Battle of Lesnaya 1708
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 9 October 1708 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1708 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Belarus | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Great Northern War | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 53.5422, 30.9150 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Lesnaya was fought on 9 October 1708 during the Swedish invasion of Russia in the Great Northern War. Russia was the sole remaining enemy of Sweden following the dissolution of the anti-Swedish coalition in 1706. Peter I of Russia led a flying corps (corps volant [ru]), supported by two additional divisions, to destroy a convoy under general Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt that was heading for the Swedish main army in Ukraine with reinforcements and supplies. Peter caught up with the convoy at the village of Lesnaya (Lyasnaya) in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, present-day Belarus.
The Swedes were attacked in the rear at 11:00 as they were crossing the stream of Lesnyanka, at Lesnaya, heading for Propoysk (Slawharad) on the river Sozh behind which Charles XII's army was expected. The initial phase of the battle was fought over a forest clearing a distance from Lesnaya, where a Swedish outpost attempted to stall the attack. The Swedes were pushed back to the village after some hours, where Lewenhaupt ordered a general assembly. The following phase saw Russian attempts to capture the Lesnyanka bridge, to cut him off from the road to Propoysk.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Lesnaya (revision 1374674376), 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.
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Other battles of the Great Northern War
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- Battle of Wesenberg (1704) 1704
- Siege of Narva (1704) 1704
- Storming of Lemberg 1704
- Battle of Kalisz 1706
- Battle of Holowczyn 1708
- Battle of Koniecpol 1708
- Battle of Koporye 1708
- Battle of Malatitze 1708
- Sack of Baturyn 1708
All 52 battles of the Great Northern War →
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