Charles XII. of Sweden, when he had taken refuge in Turkey, after being
beaten by Peter of Russia, at length exhausted the obstinacy which
had detained him so long at Demirtocka, meditating on means to excite
the Ottoman Porte against his great rival, passed all at once, with
characteristic energy, from excessive inactivity to equally excessive
exertion. He set out from Demirtocka with prodigious speed, crossed
the hereditary states of the emperor, Franconia and Mecklenburg, on
horseback, and arrived at Stralsund when least expected. His first
proceeding was to protest against the sequestration of the city of
Stettin. He hastened to declare that, not having made any convention,
he was not obliged to recognise that which his generals had done in his
absence to place Pomerania and Stettin in a state of sequestration.
With a character so obstinate as that of this prince, no other argument
could be employed but force. Frederick William, king of Prussia,
declared that he would not allow the Swedes to enter Saxony, and
immediately joined the league of the Russians, Saxons, and Hanoverians.
In order to force, with the strong hand, the king of Sweden to hold
his engagements, he ordered a body of Prussian troops to advance
close to Stettin. Charles XII. took possession of Anclam, Wolgaste,
and Gripswalde, in which were Prussian garrisons; nevertheless, with
a slight show of prudence, he dismissed the Prussian troops without
violence. At the commencement of the following campaign, the Swedes
dislodged the Prussians from the isle of Usedom, and made prisoners of
a detachment of five hundred men. By this act of hostility they broke
the neutrality of the Prussians, and became the aggressors. Frederick
William, jealous of Charles’s glory, and irritated at this proceeding,
declared war against Sweden. Twenty thousand Prussians joined the
Saxons and the Danes in Pomerania. Europe then beheld two kings, in
person, besieging another shut up in Stralsund; but this king was
Charles XII., fighting at the head of fifteen thousand warlike Swedes,
loving to idolatry the heroism of their prince. Besides, his great
reputation and the prejudices of the universe fought in his favour.
In the army of the allies, the king of Prussia examined the plans,
decided upon the operations, and persuaded the Danes to adopt his
views. The king of Denmark, a bad soldier, and not at all military in
his tastes, had only come to Stralsund in the hope of seeing Charles
XII. humiliated. Under these two kings the prince of Anhalt was the
soul of all the military enterprises. “He was,” says the king of
Prussia, in his Memoirs, “a man of a violent and obstinate character,
who, with the valour of a hero, had the experience of the finest
campaigns of Prince Eugene. His manners were ferocious, his ambition
boundless; deeply versed in the art of sieges, a fortunate soldier, a
bad citizen, he was capable of all the enterprises of both Marius and
Sylla, if fortune had seconded his ambition.” This army laid siege to
Stralsund, a city on the shores of the Baltic, the Swedish fleet being
able to supply it constantly with provisions, munitions, and troops.
Its situation is strong; an impracticable marsh defends two-thirds of
its circumference; the only side by which it is accessible is furnished
by a good intrenchment, which from the north extends to the sea-shore,
and touches on the marsh towards the east. In this intrenchment were
encamped twelve thousand Swedes, with Charles XII. at their head. The
besiegers removed successively all the obstacles opposed to them. The
first point was to drive away the Swedish fleet from the coasts of
Pomerania, in order to deprive the Swedes of the succours they might
receive by sea. Nevertheless the king of Denmark was unwilling to risk
an action with a squadron he had on those coasts. All the influence
of the king of Prussia was required to persuade him of the necessity
for such a contest. The two kings were spectators of the action, which
took place at a short distance from the shore, and threw the sea open
to the allies. The Prussians afterwards drove the Swedes from the
isle of Usedom, and took the fort of Pennamende at the point of the
sword. They shortly afterwards prepared to attack the intrenchments.
A Prussian officer singularly facilitated this undertaking, the most
difficult and most dangerous of the whole siege. Being perfectly
acquainted with the ground, he knew that the arm of the sea which
washes the intrenchments was neither deep nor muddy; he sounded it by
night, and found that it was possible to ford it, to turn this post
by its left, and thus take the Swedes in flank and rear. This project
was successfully executed. They attacked them by night; whilst one
Prussian corps marched straight to the intrenchments, another passed
along the sea-shore, and were in the Swedish camp before they were
perceived. The surprise of an unexpected attack, the confusion natural
to a night affair, and, above all, the numbers of the body which fell
upon their flanks, threw them quickly into a state of rout: they
abandoned their intrenchments, and sought refuge in the city. Enraged
at being deserted by his own troops, Charles would have continued to
fight alone. His generals dragged him from the scene of action, and had
much difficulty in saving him from the hands of the allies; all who
did not promptly gain Stralsund were either killed or made prisoners.
The numbers taken in this attack amounted to more than four hundred
men. The more closely to press the city, it became necessary for the
allies to render themselves masters of the isle of Rugen, whence the
besieged could likewise obtain succours. The prince of Anhalt, at the
head of twenty thousand men, crossed in transports the space which
divides Pomerania. This fleet kept the same order of battle the troops
observed on the land. They pretended to land on the eastern coast, but
turning suddenly to the left, the prince of Anhalt disembarked his
troops at the port of Strezow, where the enemy did not expect him. He
posted himself in a quarter of a circle, so that his two wings leant
upon the sea, and during the whole day caused intrenchments to be dug,
fortified by _chevaux de frise_. His disposition was such, that two
lines of infantry supported his intrenchment. His cavalry formed the
third, with the exception of six squadrons which he had posted without
the lines, in order to be able to fall upon the left flank of those who
might attack him on that side. Charles XII., deceived by the prince of
Anhalt’s feint, could not arrive in time to oppose the disembarkation.
Aware of the importance of this isle, he advanced by night upon the
Prussians, although he had but four thousand men. He marched at the
head of his infantry, which he led to the very edge of the ditch,
assisting to pull up the _chevaux de frise_ which bordered it with his
own hands; he was slightly wounded in this attack, and General Dureng
was killed at his side. The inequality of numbers, the darkness of the
night, the six Prussian squadrons, but still more than all the king’s
wound, made the Swedes lose the fruits of their valour. Fortune had
turned her back upon that nation; everything seemed to tend to its
decline. The king retired to have his wound dressed; his discomfited
troops fled. The next day twelve hundred Swedes were made prisoners
at Lafich-Schanz, and the isle of Rugen was entirely occupied by the
allies. After this misfortune Charles XII. returned to Stralsund. That
city was almost reduced to extremity. The besiegers having gained the
counterscarp, had already begun to construct their gallery upon the
principal fosse. It was the character of the king of Sweden to bear up
firmly against reverses; he endeavoured to withstand his ill-fortune,
and was able to preserve an inexpressible _sang-froid_ under all
circumstances. The citizens, far from murmuring, filled with admiration
for their master, whose exertions, sobriety, and courage astonished
them, had all become soldiers under him. One day, when the king was
dictating letters for Sweden to a secretary, a bomb fell upon the
house, penetrated the roof, and burst close to the king’s apartment. At
the noise of the bomb and the crash of the house, which seemed falling
about their ears, the pen fell from the hand of the secretary. “What’s
the matter?” said the king, with a tranquil air; “why don’t you write
on?” “Oh, sire, the bomb!” “Well,” rejoined the king, “what has the
bomb to do with the letter I am dictating to you? Go on!” When he
saw the breach open, he wanted to defend it in person, the besiegers
threatening to give a general assault. His generals threw themselves
at his feet to conjure him not to risk his life so uselessly. Seeing
their prayers had no effect, they pointed out to him the danger to
which he exposed himself of falling into the hands of his enemies.
This apprehension at length made him determine to abandon the city. He
embarked in a light boat, in which he passed, favoured by the darkness,
through the Danish fleet which blockaded Stralsund, and gained with
much trouble one of his own vessels, which conveyed him to Sweden.
Fourteen years before, he had left this city as a conqueror about
to subdue the world; he returned thither a fugitive, pursued by his
enemies, despoiled of his finest provinces, and abandoned by his army.
As soon as the king was gone, the garrison of Stralsund capitulated,
and surrendered themselves prisoners of war.