Talk:Battle of Narva (1700)

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The date of the battle is something I would like somebody to clarify for me. The article says "20 November 1700 (Julian calendar)". At that time, Narva was part of Sweden, which at that time did NOT use the Julian calendar. It had decided to gradually convert from Julian to Gregorian over a period of 40 years, by successively omitting 11 leap days (29 February). The first omission was in 1700. The "Swedish Transitional Calendar" had now commenced, which would differ from the 10-day difference) in the Swedish Transitional Calendar, but to 19 November (11 days) in the true Julian Calendar. So it seems the info provided is not internally consistent. If the date really was 20 November in the Julian calendar, this would equate to 1st December in the Gregorian.

I suspect (but can't yet prove) that Narva happened on 19 November (Julian) = 20 November (Swedish) = 30 November (Gregorian). Does anybody know what the real truth is, and can they quote an authoritative source? I would be most interested, and Wikipedia would be the better for it.

The Swedish literature mention the 20:th November. As far as I know all dates of the GNW in Swedish literature are written in Swedish calendar (this is especially noticeable for Swedes visiting Halden in Norway, at the monument on Charles XII:s death, the Danish (Gregorian) dates are written that differs somewhat from the dates taught in Swedish schools and lit.). In Swedish lit. Charles fell Nov. 30:th 1718, the Norwegian monument puts his death in december (I do not remember the exact date). The link to the article on the Swedish calendar should be renamed into "Swedish transitional calendar" or something like that. Since most of the other dates (incl. Charles death) is written in Swedish calendar format, I suggest that the Swedish dates are kept, but Gregorian dates are added as well.

Swedish calendar: 20 November, Julian: 19 November, Gregorian: 30 November. I am sure!

-Objectivity Am I the only one sceptical about the phrasing in the aftermath part? Using the phrase 'wasted the victory' seems extemely objective to me. Being an encyclopedia, judgement should not be taken - especially in a topic that is much debated in military history (ie whether or not Karl XII made the right decision or not when it comes to the war strategy post-Narva).

I don't have a problem with the wording. I thought there was pretty much consensus that the strategy after Narva didn't do much good to the Swedish position. If you know sources that make an argument for the strategy I guess it could be a good thing to reword.

But if Charles XII would march into Russia after the victory then he would have August II in his back. Furthermore the russians still had 120000 soldiers in russia not so far from wer eCharles XII were going.Pukkie 07:34, 20 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Makeup of the armies

Should there perhaps be more information about the makeup of the armies. Eg the Swedish army was made up of large numbers of ethnic Finnish recruits as well as Germans. What about the Russian army? It is mentioned that most of the officers were foreigners. Where did they come from? KarlXII 22:19, 8 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Well the most of the swedish soldiers were born in sweden

The Russians must have used Polish, Cossack and other officers. This is an educated guess, since soldiers from these territories made excellent account of themselves in the battle, especially cossacks. Though I'm not sure if the Cossacks were even under the Russians at this point or still a rebellious force.

Favourite battle

This is my favourite battle. The russians got so owned by the swedes.

Casualties

Could someone verify the very detailed casualty count for the Swedish army. I have seen numbers accurate to the last man, but I am not sure it is 667. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 83.85.58.133 (talk) 16:23, 15 April 2007 (UTC).[reply]

"Sweden lost only 667 men while the Russian army lost about 15,000 men, many of whom fled the battlefield only to drown in the Narva River."

Can I just ask how this can be said for certain?

Good question, I have seen accurate numbers way back (in a book that I cannot recall the name of), but 667 is not familiar. I guess you can make out very detailed KIA counts from the regimental archives. Should we change it to 700 or whatever is the standard rounded number?

The Swedish encyclopedia "Nationalencyclopedin" (my edition is printed 1994) lists 667 as the KIA count for the Swedish side, and 15000 on the Russian side, 12000 Russians is listed as captured.

It also lists the sizes of the armies as 10500 Swedes vs. 37000 Russians. The encyclopedia entry make a reference to Nils F. Holm, Det svenska svärdet: Tolv avgörande händelser i Sveriges historia (1948)

Decisive?

Im sorry but this battle was not decisive. Decisive doesn't mean "crushing victory", it means that it had a direct affect on the outcome of hostilities, in favour of the winning party. If it had been decisive, Sweden would have retained mastery over Russian and the continent. The battle didn't decide anything, apart from a Russian policy change from extrovert aggression to introvert modernisation. It was just another scirmish in a long war which Russia eventually won. Just because Charles XII pulled off a move of strategic genius doesn't change history. Yes Sweden won this battle, clearly, but Russia won the war and Narva did nothing to end hostilities. It wasn't decisive, and classing it as decisive seems to be a product of the "anti-Russian" tone of the whole article, which is the reason i wrote the thing. Far too biased, not decisive. Yours --Tefalstar 12:58, 9 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]