The Battle of Kliszów 1702 - The Battles of The Great Northern War Documentary - Episode 3

[Music] the 17th and early 18th century saw the meteoric rise of the kingdom of sweden from a small backwards nation to a great baltic power one young king crowned at the age of 15 would lead this swedish empire both to the heights of its glory and the depths of its defeat join with us as we explore the battles of the great northern war [Music] with his army now safely across the duna river and his enemies retreating in different directions king charles xii of sweden set about securing the polish lithuanian region of courland which included the capture of the fortress of augustburg on december 21 1701 where the swedish army took possession of 77 siege artillery pieces and 18 mortars with corlin secured in early 1702 charles took his victorious army south in pursuit of the retreating saxons reaching warsaw and capturing the city without a fight on may 14th meanwhile the western half of europe was engaged in a new conflict of its own the king of spain charles ii died on november 1st 1700 having no children of his own to succeed him prior to his death charles ii had declared his relative philip of anjou who was the grandson of the king of france louis xiv to be his designated heir fearing the power of a unified spanish and french empire the habsburgs of the holy roman empire together with the british empire formed an alliance to maintain the separation of the spanish and french thrones though deemed an empire the holy roman empire was in reality a collection of independent germanic states of which the electorate of saxony and therefore elector augustus the strong was a member not wishing to be drawn into yet another conflict with the holy roman empire king charles realized that his best and perhaps only chance to defeat augustus would slip from his grasp if the saxon king withdrew to the safety of the holy roman empire's territory to that end in the late spring of 1702 king charles xii set out southward on the road towards krakow with the hopes of catching and destroying the saxon army and king augustus with it the reaction of the polish and lithuanian peoples to the passing swedish army varied some viewing the swedish troops as invaders while others maintained that the swedish army was liberating the commonwealth from a foreign monarch on july 18 1702 after a spring campaign spent chasing the saxon forces southwest the two foes made camp just five miles apart making battle the next day nearly inevitable unknown to both king charles and augustus the strong a small polish army under the command of hironim augustine lubomirsky was making its way to rendezvous with king augustus to whom they had remained loyal as the night sky was lit up by the rising sun of july 19th both the swedish army and their saxon and polish counterparts prepared themselves for the coming battle in the early morning light of the 19th of july exactly one year to the day after he had successfully crossed the duna into polish lithuanian territory king charles arrayed his troops for battle five miles south the saxon forces under augustus which had spent the previous night encamped just outside of klissau also prepared to receive an attack [Music] king augustus deployed his saxon soldiers in a strong defensive formation with a stretch of marshy land and field works making the center of his army nearly impregnable with the wings defended by two large contingents of cavalry the saxon right flank was further strengthened by the arrival of general lubomirsky's polish army 7 300 men strong bringing the total of saxon and polish troops to over 24 000. having received news of polish forces arriving on the field king charles arrayed his 12 000 swedish troops in a defensive position around their encampment the sun rose and the early morning fog burned away and yet no saxon attack materialized and so at 9am king charles ordered his troops to advance by noon the swedish forces were emerging from the trees arranged into battle lines across from their saxon and polish counterparts king charles needing a decisive battle that would crush the saxon army before it could escape into lands controlled by the holy roman empire outlined a bold strategy though his troops were outnumbered by a factor of two to one the swedish king planned to envelop the saxon and polish army driving back both their flanks before surrounding and crushing the army completely at 2 pm after strengthening both his flanks the swedish left under the command of king charles's brother-in-law frederick iv the duke of holstein-gator began its advance in response the saxon artillery positioned in their encampments opened fire sending solid shot ripping into both the swedish center and left flank the swedish artillery of whom all but four pieces were still struggling through the forest was ineffectual in response [Music] as the swedish troops advanced a stray artillery round flew over their lines and struck their commander duke frederick iv killing him almost instantly command was passed to general otto velik but in the ensuing chaos the swedish infantry advance faltered and came to a halt meanwhile in the saxon encampment king augustus realized his own forces vastly outnumbered his swedish foes and formulated a plan to attack the polish reinforcements primarily made up of poorly trained cavalry with an elite core of 1240 winged hazards would hold their ground and wait for an opportunity to charge while the two sacks in heavy cavalry formations would roll up the swedish flanks allowing all three forces to converge with devastating effect general steinau who commanded the saxon left flank ordered his cavalry forward across the marshy ground with the goal of isolating and destroying the numerically inferior swedish right flank under the command of general rensguild [Music] carl gustav rinskild a veteran of the scanian war and military mentor to king charles allowed a portion of the saxon cavalry to cross the marsh before ordering his 2 100 cavalrymen to charge with cold steel the swedish cavalry smashed into and scattered the saxon cavalry regiment forcing it back across the swampy stream success was short-lived as saxon dragoons managed to counter-attack driving the swedish cavalry back and once again establishing a foothold on the far side of the marsh [Music] meanwhile on the swedish left flank order was restored and swedish cavalry wedges charged towards the polish panchayani cavalry while the infantry resumed its advance the swedish cavalry initially had great success as large numbers of the poorly disciplined panchayani cavalry fled before the charging suites eventually however their momentum slowed and both sides withdrew to regroup [Music] the saxon cavalry noticing that the advancing swedish infantry's flank was now in the air attempted to cross the stream and attack but were unable to find suitable crossing points for their heavy cavalry with the swedish cavalry now slowed and no saxon attack materializing general lubomirsky ordered his panchayani forward the sudden polish attack caught the swedish infantry by surprise crashing into them with devastating effect king charles noticing the threat rode into the fray and rallied his wavering troops who managed to force back the polish cavalry largely due to the number of pikemen still employed in swedish formations seeing his panchayani's charge faltering general lubomirsky ordered the winged hazaras forward the legendary cavalry force charged head-on towards the swedish infantry but were unable to break through as the swedish troops were now stationary and prepared for a cavalry attack the last charge of the winged tessars perhaps the most famous and impactful formation in european history was over general velenk ordered his remaining cavalry reserves to execute a flanking maneuver which shattered the penn cherny that were tying down the main body of swedish cavalry though a desperate charge by the polish reserves forced back the swedish flanking force a counter charge by the main body of swedish cavalry scattered the polish horsemen in turn back on the western side of the battlefield saxon cavalry began to expand its foothold across the small stream as swedish cavalry under general rensguild reformed and prepared to charge once again at the sound of bugle calls the swedish cavalry charged towards the saxon dragoons smashing into their still organizing formations and driving them back across the marshy stream this time however the swedish cavalry followed their retreating foes beyond the stream maintaining their momentum and crashing into the saxon cavalry that had yet to cross the melee was brief and the disorganized and disheartened saxon cavalry fled [Music] general johann schulenberg in command of the saxon center rushed infantry to shore up his crumbling left flank the saxon troops managed to get a volley into the disorganized swedish cavalry driving them back and temporarily stabilizing that flank on the opposite side of the battlefield the polish cavalry its momentum expended without breaking the morale of the swedish infantry and with swedish cavalry forces preparing to charge them from behind began to break off from the fight and retire from the field general luba mirsky and his polish army fled south pursued by swedish cavalry all the way to the village of kiye [Music] meanwhile the saxon heavy cavalry was only now making its way across the stream only to be forced back by the concentrating swedish cavalry and infantry as general schulenberg issued orders to strengthen his flanks the swedish center began its advance marching into the swampy ravine and trading volleys with the defending infantry but too little effect as the saxon troops were protected by their earthworks with the polish army gone and both his flanks under heavy attack king augustus's situation was desperate but it soon became worse [Music] on the swedish right flank general renskill's cavalry reorganized and launched another attack though this assault was repelled it allowed a detachment of cavalry troopers to slip past the saxon flank and threaten the saxon heavy artillery whose crews were forced to spike their guns and flee by 4 30 in the afternoon king charles in command of the swedish left flank had reached the outskirts of augustus's camp and the deteriorating saxon army began its retreat southwest towards the nearest crossing point of the nida river charles pushed his exhausted flanking forces forward hoping to completely encircle the saxon army and destroy it before they can make their escape but general schulenberg's troops still relatively unscathed by the day's combat executed a textbook fighting withdrawal allowing the vast majority of the saxon army to slip away by 5 pm the last of the fighting was over [Music] the battle of klissau was yet another stunning victory for the swedish king he had attacked an enemy over twice his size and routed it from the field the swedish losses were once again light with roughly 300 killed and an additional 800 wounded the combined saxon and polish forces lost 1 800 men killed and an additional 900 men wounded along with 1 700 men captured [Music] though the battle of klissau was an impressive swedish victory and allowed king charles to take krakow without a fight by the end of the month it was anything but the total victory that the swedish king had hoped for due in large part to the courageous fighting withdrawal made by schulenburg's troops the bulk of the saxon army as well as augustus himself had managed to live to fight another day [Music] as the swedish campaign of 1702 in southern poland drew to a close king charles received word of two russian victories against his outnumbered forces along the baltic first at erestfur on january 9th and the second at hummelshaw on july 29th in both battles the vastly outnumbered swedish defensive forces had been overwhelmed by their russian foes these battles marked the first major victories against swedish troops since the outbreak of the war two years prior though troubled by news of russian activity in the baltic king charles nevertheless set about evicting what remained of the saxon forces in the polish lithuanian commonwealth to this end the swedish king with the support of noble families throughout the commonwealth formed the lithuanian confederation with the aim of dethroning augustus the strong and installing stanislaw lestinsky as king civil war had come to the polish lithuanian commonwealth if you enjoyed this documentary on the battle of klissau please consider liking the video as it really helps out the channel and consider subscribing so you won't miss the next episode of the battles of the great northern war [Music] you

Channel: The Siberian Productions

Views: 1,675

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Id: yqevf-uAi8k

Length: 22min 13sec (1333 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 29 2021