The Battle of Copenhagen also known as the Assault on Copenhagen on 11 February 1659 was a major battle during the
Second Northern War
The Second Northern War (1655–60), (also First or Little Northern War) was fought between Sweden and its adversaries the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1655–60), the Tsardom of Russia ( 1656–58), Brandenburg-Prussia (1657–60), the ...
, taking place during the siege of Copenhagen by the
Swedish army
The Swedish Army ( sv, svenska armén) is the land force of the Swedish Armed Forces.
History
Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1521, when the men of Dalarna chose 16 young able men as body guards for the insurgent nobleman Gustav ...
.
Background
During the
Northern Wars
"Northern Wars" is a term used for a series of wars fought in northern and northeastern Europe from the 16th to the 18th century. An internationally agreed-on nomenclature for these wars has not yet been devised. While the Great Northern War is g ...
, the Swedish army under
Charles X Gustav of Sweden
Charles X Gustav, also Carl Gustav ( sv, Karl X Gustav; 8 November 1622 – 13 February 1660), was King of Sweden from 1654 until his death. He was the son of John Casimir, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg and Catherine of Sweden. Afte ...
, after invading the Danish mainland of
Jutland
Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...
, swiftly crossed the frozen straits and occupied most of the Danish island of
Zealand, with the invasion beginning on 11 February 1658. This forced the Danes to sue for peace. A preliminary treaty, the
Treaty of Taastrup, was signed on 18 February 1658, with the final treaty, the
Treaty of Roskilde, signed on 26 February 1658, granting Sweden major territorial gains.
The Swedish king, however, was not content with his stunning victory, and at the
Privy Council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...
held at
Gottorp on 7 July Charles X Gustav resolved to wipe his inconvenient rival from the map of Europe. Without any warning, in defiance of international treaty, he ordered his troops to attack
Denmark–Norway
Denmark–Norway ( Danish and Norwegian: ) was an early modern multi-national and multi-lingual real unionFeldbæk 1998:11 consisting of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Norway (including the then Norwegian overseas possessions: the Faroe ...
a second time.
The Swedish armies had never left Denmark after the peace and already occupied all of Denmark apart from the capital, Copenhagen. After a failed assault, Copenhagen was put under siege in the hope of breaking the defense by starvation. In October 1658 however a Dutch relief fleet under Lieutenant-Admiral
Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam defeated the Swedish fleet in the
Battle of the Sound and lifted the sea blockade so that supplies and an auxiliary army could reach the capital. The Dutch were an ally of Denmark from the
Anglo-Dutch Wars
The Anglo–Dutch Wars ( nl, Engels–Nederlandse Oorlogen) were a series of conflicts mainly fought between the Dutch Republic and England (later Great Britain) from mid-17th to late 18th century. The first three wars occurred in the second ...
and were afraid that Swedish control of the Baltic would ruin their profitable trade in this area.
The opposing forces
After the Copenhageners had withstood about six months of
siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...
, bombardments and attacks, the Swedes attempted to take the city by a grand assault, as a prolonged siege no longer offered any hope of success, now that the sea lanes had been opened by the Dutch.
The Copenhageners had been forewarned by spies, so they had planned their defences well and stockpiled weapons and ammunition.
The walls of Copenhagen bristled with about 300 pieces of
cannon
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...
,
mortars and other
artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during si ...
, while a diverse mixture of weapons, ranging from
muskets and
arquebuses to
morningstars,
scythe
A scythe ( ) is an agriculture, agricultural hand tool for mowing grass or Harvest, harvesting Crop, crops. It is historically used to cut down or reaping, reap edible grain, grains, before the process of threshing. The scythe has been largely ...
s, boiling water and tar had been readied for action. Craftsmen, students and other civilians were divided into nine companies, and each of these companies was allocated a part of the wall to defend. The professional soldiers were stationed at the outer field works,
Kastellet (the Citadel) and
Slotsholmen
Slotsholmen (English: The Castle Islet) is an island in the harbour of Copenhagen, Denmark, and part of Copenhagen Inner City. The name is taken from the successive castles and palaces located on the island since Bishop Absalon constructed the c ...
(the Castle Islet).
The Swedish army consisted of about 9,000 professional soldiers, while the Danish defenders, a mixture of professionals,
militia
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
and raw civilians, were of an equal number.
The assault
The Swedes started the action by making a diversionary attack at
Christianshavn
Christianshavn (literally, "ingChristian's Harbour") is a neighbourhood in Copenhagen, Denmark. Part of the Indre By District, it is located on several artificial islands between the islands of Zealand and Amager and separated from the rest of t ...
and Slotsholmen on the evening of 9 February. They were repulsed, and the Swedes left one of their assault bridges behind, which the Danes captured and measured. They found that the Swedish assault bridges were 36 feet long, and thus they realised that they could render these bridges useless by making the ice-free parts of the moats wider than that.
The moats and the beaches had been kept free of ice, and now the ice free zones were widened to 44 feet with help from 600 Dutch marines. The ice was thick, and the work was done in heavy snowfall from 4 o'clock in the afternoon till evening on 10 February.
Spies reported that the Swedish army had moved from their camp,
Carlstad, at
Brønshøj
Brønshøj, part of the municipality of Copenhagen, forms, together with Husum, the administrative city district (''bydel'') of Brønshøj-Husum, in Denmark.
History
The first mention of the village Brønshøj (Brunshoga), is in a letter dated ...
and had taken up positions behind
Valby Hill, and when the Swedes began their assault about midnight the same evening, they met heavy resistance.
The main assaults were made against Christianshavn and
Vestervold, but the chopped-up ice and the massed weaponry on the wall made the densely packed attackers pay a horrific toll in lives. Still, they fought their way to the top of the wall, and fierce hand-to-hand fighting broke out.
When the Swedes realised that the assaults on the Western part of the wall were in trouble, the choice was made to make a supporting attack at
Østerport. The Swedes got very close to
Nyboder and were in the process of crossing the moat, when they fell victim to a well-conducted ambush, and they withdrew with heavy losses.
At about five in the morning the Swedes gave up and retreated. They had taken severe losses. Before the walls 600 bodies were counted, and many more had perished in the ice-cold water and were never found. On top of that there were many wounded. The Danes had only suffered about 14 dead.
Aftermath
The Dutch in the spring of 1659 sent a second fleet and army under Vice-Admiral
De Ruyter to further reinforce the city and cut the Swedish supply lines so that the siege would have to be lifted altogether. After
Nyborg had been taken by a Dutch-Danish force, the Danish Isles were abandoned by the Swedes. Negotiations were opened and the
Treaty of Copenhagen was signed on 27 May 1660, and it marked the conclusion of the Second Northern War between Sweden and the alliance of Denmark and the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Crown of the Kingdom of ...
. In conjunction with the Treaty of Roskilde, it ended a generation of warfare and established the present-day borders of Denmark,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...
and Sweden.
See also
*
Fortifications of Copenhagen (17th century)
References
;Citations
;Bibliography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Copenhagen
Second Northern War
Battles involving Denmark
Battles involving Sweden
1659 in Denmark
Conflicts in 1659
History of Copenhagen
17th century in Copenhagen