Battle of Storkyro

Battle of Isokyrö

Date	February 19, 1714 (O.S.) March 2, 1714 (N.S.)
Location	Napue village, Isokyrö (Storkyro), Ostrobothnia, Finland, Swedish Empire
Result	Decisive Russian victory

Belligerents

Swedish Empire

Tsardom of Russia

Commanders and leaders

Carl Gustaf Armfeldt

Mikhail Golitsyn

Strength

4,500

approx. 9,000 9 guns

Casualties and losses

1,600 killed and 900 wounded or captured

At least 400 killed and about 1,500 wounded

The Battle of Isokyrö (Swedish Storkyro) was fought on February 19, 1714 (O.S.) / March 2, 1714 (N.S.) at the villages of Napue and Laurola in Isokyrö parish (N62 58.96 E22 21.84 WGS84), Ostrobothnia, Swedish Empire (present day Finland) between the Swedish and the Russian army, as part of the Great Northern War.

The Swedish force, consisting almost entirely of Finnish troops, was destroyed by the numerically (twice) superior Russian force. As a result, all of Finland fell under Russian military occupation for the rest of the war, a seven-year period of hardship known in Finland as the Great Wrath.

By 1703 Russian forces had reached the inner parts of the Gulf of Finland, and founded the city of Saint Petersburg. Since the Swedish main army was engaged in Poland and later in Russia, Sweden was hard pressed to defend its Baltic territories. After the battle of Poltava, Russia took all of Livonia, Estonia and Ingria, as well as the counties of Viborg, Savonlinna and Kexholm.

When Charles XII of Sweden refused to enter peace negotiations, Denmark and Russia drew up plans with the purpose to threaten . Two attack routes were considered: one through southern Sweden and the other through Finland and the Åland islands. The southern attack was deemed more important, but the attack on Finland was to be carried out in order to tie down as much of the remaining Swedish army as possible there. However, the attack from the south was successfully fended off by Magnus Stenbock's victory at Helsingborg in 1710.

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Wikipedia