User:Gvssy/Livonian campaign (1625–1626)

The Livonian campaign was a successful Swedish invasion into Livonia during the Polish–Swedish War (1621–1625) and the start of the Polish–Swedish War (1626–1629). It resulted in the Swedes conquering all of Livonia.

Background
In 1625, after the truce between Sweden and the Commonwealth had ended, and Denmark had been eliminated as a threat to Sweden after their entry into the Thirty Years' War, Gustavus Adolphus, the King of Sweden, decided to make a new invasion into Livonia.

The reasoning behind Gustavus' decision was that the Swedes ran into problems gaining acceptable peace terms from the Commonwealth, and it is also likely that Gustavus wished to expand Sweden's borders, at the expense of the Commonwealth.

Swedish plan
After his decision, Gustavus immediately drew up plans for the invasion. The finalized plan saw three parallel Swedish attacks. Gustavus himself would go against Kokenhusen, which was one of the Commonwealth's most important fortresses in the area. Jacob De la Gardie along with Gustav Horn were to capture Dorpat along with nearby land. Carl Gyllenhielm was tasked with attacking Windau and other Curonian ports.

Campaign
After arriving in Livonia on 28 June, Gustavus immediately split the 15,350 strong Swedish field army into two main expeditionary forces. This is because the plan had been changed on the way, instead making Gyllenhielm the commander of Riga and the attack on Windau was postponed.

Gustavus quickly led the main force, some 9,000 men against Kokenhusen, after arriving on 13 July, the Swedish cannons were brought up to the outer bailey, and on 15 or 25 July, the garrison capitulated to the Swedes. After the capitulation, the Hetman Stanislaw Sapieha met with the Swedish king in battle, where Sapieha was subsequently repulsed and lost all of his guns. After which he continued into the Duchy of Courland where Birze also surrendered to the Swedes on 5 September.