Northern War, Battle of Narva: description, causes, history and consequences

The Battle of Narva is one of the most remarkable in the chronicle of the battles of Peter I. In fact, it was the first major battle of the young Russian state. And although it ended quite unsuccessfully for both Russia and Peter I, the significance of this battle can not be overestimated. It showed all the weak points of the Russian army and posed many unpleasant questions about weapons and logistics. The subsequent resolution of these problems strengthened the army, making it one of the most victorious at the time. And the beginning of this was the battle of Narva. Briefly about this event, let's try to tell in our article.

Prehistory

The beginning of the Russian-Swedish confrontation can be considered a conflict that erupted over the conclusion of the thirty-year Turkish world. The process of concluding this agreement could be thwarted because of the strong Swedish resistance. Learning about such opposition, the king ordered the expulsion of the Swedish Ambassador Knipper-Kron from Moscow, and his representative in Sweden ordered to declare war on this kingdom. At the same time, Peter I agreed to finish the business with peace, provided that the Swedes would give him the Narva fortress.

Charles XII found such treatment outrageous and took countermeasures. At his command all the property of the Russian embassy was confiscated, and all representatives were arrested. In addition, the King of Sweden ordered to arrest the property of Russian merchants, and themselves to use them for hard work. Almost all of them died in captivity and poverty. Carl agreed to war.

Peter I found this situation unacceptable. However, he allowed all Swedes to leave Russia and did not arrest their property. Thus began the Northern War. The Battle of Narva was one of the first episodes of this conflict.

The beginning of confrontation

Trying to break through to the Baltic coast, the Russian troops led the siege of Narva since August 1700. Under the Swedish fortress six regiments of the Novgorod governor Prince Trubetskoi were sent, in addition, to strengthen the positions of the Russian troops directly under Narva, the cavalry of Count Golovin and the rest of the regiments of his division were redeployed. The fortress was subjected to numerous bombardments. Which several times led to serious fires. The Russians did not hurry to storm the well-defended walls, hoping for an early surrender of Narva.

But soon they sensed a lack of gunpowder, shells, deterioration in the supply of provisions, a smell of treason. One of the captains who had Swedish roots, broke the oath and went over to the side of the enemy. The king, in order to avoid the recurrence of such cases, dismissed all foreigners who occupied command posts in the reserve and sent them into the interior of Russia, rewarding them with ranks. November 18, Peter I personally went to Novgorod to track the supply of military supplies and supplies. The continuation of the siege was entrusted to the Duke de Croix and Prince Ya. F. Dolgorukov.

Dislocation of Russian troops

It should be noted that the battle of Narva in 1700 was designed for active offensive actions - the Russian troops occupied positions suitable only for active retreat, but not for defense. The advanced units of the Petrine divisions were stretched along a thin line nearly seven kilometers long. There were no artillery in their places too, because of the acute shortage of shells, she did not hurry to occupy her positions at the bastions of Narva. So the Russian army met the dawn on November 19, 1700. The battle began near Narva.

Attack of the Swedes

Taking advantage of the absence of the tsar, the Swedish troops, covering themselves with a blizzard and fog, launched an offensive. Charles XII created two shock groups, who managed to break through the Russian defenses in the center and on one of the flanks. A decisive offensive embarrassed the Russians: many foreign officers of the Petrine troops, led by de Croix, moved to the enemy's ranks. The battle of Narva showed all the weak points of the Russian army. Bad military training and treachery of the command completed the rout - the Russian troops turned to flight.

Departure from positions

The Russians retreated ... A large number of people and military equipment ran erratically to the dilapidated bridge on the Narva River. Under an exorbitant weight, the bridge collapsed, drowning under its wreckage a lot of people. Seeing the general flight, the cavalry boyar Sheremetev, who occupied the rearguard of Russian positions, succumbed to panic and began to force Narva to swim. The battle of Narva was actually lost.

Counterattack

Only thanks to the fortitude and courage of two separate regiments - Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky - the Swedes managed to block offensive. They stopped panicking and successfully repulsed the onslaught of the royal troops. The remnants of the remaining Russian units gradually joined the surviving regiments. Several times Charles XII personally led the Swedes to attack, but each time he had to retreat. With the coming of night the military actions subsided. Negotiations began.

Narva Agreement

The battle of Narva ended with the defeat of the Russians, but the backbone of the army survived. Despite the difficult situation of Peter's troops, Charles XII was not sure of the unconditional victory of the Swedes, therefore he accepted the terms of the peace treaty. Opponents concluded an agreement according to which Russian troops were allowed to retreat. When remaking to the other side of Narva, the Swedes captured several officers and took all the weapons. The shameful world, which was the beginning of the Narva confusion, lasted about four years. Only the next battle of Narva, 1704, enabled the Russian army to level the score in this war. But this is a completely different story.

Results of Narva Confusion

The battle of Narva showed the entire backwardness of the Russian army, its weak experience even in front of a small enemy army. In the battle of 1700 on the side of the Swedes fought only about 18 thousand people against the thirty-five thousandth Russian army. Lack of coordination, weak logistics, poor training and outdated weapons are the main reasons for the defeat of Narva. After analyzing the reasons, Peter I concentrated his efforts on combined arms training, and sent the best of his generals to study military affairs abroad. One of the priority tasks was the rearmament of the army with the latest examples of military equipment. A few years later, the military reforms of Peter I led to the fact that the Russian army has become one of the strongest in Europe.