Crossing of the Daugava

Crossing of the Düna

Crossing of the Düna 1701 by Daniel Stawert

Date	July 8, 1701 (O.S.) July 9, 1701 (Swedish calendar) July 19, 1701 (N.S.)
Location	Riga, Swedish Livonia (present-day Latvia)
Result	Swedish victory

Belligerents

Swedish Empire

Saxony

Tsardom of Russia

Duchy of Courland

Commanders and leaders

Charles XII

Steinau

Paykull

Repnin

Kettler

Strength

14,000 men:
of which 7,000 engaged

29,000 men:
of which 13,000 engaged

Casualties and losses

100 dead,
400 wounded

1,300 dead and wounded,
700 captured

The Crossing of the Düna (also known as Battle of Riga) took place during the Great Northern War on July 8 (Julian calendar) / July 9 (Swedish calendar) / July 19 (Gregorian calendar) 1701 near the city of Riga, present-day Latvia. The Swedish king Charles XII was in hot pursuit of king Augustus II the Strong of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Saxony. The crossing was easily made, and the coalition troops were quickly broken and retreated.

During the first year of fighting in the Great Northern War, Charles XII of Sweden had delivered two crushing defeats on his enemies. In July 1700, he forced Frederick IV of Denmark out of the coalition against Sweden, after a brief landing on Humlebæk. He then settled to aid the besieged Narva (which at the time belonged to the Swedish Empire). On his arrival, late November, he managed to decisively defeat the Russians despite being heavily outnumbered, in the battle of Narva, which led to an end of the Russian campaign for the year. Charles then turned his attention against the south and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to deal with his last opponent—August the Strong—before going into Russia. The combined Saxon–Russian army of totally 29,000 men had entrenched themselves across the 600 meter wide river of Düna under the command of Adam Heinrich von Steinau.

Orders were sent from the Swedish king to the governor-general of Livonia, Erik Dahlbergh, in preparations for the crossing before the arrival of the Swedish main army. Dahlbergh was ordered to obtain around 200 landing boats of different sizes and was also instructed to build a bridge in order to transfer the cavalry across the river. The operation was supposed to be done in strict confidentiality to ensure a surprise attack on the enemies. The Swedish army of 14,000 men arrived at Riga on July 17, and already by the time, preparations for the attack were completed. However, bad weather ruined the Swedish plans to attack instantly, and the assault had to be postponed. A Swedish cavalry regiment was left to threaten Kokenhusen, effectively forcing Steinau to split his forces, thus the bulk of his army stayed across Riga.

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Wikipedia