Battle of Fraustadt

In what is now western Poland, a Swedish force of about 9,400 faced a Polish-Russian army of about 20,000. In addition to having a larger total, the allied army led by Johann Schulenberg possessed 32 artillery pieces compared to none for the Swedish. Carl Rehnskiöld, the Swedish commander, nonetheless believed that fortune would favor the brave and set up his soldiers for a pincer attack.

Rehnskiöld found himself in an odd situation where his mistrust of emerging technology served him well. Contrary to popular belief, guns and cannons were not fully developed in 1706 to the point that they could destroy opposing forces the way they were in the 19th century.Armed lines of soldiers might fire a volley and rarely strike anyone at the time since firearms were frequently so imprecise.

At Fraustadt, the Swedish forces were told to charge the Germans aggressively rather than reloading, and many did not even get a chance to fire a shot. Due to this, the Poles and Russians had only a little window of opportunity to fire before the enemy charged them with bayonets and, in many cases, pikes.

The conflict was ultimately won in a short amount of time, with the Swedes suffering only roughly 1,500 casualties compared to their enemy's 15,000 losses. Even yet, the Russian Coalition ended up winning the conflict in 1721, which marked the end of the Swedish Empire's dominance in the Batlic region and the beginning of the Russian Empire.

Date: 2 February 1706 (O.S.)3 February 1706 (Swedish calendar)13 February 1706 (N.S.)
Location: Fraustadt (Wschowa), Poland
Result: Swedish victory