Siege of Nöteborg (1702)

Siege of Nöteborg
Part of the Great Northern War
The storm of Swedish fortress of Nöteborg by Russian troops. Czar Peter I is shown in the center.
Date 26 September – 11 October 1702 (O.S.) 27 September – 12 October 1702 (S.S.) 7–22 October 1702 (N.S.) Location Nöteborg, Swedish Empire, renamed Shlisselburg, Russian Empire (present-day Leningrad Oblast, Russia) Result Russian victory
Belligerents
Swedish Empire	Tsardom of Russia
Commanders and leaders
Gustav Wilhelm von Schlippenbach, Hans Georg Leijon	Czar Peter I, Boris Sheremetev
Strength
About 440 soldiers, 142 light artillery guns	12,500 men deployed, 20,000–35,000 in total 51 heavy artillery guns
Casualties and losses
200 killed, 156 wounded Total: About 360 casualties	538 killed, 925 wounded Total: About 1,500 casualties

About 440 soldiers,

12,500 men deployed, 20,000–35,000 in total

200 killed,
156 wounded

538 killed,
925 wounded

The Siege of Nöteborg was one of the first sieges of the Great Northern War, when Russian forces captured the Swedish fortress of Nöteborg (later renamed Shlisselburg) in October 1702.Peter the Great had assembled a force of 20,000 men for this task, and marched for ten days to his destination. About 12,000 of these men were positioned on the banks of the Neva river, where they camped until 6 October (N.S.). On that day, after giving command of the main force to Boris Sheremetev, he moved toward Nöteborg. After the Swedish commander, Wilhelm von Schlippenbach, refused to give up the fort immediately, the Russians began bombarding it. A final Russian assault on the fort was tactically unsuccessful, resulting in heavy casualties, but forced the fort's defenders to surrender on 22 October 1702. After taking control, Peter immediately began reconstructing the fort for his own purposes, renaming it Shlisselburg.

Nöteborg was initially defended by a small garrison of no more than 220 men, with 142 cannons of small caliber. However, during the course of the siege it was reinforced with about 240 men. Under the command of the old colonel Gustav Wilhelm von Schlippenbach, the brother of the Swedish general commanding in Livonia, Wolmar Anton von Schlippenbach. The last party of reinforcements arrived on 18 October under the command of Hans Georg Leijon; it consisted of about 50 grenadiers, only 34 of whom reached the fortress defence due to the shortage of boats. On Leijon's arrival only 225 remaining soldiers were fit for duty, the rest had been killed or wounded by the artillery bombardment, or suffered disease.

The defences of the fortress at that time consisted of a stone wall 28 feet high and 14 feet thick, with seven towers. Near the northeastern part of the fortress was a castle, which itself consisted of a stone wall and three towers. The main defence of the fortress was the Neva river itself, along with Lake Ladoga, which together encircled the entire fort. On the right bank of the Neva, about 3,000 yards (1.5 miles) from the main fort, there was a separate fortification, consisting of a sconce-type outwork, where a regiment was garrisoned to assist with communication with the main fort and transportation across the river.

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