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The Battle of Isokyro (Swedish Storkyro) was fought on February 19, 1714 (O.S.) / March 2, 1714 (N.S.) at the villages of Napue and Laurola in Isokyro parish (N62 58.96 E22 21.84 WGS84), Ostrobothnia, Swedish Empire (present day Finland) between the Swedish and the Russian army, as part of the Great Northern War. The Swedish force, consisting almost entirely〔 of Finnish troops, was destroyed by the numerically (twice) superior Russian force. As a result, all of Finland fell under Russian military occupation for the rest of the war, a seven-year period of hardship known in Finland as the Great Wrath. ==Prelude== By 1703 Russian forces had reached the inner parts of the Gulf of Finland, and founded the city of Saint Petersburg. Since the Swedish main army was engaged in Poland and later in Russia, Sweden was hard pressed to defend its Baltic territories. After the battle of Poltava, Russia took all of Livonia, Estonia and Ingria, as well as the counties of Viborg, Savonlinna and Kexholm. When Charles XII of Sweden refused to enter peace negotiations, Denmark and Russia drew up plans with the purpose to threaten Stockholm. Two attack routes were considered: one through southern Sweden and the other through Finland and the Åland islands. The southern attack was deemed more important, but the attack on Finland was to be carried out in order to tie down as much of the remaining Swedish army as possible there. However, the attack from the south was successfully fended off by Magnus Stenbock's victory at Helsingborg in 1710. The Russian attack on Finland never developed as planned. Since Peter the Great was engaged in a war against Turkey, the resulting lack of soldiers forced him to postpone the conquest of Åbo. Initial Russian actions in Finland consisted of raids and reconnaissance operations, with the purpose of occupying southeastern Finland and devastating it in order to deny Swedish forces a base of operations against the Russian-controlled areas around Saint Petersburg. Significant Russian military action in Finland began in 1713, after logistical problems caused the failure of an initial foray the previous year. Already in May, Peter and his galley fleet were seen off Helsingfors, and during the summer all of southern Finland was occupied by Russian troops. The Swedish forces under general Georg Henrik Lybecker retreated inland. Before returning to Russia, Peter commanded Fyodor Apraksin, the commander of the Imperial Navy to attack the Swedish army during the winter. General Carl Gustaf Armfeldt was given command over the troops in Finland in August 1713. He faced a hopeless task; Lybecker had left him with a neglected, starving, destitute army. Reconnaissance wasn't possible because the cavalry was too worn out to carry out its duties. THE RUSSIAN ARMY ARRIVES AT OSTROBOTHNIA Golitzin’s army, consisting of 11 000 men, arrived at Ilmajoki in the middle of February. Armfelt decided to locate the battle to Isokyro, for some pressure was applied by the Swedish regime, aided by the honour of a military officer. Most of his officers were against this decision, but Armfelt remained assured by local reserves that did not want to hand their homes and families over to Russian terror. Only six of the nearest communes or villages had time enough to send reinforcements. Armfelt had altogether 5 500 men which he at first located on both sides across from the river, in three brigades each consisting of four lines. THE BATTLE IS AT SIGHT After gaining the knowledge that Golitzin’s main troops had a few kilometers earlier departed to the right and were coming from the north, Armfelt relocated his troops so that the brigades of Von Freidenfelt, Von Essen, Maidell and Yxkull were on the northern side of the river. A small group with two guns occupied the hill of Napue. De La Barre’s cavalry of 1 000 men, plus a group of 300 men under Ziesing, were ordered southwest from Napue to prevent Tsekin’s free drive along the river. Golitzin’s main forces consisted of 6 500, Tsekin’s regiments of about 1 800 men. Before the battle Golitzin ordered three regiments of his northern troops with cossacks to veer west, aiming to amass behind the Finnish mainforces. Tsekin as well separated one regiment to veer Finnish troops from the south. 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 Storkyro」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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