Siege of Stralsund (1711–15)

Siege of Stralsund
Part of Great Northern War
Memorial plate commemorating the siege
Date 1711 – 24 December 1715 Location Stralsund area, Swedish Pomerania (present-day Germany) Result Prussian-Danish-Saxon-Russian victory
Belligerents
Swedish Empire	Denmark  Saxony Tsardom of Russia (1711–1714)  Prussia (1714–1715)
Commanders and leaders
Charles XII (1714–1715) Magnus Stenbock (1711–1712) Gustav Dücker	Frederick IV Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov (1711–1714) Frederick William I (1714–1715) Alexander zu Dohna-Schlobitten (1714–1715)
Strength
Unknown	36,000 soldiers
Casualties and losses
Charles XII escaped. The whole garrison was captured.	Unknown

The Siege of Stralsund was a battle during the Great Northern War. The Swedish Empire defended her Swedish Pomeranian port of Stralsund against a coalition of Denmark-Norway, the Electorate of Saxony and the Tsardom of Russia, which was joined by Brandenburg-Prussia during the siege.

A first attempt to take Stralsund was made in 1711, when the allies closed in on the town. Swedish relief forced the coalition to withdraw from the fortifications, whereupon the besieging armies drew a wider ring along the lines of the Recknitz and Peene rivers. Magnus Stenbock's victory at Gadebusch for a short time distracted the allies, but after Stenbock's pursuit and subsequent defeat, Brandenburg-Prussia as well as Hanover, ruled in personal union with Great Britain, joined the anti-Swedish alliance.

The allies agreed that Denmark should cede her claims to Bremen-Verden to Hanover, and in turn Denmark was promised the northern parts of Swedish Pomerania with Stralsund, while the southern parts were to become Prussian. In 1714, Charles XII of Sweden rode to Stralsund from his Turkish exile to lead the defense in person. From 12 July to 24 December 1715, the allies sieged the town and eventually forced its surrender. Charles XII escaped to Sweden.

Stralsund remained under Danish control until it was returned to Sweden by the Treaty of Frederiksborg.

In Poltava, the Swedish Empire lost the initiative in the Great Northern War. With Charles XII of Sweden's main army destroyed, the anti-Swedish alliance of the Tsardom of Russia, Denmark-Norway and Saxe-Poland-Lithuania re-constituted in the Treaty of Thorn and the Treaty of Copenhagen, the Swedish king exiled to Bender and Sweden's provinces of Finland and Livonia invaded, the Swedish defense relied on 11,800 soldiers garrisoned in northern Germany, and an army of 10,000 men in Greater Poland commanded by Ernst Detlof von Krassow. The latter was in full retreat, harassed by Saxon forces and a plague that had broken out in Poland.

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