Battle of Warsaw (1705)

Battle of Warsaw (1705)
Part of the Great Northern War and the Swedish invasion of Poland (1701–1706)
Anonymous plate of the Battle of Warsaw (1705)
Date 20 July 1705 (O.S.) 21 July 1705 (Swedish calendar) 31 July 1705 (N.S.) Location Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Result Swedish victory
Belligerents
Swedish Empire	Electorate of Saxony Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Commanders and leaders
Carl Nieroth	Otto Arnold von Paykull (POW)
Strength
2,000 men[1] 1,940 cavalry 60 infantry	9,500 men[1] 3,500 Saxon cavalry 6,000 Polish cavalry
Casualties and losses
144 killed 148 wounded[2]	1,000 killed, wounded and captured[2]

The Battle of Warsaw (also known as the Battle of Rakowitz or Rakowiec)^{[Note 1]} was fought on 31 July 1705 (Gregorian calendar)^{[Note 2]} near Warsaw, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, during the Great Northern War and Swedish invasion of Poland (1701–1706). The battle was part of a power struggle for the Polish–Lithuanian throne. It was fought between Augustus II the Strong and Stanisław Leszczyński and their allies. Augustus II entered the Northern war as elector of Saxony and king of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and had formed an alliance with Denmark–Norway and Russia. Stanisław Leszczyński had seized the Polish throne in 1704, with the support of the Swedish army of Charles XII of Sweden. The struggle for the throne forced the Polish nobility to pick sides; the Warsaw Confederation supported Leszczyński and Sweden, and the Sandomierz Confederation supported Augustus II and his allies. The conflict resulted in the Polish civil war of 1704–1706.

In 1705 two events were planned to take place in Warsaw: a session of the Polish parliament to formally negotiate peace between Poland and Sweden; and the coronation of Stanisław Leszczyński as the new Polish king. Meanwhile, Augustus II and his allies developed a grand strategy that envisioned a combined assault to crush the Swedish forces and restore Augustus II to the Polish throne. Accordingly, an allied army of up to 10,000 cavalry under the command of Otto Arnold von Paykull was sent towards Warsaw to interrupt the Polish parliament. The Swedes sent a 2,000-strong cavalry contingent of their own, under the command of Carl Nieroth, to protect it. Encouraged by the fact that he heavily outnumbered the Swedes, Paykull took the initiative and attacked. He managed to cross the Vistula River with his army on 30 July, after a stubborn defence by a few Swedish squadrons, and reached the plains next to Rakowiec, directly west of Warsaw, on 31 July, where the two forces engaged in an open battle.

Augustus II's allied left wing quickly collapsed; after a short but fierce fight, so did the right and centre. Paykull managed to rally some of his troops a few kilometres away, at the village of Odolany, where the fight was renewed. The Swedes again gained the upper hand and, this time, won the battle. They captured Paykull along with letters and other documents which informed the Swedes of the strategic intentions of Augustus II's allies. The coronation of Stanisław Leszczyński occurred in early October. Peace between Poland and Sweden in November 1705 allowed the Swedish king to focus his attention on the Russian threat near Grodno. The subsequent campaign resulted in the Treaty of Altranstädt (1706), by which Augustus II renounced both his claim to the Polish throne and his alliance with Peter I of Russia.

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