The Battle of Pułtusk took place on April 21, 1703 in

Pułtusk Pułtusk (pronounced ) is a town in northeast Poland, by the river Narew. Located north of Warsaw in the Masovian Voivodeship, it had a population of about 19,000 . Known for its historic architecture and Europe's longest paved marketplace ( ...

during the

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swe ...

. The

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

army under the command of

Charles XII Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII ( sv, Karl XII) or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 O.S.), was King of Sweden (including current Finland) from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of ...

defeated the

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

army under

Adam Heinrich von Steinau Adam Heinrich Graf von Steinau (died 1712) was a Saxon Generalfeldmarschall. Steinau served in the Bavarian contingent in the 1685–1688 campaign in Ottoman Hungary against the Ottoman Empire. He then participated in the War of the Grand Allianc ...

. Charles later went on to take

Toruń )'' , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_flag = POL Toruń flag.svg , image_shield = POL Toruń COA.svg , nickname = City of Angels, Gingerbread city, Copernicus Town , pushpin_map = Kuyavian-Pom ...

(Thorn) in December.Tucker, S.C., 2010, A Global Chronology of Conflict, Vol. Two, Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, LLC, p. 691.

Background

In the first months of 1703 the war in Poland ceased. In March,

broke with his army in the direction of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

, which he reached at the beginning of April. At the beginning of April 1703

August II Augustus II; german: August der Starke; lt, Augustas II; in Saxony also known as Frederick Augustus I – Friedrich August I (12 May 16701 February 1733), most commonly known as Augustus the Strong, was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as Ki ...

left

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

for

Thorn Thorn(s) or The Thorn(s) may refer to: Botany * Thorns, spines, and prickles, sharp structures on plants * ''Crataegus monogyna'', or common hawthorn, a plant species Comics and literature * Rose and Thorn, the two personalities of two DC Comic ...

and Marienburg in order to begin the new campaign from there. After the defeat in the previous year in the

Battle of Klissow A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

, August II used the time to build a new Saxon-Lithuanian army. This army camped at

. Charles XII decided to attack. He rode out of Warsaw with 3,000 cavalry. Because of the many waterways that had to be passed, he left behind infantry and artillery. With the cavalry he crossed the bow and reached on April 21 (Swedish) / 1. May 1703 (greg.) 1703 Pułtusk. At that time the town was only on an island in the

Narew The Narew (; be, Нараў, translit=Naraŭ; or ; Sudovian: ''Naura''; Old German: ''Nare''; uk, Нарва, translit=Narva) is a 499-kilometre (310 mi) river primarily in north-eastern Poland, which is also a tributary of the river Vi ...

Battle

Field Marshal

, who commanded the Saxon army, had no idea of the actual strength of the Swedes and initially only expected a smaller battle. When he saw the entire cavalry, he assumed that the Swedish infantry was also present. He immediately had his troops withdraw to Pułtusk. Charles XII had the retreat route of the Saxons cut off by a dragoon regiment. The Swedish dragoons managed to penetrate the town at the same time as the Saxons, whereupon Charles XII streamed in with the rest of the cavalry. Lithuanians and Saxons fled the town across the bridge of the southern arm of the Narew with almost no resistance. They demolished the bridge too soon to prevent the Swedes from persecuting it. Due to the failure of the only escape route, many Saxons who were still in the town were cut off and were massacred, driven into the river or captured by the attacking Swedes. Soon the southern bridge could be restored so that the pursuit of the fleeing Saxons and Lithuanians could be resumed.

Result

The battle cost the Swedes only forty men, while the Saxons and Lithuanians had several hundred dead and 700 prisoners. Field Marshal Steinau was able to escape while August II was staying in Marienburg, where he was watching a play in which the Saxons defeated the Swedes.

References

Conflicts in 1703 1703 in Europe Pultusk 1703 Pultusk 1703 Pultusk 1703 Pultusk 1703 1703 in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth {{Poland-battle-stub