The siege of Thorne by the Swedish troops during the Northern War - part of the 1703 campaign of the Swedish king Charles XII during the Polish campaign . The capture of the fortress actually gave Charles XII control of all of Poland.
Background
The war against the young Swedish king Charles XII, initiated in 1700 by the Northern Alliance (see the Transfiguration Treaty ), however, did not start as expected: with a bold raid under the walls of Copenhagen, Charles XII led Denmark out of the war, then landed in Estonia and defeated the Russian army under Narva , after which he turned against the Saxon elector and the Polish king Augustus II , dropping him from Riga (1701).
In 1702, Charles XII turned all his forces against Augustus II, with the goal of his overthrow and accession of the Swedish candidate in the Commonwealth. Charles XII occupied Warsaw, went all over Poland, then defeated the Saxon army of Augustus II at Kliszow near Krakow , but the strategic goal of the campaign was not achieved.
In 1703, Augustus II assembled a new army north of Warsaw . After leaving winter apartments in the Krakow region, Charles XII advanced to Warsaw and defeated Field Marshal A.G. von Steinau's Saxon corps at Pultusk , and then proceeded to the siege of the Thorn fortress.
Siege
The Swedish avant-garde approached the fortress on May 24, the main army of the Swedish king (26,000 people) - May 26. At first, the Swedish army had only field artillery, which could not damage the fortress walls, but allowed to block the city.
By the beginning of the siege, the garrison of the fortress (under the command of Saxon Major General K. G. von Kanitz ) numbered 6000 people. The artillery of the garrison was 43 bronze and 46 iron guns, 5 howitzers and 9 mortars.
Only on September 24, after the arrival of siege artillery, the bombardment of the city began. By this time, the number of active defenders of the fortress was reduced to 1300-1600 people.
October 7, negotiations began on the surrender of the fortress. On October 14, the fortress surrendered.
Consequences
On November 21, Charles XII left Thorne, having previously destroyed all the defenses. He headed to the Elbing Fortress, which hastened to surrender. Also, other Polish fortresses ( Danzig , Poznan ) passed under the control of the Swedes.
Thus, almost all of Poland was in the hands of the Swedes, and all Saxon troops left the country.