Battle of Narva, 1700: Charles XII's snowstorm victory

By the numbers
Side	Strength	Losses
Swedish Empire	~10,000-12,000	~2,000 killed or wounded¹
Tsardom of Russia	~30,000-40,000	~8,000-10,000 killed/wounded, ~20,000 surrendered²

By the numbers

Side

Strength

Losses

Swedish Empire

~10,000-12,000

~2,000 killed or wounded¹

Tsardom of Russia

~30,000-40,000

~8,000-10,000 killed/wounded, ~20,000 surrendered²

Quick answer

Sweden won a decisive victory at Narva in November 1700, when the eighteen-year-old king Charles XII attacked through a blinding snowstorm and shattered a Russian army roughly three times the size of his own in a couple of hours. It was one of the most lopsided victories of the age and announced the young king as a daring commander.

In November 1700, outside the fortress of Narva, the eighteen-year-old Swedish king Charles XII fell on a Russian army roughly three times the size of his own. Attacking through a blinding snowstorm, his soldiers split and shattered the besieging Russians in a couple of hours. Narva was one of the most lopsided victories of the age and announced the young king as one of Europe's most daring commanders.

The young king and the coalition

In 1700 the Swedish Empire was attacked at once by Russia, Denmark and Saxony-Poland³, who thought the teenage Charles XII an easy target. Charles knocked Denmark out of the war in weeks², then shipped his army to the eastern Baltic, where Tsar Peter I's much larger army was besieging the Swedish fortress of Narva.

Attack through the snow

Charles reached Narva on 30 November 1700¹ with a force far smaller than the besiegers, but he did not wait. As a heavy snowstorm blew straight into the Russians' faces, the Swedes attacked at once in two assault columns¹, punching through the long, thinly held Russian siege lines before the defenders could react.

Engraved period map of a river fortress surrounded by siege lines with troop formations — Zacharias Wolf's map of the relief of Narva, published around 1700, showing the fortress on the river, the long Russian siege lines and the Swedish assault that broke them. Public domain

A small Swedish army routed a force three times its number, in a blizzard.

The Russian rout

The Russian army, strung out around the fortress and with many inexperienced troops and poorly coordinated foreign officers, broke apart. A bridge over the river collapsed under the weight of fleeing men⁴, and many drowned or were cut down. Large parts of the army surrendered, and the senior foreign officers, including the commander de Croy, gave themselves up⁴. Swedish losses were a fraction of the Russian toll.

Triumph and its trap

Narva made Charles XII famous across Europe, but it also led him to underrate Russia and turn his attention elsewhere. Tsar Peter used the years that followed to rebuild and modernise his army, and in 1709 that reformed army destroyed the Swedes at Poltava⁵. Narva was a dazzling victory that helped set the stage for an eventual catastrophe.

Painting of a young king in a blue coat and tricorn hat on a rearing horse above a battle — Charles XII on horseback at the Battle of Narva, a painting from the circle of the Swedish court painter David von Krafft, early 18th century. Public domain

Frequently asked questions

When and where was the Battle of Narva?

It was fought on 30 November 1700 outside the fortress of Narva, in Swedish Estonia (today Estonia), early in the Great Northern War.

Who won the Battle of Narva?

Sweden, under the young king Charles XII, won a decisive victory over a much larger Russian army besieging the fortress.

How outnumbered were the Swedes?

Sweden fielded perhaps ~10,000-12,000 men against a Russian army¹ usually estimated at ~30,000-40,000, so the Swedes were outnumbered by roughly three to one.

How did a smaller army win?

Charles attacked at once through a snowstorm that blinded the Russians, struck their over-extended siege lines in concentrated columns, and broke an army largely made up of inexperienced troops before it could organise.

How does Narva connect to Poltava?

Narva led Charles to underestimate Russia. Tsar Peter rebuilt and reformed his army, and in 1709 decisively defeated the Swedes at Poltava, reversing the verdict of Narva.

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

Tacitus.nu (Örjan Martinsson), The Great Northern War, “Battle of Narva” ↩ a b c d

HistoryOfWar.org (J. Rickard), “Battle of Narva, 30 November 1700” ↩ a b

Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Narva” ↩

Robert K. Massie, Peter the Great: His Life and World (Alfred A. Knopf, 1980). ↩ a b

Robert I. Frost, The Northern Wars: War, State and Society in Northeastern Europe, 1558-1721 (Longman, 2000). ↩

Wikipedia, “Battle of Narva (1700)”