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Siege Of Riga (1709–1710)
The siege of Riga in 1709–1710 was a military operation of the army of the Tsardom of Russia during the Great Northern War against the forces of the Swedish Empire defending the fortress of Riga. As a result of the operation, Riga was taken by Russian troops. Background After the defeat of the Swedes at Poltava and the surrender of the Swedish army at Perevolochna, Peter the Great decided to intensify the fighting in the Baltics and instructed Field marshal (Russia), Field Marshal General Boris Sheremetev to take Riga. The transfer of the Russian army from near Poltava to Riga was fraught with considerable difficulties due to the rains and the beginning of the thaw. At the beginning of October, Russian troops approached Dinaburg. A detachment of three dragoon regiments under the command of Volkonsky was sent to Courland for the purpose of reconnaissance. 15 (26) October Russian troops crossed the border of Swedish Livonia and moved along the Western Western Dvina, Dvina River ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Northern War
In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance were Peter the Great, Peter I of Russia, Frederick IV of Denmark, Frederick IV of Denmark–Norway and Augustus II the Strong of Electorate of Saxony, Saxony–Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Poland–Lithuania. Frederick IV and Augustus II were defeated by Sweden, under Charles XII, and forced out of the alliance in 1700 and 1706 respectively, but rejoined it in 1709 after the defeat of Charles XII at the Battle of Poltava. George I of Great Britain and the Electorate of Hanover joined the coalition in 1714 for Hanover and in 1717 for Britain, and Frederick William I of Prussia, Frederick William I of Brandenburg-Prussia joined it in 1715. Charles XII led the Swedish army. Swedish allies included Holstein-Gottorp, sev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rudolph Felix Bauer
Rudolph Felix Bauer (; 1667–1717) was a Baltic German in Russian Empire military service, also a statesman. He started his military career at the army of Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Later he belonged to Prussian Army. He participated on Great Northern War. 1710–1711 he was General-Governor of Governorate of Estonia The Governorate of Estonia, also known as the Esthonia (Estland) Governorate, was a province (''guberniya'') and one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire. It was located in the northern Estonia with some islands in the West Estoni .... References 1667 births 1717 deaths Russian military personnel of the Great Northern War Baltic-German people from the Russian Empire {{Estonia-bio-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siege Of Riga (1710); Rīgas Aplenkums (1710)
{{Disambiguation ...
Siege of Riga may refer to: *Siege of Riga (1621) * Siege of Riga (1656) * Siege of Riga (1700) * Siege of Riga (1710), culminating in the Capitulation of Estonia and Livonia *Siege of Riga (1812) The siege of Riga was a military operation during the Napoleonic Wars. The siege lasted five months from July – December 1812, during which the left flank of Napoleon's "Great Army" (''Grande Armée, La Grande Armée'') tried to gain a favorab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pile Bridge
A pile bridge is a structure that uses foundations consisting of long poles (referred to as piles), which are made of wood, concrete or steel and which are hammered into the soft soils beneath the bridge until the end of the pile reaches a hard layer of compacted soil or rock. Piles in such cases are hammered to a depth where the grip or friction of the pile and the soil surrounding it will support the load of the bridge deck. Bridging solely using the pile method is a rare occurrence today. Roman pile bridges Pile bridges have been used to cross rivers and other geological chasms since at least the time of the Roman Empire. One such bridge was probably Pons Sublicius thought to have been first created around 642BC, although being made of wood; this bridge and none of the other Roman bridges of the period have survived the erosion of time. Construction during medieval times During the English Middle Ages bridge building was a booming activity. Groups of piles, usually ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Danilovich Menshikov
Prince Alexander Danilovich Menshikov (; – ) was a Russian statesman, whose official titles included Generalissimo, Prince of the Russian Empire and Duke of Izhora ( Duke of Ingria), Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, Duke of Cosel. A highly appreciated associate and friend of Tsar Peter the Great, he was the ''de facto'' ruler of Russia from 1725 to 1727. Early life Menshikov was born on in Moscow. Historian Paul Bushkovitch argues that Menshikov was not an aristocrat and was most likely descended from servants of the palace stables, who among others made up the first soldiers of Peter's 'toy armies.' As the legend (dating from around 1710) goes, he was making a living on the streets of Moscow as a vendor of stuffed buns known as pirozhki at the age of twenty. His fine appearance and witty character caught the attention of Franz Lefort, Peter's first favourite, who took him into his service and finally transferred him to the tsar. On the death of Lefort in 1699, Menshik ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mitava
Jelgava () is a state city in central Latvia. It is located about southwest of Riga. It is the largest town in the Semigallia region of Latvia. Jelgava was the capital of the united Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1578–1795) and was the administrative center of the Courland Governorate (1795–1918). Jelgava is situated on a fertile plain rising only above mean sea level on the right bank of the river Lielupe. At high water, the plain and sometimes the town as well can be flooded. It is a railway center, and is also a host to the Jelgava Air Base. Its importance as a railway centre can be seen by the fact that it lies at the junction of over 6 railway lines connecting Riga to Lithuania, eastern and western Latvia, and Lithuania to the Baltic Sea. Name Until 1917, the city was officially referred to as Mitau. The name of Jelgava is believed to be derived from the Livonian word ''jālgab'', meaning "town on the river." The origin of the German name ''Mitau'' is unclear, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artillery Battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems. The term is also used in a naval context to describe groups of guns on warships. Land usage Historically the term "battery" referred to a cluster of cannons in action as a group, either in a temporary field position during a battle or at the siege of a fortress or a city. Such batteries could be a mixture of cannon, howitzer, or mortar types. A siege could involve many batteries at different sites around the besieged place. The term also came to be used for a group of cannons in a fixed fortification, for coastal or frontier defence. During the 18th century "battery" began to be used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pontoon Bridge
A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, is a bridge that uses float (nautical), floats or shallow-draft (hull), draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the supports limits the maximum load that they can carry. Most pontoon bridges are temporary and used in wartime and civil emergencies. There are permanent pontoon bridges in civilian use that can carry highway traffic; generally, the relatively high potential for collapse and sinking (e.g. due to waves and collisions) and high continuous maintenance costs makes pontoons unattractive for most civilian construction. Permanent floating bridges are useful for sheltered water crossings if it is not considered economically feasible to suspend a bridge from anchored Pier (architecture), piers (such as in deep water). Such bridges can require a section that is elevated or can be raised or removed to allow waterborne traffic to pass. Notable permanent pontoo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artillery Gun
Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and led to heavy, fairly immobile siege engines. As technology improved, lighter, more mobile field artillery cannons were developed for battlefield use. This development continues today; modern self-propelled artillery vehicles are highly mobile weapons of great versatility generally providing the largest share of an army's total firepower. Originally, the word "artillery" referred to any group of soldiers primarily armed with some form of manufactured weapon or armour. Since the introduction of gunpowder and cannon, "artillery" has largely meant cannon, and in contemporary usage, usually refers to Shell (projectile), shell-firing Field gun, guns, howitzers, and Mortar (weapon), mortars (collectively called ''barrel artillery'', ''cannon artil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Howitzer
The howitzer () is an artillery weapon that falls between a cannon (or field gun) and a mortar. It is capable of both low angle fire like a field gun and high angle fire like a mortar, given the distinction between low and high angle fire breaks at 45 degrees or 800 mils (NATO). With their long-range capabilities, howitzers can be used to great effect in a battery formation with other artillery pieces, such as long-barreled guns, mortars, and rocket artillery. Howitzers were valued for their ability to fire explosive shells and incendiary materials into fortifications. Unlike mortars, which had fixed firing angles, howitzers could be fired at various angles, providing greater flexibility in combat. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, howitzers evolved to become more mobile and versatile. The introduction of rifling in the mid-19th century led to significant changes in howitzer design and usage. By the early 20th century, howitzers were classified into different categor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 during the late 19th century. Cannons vary in gauge (firearms), gauge, effective range, mobility (military), mobility, rate of fire, elevation (ballistics), angle of fire and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees, depending on their intended use on the battlefield. A cannon is a type of heavy artillery weapon. The word ''cannon'' is derived from several languages, in which the original definition can usually be translated as ''tube'', ''cane'', or ''reed''. The earliest known depiction of cannons may have appeared in Science and technology of the Song dynasty#Gunpowder warfare, Song dynasty China as early as the 12th century; however, solid archaeological and documentary evidence of cannons do ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Cockburn (mercenary)
Colonel Samuel Cockburn ( 1574 – December 1621) was a Scottish soldier in the service of Sweden who in 1614 was serving as ''generalfältvaktmästare'' of the Swedish field army. He was born around 1574 in Scotland. He entered Swedish service in 1598 where he participated in the Swedish civil war between Sigismund Vasa and his uncle Duke Karl, later Karl IX. Mission to James VI Cockburn is listed as one of the Scottish officers who, under the direction of General James Spens, the General of Scottish and English forces in Swedish service, was sent to King James VI and I in 1608/9 seeking levies for Sweden, although one source notes a passport for this purpose issued by the Swedes was dated 17 December 1609. A group of officers went with him including Hugh Cochran, Daniel Rogers, Robert Kinnaird, Patrick Ruthven, John Wauchop, George Douglas and William Horne. Baltic wars Cockburn served as colonel of a regiment in 1609-10 and took part in Karl IX's and Gustav II Adolf' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
