Siege of Stralsund (1807)
The siege of Stralsund lasted from 24 July to 24 August, 1807, and saw troops from the First French Empire twice attempt to capture the port city from Lieutenant General Hans Henric von Essen's 15,000-man Swedish garrison. Early that year, Marshal Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier blockaded the city for two months before he was called elsewhere. In his absence, the Swedes drove back the inferior blockading force. After Mortier returned and pushed Essen's troops back in turn, the two sides quickly concluded an armistice. The truce was later repudiated by King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden, and Marshal Guillaume Marie Anne Brune then led 40,000 French, German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch soldiers against the fortress. Fearfully outnumbered, the Swedes abandoned the Baltic Sea port of Stralsund to the Franco-Allies in the action during the War of the Fourth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. As a consequence, Sweden also lost the nearby island of Rügen.
| Siege of Stralsund | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Franco-Swedish War | |||||||||
Prise de Stralsund, by Hippolyte Lecomte | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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French Empire Spain Kingdom of Holland | Sweden | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Édouard Mortier Guillaume Brune Jean de Kindelan |
Gustav IV Adolf Hans Henric von Essen | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 40,000 |
15,000 500 guns | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 998 killed, wounded or captured | Unknown | ||||||||