongest claims in Farther Pomerania or Ducal Prussia?
- Farther Pomerania or Ducal Prussia provided more income to the state?
Without having any knowledge on the topic, it seems to me that real estate along the Elbe which is the trade route for a great part of northern Germany is more valuable than Plön . It also serves swedish interests to have a client controlling part of the east bank of the Elbe. It also helps in projecting power towards swedish Bremen in case of war.
I would say that it isnt in Saxon interest to start something similar to the war of Austrian Succession , genraly while aleximan did say that Russia wouldnt want to intervene in such war its entierly other matter if it is Saxony thats starting it. With Saxon influence in PLC and such a power move Russia is bound to intervene against Saxony in PLC, same with Sweden. Regarding the fall out, i dont think it will really happen as both Carl and Alexei have a good chances to live until otl timeline and there ganerally arent lots of point of conflict between them with Russian access to baltic secured and balance of Power already set in in the region that no one wants to see destoyed. Other ponit of conflict could be PLC but both powers are once again plesed with Status quo. In my opinion best play for Saxony would be to not cause to much ripples and trys to maintain good relationship with both Russia and Sweden by joining Baltic Mafia in PLC capacity and maintain Swedish alliance in northern Germany in Saxon capacity. Regarding the Silesia , best option for them would be to wait for Austria to try and get more of the Turkish pie as Peter and probably his successors dont want Austria to gain to much there and Saxony could join them in this regard being granted Silesia in any potential war in exchange for some more lands in the east.
I assumed that this is official map for Schleswig Holenstein?
When it comes to Lauenburg there is another thing to consider: the canal connecting Lubeck to Lauenburg and the Elbe. If the Oresund is closed in times of war, it allows Sweden to have access to international trade. Granted, such a canal can never substitute the Sound, but even a trickle of trade is better than none at all, especially when combined with the canal currently under construction. Moreover, it allows access to the excellent quality Luneburg salt. In times of peace, french salt was cheaper than luneburg salt and it was the main source of salt. In time of upheaval though, access to fine quality salt would have been a matter of life and death for a scandinavian realm.
@alexmilman I don't think that crimean salt can substitute other sources. It would be quite expensive to move towards the Baltic Sea. In times of peace it would be significantly more expensive than french and iberian salt. In times of war, luneburg salt would still be cheaper with the exception of a war with Hannover or a power that blockades Lubeck. Only under these circumstance it is worth of hauling crimean salt to Riga.
Taking that into consideration, one might argue that control of the old Salt Route and Stecknitz Canal would be quite important to Sweden.
@alexmilman I don't think that crimean salt can substitute other sources. It would be quite expensive to move towards the Baltic Sea. In times of peace it would be significantly more expensive than french and iberian salt. In times of war, luneburg salt would still be cheaper with the exception of a war with Hannover or a power that blockades Lubeck. Only under these circumstance it is worth of hauling crimean salt to Riga.
Taking that into consideration, one might argue that control of the old Salt Route and Stecknitz Canal would be quite important to Sweden.
No I agree it's a bit fantastical, i was just pointing out that the problems inherent in that proposition aren't really related to anything Russia could solve.If I may add my 2c worth, no permanent/long-term occupation of Denmark is going to happen in this TL at least as far as I have some say on the subject.
Since Russia can't really help them getting onto Zeeland, can't help them keep the Anglo-Dutch away, and can't keep the Danes mollified.
Though, to be honest, I wonder how much of a problem Denmark would have been, look at Norway for example.
This I disagree with - One way or another, control of Zeeland gives that.
OTL; Russia allied Denmark.
ITTL, they can't ally Denmark, so it's always going to be more or less hostile, not an insurmountable problem by any means, but a problem since they won't have any direct leverage with them, but if Sweden takes it, well, Russia has two very convenient hostages in the Baltics and Finland to ensure compliance if familial relations cool.
I doubt Mecklenburg would get Lauenburg. It will join war later or not at all and is fairly weak. I could easily see it staying neutral and then Prussia being forced to drop its inheritance rights out of the 'goodness' of Sweden and Russia's heart. Giving it land is probably too much. Also Sweden would like to have Lauenburg, strengthens control over Elbe trade and provides additional base for pressuring Hamburg and Lubeck. Also, the best canal route from the Elbe to the Baltic passes through Lauenburg and Lubeck, great place to build canal to steal business from Denmark, and for lot of shipping routes that would be quicker than going all the way around Jutland. We know Karl thinks about such things from the Gota Canal. The more I think about it, the more I think Sweden would want to keep Lauenburg for itself.
Russia is going to be fiercely opposed to Sweden annexing Denmark. No ally is worth that level of trust. Even if Karl is friendly, will his grandchild be? That would nearly double Sweden's population and also its army once Denmark-Norway was properly absorbed. Hostages in the Baltics and Finland would be little good, since you need to be strong enough to take hostages. Russia would have serious difficulties holding its own with a doubled-Sweden. A unified, greater Sweden could probably field close to 150,000 (70k OTL+~55k Danes+ forces from new territories) men better in quality than the Russian forces. It took Russia 21 years of war OTL with a lot of humiliating defeats in the first half of that to bring Sweden to the table (and ATL a lot of the OTL Russian cobelligerents will be neutralized after this war). Turning around that argument, St. Petersburg is a convenient hostage too. If Karl fell victim to such meglomania, Peter would have his army assist in attempting to persuade his dear brother Karl that he should really retire and get some medical care.
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Ultimately there's really a possibility of Russia just getting it's gains and leaving the war leaving Sweden alone in it's attempts to bring Denmark to the knees as Russia is in this officially due to good familial relationship (and it's own interests) and no one will blame them for leaving if reasonable peace is given and refused, Russia is by no means obligated to fuel Swedish expansion in long and costly war.
After that happens Prussia is likely to rejoin the first opportunity it has and there's even possibility of Saxon backstab if it sees where wind blows.
Also one need to consider British participation, they wouldn't stick their neck for Prussia (since even in our proposed peace it isn't destroyed) , but no matter how much tired from WOSS they are they'll certainly muster enough forces to stop complete destruction of Denmark, something even more likely to happen if Sweden is left alone and with K.George constantly speaking about Swedish hegemony endangering British interests .
On it's own Sweden doesn't really has what it takes to force Denmark to make peace and keep opportunistic powers at bay .
After that happens Prussia is likely to rejoin the first opportunity it has and there's even possibility of Saxon backstab if it sees where wind blows.
Also one need to consider British participation, they wouldn't stick their neck for Prussia (since even in our proposed peace it isn't destroyed) , but no matter how much tired from WOSS they are they'll certainly muster enough forces to stop complete destruction of Denmark, something even more likely to happen if Sweden is left alone and with K.George constantly speaking about Swedish hegemony endangering British interests .
On it's own Sweden doesn't really has what it takes to force Denmark to make peace and keep opportunistic powers at bay .
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Looking good to me.
As for Mecklenburg, it does not have an army: when its duke (a little bit later in OTL) tried to create one (so that the duchy would not be occupied by the foreign troops), the knights complained to the Emperor, there was imperial execution, the duke was expelled and a big part of the duchy had been occupied by Hanover (its Elector was the top imperial official in the region) and Brandenburg. The nobility won and situation presumably lasted all the way to 1918.
So far I have two options for the duchy:
(a) Leave situation as it is because for the winners there can be a certain advantage in having it as a political non-factor.
(b) For the Swedish and Russian troops do something …er… “creative” to convince the local nobility that they are wrong because having an allied meaningful power also has its advantages for containing Brandenburg.
Probably it will be (b)
I didn't know that! Interesting. I looked it up since I knew they had an army by the Napoleonic wars. According to the Kronoskaf site, they had 2 infantry regiments by the 7 Years War, one mobilized in 1747 (plus garrison forces) and one in 1748. Christian Ludwig II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin took the throne in 1747, so it appears he promptly took whatever action was necessary to have an army again. Probably benefited from other countries being too busy with the War of the Austrian Succession to bother beating him down. They made the mistake of opposing Prussia in the Seven Years War, Prussia invaded, told the army they now worked for Frederick the Great, and then everyone looted it including its 'allies' of Russia and Sweden. Not Christian's fault though, he died shortly before the war and that mess was under his son.
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How can one forget it?
Think it's fitting, though can't remember the posts about Naval training, but I'm sure there were some!How can one forget it?
"We do the things our Russian way"(c)
I just got to say, it is amusing that much of the discussions are about matters outside of Russia despite the obvious focus of the TL. 
I guess it's because few can argue with alexmilman when it comes to Russian affairs and developments, but still amuses me. So much discussion on northern Germany or the Baltic regions where Russia has little to no direct interests.
Still very much liking this TL. Russia's development is fun to watch, especially when you show they reached this level IOTL, and the Little Northern War made some fun international changes. Changes that are obviously slowly rippling out.
I guess it's because few can argue with alexmilman when it comes to Russian affairs and developments, but still amuses me. So much discussion on northern Germany or the Baltic regions where Russia has little to no direct interests.Still very much liking this TL. Russia's development is fun to watch, especially when you show they reached this level IOTL, and the Little Northern War made some fun international changes. Changes that are obviously slowly rippling out.
I assumed that this is official map for Schleswig Holenstein?
It’s my suggestion to a post-war map,
Yea i know, i also remember alexmilman asking can he use the map for the update. So i assume that it's official post war map.
Things inevitable
51. Things inevitable and unpleasant surprises
This was a March of 1712 and two things looked inevitable, Charles’ marriage and a new war. To his credit, he was not scared of either and was planning to take advantage of both, especially if the potential enemies extend a courtesy of the right timing.
While waiting for her bride, he ordered a general mobilization, expecting to have his army ready to march by the June.
The fleet was a more problematic issue: he had been receiving from Admiral General of his navy, Hans Wachtmeister, the cheerful reports that everything is fine, the new naval base in Karlskrona is operational, the naval regulations are being updated and, what’s most important, the navy does not cost too much due to existing system of “part-time” sailors (if similar system worked well in the army, why the navy should be different?).
Not being deeply interested in the naval issues (and having Gota canal as his main priority for spending the money), Charles was reasonably satisfied with the reports until the alarm bell had been sounded by captain Gustav Psilander, favored by the King’s patronage since the famous battle of 1704 on which he carried Charles’ orders against the overwhelming odds [1].
Psilander, appointed Deputy Superintendent of the Royal Navy shipyard in Karlskrona in 1710 and just promoted to Schoutbynacht and Admiralty Commissioner in the January 1712 (and ennobled at the same time so form now on he was “von Psilander”), reported to Charles that the things are not all nice and rosy:
5 of the Swedish ships of the line had been more than 40 years old and 18 more had been built in 1670s/80s. Only 2 ships of the line had been built after 1700 and both were of the 4th rank (46 and 52 guns).
The naval artillery was all over the place: the most powerful “Kung Karl” had 10 36-pounders, 22 - 24-pounders, 30 - 18-pounders, 28 - 8-pounders and 14 4-pounders. “Enongheten” had 56 24-pounders, 28 8-pounders, 6 4-pounders, 4 3-pounders. “Drotting Hedvig Eleanora” 30 24-pounders, 28 12-pounders, 22 6-pounders, 4 4-pounders, 4 3-pounders, etc. Experience of the recent Russian-Ottoman War, which demonstrated a very limited usefulness of even 18-pounders against the ships-of-the-line, had been blissfully ignored with a reference to the fact that the Danes also have a wide variety of the calibers (Dannebroge: 20 8-pounders, 22 14-pounders, 26 24-pounders, 4 4-pounders and 4 14-pounder howitzers, etc.).
While the potential enemy had its crews on the full-time service and trained accordingly, the Swedish part-time crews, while being reasonably experienced individual sailors, were not trained as the ships crews and even less so as the members of a fleet: they could, more or less, form a battle line but more complicated maneuvers had been problematic. The artillery crews, at best, were composed out of the soldiers with a minimal experience of a naval service and probably could be relied upon only if the battle was happening on the very short distances.
Karlskrona had been heavily hit by a plague of 1710-11, which killed 7,000 out of its 10,000 inhabitants including most of its 1,100 shipyard workers, and the same plague heavily hit the coastal communities from which the crews had been routinely raised.
The fleet was not getting out for the maneuvers and many senior officers, starting from the Admiral-General, had not been in the sea since a brief Swedish-British-Dutch campaign of 1700 [2].
Of course, concluded von Psilander, a lot can be done by the Swedish bravery but it can be the only factor to rely upon.
Not too much could be done about these problems in a short time left so Charles speedily promoted von Psilander into Vice-admiral and ordered him to do as much as was possible to have, at least, the crews prepared and available in the needed numbers (or as close to them as possible).
In May 1712 the bride-to-be, Grand Duchess Catherine Ivanovna, arrived to Stockholm on Peter’s imperial yacht. To make event even more enjoyable, the yacht was escorted by the Russian squadron of 6 ships of the line and 4 frigates under command of rear-admiral Naum Senyavin.
Senyavin’s orders were to remain in Sweden until the further orders and to act “according to the circumstances”. While Wachtmeister was making unhappy noises about the extra expenses, Psylander and Senyavin went together just fine being two birds of the feather: while it did not come to the battle, Senyavin refused to allow the Dutch to search his ship (which the Dutch claimed to be a merchant one and which was actually 52 guns ship of the line) and demanded a proper treatment declaring that even if the Russian flag is raised on a boat, this qualifies it aa a warship with a mandatory Dutch salute and flag lowering [3].
Couple days prior to the marriage ceremony declarations of war from Denmark, Prussia and Hanover arrived allowing Charles to utter “a historic sentence”: “When the King of Sweden is getting married, the war can wait” [4]. At the ceremony the groom was his usual bellicose self, the bride was charming, population of Stockholm is properly enthusiastic, and everybody was happy.
Even before the wedding Charles had a private meeting with a Russian officer who arrived with Catherine and promptly left on the imperial yacht after the interview accompanied by few Swedish officers carrying instructions to the governors of the Baltic provinces. Taking into an account a relative insignificance of the personages involved, the whole episode passed unnoticed and when the “big wheels” started turning, quite a few people had been up to the unpleasant surprise.
Unpleasant surprises
In March of 1712 some, generally overlooked, events started happening in the Russian Empire. Without too much of a fanfare the troops began marching to its Western border. There were 5 infantry divisions, 5 cavalry divisions, 2 reserve artillery brigades and 10,000 irregulars (Cossacks of Don and Kalmyks), totaling 54,000 infantry, 20,000 regular and 10,000 irregular cavalry with 400 guns moving toward the staging area between Pskov and Witebsk [5].
By the early June of 1712:
Prussian forces in the East Prussia amounted to 10,000 spread between the numerous garrisons. Main Prussian army marched to the Swedish Pomerania.
By that time the coalition members already had been too committed to their plans to pay attention to what is going on the East and, anyway, none of them declared a war on Russia so why would they be worried? In other words, so far there there no surprises of any kind but the first unpleasant one was only days away.
[
Interlude #1. Memel - general background
At that tome the town of Memel was neither big nor too important. The agricultural countryside remained predominantly ethnic Lithuanian through ages and the Lithuanian name for the city "Klaipėda" was thus born in the 16th century as a pejorative, literally meaning "Bread eater" and referring to the castle garrison. There was some trade coming through it but not too much of it (only in mid-XVIII it became important due to the booming timber business). By the beginning of the 18th century, Memel was considered one of the strongest fortresses (Memelfestung) in Prussia but this was not too much of a recommendation [6].
The town of Memel was surrounded by a ditch with 5 bastions. Three of these bastions were not completely enclosed. The square shaped citadel was located to the west along the Kurisches Haff (present-day Curonian Lagoon), its four corers were defended by bastions. The curtain walls had a 25 m. wide moat. The fortifications were in very poor conditions. Furthermore, the suburbs consisting of wooden buildings, it was difficult to observe or to fire on the enemy.
The fortress was under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Rummel, seconded by Captain von Winterfeldt. He had not enough time to improve the defensive works of the entire fortress but had managed to put the citadel in state of defence. The garrison consisted of 800 men from Land Regiment 2 Polentz commanded by 16 officers of which 3 were more than 90 years old and 4 could not get out of bed. Furthermore, there were 800 peasants who had been driven out of the surrounding country. Since there were only 24 gunners to serve the 80 pieces of the fortress, they had to be assisted by infantrymen.
]
Unpleasant surprise #1
Distance from Riga to Memel was slightly above 300 km. Fermor’s march started on June 20.
On June 28, a Russian squadron (4 bomb-ketches and 2 gunboats under the command of Captain Valrunt) appeared in front of the Fortress of Memel located at the mouth of the Kurisches Haff.
On June 29, Rummel ordered to remove the buoys and marks but he could not block the entry of the harbour of Memel.
On June 30 at 6:00 a.m., after summoning Memel to surrender, Valrunt's bomb-ketches opened on the Fortress of Memel and a regular siege was undertaken. These were the first shots exchanged between the Russians and Prussians during this war.
The same day (June 30), Fermor's Corps marched by Budendingshof and Polangen (present-day Palanga/Lithuania). The 1st brigade and the Swedes crossed the Dange River to the north-east of Memel and established themselves to the south of the river near the Fortress of Memel. The 2nd Brigade remained on the north bank of the Dange to cover the artillery and the park. 500 cossacks and 200 hussars under reached Polagen across the Niemen, to protect the left flank of the siege corps.
In the night of June 30 to July 1, under the light of the burning suburbs who had been set afire by the Prussians, Fermor sent 1,000 workers, under the protection of grenadier detachments, to establish infantry positions and batteries some 1,300 meters from the “Preussen” Bastion. The Russians planted 3 20 pounder mortars and 4 40 pounder howitzers in the first parallel.
On July 1 at 6:00 a.m., Fermor's howitzers and mortars opened fire. For 24 hours, the Russian batteries maintained a steady bombardment of the Fortress of Memel. By the evening, 136 bombs had already fallen on Memel. Around 8:00 p.m., the 4 Russian bomb-ketches (Jelefant, Dondier, Dziki Byk, Jupiter) opened fire from a distance on the town. Some 144 bombs fell on the town proper and 140 others on the fortress.
On July 2, Fermor threw bridges on the Dange near Memel. He also opened the second parallel. New batteries opened on the fortress. By the end of the day, the Russian land and naval artillery had fired 982 bombs on the fortress. On the same day Russian squadron of 3 ships of the line, 4 frigates, and 2 cannon boats under command of the Rear Admiral Pamburg [7] arrived and positioned itself outside the Curonian Lagoon.
On July 4, the Russian troops made preparations to storm the fortifications of Memel. Rummel asked Fermor for the authorisation to send a courier to Field-Marshall Lehwaldt [8] the Prussian commander-in-chief in East Prussia. Meanwhile, the Russian artillery intensified the bombardment. By 4:00 p.m., about 2,405 bombs had fallen on Memel since the beginning of the siege.
On July 5 at 2:00 a.m., the Russian artillery intensified the bombardment. At 4:00 a.m., Rummel hoisted the white flag. The burghers and the garrison, even though they had suffered very little losses, could not bear the constant bombardment anymore. After the short negotiations, garrison accepted unconditional surrender and was sent to Livonia. Treyden was appointed governor of Memel and immediately started to repair and improve defensive works.
Memel was turned into the supply base for the further operations.
Unpleasant surprise #2
By time Fermor was done with Memel, Sheremetev’s main force reached Insterburg and Golitsin’s corps was getting close to Rastenburg. To avoid a need of the numerous river crossings Fermor marched his corps South by the Curonian Split using Pamburg’s squadron as a cover.
The Kammerpräsident Domhardt sent a report by courier from Gumbinnen confirming that the Russians had advanced from Memel and would continue their march through to Königsber. Officials at Königsberg met for several day to decide on measures to be taken. Despite all indications already gathered, the invasion of the Russians surprised the officials who had refused to believe that they would do something serious but in a couple days they changed their minds.
On July 10, considering that the defensive works of Königsberg could not withstand bombardment, the government, in association with the magistrates, decided to send a delegation to Fieldmarshal Sheremetev with the proposed surrender of the city, the university and the country. At the same time, the authorities in Königsberg had managed to send to safety the coffers, valuables and important files to Danzig, which proved to be a big mistake [9].
On July 12, 2 bns of the Garrison Regiment Nr. 1 Puttkamer under Lieutenant-Colonels Unruh and Wutenau, respectively occupying Königsberg and Pillau, soon joined by Du Fay‘s hussars, evacuated these places and marched toward Kolberg (present-day Kołobrzeg) in Eastern Pomerania taking with them the best artillery piece of both places. They did not go too far: being trapped between Golitsin’s corps and the Swedish garrison of Elbing they had to capitulate.
On July 13, the Russian vanguard entered Koenigsberg without resistance.
On July 14, Pamburg’s squadron took possession of the abandoned Pillau.
All Northern half of the East Prussia to the Alle River was under the Russian control.
________________
[1] As a Captain of the Öland, a Swedish ship-of-the line he was escorting Swedish merchantmen during the LNW. Followed by a squadron of eight English ships-of-the-line and a frigate, he refused to salute the English squadron when requested to do so by William Whetstone (with Whetstone's reason being that Psilander was in English waters), being under strict orders to not lower his flags under any circumstances by his king because this would damage the Swedish honor. A four-hour battle (Battle of Orford Ness) ensued, with the heavily damaged Öland being captured alongside the convoyed merchant ships. The Swedish Board of Admiralty and Board of Trade refused to demand for his release or support Psilander while he was in captivity, but Charles XII was of a different opinion and successfully demanded the release of the warship and crew. Psilander, his crew, and the convoyed ships were later released and returned to Sweden. However, Öland later sank north of Denmark while homebound.
[2] Not a big surprise because quite a few of them, starting from Wachtmeister, had been also governors of the provinces or held some other administrative positions.
[3] In OTL this episode took place only in 1716
[4] “Historic sentences” are usually being uttered for the posterity and the history books: by the time they are reaching their intended audience the underlying facts are already forgotten and they look rather absurd, which qualifies them as the “historic” ones (like a famous quote from Bayard). In a reality, Charles already put the well-tested mobilization mechanism into the action and had to wait until the troops are assembled so few days of the marriage festivities would do no harm and even raise the national spirit by showing that everything is under control.
[5] Infantry division: 6 infantry regiments (1,800 each), 1 cavalry regiment (800) and 2 artillery brigades (64guns), total 10,800 infantry and 800 cavalry. Cavalry division: 4 cavalry regiments (800), total 3,200.
[6] “Best of the worst” would be probably more to the point.
[7] Who in this TL was not killed in a drunken duel.
[8] In OTL he was in charge during the 7YW but who really cares about specific Prussian fieldmarshal?
[9] On two accounts: 1st, Fieldmarsal was seriously pissed off with their attempt to save the money and 2nd, because the convoy had been intercepted by Golitsin’s Cossacks raiding well ahead of the main body of his corps. The money (minus some reasonable “losses on the road”) had been delivered to the Russian headquarters but Sheremetev was still pissed off and forced the city to pay reparations.
“When the Emperor of Russia is busy fishing, Europe can wait”
Alexander III
“Life is full of surprises and not only the pleasant ones ”
Desperate housewives
Things inevitableAlexander III
“Life is full of surprises and not only the pleasant ones ”
Desperate housewives
This was a March of 1712 and two things looked inevitable, Charles’ marriage and a new war. To his credit, he was not scared of either and was planning to take advantage of both, especially if the potential enemies extend a courtesy of the right timing.
While waiting for her bride, he ordered a general mobilization, expecting to have his army ready to march by the June.
The fleet was a more problematic issue: he had been receiving from Admiral General of his navy, Hans Wachtmeister, the cheerful reports that everything is fine, the new naval base in Karlskrona is operational, the naval regulations are being updated and, what’s most important, the navy does not cost too much due to existing system of “part-time” sailors (if similar system worked well in the army, why the navy should be different?).
Not being deeply interested in the naval issues (and having Gota canal as his main priority for spending the money), Charles was reasonably satisfied with the reports until the alarm bell had been sounded by captain Gustav Psilander, favored by the King’s patronage since the famous battle of 1704 on which he carried Charles’ orders against the overwhelming odds [1].
Psilander, appointed Deputy Superintendent of the Royal Navy shipyard in Karlskrona in 1710 and just promoted to Schoutbynacht and Admiralty Commissioner in the January 1712 (and ennobled at the same time so form now on he was “von Psilander”), reported to Charles that the things are not all nice and rosy:
5 of the Swedish ships of the line had been more than 40 years old and 18 more had been built in 1670s/80s. Only 2 ships of the line had been built after 1700 and both were of the 4th rank (46 and 52 guns).
The naval artillery was all over the place: the most powerful “Kung Karl” had 10 36-pounders, 22 - 24-pounders, 30 - 18-pounders, 28 - 8-pounders and 14 4-pounders. “Enongheten” had 56 24-pounders, 28 8-pounders, 6 4-pounders, 4 3-pounders. “Drotting Hedvig Eleanora” 30 24-pounders, 28 12-pounders, 22 6-pounders, 4 4-pounders, 4 3-pounders, etc. Experience of the recent Russian-Ottoman War, which demonstrated a very limited usefulness of even 18-pounders against the ships-of-the-line, had been blissfully ignored with a reference to the fact that the Danes also have a wide variety of the calibers (Dannebroge: 20 8-pounders, 22 14-pounders, 26 24-pounders, 4 4-pounders and 4 14-pounder howitzers, etc.).
While the potential enemy had its crews on the full-time service and trained accordingly, the Swedish part-time crews, while being reasonably experienced individual sailors, were not trained as the ships crews and even less so as the members of a fleet: they could, more or less, form a battle line but more complicated maneuvers had been problematic. The artillery crews, at best, were composed out of the soldiers with a minimal experience of a naval service and probably could be relied upon only if the battle was happening on the very short distances.
Karlskrona had been heavily hit by a plague of 1710-11, which killed 7,000 out of its 10,000 inhabitants including most of its 1,100 shipyard workers, and the same plague heavily hit the coastal communities from which the crews had been routinely raised.
The fleet was not getting out for the maneuvers and many senior officers, starting from the Admiral-General, had not been in the sea since a brief Swedish-British-Dutch campaign of 1700 [2].
Of course, concluded von Psilander, a lot can be done by the Swedish bravery but it can be the only factor to rely upon.
Not too much could be done about these problems in a short time left so Charles speedily promoted von Psilander into Vice-admiral and ordered him to do as much as was possible to have, at least, the crews prepared and available in the needed numbers (or as close to them as possible).
In May 1712 the bride-to-be, Grand Duchess Catherine Ivanovna, arrived to Stockholm on Peter’s imperial yacht. To make event even more enjoyable, the yacht was escorted by the Russian squadron of 6 ships of the line and 4 frigates under command of rear-admiral Naum Senyavin.
Senyavin’s orders were to remain in Sweden until the further orders and to act “according to the circumstances”. While Wachtmeister was making unhappy noises about the extra expenses, Psylander and Senyavin went together just fine being two birds of the feather: while it did not come to the battle, Senyavin refused to allow the Dutch to search his ship (which the Dutch claimed to be a merchant one and which was actually 52 guns ship of the line) and demanded a proper treatment declaring that even if the Russian flag is raised on a boat, this qualifies it aa a warship with a mandatory Dutch salute and flag lowering [3].
Couple days prior to the marriage ceremony declarations of war from Denmark, Prussia and Hanover arrived allowing Charles to utter “a historic sentence”: “When the King of Sweden is getting married, the war can wait” [4]. At the ceremony the groom was his usual bellicose self, the bride was charming, population of Stockholm is properly enthusiastic, and everybody was happy.
Even before the wedding Charles had a private meeting with a Russian officer who arrived with Catherine and promptly left on the imperial yacht after the interview accompanied by few Swedish officers carrying instructions to the governors of the Baltic provinces. Taking into an account a relative insignificance of the personages involved, the whole episode passed unnoticed and when the “big wheels” started turning, quite a few people had been up to the unpleasant surprise.
Unpleasant surprises
In March of 1712 some, generally overlooked, events started happening in the Russian Empire. Without too much of a fanfare the troops began marching to its Western border. There were 5 infantry divisions, 5 cavalry divisions, 2 reserve artillery brigades and 10,000 irregulars (Cossacks of Don and Kalmyks), totaling 54,000 infantry, 20,000 regular and 10,000 irregular cavalry with 400 guns moving toward the staging area between Pskov and Witebsk [5].
By the early June of 1712:
- the 1st Separate Corps of lieutenant-general Fermor (1 infantry, 1 cavalry division, 2,000 irregulars and a company of the siege artillery ) and a squadron of 4 bomb-ketches and 2 gunboats, with the Charles’ approval advanced to the Dvina River near Riga where they had been joined by 3,000 Swedes from the local garrisons under command of colonel Treyden.
- the main army of 3 infantry, 2 cavalry divisions with 3,000 irregulars and 1.5 reserve artillery brigade under command of Fieldmarshal Sheremetev had been concentrated behind Dunaburg.
- the 2nd Separate Corps of 1 infantry, 2 cavalry divisions and 5,000 irregulars under command of lieutenant-general Michael Golitsyn was assembled near Polotsk.
Prussian forces in the East Prussia amounted to 10,000 spread between the numerous garrisons. Main Prussian army marched to the Swedish Pomerania.
By that time the coalition members already had been too committed to their plans to pay attention to what is going on the East and, anyway, none of them declared a war on Russia so why would they be worried? In other words, so far there there no surprises of any kind but the first unpleasant one was only days away.
[
Interlude #1. Memel - general background
At that tome the town of Memel was neither big nor too important. The agricultural countryside remained predominantly ethnic Lithuanian through ages and the Lithuanian name for the city "Klaipėda" was thus born in the 16th century as a pejorative, literally meaning "Bread eater" and referring to the castle garrison. There was some trade coming through it but not too much of it (only in mid-XVIII it became important due to the booming timber business). By the beginning of the 18th century, Memel was considered one of the strongest fortresses (Memelfestung) in Prussia but this was not too much of a recommendation [6].
The town of Memel was surrounded by a ditch with 5 bastions. Three of these bastions were not completely enclosed. The square shaped citadel was located to the west along the Kurisches Haff (present-day Curonian Lagoon), its four corers were defended by bastions. The curtain walls had a 25 m. wide moat. The fortifications were in very poor conditions. Furthermore, the suburbs consisting of wooden buildings, it was difficult to observe or to fire on the enemy.
The fortress was under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Rummel, seconded by Captain von Winterfeldt. He had not enough time to improve the defensive works of the entire fortress but had managed to put the citadel in state of defence. The garrison consisted of 800 men from Land Regiment 2 Polentz commanded by 16 officers of which 3 were more than 90 years old and 4 could not get out of bed. Furthermore, there were 800 peasants who had been driven out of the surrounding country. Since there were only 24 gunners to serve the 80 pieces of the fortress, they had to be assisted by infantrymen.
]
Unpleasant surprise #1
Distance from Riga to Memel was slightly above 300 km. Fermor’s march started on June 20.
On June 28, a Russian squadron (4 bomb-ketches and 2 gunboats under the command of Captain Valrunt) appeared in front of the Fortress of Memel located at the mouth of the Kurisches Haff.
On June 29, Rummel ordered to remove the buoys and marks but he could not block the entry of the harbour of Memel.
On June 30 at 6:00 a.m., after summoning Memel to surrender, Valrunt's bomb-ketches opened on the Fortress of Memel and a regular siege was undertaken. These were the first shots exchanged between the Russians and Prussians during this war.
The same day (June 30), Fermor's Corps marched by Budendingshof and Polangen (present-day Palanga/Lithuania). The 1st brigade and the Swedes crossed the Dange River to the north-east of Memel and established themselves to the south of the river near the Fortress of Memel. The 2nd Brigade remained on the north bank of the Dange to cover the artillery and the park. 500 cossacks and 200 hussars under reached Polagen across the Niemen, to protect the left flank of the siege corps.
In the night of June 30 to July 1, under the light of the burning suburbs who had been set afire by the Prussians, Fermor sent 1,000 workers, under the protection of grenadier detachments, to establish infantry positions and batteries some 1,300 meters from the “Preussen” Bastion. The Russians planted 3 20 pounder mortars and 4 40 pounder howitzers in the first parallel.
On July 1 at 6:00 a.m., Fermor's howitzers and mortars opened fire. For 24 hours, the Russian batteries maintained a steady bombardment of the Fortress of Memel. By the evening, 136 bombs had already fallen on Memel. Around 8:00 p.m., the 4 Russian bomb-ketches (Jelefant, Dondier, Dziki Byk, Jupiter) opened fire from a distance on the town. Some 144 bombs fell on the town proper and 140 others on the fortress.
On July 2, Fermor threw bridges on the Dange near Memel. He also opened the second parallel. New batteries opened on the fortress. By the end of the day, the Russian land and naval artillery had fired 982 bombs on the fortress. On the same day Russian squadron of 3 ships of the line, 4 frigates, and 2 cannon boats under command of the Rear Admiral Pamburg [7] arrived and positioned itself outside the Curonian Lagoon.
On July 4, the Russian troops made preparations to storm the fortifications of Memel. Rummel asked Fermor for the authorisation to send a courier to Field-Marshall Lehwaldt [8] the Prussian commander-in-chief in East Prussia. Meanwhile, the Russian artillery intensified the bombardment. By 4:00 p.m., about 2,405 bombs had fallen on Memel since the beginning of the siege.
On July 5 at 2:00 a.m., the Russian artillery intensified the bombardment. At 4:00 a.m., Rummel hoisted the white flag. The burghers and the garrison, even though they had suffered very little losses, could not bear the constant bombardment anymore. After the short negotiations, garrison accepted unconditional surrender and was sent to Livonia. Treyden was appointed governor of Memel and immediately started to repair and improve defensive works.
Memel was turned into the supply base for the further operations.
Unpleasant surprise #2
By time Fermor was done with Memel, Sheremetev’s main force reached Insterburg and Golitsin’s corps was getting close to Rastenburg. To avoid a need of the numerous river crossings Fermor marched his corps South by the Curonian Split using Pamburg’s squadron as a cover.
The Kammerpräsident Domhardt sent a report by courier from Gumbinnen confirming that the Russians had advanced from Memel and would continue their march through to Königsber. Officials at Königsberg met for several day to decide on measures to be taken. Despite all indications already gathered, the invasion of the Russians surprised the officials who had refused to believe that they would do something serious but in a couple days they changed their minds.
On July 10, considering that the defensive works of Königsberg could not withstand bombardment, the government, in association with the magistrates, decided to send a delegation to Fieldmarshal Sheremetev with the proposed surrender of the city, the university and the country. At the same time, the authorities in Königsberg had managed to send to safety the coffers, valuables and important files to Danzig, which proved to be a big mistake [9].
On July 12, 2 bns of the Garrison Regiment Nr. 1 Puttkamer under Lieutenant-Colonels Unruh and Wutenau, respectively occupying Königsberg and Pillau, soon joined by Du Fay‘s hussars, evacuated these places and marched toward Kolberg (present-day Kołobrzeg) in Eastern Pomerania taking with them the best artillery piece of both places. They did not go too far: being trapped between Golitsin’s corps and the Swedish garrison of Elbing they had to capitulate.
On July 13, the Russian vanguard entered Koenigsberg without resistance.
On July 14, Pamburg’s squadron took possession of the abandoned Pillau.
All Northern half of the East Prussia to the Alle River was under the Russian control.
________________
[1] As a Captain of the Öland, a Swedish ship-of-the line he was escorting Swedish merchantmen during the LNW. Followed by a squadron of eight English ships-of-the-line and a frigate, he refused to salute the English squadron when requested to do so by William Whetstone (with Whetstone's reason being that Psilander was in English waters), being under strict orders to not lower his flags under any circumstances by his king because this would damage the Swedish honor. A four-hour battle (Battle of Orford Ness) ensued, with the heavily damaged Öland being captured alongside the convoyed merchant ships. The Swedish Board of Admiralty and Board of Trade refused to demand for his release or support Psilander while he was in captivity, but Charles XII was of a different opinion and successfully demanded the release of the warship and crew. Psilander, his crew, and the convoyed ships were later released and returned to Sweden. However, Öland later sank north of Denmark while homebound.
[2] Not a big surprise because quite a few of them, starting from Wachtmeister, had been also governors of the provinces or held some other administrative positions.
[3] In OTL this episode took place only in 1716
[4] “Historic sentences” are usually being uttered for the posterity and the history books: by the time they are reaching their intended audience the underlying facts are already forgotten and they look rather absurd, which qualifies them as the “historic” ones (like a famous quote from Bayard). In a reality, Charles already put the well-tested mobilization mechanism into the action and had to wait until the troops are assembled so few days of the marriage festivities would do no harm and even raise the national spirit by showing that everything is under control.
[5] Infantry division: 6 infantry regiments (1,800 each), 1 cavalry regiment (800) and 2 artillery brigades (64guns), total 10,800 infantry and 800 cavalry. Cavalry division: 4 cavalry regiments (800), total 3,200.
[6] “Best of the worst” would be probably more to the point.
[7] Who in this TL was not killed in a drunken duel.
[8] In OTL he was in charge during the 7YW but who really cares about specific Prussian fieldmarshal?
[9] On two accounts: 1st, Fieldmarsal was seriously pissed off with their attempt to save the money and 2nd, because the convoy had been intercepted by Golitsin’s Cossacks raiding well ahead of the main body of his corps. The money (minus some reasonable “losses on the road”) had been delivered to the Russian headquarters but Sheremetev was still pissed off and forced the city to pay reparations.
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Poor triple alliance! They made some political misjudgments and will reap the consequences. East Prussia neutralized, and not going to get better. I guess we will next hear about the Prussian attempted sieges of Stralsund and Stettin. They are unlikely to get anywhere before Swedes and Russian reinforcements arrive since Karl has been expecting this. Not unreasonable for East Prussia to be in no shape to face invasion given 1/3rd of its population died of the Black Death in 1709-11 (this was before Prussia joined GNW so should still be true ATL).
OTL the plague reached Holstein in 1712. Jutland is likely to be depopulated pretty badly, much worse than previous Swedish occupations, since invasion will interfere with efforts to contain the plague (OTL Danes were successful in preventing the Plague spreading north from Hamburg). It spread to Neumark in 1710-11, but Prussia managed to prevent it from spreading into Brandenburg Proper. Having 100,000+ Swedes, Russians, and Saxons causing a ruckus is likely to result in the Plague sweeping through. That could hurt Prussia nearly as much as the territorial loses. If Brandenburg sees similar loses to the parts of East Prussia outside Lithuania Minor (which was practically depopulated) of about 25%, that would be perhaps 200,000 deaths over OTL numbers. By the peace treaty 20% of Prussia's 1708 population could be dead and 20% of remainder ceded to victors.
OTL the plague reached Holstein in 1712. Jutland is likely to be depopulated pretty badly, much worse than previous Swedish occupations, since invasion will interfere with efforts to contain the plague (OTL Danes were successful in preventing the Plague spreading north from Hamburg). It spread to Neumark in 1710-11, but Prussia managed to prevent it from spreading into Brandenburg Proper. Having 100,000+ Swedes, Russians, and Saxons causing a ruckus is likely to result in the Plague sweeping through. That could hurt Prussia nearly as much as the territorial loses. If Brandenburg sees similar loses to the parts of East Prussia outside Lithuania Minor (which was practically depopulated) of about 25%, that would be perhaps 200,000 deaths over OTL numbers. By the peace treaty 20% of Prussia's 1708 population could be dead and 20% of remainder ceded to victors.
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Running in all directions…
52. Running in all directions….
Not very cheerful background [2]
Starting from 1705 the Northern Europe had been hit with the plague epidemic [3] which was steadily moving from the PLC to the West and North. In the PLC the losses were terrible. In Cracow 20,000 people died within three years. In Warsaw, 30,000 people died in annually recurring plague epidemics between 1707 and 1710.[6] Poznań lost around 9,000 people, gabout two thirds of its 14,000 inhabitants, to the plague between 1707 and 1709.
In East Prussia the plague had first occurred in late 1708 (see above) and returned from 1709 to 1711, killing up to 245,000 inhabitants, which was more than a third of its population of ~600,000.
In 1709-10 the plague hit the Swedish Pomerania and from it had been spreading into the Prussian Pomerania and Brandenburg.
While the plague eventually spared Berlin, it raged in the northeastern regions of Brandenburg, affecting the New March(Neumark) in 1710 and the Uckermark, where Prenzlau was infected on 3 August 1710. There, the Prussian military enforced a quarantine and nailed up houses where infected people lived. By January 1711, 665 people had died of the plague in Prenzlau and were buried on the city walls, and the quarantine was lifted on 10 August 1711.
The plague raged in Stockholm until 1711, affecting primarily women (45.3% of the dead) and children (38.7% of the dead) in the poorer quarters outside the Old Town. Of Stockholm's approximately 55,000 inhabitants, about 22,000 did not survive the plague. Other parts of the country had been hot to a various degree and the great population losses in the coastal areas severely hit the Swedish naval capacities because the ships crews had been mobilized from these areas. From Stockholm, the plague in August and September 1710 spread to various other places in Uppland, including Uppsala and Enköping, and to Södermanland. The court was evacuated to Sala in August, the riksrådet to Arboga in September. Scania, on the top of everything else, had been hit by a measlesepidemic in 1706, a crop failure and the outbreak of smallpox in 1708–1709, and an outbreak of typhus in 1710.
In Denmark, regardless all precautions, in the early 1711 the plague hit Zealand and reached Copenhagen where from June to November 1711, between 12,000 and 23,000 people died out of a population of ~60,000. However, Zealand remained the only Danish region with cases of the plague except for Holstein.
Of course, the trifles like the plague could not discourage two Fredericks (Frederick IV of Denmark and Frederick I in Prussia) from starting a war.
]
Immediately after the declaration of war the troops of Denmark invaded the Ducal part of Schleswig and Holstein looting the area and carrying with them a plague. From there they proceeded to the Duchy of Bremen-Verden (in union with Sweden), whose capital, Stade, became infected by early July 1712 and on 7 September capitulated to the Danish forces who had entered Bremen-Verden on 31 July.
Being true to himself and always looking for money Frederick IV encircled Hamburg with his forces and confiscated Hamburg vessels on the River Elbe, demanding 500,000 thalers (later reduced to 246,000 thalers) to make up for the alleged discrimination against his subjects in Altona [4] 12,000 Danish soldiers were moved before Hamburg's gates [4].
The Duchy Bremen-Verden was immediately sold to George, Elector of Hanover (for 30,000 thalers) and 15,000 of Hanover’s troops joined the Danish forces. Frederick IV was pursuing what could be defined (depending upon your attitude) as either a multi-prong strategy or what much later Montgomery defined as an attempt to be “present everywhere, strong nowhere”:
Due to an absence of any noticeable military force possessed by the duchy/duchies, operation did not face any problems. The duke was in Sweden, anyway and there was nothing to prevent the Danish troops from capturing and looting the territory and then continue victorious march toward Bremen-Verden (also practically void of the defending forces).
Conquest of Scania
By the time the Danish declaration of war the fortifications along the Öresund coast had been made moderately defensible, especially in Malmö where the garrison had been expanded to 3,550 men. Three cavalry regiments were positioned along the Öresund coast under Colonel Göran Gyllenstierna's command, and both Malmö and Landskrona had enough ammunition and supplies to withstand a six-month siege. Stenbock, who was back to his appointment as the governor of Scania, did not have a sizable force in his disposal and was ordered by Charles to avoid serious engagements until Charles’ arrival with an army. In a meantime, containing the Danes in Scania was the best he could do realistically.
On May 31 more than 250 transport vessels sailed from Copenhagen, escorted by 12 warships led by Admiral Ulrik Christian Gyldenløve. The Danish invasion army consisted of 15,000 men with Christian Ditlev Reventlow as commanding general. On June 1, a signal shot from Landskrona reported that the Danish armada had anchored at Råå, south of Helsingborg. Upon discovering elite Danish troops at Råå, covered by Danish warships, Stenbock decided to retreat to the southeast, destroying all the bridges along the way. By 5 June the invasion army was in full force, and took Helsingborg without resistance. At the end of June, Malmö was blockaded by a Danish contingent of 2,000 men, while Landskrona was encircled in early July. Since the Danes lacked siege artillery, their plan was to starve out the Swedish garrisons.
On 13 July Reventlow began his march towards Kristianstad with a contingent of 6,000 men and eight guns, under orders from Frederick IV to capture Karlskrona and burn the Swedish battle fleet [6]. Before he managed to march for any noticeable distance, a Danish reconnaissance patrol of 200 cavalry units under lieutenant general Jørgen Rantzau encountered the Swedish cavalry and after a short and confused skirmish had to retreat. The most disturbing part was not the loss of few dozen soldiers but a report that at the skirmish the unit wearing uniforms of the Charles’ drabants had been seen. The implication was obvious and Reventlow ordered a forced march back to Helsinborg to join his main force.
On July 15 the Danish force of 14,000 with 32 guns positioned on a front which stretched three kilometers in a north to south direction from Pålsjö forest and the Ringstorp Height to Husensjö. The troops were protected by impassable semi-frozen marshlands.
Charles with an army of 14,000 men and 36 guns formed in a line between Senderöd and Brohuset. In order to get past the marshlands, Charles made a very time-consuming maneuver that finally placed the Swedish left wing between Brohuset and Filborna and succeeded in causing the Danes to leave their favorable position to avoid risking encirclement.
The rest was nothing unexpected or original. Series of the Swedish infantry attacks opened the gaps in the Danish line of battle that couldn't be filled by reserve troops. The elite Danish household guards and a corps of grenadiers were deployed on the edges of the line of battle, but could not prevent the Swedish advance long enough to allow other forces to pull back in good order. The Swedish cavalry led by Rehnskiöld chased off the Danes present and surrounded the remaining grenadiers. The other elite force the Danes had at their disposal, the household guards, had already been forced to retreat and the situation became untenable for the Danes. They started a retreat which turned into a rout and the Swedes aggressively pursued them all the way to and inside Helsinborg not allowing to organize a defense. Less than 3,000 (including von Reventlow) of the initial landing force managed to get back on the transports, the rest had been either killed or taken prisoners.
___________________
[1] The only available image of Lieutenant Rzhevsky
[2] The plague keeps being mentioned in various posts so let’s get the general picture of the situation and be more or less done with it: it depopulated the region but by the time of the Big Foolish War it is already subsiding
[3] In OTL it started few years earlier but let’s not spoil the LNW with the unnecessary complications.
[4] To prevent spreading of the plague, Hamburg established a quarantine restricting travel to the city.
[5] Keeping in mind that (unquestionably great general) Montecuccoli expressed an opinion that the money are the only thing necessary for conducting the war, this probably qualifies the duke as a great military talent, if not an outright military genius. Unfortunately, I could not find information regarding his abilities in some other less important areas of a warfare.
[6] Well, in OTL he issued this order in. 1710 in expectation that the Swedes don’t have any army left (which proved to be a very stupid assumption) but this is the Big Foolish War and he is even more optimistic based upon the fact that in Scania his troops met no resistance.
“Young Count jumped on his horse and as insane galloped in all directions “
Stephen Leacock
“Lieutenant Rzhevsky jumped in a saddle and galloped raising clouds of dust. Only an hour later he noticed that he forgot the horse…”
One of the very few printable stories about lieutenant Rzhevsky [1]
“What to do if the opponent kicked with two fingers into your eyes? - Let the fingers in as deep as possible and then by a sharp twist of your head break them”
Basics of the karate
[Stephen Leacock
“Lieutenant Rzhevsky jumped in a saddle and galloped raising clouds of dust. Only an hour later he noticed that he forgot the horse…”
One of the very few printable stories about lieutenant Rzhevsky [1]
“What to do if the opponent kicked with two fingers into your eyes? - Let the fingers in as deep as possible and then by a sharp twist of your head break them”
Basics of the karate
Not very cheerful background [2]
Starting from 1705 the Northern Europe had been hit with the plague epidemic [3] which was steadily moving from the PLC to the West and North. In the PLC the losses were terrible. In Cracow 20,000 people died within three years. In Warsaw, 30,000 people died in annually recurring plague epidemics between 1707 and 1710.[6] Poznań lost around 9,000 people, gabout two thirds of its 14,000 inhabitants, to the plague between 1707 and 1709.
In East Prussia the plague had first occurred in late 1708 (see above) and returned from 1709 to 1711, killing up to 245,000 inhabitants, which was more than a third of its population of ~600,000.
In 1709-10 the plague hit the Swedish Pomerania and from it had been spreading into the Prussian Pomerania and Brandenburg.
While the plague eventually spared Berlin, it raged in the northeastern regions of Brandenburg, affecting the New March(Neumark) in 1710 and the Uckermark, where Prenzlau was infected on 3 August 1710. There, the Prussian military enforced a quarantine and nailed up houses where infected people lived. By January 1711, 665 people had died of the plague in Prenzlau and were buried on the city walls, and the quarantine was lifted on 10 August 1711.
The plague raged in Stockholm until 1711, affecting primarily women (45.3% of the dead) and children (38.7% of the dead) in the poorer quarters outside the Old Town. Of Stockholm's approximately 55,000 inhabitants, about 22,000 did not survive the plague. Other parts of the country had been hot to a various degree and the great population losses in the coastal areas severely hit the Swedish naval capacities because the ships crews had been mobilized from these areas. From Stockholm, the plague in August and September 1710 spread to various other places in Uppland, including Uppsala and Enköping, and to Södermanland. The court was evacuated to Sala in August, the riksrådet to Arboga in September. Scania, on the top of everything else, had been hit by a measlesepidemic in 1706, a crop failure and the outbreak of smallpox in 1708–1709, and an outbreak of typhus in 1710.
In Denmark, regardless all precautions, in the early 1711 the plague hit Zealand and reached Copenhagen where from June to November 1711, between 12,000 and 23,000 people died out of a population of ~60,000. However, Zealand remained the only Danish region with cases of the plague except for Holstein.
Of course, the trifles like the plague could not discourage two Fredericks (Frederick IV of Denmark and Frederick I in Prussia) from starting a war.
]
Immediately after the declaration of war the troops of Denmark invaded the Ducal part of Schleswig and Holstein looting the area and carrying with them a plague. From there they proceeded to the Duchy of Bremen-Verden (in union with Sweden), whose capital, Stade, became infected by early July 1712 and on 7 September capitulated to the Danish forces who had entered Bremen-Verden on 31 July.
Being true to himself and always looking for money Frederick IV encircled Hamburg with his forces and confiscated Hamburg vessels on the River Elbe, demanding 500,000 thalers (later reduced to 246,000 thalers) to make up for the alleged discrimination against his subjects in Altona [4] 12,000 Danish soldiers were moved before Hamburg's gates [4].
The Duchy Bremen-Verden was immediately sold to George, Elector of Hanover (for 30,000 thalers) and 15,000 of Hanover’s troops joined the Danish forces. Frederick IV was pursuing what could be defined (depending upon your attitude) as either a multi-prong strategy or what much later Montgomery defined as an attempt to be “present everywhere, strong nowhere”:
- Occupation of the Ducal parts of Schleswig-Holstein and then Bremen-Verden (accomplished under the close supervision of the King himself)
- Conquest of Scania (under the inspired leadership of Christian Detlev, count von Reventlow, a brilliant commander whose greatest claim to the military glory was the fact that, when being left in charge of the allied forces in Italy, at the Battle of Calcinato he was beaten by the Duc de Vendome himself losing half of his army by killed, wounded and captured; as a result, it took a combined effort of Prince Eugene and Louis XIV to unscrew situation in Italy into the allied favor).
- Siege of Stralsund (trusted to the duke Carl Rudolf of Wurttemberg who during the WoSS demonstrated a great talent in squeezing the promised payments from the Brits and Dutch [5]).
- Some not clearly identified activities by the Norwegian forces on the Swedish-Norwegian border.
Due to an absence of any noticeable military force possessed by the duchy/duchies, operation did not face any problems. The duke was in Sweden, anyway and there was nothing to prevent the Danish troops from capturing and looting the territory and then continue victorious march toward Bremen-Verden (also practically void of the defending forces).
Conquest of Scania
By the time the Danish declaration of war the fortifications along the Öresund coast had been made moderately defensible, especially in Malmö where the garrison had been expanded to 3,550 men. Three cavalry regiments were positioned along the Öresund coast under Colonel Göran Gyllenstierna's command, and both Malmö and Landskrona had enough ammunition and supplies to withstand a six-month siege. Stenbock, who was back to his appointment as the governor of Scania, did not have a sizable force in his disposal and was ordered by Charles to avoid serious engagements until Charles’ arrival with an army. In a meantime, containing the Danes in Scania was the best he could do realistically.
On May 31 more than 250 transport vessels sailed from Copenhagen, escorted by 12 warships led by Admiral Ulrik Christian Gyldenløve. The Danish invasion army consisted of 15,000 men with Christian Ditlev Reventlow as commanding general. On June 1, a signal shot from Landskrona reported that the Danish armada had anchored at Råå, south of Helsingborg. Upon discovering elite Danish troops at Råå, covered by Danish warships, Stenbock decided to retreat to the southeast, destroying all the bridges along the way. By 5 June the invasion army was in full force, and took Helsingborg without resistance. At the end of June, Malmö was blockaded by a Danish contingent of 2,000 men, while Landskrona was encircled in early July. Since the Danes lacked siege artillery, their plan was to starve out the Swedish garrisons.
On 13 July Reventlow began his march towards Kristianstad with a contingent of 6,000 men and eight guns, under orders from Frederick IV to capture Karlskrona and burn the Swedish battle fleet [6]. Before he managed to march for any noticeable distance, a Danish reconnaissance patrol of 200 cavalry units under lieutenant general Jørgen Rantzau encountered the Swedish cavalry and after a short and confused skirmish had to retreat. The most disturbing part was not the loss of few dozen soldiers but a report that at the skirmish the unit wearing uniforms of the Charles’ drabants had been seen. The implication was obvious and Reventlow ordered a forced march back to Helsinborg to join his main force.
On July 15 the Danish force of 14,000 with 32 guns positioned on a front which stretched three kilometers in a north to south direction from Pålsjö forest and the Ringstorp Height to Husensjö. The troops were protected by impassable semi-frozen marshlands.
Charles with an army of 14,000 men and 36 guns formed in a line between Senderöd and Brohuset. In order to get past the marshlands, Charles made a very time-consuming maneuver that finally placed the Swedish left wing between Brohuset and Filborna and succeeded in causing the Danes to leave their favorable position to avoid risking encirclement.
The rest was nothing unexpected or original. Series of the Swedish infantry attacks opened the gaps in the Danish line of battle that couldn't be filled by reserve troops. The elite Danish household guards and a corps of grenadiers were deployed on the edges of the line of battle, but could not prevent the Swedish advance long enough to allow other forces to pull back in good order. The Swedish cavalry led by Rehnskiöld chased off the Danes present and surrounded the remaining grenadiers. The other elite force the Danes had at their disposal, the household guards, had already been forced to retreat and the situation became untenable for the Danes. They started a retreat which turned into a rout and the Swedes aggressively pursued them all the way to and inside Helsinborg not allowing to organize a defense. Less than 3,000 (including von Reventlow) of the initial landing force managed to get back on the transports, the rest had been either killed or taken prisoners.
___________________
[1] The only available image of Lieutenant Rzhevsky
[2] The plague keeps being mentioned in various posts so let’s get the general picture of the situation and be more or less done with it: it depopulated the region but by the time of the Big Foolish War it is already subsiding
[3] In OTL it started few years earlier but let’s not spoil the LNW with the unnecessary complications.
[4] To prevent spreading of the plague, Hamburg established a quarantine restricting travel to the city.
[5] Keeping in mind that (unquestionably great general) Montecuccoli expressed an opinion that the money are the only thing necessary for conducting the war, this probably qualifies the duke as a great military talent, if not an outright military genius. Unfortunately, I could not find information regarding his abilities in some other less important areas of a warfare.
[6] Well, in OTL he issued this order in. 1710 in expectation that the Swedes don’t have any army left (which proved to be a very stupid assumption) but this is the Big Foolish War and he is even more optimistic based upon the fact that in Scania his troops met no resistance.
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