The Battle of Kliszów (also spelled Klissow or Klezow) took place on July 19, 1702, near the village of Kliszów in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Great Northern War. A Swedish army under the command of King Charles XII of Sweden defeated a Polish–Saxon army twice the size that was led by King Augustus II the Strong of Saxony.
During the second year of the war, following Swedish victories at Narva and Düna, Charles launched a campaign against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In May 1702, Charles captured Warsaw, the Commonwealth's capital, where he received intelligence that Augustus was assembling a large Saxon army in Kraków. Charles chose to pursue Augustus and called for Swedish reinforcements. By July, after minor skirmishes and the arrival of his reinforcements, Charles was ready to attack Augustus's army, which had taken up a strong defensive position at Kliszów.
The battle began on July 9 with the Swedish army attempting to encircle the Saxon right wing. At the same time, the Polish Crown Army arrived to assist Augustus. The Swedish wings withstood attacks by the Saxon–Polish cavalry, which was driven from the battlefield. The Swedish cavalry and infantry were then able to jointly attack the Saxon infantry, which was forced to retreat. Augustus retreated to Sandomierz with his largely-intact army and retained control of large parts of Poland, but his military power was greatly weakened following the battle, which was a tactical and political victory for Charles.
Background
Context
On February 12, 1700, the Great Northern War began when Augustus II the Strong, King of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and elector of Saxony, crossed the Düna river with his Saxon troops and laid siege to the city of Riga in Swedish Livonia. At the same time, the Royal Danish Army under King Frederick IV of Denmark invaded the Swedish-allied duchies of Holstein and Gottorp to secure his rear before commencing with the planned invasion of Scania. In September 1700, Russian forces under Tsar Peter I invaded Swedish Ingria and laid siege to Narva in Swedish Estonia. These three nations had secretly agreed on a joint pact to attack the Swedish Empire from three separate fronts and each aimed to win back territories they had lost to Sweden in previous wars. The Swedish Army under the command of King Charles XII of Sweden first repelled the Danish threat. After a successful Swedish landing operation at Humlebæk on Zealand on July 25, 1700, Frederick IV was forced to withdraw from the war on August 8 the same year by signing the Peace of Travendal. On November 20, the Russians were forced to withdraw to Russia after their crushing defeat by Charles's main army at the Battle of Narva.
On his march towards Riga, Charles defeated a Saxon–Russian army at the Battle of Düna on July 9, 1701. The majority of the Saxon–Russian troops under Field Marshal Adam Heinrich von Steinau withdrew from the battle in a relatively orderly fashion, leaving Charles unable to completely defeat Augustus. The Swedish army later crossed the Düna and occupied the Duchy of Courland. Charles then launched a military campaign in Poland to outmaneuver Augustus's troops and depose him as King of Poland before moving against Russia. Several of the king's advisors, including Polish magnates and foreign diplomats, were worried about the king's war plans, especially his plan to depose Augustus. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was still neutral in the conflict because since Augustus had attacked Swedish Livonia in his capacity as elector of Saxony and not as King of Poland.