The Skirmish at Bender ( sv, Kalabaliken i Bender; fi, Benderin kalabaliikki) was devised to remove

Charles XII of Sweden 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 t ...

from the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

after his military defeats in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. It took place on 1 February 1713 on Ottoman territory, in what is now the town of

Bender, Moldova Bender (, Moldovan Cyrillic: Бендер) or Bendery (russian: Бендеры, , uk, Бендери), also known as Tighina ( ro, Tighina), is a city within the internationally recognized borders of Moldova under ''de facto'' control of the un ...

(Separatist Region/Country of Transnistria).

Etymology

The Turkish word ''kalabalık'' means crowded, which after the incident has become a Swedish and Finnish

loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...

, ''kalabalik'', with the meaning "confusion" or "great disorder".

History

After the Swedish defeat at the

Battle of Poltava The Battle of Poltava; russian: Полта́вская би́тва; uk, Полта́вська би́тва (8 July 1709) was the decisive and largest battle of the Great Northern War. A Russian army under the command of Tsar Peter I defeate ...

on 27 June 1709 and the

surrender Surrender may refer to: * Surrender (law), the early relinquishment of a tenancy * Surrender (military), the relinquishment of territory, combatants, facilities, or armaments to another power Film and television * ''Surrender'' (1927 film), an ...

of most of the Swedish army at

Perevolochna Perevolochna ( uk, Переволочна) is a former fortress and town in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Cossack Hetmanate, and later a village in Poltava Oblast. Before the establishment of Kamianske Water Reservoir in the 1960s, he ...

three days later,

fled together with a few hundred Swedish soldiers and a large number of

Cossacks The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...

to the

, where they spent a total of five years. On 31 January 1713, Turkish artillery fired on the Swedish camp. On 1 February, the Ottoman forces, commanded by the

Serasker ''Serasker'', or ''seraskier'' ( ota, سرعسكر; ), is a title formerly used in the Ottoman Empire for a vizier who commanded an army. Following the suppression of the Janissaries in 1826, Sultan Mahmud II transferred the functions of the ...

of Bender, attacked the camp. Together with some 40 soldiers, Charles XII stood against many hundreds of Turks. The Drabant Axel Erik Roos in particular distinguished himself during the skirmish and accounts tell that he saved the king's life three times during the day. The king himself killed at least one Ottoman soldier with his sword in hand-to-hand combat when he and Roos came under attack by three Ottomans. During parts of the fighting, Charles was also actively sniping with a carbine against the assaulting enemy from a window in his sleeping quarters, positioned in the building where the Swedes had taken up their defense. The fighting lasted for over seven hours and the Ottomans eventually used both artillery and fire arrows when the initial assaults were beaten back; the later method proved to be effective. The fire arrows set the building's roof on fire and forced the defenders to abandon it, the fighting then came to an abrupt end when the king tripped on his own

spur A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to back ...

s while exiting the burning house. He was assaulted by scores of Ottoman soldiers who managed to capture him and the remaining fighters. A first-hand account of the skirmish was written by Baron Fabricius, translated into English and published in the Monthly Review of January 1761.

Aftermath

After some time as a prisoner, Charles XII and his soldiers were released when news about the Swedish victory in the

Battle of Gadebusch The Battle of Gadebusch or Wakenstädt (20 December 1712) was Sweden's final great victory in the Great Northern War. It was fought by the Swedes to prevent the Siege of Stralsund (1711–1715), loss of the city of Stralsund to Denmark, Danish an ...

reached the Ottomans. Charles then started to plan his trip back to Sweden. Already in 1718, he led an army to conquer Norway in 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-Swedi ...

, which ended in Swedish retreat upon the king's death.

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

europaidag.se

Aftonbladet - article Herman Lindqvist
{{coord, 46, 50, N, 29, 29, E, source:kolossus-nowiki, display=title Great Northern War 1713 in Europe Bender Bender Military history of Moldova History of Transnistria Charles XII of Sweden