- For other Battles of Narva, see Battle of Narva (disambiguation).
The Battle of Narva was an early battle in the Great Northern War fought in November of 1700. The Swedish army under Charles XII of Sweden (Karl XII in Swedish) crushed a Russian force four times its size, commanded by Peter the Great. Narva marked the peak of Swedish power on the continent, with Russia eventually finding decisive victories to end the conflict. The fight at Narva was a massive defeat for Russia.
Prelude
During the 17th century, Russia was less advanced than the rest of Europe. This extended to their armed forces.[5]. Peter the Great was keen to expand his territory by conquering parts of the Swedish Baltic provinces. Russia joined an alliance with Denmark-Norway, Poland and Saxony to wage war against Sweden whereupon all four countries attacked Sweden from several directions.
Charles XII, assisted by the Royal Navy and the Dutch Navy, first landed in Humlebaek north of Copenhagen and forced Denmark-Norway to leave the alliance (until 1709). He then moved part of the Swedish army across the Baltic Sea to Estonia where it was joined by Estonian and Finnish regiments of the Swedish army.
The new Russian Tsar, Peter I, would drastically modernize Russia in the coming years, but the army with which he traveled in 1700 was still poorly drilled. Peter had employed foreign generals and officers to improve his armed forces, but they were still far from seasoned. Sweden, on the other hand, possessed a well-drilled and well-equipped army. Charles XII of Sweden had the most complete military force in northern Europe, even if it wasn't the biggest, and Peter envied its capabilities.[5]
During November, Russian troops surrounded the Swedish city of Narva in Estonia (part of Sweden at the time), attempting to secure its surrender via siege. A Saxon-Polish army commanded by August II and Steinau was outside Riga in Swedish Livonia. The Saxon-Polish army however had gone into winter camp south of river Daugava so Charles XII decided to deal with the more immediate Russian threat against Narva.
King Charles moved to relieve the city and push Peter's forces back into Russia.
The battle
On November 30, 1700 (November 20 in the Swedish transitional calendar), Charles XII positioned his 8,140 men opposite the besieging Russian army of about 37,000 troops.
The Swedish army was commanded personally by Charles XII, assisted by General Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld. The Russian forces were commanded by Tsar Peter and Charles Eugène de Croy. Claiming important domestic events in Russia to which he was required to attend, Peter had left Narva just days before and was therefore not present during the actual fighting. He trusted that his commanders would draw success from the battle, and presumed that Charles XII would not immediately attack his well fortified forces of superior number. Some interpretations view his flight from Narva days before the battle an act of cowardice; most of Europe mocked the Tsar after the battle for his departure. However, some scholars believe this accusation has little merit, as the Tsar had purportedly placed himself in physical danger too many times previously for his flight to be out of cowardice.[6]
For much of the day, a blizzard engulfed both armies, making attacks impossible. However, at midday, the winds changed and the snowstorm blew directly into the eyes of the Russians. Charles XII saw his opportunity and advanced on the Russian army under cover of the weather. The Swedes quickly broke through the Russian lines in several places, scattering their opponents, who could offer little resistance. In the chaos, some of the Russian soldiers killed their foreign officers, whom they hated. At one crucial point, a bridge over river Narva collapsed under retreating Russian troops. The bulk of the Russian army was trapped on the Estonian side of the river.
At dawn, it was clear that the Swedish army had won a stunning victory, but the force was relatively small and they had advanced on Narva in marches with scarce supplies for two days. One Swedish cavalry officer suddenly found himself in front of a fully armed Russian infantry company. He signed to them to lay down their arms, and they obliged. The Swedish troops discovered not only food in the Russian camp, but also liquor. Drunkenness broke out in the Swedish ranks. Nevertheless, the Swedish command managed to retain basic control of the army, however the overall number of Russian prisoners of the war were far to great to handle for the Swedish force. Consequently, common soldiers and NCO's were disarmed and sent back to Russia. Only Russian officers were made prisoners of war. In the end the Russian army was utterly defeated and the Swedes retained Narva.
The Russian surrender brought to Charles XII's army all of Peter's cannons, muskets and military supplies. This left Russia's remaining armed forces with essentially no equipment. If Sweden, or any other aggressor, had invaded Russia immediately after Narva, Peter would have been almost powerless to stop them.[5]
Second battle
Four years after the first battle of Narva, Tsar Peter marched again in an attempt to capture Narva. Peter marched with 45,000 men. The garrisson of Narva was under the Commandant Major-General Henning Rudolf Horn af Ranzien and consisted of 3,800 infantry and 1,300 cavalry. The Russians made a three-fronted attack and after a long battle they took Narva. General Horn, several officers and a large number of Swedish soldiers were captured, with about 3,200 casualties. The Russians, though successful, also suffered heavy losses — 13,000 men during the siege and final attack.
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