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Battle of Kliszów 1702

Battle of Kliszów
Image: Johan Litheim (1663-1725) (Life time: 17th-18th century), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.

Key facts

Date19 July 1702Wikidata
Year1702Wikidata P585 (point in time)
EraEarly modern (1500–1799)derived from year
LocationPolandNatural Earth (modern borders)
ContinentEuropeNatural Earth
War / conflictGreat Northern WarWikidata P361
ParticipantsElectorate of Saxony, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, SwedenWikidata P710
Coordinates50.6167, 20.5258Wikidata P625

About the battle

The Battle of Kliszów (also spelled Klissow or Klezow) took place on 19 July 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.

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 19 July 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.

Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Kliszów (revision 1377275430), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.

Location

50.6167, 20.5258 · Poland

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Nearby battles

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All 52 battles of the Great Northern War →

Browse more: battles in Poland · Europe · Early modern battles

Further reading