The Battle of Gemauerthof was a battle 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 ...

, fought south of

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

near

Jelgava Jelgava (; german: Mitau, ; see also other names) is a state city in central Latvia about southwest of Riga with 55,972 inhabitants (2019). It is the largest town in the region of Zemgale (Semigalia). Jelgava was the capital of the united Duch ...

, in present-day

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

in July 1705. 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 ...

forces under

Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt (15 April 1659 – 12 February 1719) was a Swedish general, particularly known for his participation in the Great Northern War. Biography He was born on 15 April 1659 in a Swedish fortified camp near Copenhagen. He attend ...

fought a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

army under Boris Sheremetyev. The Swedes were victorious, but the victory was only symbolic. In August, the Russians conquered

Courland Courland (; lv, Kurzeme; liv, Kurāmō; German and Scandinavian languages: ''Kurland''; la, Curonia/; russian: Курляндия; Estonian: ''Kuramaa''; lt, Kuršas; pl, Kurlandia) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. ...

.Liljegren, B., 2000. Karl XII: En Biografi. p 395.

Battle

The Swedes, exhausted after forced marching, went to camp and were cooking supper when the news came of a large Russian army with 16 artillery pieces nearby. The Swedes, who themselves had 17 artillery pieces quickly deployed into battle formation and, encouraged by General Lewenhaupt, attacked the Russians. Although suffering severe setbacks on their right flank, the assault continued. On the left, the Swedish cavalry charged and broke the Russians. The infantry in the centre fired carefully at point-blank range and then charged, pushing their foes back in disorder. The battle ended in a confused melee, which was eventually won by the Swedes. The Russian cavalry withdrew while the infantry was destroyed by a combined-arms assault.

Aftermath

Field Marshal Sheremetev had received a shot in the abdomen and General Baur was wounded in the thigh. Over 5,000 Russians were killed or wounded.The Battle of Gemäuerthof, 16 July 1705, H.E. Uddgren. "Karolinska Förbundets Årsbok 1913" (Translated by Dan Schorr)
When the defeated army reached

Vilna Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional u ...

, the Tsar surveyed his newly formed 60,000 men. The tsar,

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

, was far from reprimanding the field marshal for this defeat. He realized that it was possible to lose a battle against the Swedes despite being three times superior. And since he could raise a new army at any time, some of which were compulsorily recruited farmers and Livonian expellees, he knew that the campaign against the Swedes could be won. Peter the Great called this defeat a "minor misfortune" of no great significance, even in his diaries he mentions the battle only in passing. He hid the real losses from his own troops and marched with his newly formed army towards

Livonia Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...

to finally defeat the Swedes. The losses of the Swedes were given as 900 dead and over 1,000 wounded.
In addition, several high-ranking officers were killed or seriously wounded in action. Therefore it was not possible for the Swedes to pursue the Russian army.

References

Alf Åberg & Göte Göransson "''Karoliner''" p. 114 - 115 Gemäuerthof Gemäuerthof Gemäuerthof Gemauerthof 1705 in Europe Gemauerthof, Battle of {{Latvia-hist-stub

Battle

Aftermath

See also

References