The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia

by Voltaire

This was the same Steinbock, who in the year 1710, after the defeat of Pultowa, had revenged the Swedes on the Danes by the eruption he made into Scania, where he marched against and engaged them with only a few militia, whom he had hastily gathered together, with their arms slung round them with ropes, and totally defeated the enemy. He was, like all the other generals of Charles XII. active and enterprising; but his valour was sullied by his brutality: as an instance of which, it will be sufficient to relate, that having, after an engagement with the Russians, given orders to kill all the prisoners, and perceiving a Polish officer in the service of the czar, who had caught hold on king Stanislaus' stirrup, then on horseback, in order to save his life, he, Steinbock, shot him dead with his pistol in that prince's arms, as has been already mentioned in the life of Charles XII. and king Stanislaus has declared to the author of this History, that had he not been withheld by his respect and gratitude to the king of Sweden, he should immediately have shot Steinbock dead upon the spot.

Dec. 9, 1712.] General Steinbock now marched by the way of Wismar to meet the combined forces of the Russians, Danes, and Saxons, and soon found himself near the Danish and Saxon army, which was advanced before that of the Russians about the distance of three leagues. The czar sent three couriers, one after another, to the king of Denmark, beseeching him to wait his coming up, and thereby avoid the danger which threatened him, if he attempted to engage the Swedes with an equality of force; but the Danish monarch, not willing to share with any one the honour of a victory which he thought sure, advanced to meet the Swedish general, whom he attacked near a place called Gadebusch. This day's affair gave a further proof of the natural enmity that subsisted between the Swedes and Danes. The officers of these two nations fought with most unparalleled inveteracy against each other, and neither side would desist till death terminated the dispute.

Steinbock gained a complete victory before the Russian army could come up to the assistance of the Danes, and the next day received an order from his master, Charles, to lay aside all thoughts of a suspension of arms, who, at the same time, upbraided him for having entertained an idea so injurious to his honour, and for which he told him he could make no reparation, but by conquering or perishing. Steinbock had happily obviated the orders and the reproach by the victory he had gained.

But this victory was like that which had formerly brought such a transient consolation to king Augustus, when in the torrent of his misfortunes he gained the battle of Calish against the Swedes, who were conquerors in every other place, and which only served to aggravate his situation, as this of Gadebusch only procrastinated the ruin of Steinbock and his army.

When the king of Sweden received the news of Steinbock's success, he looked upon his affairs as retrieved, and even flattered himself with hopes to engage the Ottoman Porte to declare for him, who at that time seemed disposed to come to a new rupture with the czar: full of these fond imaginations, he sent orders to general Steinbock to fall upon Poland, being still ready to believe, upon the least shadow of success, that the day of Narva, and those in which he gave laws to his enemies, were again returned. But unhappily he too soon found these flattering hopes utterly blasted by the affair of Bender, and his own captivity amongst the Turks.

The whole fruits of the victory at Gadebusch were confined to the surprising in the night-time, and reducing to ashes, the town of Altena, inhabited by traders and manufacturers, a place wholly defenceless, and which, not having been in arms, ought, by all the laws of war and nations, to have been spared; however, it was utterly destroyed, several of the inhabitants perished in the flames, others escaped with their lives, but naked, and a number of old men, women, and children, perished with the cold and fatigue they suffered, at the gates of Hamburg. Such has too often been the fate of several thousands of men for the quarrels of two only; and this cruel advantage was the only one gained by Steinbock; for the Russians, Danes, and Saxons pursued him so closely, that he was obliged to beg for an asylum in Toningen, a fortress in the duchy of Holstein, for himself and army.

This duchy was at that time subjected to the most cruel ravages of any part of the North, and its sovereign was the most miserable of all princes. He was nephew to Charles XII. and it was on his father's account, who had married Charles's sister, that that monarch carried his arms even into the heart of Copenhagen, before the battle of Narva, and for whom he likewise made the treaty of Travendahl, by which the dukes of Holstein were restored to their rights.

This country was in part the cradle of the Cimbri, and of the old Normans, who overrun the province of Neustria, in France, and conquered all England, Naples, and Sicily; and yet, at this present time, no state pretends less to make conquests than this part of the ancient Cimbrica Chersonesus, which consists only of two petty duchies; namely, that of Sleswic, belonging in common to the king of Denmark and the duke of Holstein, and that of Gottorp, appertaining to the duke alone. Sleswic is a sovereign principality; Holstein is a branch of the German empire, called the Roman empire.

The king of Denmark, and the duke of Holstein-Gottorp, were of the same family; but the duke, nephew to Charles XII. and presumptive heir to his crown, was the natural enemy of the king of Denmark, who had endeavoured to crush him in the very cradle. One of his father's brothers, who was bishop of Lubec, and administrator of the dominions of his unfortunate ward, now beheld himself in the midst of the Swedish army, whom he durst not succour, and those of Russia, Denmark, and Saxony, that threatened his country with daily destruction. Nevertheless, he thought himself obliged to try to save Charles's army, if he could do it without irritating the king of Denmark, who had made himself master of his country, which he exhausted, by raising continual contributions.

This bishop and administrator was entirely governed by the famous baron Gortz, the most artful and enterprising man of his age, endowed with a genius amazingly penetrating, and fruitful in every resource: with talents equal to the boldest and most arduous attempts; he was as insinuating in his negotiations as he was hardy in his projects; he had the art of pleasing and persuading in the highest degree, and knew how to captivate all hearts by the vivacity of his genius, after he had won them by the softness of his eloquence. He afterwards gained the same ascendant over Charles XII. which he had then over the bishop; and all the world knows, that he paid with his life the honour he had of governing the most ungovernable and obstinate prince that ever sat upon a throne.