Scanian War

Scanian War (Danish: Sk?nske Krig Swedish: Sk?nska kriget) was fought between the union of Denmark-Norway and Sweden. Battles were fought during the Invasion of Scania itself, and in the Norwegian attack on Sweden, the Gyldenl?ve War. The Scanian War was the Nordic part of the Franco-Dutch War (1672-1678), and the first of the Danish revenge wars.

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When the Franco-Dutch War broke out, the United Provinces seeked support from Denmark-Norway. King Christian V wanted to join them, and go to war with both France and their ally, Sweden, but his influential advisor, count Peder Griffenfeld, made him wait. Griffenfeld wanted a more pro-France policy. But when the Swedes lost the Battle of Fehrbellin June 28 1675, the Danish army saw its chance, and attacked.

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The war started with the Danish invasion at Helsingborg in June 29, 1676. The Danish king Christian V brought 15,000 troops against a defending Swedish army of 5,000 men, which were spread out over the province.

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The goal was to retrieve the Scanian lands (Terra Scani?) that had been lost at the Northern Wars. Initially the operation was a great success. Large parts of the local peasantry sided with Denmark and the outnumbered Swedish troops were in bad shape. Town after town felt into the hands of the Danes and the Swedes had to retreat north to Sweden proper.

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The war was also fought at sea. In the Battle of ?land, June 1 1676, the Danish and the Dutch fleet won a great victory over the Swedes, sinking one of the largest naval vessels at that time, The Crown (Kronan). With the victory they got control of the Baltic sea. The control was secured a year later, when the Danish fleet, lead by Niels Juel, beat the Swedish fleet at the Battle of K?ge bay, near Copenhagen. The Swedes lost over 3 000 men, while the Danish only had 100 dead men. The Danish success at sea hindered the Swedes to move the war to northern Germany.

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In early August a Danish expedition was sent north to take the town of Halmstad and then advance along the Swedish west coast to seek contact with the Danish General Gyldenl?ve that had attacked from Norway. Charles XI then rushed his small army to the west and defeated the Danish force at Fyllebro. The Swedes then retreated north to gather more troops. Christian V brought his army to Halmstad and besieged the town for a couple of weeks but gave up and returned to Scania.

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On October 24 the 19 years old Swedish king Charles XI marches into Scania with 12,000 troops. After a number of skirmishes the Danish army was badly beaten at the Battle of Lund. After failing to take Malm? and the defeat at the Battle of Landskrona the following year combined with a number of other setbacks, both in Scania and in Germany, Christian V decided to evacuate his army in September 1678.

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A French dictated peace was signed in 1679. The Scanian lands remained Swedish.

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Danish: Danish may refer to:...

Swedish: The term Swedish can refer to:...

Denmark-Norway: The Kingdom of Denmark-Norway, consisting of Denmark and Norway, including Norway's possessions Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, is a term occasionally used for the two united kingdoms after their amalgamation as one state in 1536. The term Kingdom of Denmark is often used to include Norwa...

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