[POTN] 2.13 - March Across the Belts

Following the victory in Narva, the Swedes pushes the Russians back. but the harsh winter conditions stopped them from advancing further into Russian-occupied Ingria, allowing the Russians time to regroup. A Swedish offensive finally occurred in the spring of 1657, but with mixed results. While they were able to retake the port-fortress of Nyen by the Gulf of Finland, large areas of sparsely populated Ingrian lands were still in Russian hands, the Swedes lacking the resolve to attack deep into the hostile terrains.

The Russians, meanwhile, were not in any position to conduct any counter-offensives. The main fighting forces assembled against Sweden were already wiped out in the Battle of Narva, destroying any Russian attacking capabilities. By August 1657, however, the Ingrian frontline had once again fell into stalemate. The Swedes successfully retook the coastal areas, cutting the Russians from the Baltic again, but almost half of inland Ingria was still under Russian occupation.

The sudden death of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky on 9th August, 1657, coupled with the peace treaty signed between Poland-Lithuania and Sweden a mere fortnight prior, brought much tension in Moscow. After all, the Russians still occupied more than half of pre-war Commonwealth territory, and the Commonwealth would almost certainly turn against Russia after the Swedish threat had been eliminated. Tsar Alexei sought to re-deploy forces against a possible Polish counter-offensive, pulling units away from the Ingrian front. Noticing the Russian withdrawal, the Swedish government began advocating for a possible peace, in order to better focus against Denmark in the war.

During this time, the hostility between Denmark-Norway and Sweden remained largely bloodless. The Scanian border, despite rising tension, did not see any combat yet, with both sides arming their military near the border. Skirmishes occurred in the Norwegian-Swedish border, with a few casualties. Still, no invasion attempts were made, and a large portion of the Norwegian population was against the war. While the Danes were in favour of the war for the territories lost, the Norwegians were not particular eager to go to war just for the remote Northern province of Finnmark.

The army led by Prince Karl eventually evacuated the Commonwealth entirely by late September, not before burning the lands of Greater Poland once more before leaving. He then marched his army north to the Bremen direction with a remarkable pace, dropping or enslaving bitter Polish conscripts while recruiting fresh and elite German mercenaries, to improve combat abilities.

By mid-October, Karl's army already reached Bremen-Verden, occupied by Denmark, and freed the territory before the end of the month, with relative ease. The Swedes then stayed there for a few weeks, regrouping and recruiting even more mercenaries, promising them loot from Jutland should the war be won.

Meanwhile, in the Hetmanate, after a period of uncertainty, Ivan Vyhovsky was elected the new Hetman in late October, 1657. Recognising that Russia, occupying lands up to western Lithuania, was posing a way larger threat to the Hetmanate than the Commonwealth, coupled with the increasing Russian control on the Hetmanate, Vyhovsky soon endorsed pro-Polish stances after his ascension, allying with the Poles to drive the Russians back.

Some cossack factions in the Hetmanate, with close ties to Russia, began staging rebellions again Vyhovsky, who in turn took a heavy-handed approach to suppress the revolts. Deadly skirmishes occurred between the forces, and Vyhovsky executed several revolt leaders while starting peace negotiations with the Polish government in Kraków. Moscow, greatly alarmed by the development, pulled even more units out of Ingria to combat the possible join Polish-Cossack counter-attack. By November, the Russian barracks in Ingria were being emptied, and the Tsar sent envoys to Stockholm, proposing peace.

Gustav, eager to focus on Denmark, agreed to negotiate for peace with few pre-conditions. Official negotiations for peace started in Valiesar near Narva in late November, both sides wishing for a peace as soon as possible. After a quick negotiation with cooperation from both sides, the Treaty of Valiesar was signed on 20th December, 1657, detailing the following:

1) Hostilities between the Kingdom of Sweden and the Tsardom of Russia shall cease immediately. No further combat shall take place.

2) The territorial status quo ante bellum shall be restored immediately across the Russo-Swedish frontier, with both nations withdrawing from each other's rightful territory as soon as possible.

3) The Tsar of Russia shall withdraw his claim on the territories of Estonia and Livonia, recognising these territories as rightful dominions of the King of Sweden.

4) In return, Sweden shall not take the Polish side in a potential future Russo-Polish conflict. Sweden shall maintain her neutrality and not interfere in any negotiations seeking to end any aforementioned conflicts.

5) Russia, meanwhile, shall not intervene in the ongoing Swedish conflict with Denmark-Norway, and shall stay entirely neutral upon any development of the conflict concerned.

With peace against Russia secured, Sweden was finally only at war with Denmark-Norway. King Gustav immediately pulled the elite Finnish cavalry out of Ingria to the Scanian frontline, ready to wage an offensive.

In the Empire, Prince Charles had also arrived in Holstein, with the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp allowing Swedish armies to pass through his domains. The Swedish offensive started in early November, as the Baltic began to freeze and both sides were left without naval support.

A surprise Swedish attack by elite mercenaries in mid-November, led by Field Marshal Wrangel, ensured the Swedish capture of the key fortress of Fredriksodde in Southern Jutland. The Danish army largely had a low morale even prior to the battle, deeming the war unnecessary in its essence. In contrasts, vast amounts of mercenaries, under Karl's command, were well-informed of his ruthless tendencies, and believed that a victory would allow them to take much loots home.

Many mercenaries fought courageously and efficiently, leading to many Danes, including elite Danish units, to outright surrender after the fall of Fredriksodde.

With that, Karl's army soon swept through all of Jutland, occupying the entire peninsula by the time the Treaty of Valiesar was signed. Like always, Karl allowed the mercenaries and also the Swedish troops to extensively loot and destroy the Danish population on Jutland, commencing a rule of terror to prevent any revolts.

After the turn of the year, most of the units guarding Ingria were sent back to Halland and Småland to guard the Scanian front, led by King Gustav himself, who left Stockholm on 11th January to personally lead the army. At this point, the Danish armies guarding the island of Fyn and beyond were headed by the King's illegitimate half-brother, Ulrik Christian Gyldenløve, who had practically no experience leading a large-scale defense mission beforehand.

In the first half of January, the Little Belt became entirely frozen, thus eliminating the possibility of transporting Karl's cavalry to the island of Fyn, a plan that Karl previously favoured. By late January, Karl and his subordinates decided to attempt a march on the ice onto the island of Fyn. Several officers were sent to investigate the ice on the Little Belt, with Karl waiting for the most surprising moment for him and his cavalry to cross the ice on horseback.

After numerous testing and attempts for horses to travel on the ice, Karl eventually decided to attack at night on 29th January, just a few hours before the actual attack, in order to keep it from the Danes. In the early morning of 30th January, 1658, Karl led his infantry and cavalry, numbering twelve to thirteen thousand, to cross the Little Belt onto the Island of Fyn, with little to no Danish resistance.

The Danes, while aware of the attack, were unable to foresee it, and thus had no means to combat the Swedes on the ice. Karl's army eventually landed on Fyn in the evening of the day, capturing outposts while marching deep into the island. The Danish troops guarding the island never anticipated a Swedish attack while the Little Belt was frozen. Many Danish units across Fyn surrendered outright, while some fled to the capital after stealing from the local Danes and looting the royal treasury.

Karl ordered Wrangle to conduct a rapid march across the island, culminating in the capture of the town of Nyborg, in the far east of the island, without a fight in the evening of 31st January. The hostilities on the island thus largely ceased, with naval bombardment continuing for several days with no definitive results.

The capitulation of the entire island of Fyn opened the possibility for Karl to advance further in the Copenhagen direction. With the Great Belt frozen, it became an apparent possibility for the Swedish army to cross the strait and land on Zealand, potentially assaulting Copenhagen itself.

Shocked by the Swedish miracle and wary of further Swedish advances, King Frederik sent a proposal to Prince Karl to start peace negotiations on 3rd February. Karl, however, neglected the proposal, and continued planning for a march across the Great Belt. Meanwhile, on the Scanian front, combat also began in January, as both sides were able to wield much better-armed armies by then. The Swedes, led by King Gustav, were able to quell several ill-prepared Danish offensives, and occupied some Danish lands in Blekinge, but were unable to make it all the way to the region's capital, Sölvesborg.

Having settled for peace with the Commonwealth and Russia, Gustav was not exactly eager for peace with Denmark-Norway. The capture of Fyn delighted him greatly, and he called for Karl to advance all the way to Copenhagen.

After a few days of ice investigation, Karl deemed the ice covering the Great Belt solid enough for troop movement, and cavalry units were selected for the daring operation.

In the early morning of 6th February, 1658, Karl ordered for over three thousand cavalry men to cross the Great Belt to the southeast, leading their horses by foot, and personally led the rear-guard of the army. Karl's army soon reached the island of Langeland at noon that day, and they continued pressing on, with Karl's command. By evening, they landed on the island of Lolland, and the town of Nakskov was besieged by a minor Swedish force of less than two thousand men.

Nakskov. only manned by conscripted peasants, capitulated on the next day, leaving the entirety of Lolland under Swedish control, with the Swedes spending the two nights on the island, waiting for supply. Wrangel was originally commanded to cross the Great Belt at Nyborg directly onto Zealand, but the plan was ditched after the ice there was deemed nowhere solid enough for such an operation. Thus, Wrangel soon led his army south, joining in Prince Karl's efforts, reaching Lolland on 8th February.

On 8th February, Karl led his cavalry away from Lolland, crossing the narrow frozen straits once again, and captured the Danish island of Falster soon afterwards. With the army exhausted from three days of continued ice-crossing and battles, Karl allowed his troops to rest for two days on Falster, while awaiting Wrangel to join forces with him. The two forces eventually joined on northern Falster in the afternoon on 11th February, as Karl began seeking to advance further onto Zealand.

The mother of King Frederik's half-siblings, Kirsten Munk, had long been financing Prince Karl's army by this point. It was through her that Prince Karl was informed of how ill-prepared the Danish forces on Zealand were, which led him to decide to wage an all-out attack on Zealand, attempting to capture Copenhagen, starting on 12th February.

By then, King Frederik had sent envoys to Karl, pleading for him to halt his attack while signifying his willingness to begin negotiations. Karl, however, wished to pressure the Danes even further, and led all Swedish units to cross onto the islands of Bogø and Møn, before landing on Zealand itself. That evening, the Swedes captured the town of Præstø, before capturing Køge the next day. Karl thej rested his army for a day, before resuming his offensive on 15th February.

By then, the Swedes crossed Køge and reached Torslunda Magle, and were less than fifteen miles away from the Danish capital of Copenhagen, with Karl still leading almost eight thousand men. With the threat on the capital apparent, King Frederik became very desperate for peace. On 15th February, he sent yet another envoy to Karl, offering to negotiate for peace without any pre-conditions. Karl, seeking the total destruction of the Danish state, was rather unwilling to negotiate. Still, he sent a letter to Gustav, informing him of the developments, and asked him to be present should any negotiations begin.

On 17th February, the town of Roskilde fell to Karl's forces, and the Swedes began encircling some parts of Copenhagen, preparing for a siege. On 18th February, 1658, Frederik again offered peace, claiming to be able to negotiate everything. A preliminary accord was signed in Taastrup near Copenhagen that evening, documenting Frederik's promise and willingness to negotiate peace at all costs.

Gustav, meanwhile, was sailing for Køge, bringing elite siege weapons with him. He landed on 20th February, and the Swedes began heavily bombarding Copenhagen, as the accord signed in Taastrup was not seen as a truce by Gustav.

Negotiations started in Roskilde the following day, as the Swedes continued to besiege Copenhagen. Despite the imminent peril, King Frederik refused to flee his capital city, instead directing the defense for his people. Still, Gustav's arrival proved to be another morale boost for the Swedes, who besieged the entirety of Copenhagen in the matter of a few days. King Frederik urged his envoys for concessions in the negotiations ongoing in Roskilde, but the harsh stances of Gustav and Karl proved to be difficult for any peace.

Unwilling to sacrifice Danish core territories, Frederik directed his diplomats to increasingly sacrifice Norwegian interests in the negotiations, as almost no Norwegians were present in Roskilde, and thus no objections were voiced.

A deal was almost done on 26th February, but Gustav's objection meant the negotiation failed once again, as the Swedish sides demanded even more concessions by the Danes. Following the turn of the month, the Swedes began bombarding Copenhagen even more heavily, so to put even greater pressure on King Frederik.

King Frederik, still refusing to yield Danish interests, began to back down further and further in the terms concerning Norwegian interests, much to many Norwegians' eventual dismay. On 8th March, 1658, peace was finally achieved with agreement from both Gustav and Karl, and the Treaty of Roskilde was signed by the two parties. The Treaty was extremely harsh to Denmark-Norway, effectively eliminating its status as a continental power, detailing the following:

1) Hostilities shall cease between the Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Denmark, and the Kingdom of Norway. The Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway shall no longer intervene in any wars concerning the Kingdom of Sweden.

2) Denmark shall be responsible for all the costs of the Swedish troops in all Europe since 1st June, 1657. On top of that, Denmark and Sweden shall altogether pay an extra reparation sum of four million thalers to Sweden.

3) The Norwegian province of Finnmark, now on a lease to Sweden till 1675, shall be ceased to Sweden immediately and irrevocably.

4) The Danish provinces of Scania and Blekinge shall be ceased to the Sweden immediately. Residents shall be treated as Swedish subjects unless they leave the Kingdom in six months.

5) The Danish island of Bornholm shall be ceased to Sweden immediately. Trading ports shall be established to ensure continued trading activities between Danes and Swedes.

6) The Norwegian province of Bohuslän shall be ceased to Sweden immediately. Norwegian residents shall leave for Norway unless they are willing to pledge loyalty to the King of Sweden.

7) All Norwegian territories north of the Norwegian province of Trøndelag shall be ceased to Sweden immediately. The Norwegian provinces to be ceded include Trøndelag, Troms, and all of Nordland. The Norwegians within the provinces are expected to either swear loyalty to the King of Sweden or leave the territories.

8) The Norwegian province of Møre shall be leased to Sweden for forty years, that is, until 7th March, 1698. Norwegians residing in the province shall not receive Swedish nationality unless otherwise granted.

9) Denmark shall henceforth possess the responsibility to stop any military vessels hostile to Sweden to pass through the Danish straits into the Baltic. Sweden shall aid Denmark should war arise from such situations.

10) The Duke of Holstein-Gottorp shall receive minor land gains in Holstein as reparations. Denmark shall also pay reparations to the Duchy of Bremen-Verden for the unlawful invasion conducted in 1657.

11) Denmark and Norway shall pay off the reparations to Sweden as soon as possible. As long as the reparations are not paid in full, the Swedish army shall continue occupying Denmark proper, potentially taking valuables as payments.

12) The University of Copenhagen shall begin admitting Swedish students without extra demands. Cooperation shall also begin between the said institution and universities in Sweden, showcasing the normalisation of relations among the parties concerned.

The Treaty crippled the Danish royal treasury, but King Frederik was willing to do everything to eject the Swedish occupation forces from his own Danish heartland. Countless royal properties were sold to various nobles and foreign royals, with Frederik also raising taxes among Danes, and especially Norwegians, to attempt amassing four million thalers to pay the Swedes.

In Denmark, the people mostly welcomed the peace, after unpleasant experiences living under Karl's brutal rule of terror. However, in Norway, the public opinion was pretty much the exact opposite. Countless Norwegians felt betrayed by the King with the sheer amount of Norwegian lands ceded to Sweden, and believed that the King, having committed treason, was no longer the legitimate King of Norway.

Militias began forming in different parts of Norway, especially in the ceded territories, aiming to defend themselves and their people against the Swedes who would be invading the ceded provinces soon. Some radical units even relieved themselves of loyalty to Frederik, claiming that the union between Denmark and Norway was over and Norway shall be respected as an independent Kingdom with a vacant throne.

Treaty of Roskilde (1658)