Sweden

by Victor Alfred Nilsson

Charles now turned against Russia. With an army of somewhat more than 8,000 men he sailed for Ingermanland to attack the invaders, at least five times as many in numbers, who were laying siege to the town of Narva. The majority of the Russian troops consisted of serfs who were taken directly from their work and were without any military training. This army of undisciplined serfs was to a great extent commanded by foreign adventurers. The news of the approach of the Swedish troops brought consternation. Several of the Russian officers shed tears, while the czar quickly left his army to gather more troops. The remarkable battle of Narva was fought November 20, 1700. King Charles offered the enemies a battle in the open field, but when they refused to accept or to come out, he attacked them in their trenches, which formed a semi-circle around the town of Narva, with the wings touching the river of the same name. The war-cry of the Swedes was: “With the help of God!” Their attack was favored by a snowstorm, which blew in the faces of the Russians, blinding them. The enemies could tell that the Swedes were few in numbers, but thought that reinforcements must be on the way. The trenches were filled with bundles of fagots, the ramparts were mounted, and the Russians thrown into confusion. The Russian cavalry fled at the opening of the artillery fire. The rest, crushed in between the walls of the town and their aggressors, tried to escape on every side. The Swedes soon had cut the immense Russian line of troops in twain at the centre. The half which consisted of the right wing moved down to the bridge over the Narva River. But the bridge gave way under the weight of the first 3,000 men, who found their graves in the river below. The rest of the right wing was hedged in between the Swedes and the river. The regiments of the Russian guards, who were the most experienced of the troops, fought bravely for some time, but great confusion ensued among the others, the soldiers wanting to kill their foreign officers, whom they blamed for the catastrophe. The chief commander, Duke de Croi, with several other foreigners, for this reason surrendered to the king.

The Russian soldiers of the right wing, abandoned by their superior officers, made heroic efforts to defend themselves behind barricades which they erected for the moment. King Charles hastened to the spot, but was very near losing his life in passing through a swamp. He sank so deep that the water rose to his neck, and he could save himself only by leaving his horse, his sword, and one of his heavy boots behind in the mud. Without in the least improving his condition, the king took another horse and sought his way to the heart of the battle. The Russians were killed in masses, but did not surrender before King Charles had taken a Russian battery, thus depriving them of the last hope of being reunited with the left wing. The latter, who kept in the vicinity of their trenches, had fought with a good deal of courage. At nightfall two officers were sent from the right wing to ask the king for an armistice, which was granted. King Charles spent the night in his wet clothes, by the bivouac fire, on the ground, his head resting in the lap of one of his soldiers. In the morning, before dawn, two Russian generals arrived, demanding free leave for the remainder of the right wing. This was granted, but the superior officers had to remain as prisoners of war. The commander of the left wing also opened negotiations. Free leave was granted them upon the surrender of their arms. It must have been an impressive sight to see the body of 12,000 Russians, with heads uncovered, who passed in line by only half as many Swedes, depositing their banners and arms at the feet of Charles XII. It was a wise plan to keep as prisoners only the superior officers, for the Swedes had not the means at hand to watch and feed so many prisoners as those who were allowed a free leave. In the battle of Narva 18,000 Russians were killed or captured; the hostile camp, baggage and artillery fell into the hands of the victors. Charles XII. made his solemn entry into Narva, where Te Deum was sung in the cathedral. Charles with his own hand crossed out all expressions of vainglory over the success or disdain of the vanquished which occurred in the official account of the victory to be sent to Stockholm.

In the following year Charles XII. turned against his third enemy, King August. Saxon troops, 10,000 strong, were joined by 19,000 Russians, and had taken a strongly fortified position on the southern shore of the river Dvina. Charles decided to cross the river from Livonia and attack the enemy. The famous crossing of the Dvina was planned in all details by Eric Dahlberg, the venerable hero and engineer from the wars of Charles X. and Charles XI. Baron Dahlberg died not long after this memorable event. It was June 27, 1701. The Swedish infantry was carried across in prams, the cavalry on fleet-bridges provided with wooden walls on hinges, which, when erect, were a protection against the fire of the enemy, and, when let down, formed gangways for the landing. In front of all boats loaded with hay and straw were sent out, which were ignited, sending a thick, disagreeable smoke in the face of the enemy. The artillery in the prams kept up a disastrous fire. Charles XII. was one of the first to land, and opened the attack when only half of his infantry had reached the shore. The Russians soon scattered in wild flight. The Saxons withstood three powerful attacks, but at last followed the bad example set by their allies. The battle was fought and won before the Swedish cavalry had reached the shore. The bountiful provisions of the scattered army were captured. The crossing of the Dvina was executed under the direction of Charles Magnus Stuart and Count Magnus Stenbock.

The victories of the young hero king and his valiant soldiers aroused the admiration of all Europe, and much sympathy was expressed for Sweden, who had so successfully warded off a deceitful and unjust attack. Charles XII. received offers of peace from his enemies, but he did not accept them. He did not believe that his treacherous neighbors would keep their promises, and he was no doubt right. He ought to have crushed Russia first, but his victory over Czar Peter had been too easily acquired to make him realize the genius, power and resources of this semi-barbarous enemy. Charles considered King August a more formidable opponent, which was a mistake; but his suspicion that the latter would attack him from behind if he entered Russia would probably have proved to be well founded had circumstances permitted. So Charles invaded Poland, resolved to gain by the interior conflict which was disturbing the peace of that country. He wanted to dethrone August and select a prince who would keep faith with Sweden.

The Polish empire had not taken any active part in the war against Sweden, but Charles XII. demanded that the Poles should prove their good faith by dethroning August and by choosing a native king. When they refused, he let his army enter Poland. For four years King Charles remained there, marching from one part of the country to the other. He conquered the Polish capitals of Warsaw and Cracow, and several other fortified places, winning over a considerable group within the nobility. In 1704 the Diet of Warsaw was called, at which the Polish nobles, in the presence of Swedish troops under the command of Count Arvid Horn, were compelled to deprive August of his crown and elect a new king according to the instructions of King Charles. The new king chosen was the noble, but incapable Stanislav Leczinski, who belonged to an aristocratic family of little influence and few connections. He was an upright and highly educated man, but lacked energy. King August was not willing to abdicate, for which reason King Charles pursued him into his hereditary land. The line of march to Saxony went through Silesia, a neutral country belonging to the empire of Austria. As the army of August had been allowed to pass this country, Charles argued that the same right must be granted him and his troops. At the river Oder, Charles was met by a number of persecuted Protestants, who, kneeling and weeping, prayed for his assistance in pleading their cause before the emperor. Charles promised them to do so, and kept his word.

The Swedish army entered Saxony in the year 1706. The inhabitants, who had in a clear memory the acts of recklessness and cruelty committed by the troops of John Banér, fled for their lives, taking along all the property that could be moved. To their great surprise, they saw the Swedes encamp themselves as quietly as in time of serenest peace. No violence was committed. Nothing was taken, except in exchange for money. But a heavy war tax was imposed, which made both August and his people inclined to seek an early end of the war.

Thanks to the means raised in this manner, the Swedish army was provided with an entirely new outfit of clothes and furnished with necessary provisions. Every regiment established a savings bank of its own, in which the soldiers deposited their earnings. The castle of Alt-Ranstædt was the headquarters of Charles XII., situated close by the memorable battlefield of Lutzen. The sojourn of Charles XII. in Saxony was an incident of universal importance to the history of Europe. He had with his soldiers approached the scene of a conflict which was shaking the whole of Western and Southern Europe. The situation was such that it for the moment hung at the point of the victorious sword of Charles XII. The great question was whether he was resolved to take an active part in the universal conflict. Charles was besieged at his headquarters by princes, warriors and statesmen, who came to pay their respects, desirous of winning his favor and of getting an idea of his plans. The Swedish invasion of Saxony was highly beneficial to the interests of France, and Louis XIV. was the first to admit it, anxious to make the stay of Charles as long as possible, because it had caused a standstill in the hostilities against France. The Duke of Marlborough was among the visitors of Charles XII. He brought a letter of courtesy from Queen Anne, who wrote that the letter “came not from her chancery but from her heart, and was written by her own hand.” She longed to meet the famous king personally. The duke’s errand was to find out whether Charles was to join the fighting forces of Western Europe or to attack Russia. He was glad to learn that the latter move was the one which the king had in mind. Although the two great warriors expressed mutual admiration, neither was sympathetically impressed by the other. Charles XII. thought Marlborough looked “too fine” for a soldier, while the latter thought the rude simplicity of the king an affectation by which to obtain notoriety. On account of the great influx of distinguished visitors, the style of living was quite different at the royal headquarters of Alt-Ranstædt to what it was during the Polish and Russian wars. But the king kept up the heavy military drills and long individual expeditions on horseback, which he thought indispensable. One of the first ones of the latter which he undertook was to visit the battlefield of Lutzen. The king remembered distinctly all that he had read about the famous battle, and made clear to his generals the various positions of the two armies. At Schwedenstein, the place where Gustavus Adolphus fell, he lingered for a long while in silence. At last he said: “I always have tried to live as he did. May God grant me the grace of dying in like manner.”

King August was satisfied to conclude a treaty of peace, which was signed at Alt-Ranstædt. He renounced the crown of Poland and recognized Stanislav Leczinski as the legitimate king. August turned over John Reinhold Patkul, a Livonian traitor, who during the reign of Charles XI. had made himself disagreeably conspicuous, and who had been intriguing against Sweden ever since. Charles XII. was, in gentleness and justice, far in advance of his contemporaries, but he made an exception to his ordinary course of clemency in the case of Patkul, who was executed according to the cruel practice of the time. When the Swedish army left their camp, after peace was made, the regiments were for many miles followed by the grateful inhabitants, who, with tears in their eyes, gave evidence of their friendship. The reason was that the good-natured soldiers of the regular army had followed the habits of their country in assisting their temporary hosts in their various rural pursuits. The Swedes were greeted by the people of Silesia with great enthusiasm, out of gratitude for the improved conditions which the emperor had granted them, at the request of the king. Charles XII. thus made good, in a measure, the acts of violence committed by the Swedish army during the Thirty Years’ War, and proved that he had at heart the cause of religious liberty.

Czar Peter was now to be punished, when it was too late. The Russians had invaded the Baltic provinces and captured the fortress of Nœteborg, which Czar Peter gave the new and significant name of Schluesselburg. The new Russian capital of St. Petersburg, with formidable fortresses, was founded in 1703. The laborers were carried away by force from the various parts of the immense empire. They died in great numbers of prostration and of fevers, the Swedes also doing their best to impede the progress of the work. The vacancies were rapidly filled by new multitudes. While the Swedish king was fighting in Poland, the provinces of Ingermanland, Esthonia and Livonia were overrun by the Russians, who devastated the country with acts of cruelty. Dorpat was captured and Narva fell after a bloody conflict, being bravely defended by Rudolph Horn. The Russians destroyed the Swedish navy of the Lake Peipus and penetrated to the province of Courland where Charles XII. had left a considerable detachment of troops. The plan of Czar Peter to conquer Courland and cut off Charles from the connections with his empire was frustrated by General Adam Louis Lewenhaupt.[4] He met a formidable Russian force, several times as numerous as his own, at Gemauerthof, near Mitau, which he routed, in 1705.