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Battle of Narva

Battle of Narva
Date of battleNovember 20, 1700
ConflictGreat Northern War
Site of battleNarva[?], northeast Estonia
Combatant 1Sweden
Commandersking Charles XII of Sweden
Strength10,500 troops
Combatant 2Russia
Commandersfield marshal Charles Eugène de Croy[?]
Strengthabout 37,000 troops
ResultDevastating Swedish victory
Casualties(1) 667 dead
(2) about 15,000 dead, about 12,000 POW

On November 20, 1700 (Roman calendar) Swedish 10,500 troops under King Charles XII engaged the Russian army that laid siege to the Swedish (now Estonian) city of Narva[?]. The Russian army was in great numerical superiority and numbered about 37 000 troops.

The Swedish army was commanded by the king himself assisted by General Charles Renskjöld and the Russian army was commanded by the Duke of Croy. Tsar Peter I (Peter the Great) had left the army just days before.

The Swedish army went into action at noon, protected by a blizzard blowing the Russians in their eyes. They broke through the Russian lines and put the entire Russian army in panic.

The casulties was high for both sides. Sweden lost 667 men (almost 10%) and the Russian army lost about 15 000 men, many of whom fled the battlefield, only to drown in the Narva River[?].

The remaining Russians capitulated and were given full quarters after turning over their weapons. Over 20,000 muskets were turned over to the Swedes.

wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump