Siege of Stralsund (1807)

Siege of Stralsund
Part of the Franco-Swedish War
Prise de Stralsund, by Hippolyte Lecomte
Date 24 July – 24 August 1807 Location Stralsund, Swedish Pomerania Result French victory Territorial changes Sweden loses Swedish Pomerania
Belligerents
French Empire Spain Kingdom of Holland	Sweden
Commanders and leaders
Édouard Mortier Guillaume Brune Jean de Kindelan	Gustav IV Adolf Hans Henric von Essen
Strength
40,000	15,000 500 guns
Casualties and losses
998 killed, wounded or captured	Unknown

The siege of Stralsund lasted from 24 July to 24 August, 1807, and saw troops from the First French Empire twice attempt to capture the port city from Lieutenant General Hans Henric von Essen's 15,000-man Swedish garrison. Early that year, Marshal Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier blockaded the city for two months before he was called elsewhere. In his absence, the Swedes drove back the inferior blockading force. After Mortier returned and pushed Essen's troops back in turn, the two sides quickly concluded an armistice. The truce was later repudiated by King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden, and Marshal Guillaume Marie Anne Brune then led 40,000 French, German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch soldiers against the fortress. Fearfully outnumbered, the Swedes abandoned the Baltic Sea port of Stralsund to the Franco-Allies in the action during the War of the Fourth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. As a consequence, Sweden also lost the nearby island of Rügen.