Karo veiksmai Kuršo kunigaikštystės ir Lietuvos pasienyje Didžiojo Šiaurės karo pradžioje (1701 m. rugsėjis - 1703 m. gegužė)

LTStraipsnyje aptariami Didžiojo Šiaurės karo (1700–1721) įvykiai, susiję su Kuršo kunigaikštyste. Daugiausia dėmesio skirta karo veiksmams konkrečiame regione – Kuršo kunigaikštystės ir Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės pasienyje, vykusiems nuo švedų įžengimo į Kuršo kunigaikštystę 1701 m. vasarą iki 1703 m. pavasario, kai iš Kuršo išvyko švedų gubernatorius Karolis Magnusas Stiuartas (Karl Magnus Stuart). Rengiant straipsnį daugiausia remtasi Latvijos valstybiniame istorijos archyve saugomais istorijos šaltiniais. Raktiniai žodžiai: Kuršo kunigaikštystė, Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė, Žemaitija, Didysis Šiaurės karas, Karolis XII, Augustas II, Ferdinandas Ketleris. [Iš leidinio]

ENThe Great Northern War (1700–1721) was one of the most significant events that impacted the history of the Baltic region and opened the Baltic lands for the strengthened Russian Empire. Due to this war, state dependency of part of the territory of Latvia (Vidzeme) and the whole of Estonia changed in the early eighteenth century. Directly and indirectly, the war had an impact on the whole region of the Baltic countries. The political consequences of the war have constantly attracted interest of historians, but studies on the military actions in this region as such are comparatively scarce. Although the public seems to be well informed about isolated facts and battles, there is a shortage of generalised works. Early in the Great Northern War, the Duchy of Courland became a bridgehead for Saxon offensive and a military base for both Saxony and August II, the ruler of Poland and Lithuania. This article discusses the events of the Great Northern War that are, in one way or another, related with the Duchy of Courland. The main attention is given to the military actions in a particular region, the border area between the Duchy of Courland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Here, warfare continued almost uninterruptedly from the summer of 1701 to the end of 1709. This military theatre of the war, which had been a periphery of a very wide war, has attracted relatively less attention of the historians. The article focuses on the military actions in the region from the entrance of the Swedes into the Duchy of Courland in the summer of 1701 to the departure of the Swedish governor Karl Magnus Stuart from Courland in the spring of 1703. The article is mostly based on the sets of documents kept in the Latvian State Historical Archive. The Swedes occupied Courland in summer 1701.In July and August of that year, the units of the Swedish army entered the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the territory of Courland for the first time in this war. At the time, Lithuania, just like the whole of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, was not yet officially engaged in the war against Sweden: the war was declared by August II, the ruler of Lithuania and Poland, as the prince-elector of his inherited Duchy of Saxony. For the Swedes, the excuse to seize the fortress of Biržai in Lithuania was the artillery and military gear of August II that the king used during the Riga offensive and the blockade of this port. Having confiscated the artillery and military gear, the Swedes returned to Courland. The excuse for the Swedes to enter Žemaitija (Samogitia), the northwestern province of Lithuania, was the appeal of Kazimierz Jan Sapieha, the palatine of Vilnius and the grand hetman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (the chief of the army), addressed to Charles XII, King of Sweden, in which he asked the Swedes to protect the estates of Sapieha in Žemaitija from devastation by the adversaries of the Sapieha family, the so-called republicans of Lithuania. The feud between the faction of influential nobles of Lithuania, the Sapieha, and their adversaries, the so-called republicans of Lithuania, became a significant factor in the Great Northern War in the border area between Lithuania and Courland. The Sapieha, who had suffered a bitter defeat in their struggle against the republicans in the autumn of 1700, sought an alliance with Sweden. In 1702, this alliance became public. The republicans, who took command in Lithuania late in 1700, were supporting August II and his ally, Russia, in the fight against Sweden, although the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was still formally neutral in this war.In late 1701-early 1702, the main body of Swedish troops, led by Charles XII in person, entered Žemaitija from Courland. Through Lithuania, the king of Sweden marched to Poland, where the main theatre of military action of the Great Northern War moved and stayed for a long time. The border region between Courland and Lithuania became a peripheral albeit very significant theatre of warfare. From time to time, reinforcements were sent to the army of Charles XII from Courland through Lithuania. The republicans of Lithuania constantly attempted to disrupt Swedish communication between Courland and the army of Charles XII and arranged frequent sallies to the territory of Courland. Having established themselves in Courland and close to Riga, relatively sparse Swedish forces tried to maintain control over the Duch (new style). Here the Swedes beat Lithuanian republicans and their allies, Russians. For some time, the Swedish rule in Courland was ensured. Soon after the battle of Saločiai, the leadership of the Swedish administration and the army in the Duchy of Courland changed. In May, Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt, general major of infantry, took over the leadership here. It was the beginning of a new period of the Swedish occupation in the history of the Duchy of Courland. Unlike other territories occupied by the Swedes during this war, a permanent Swedish occupying administration with its special institutions was established in the Duchy of Courland. Its residents were burdened with exorbitant duties (contributions) to maintain the Swedish army. The Swedes attempted to collect contributions in the northern border regions of Lithuania, which their army used to invade, although for a short time. [...] Keywords: Duchy of Courland, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Žemaitija (Samogitia), Great Northern War, Charles XII, August II, Ferdinand Ketler. [From the publication]

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