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The Battle of Kletsk took place on 30 April 1706 (Gregorian calendar), in- and outside the city of Kletsk, Belarus during Charles XII's Polish campaign of 1701–1706, in the Great Northern War. The Swedish forces were led by Carl Gustaf Creutz who defeated a bigger Russian–Cossack force under the command of Semjon Nepljujev and Danylo Apostol. Many of the Russian and Cossack regiments participating in the battle got completely annihilated and ceased to exist.〔〔(Battle of Kletsk )〕 == Prelude == During the end of the 17th century Russia, Denmark–Norway and Saxony formed a coalition against the Swedish Empire in order to regain what was lost in earlier wars. The Swedish king Charles XII, however, then invaded the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in his 1701–1706 campaign and there removed Augustus the Strong from the Polish throne in 1704, replacing him with pro-Swedish Stanislaw Leszczynski. Even though having a rapid success, the Swedish army continued their campaign in Poland until 1706, mainly due to Polish irregular clans still fighting the Swedes. In January, 1706, a bigger force of Russians were cut off and trapped during the battle of Grodno, by Charles XII and his equally sized army. This caused the Russian Czar, Peter the Great to assemble great portions of men for their assistance. He also ordered the Cossack Hetman, Ivan Mazepa – who at the time was an ally to Russia – to gather an army of 14,000 men to attack and disturb the Swedish troops blockading Grodno.〔 However, the Swedes launched counter–offensives against the aiding Cossacks which inflicted large casualties. One of these when the Swedish commander Carl Gustaf Creutz sieged the city of Lyakhavichy with an army of 2,000 men, and there closed-in a large force of Cossacks and Poles. Mazepa then sent an aiding–party of 4,700 soldiers; whom initially were going to help those trapped in Grodno, but now instead the ones being held in Lyakhavichy. After some days marching they arrived to the city of Kletsk, where they put up camp.〔 Creutz, the captain of the siege, got knowledge of this and immediately started to gather and march with 1,500 cavalry against Kletsk, leaving 500 dragoons to the siege. He arrived the next morning and with a fruitless attack managed to annihilate the Russian–Cossack relief party camping there.〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Kletsk (1706)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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