page_title: Campaign of Grodno
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Campaign of Grodno / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Unbekannter Künstler. Offizielles Mittagessen der Teilnehmer nach der Unterzeichnung des Vertrags von Altranstadt am 7. Dezember 1706. Kupferstich. Datum unbekannt.
context_page_description: The Campaign of Grodno was a plan developed by Johann Patkul and Otto Arnold von Paykull during the Swedish invasion of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a part of the Great Northern War. Its purpose was to crush Charles XII's army with overwhelming force in a combined offensive of Russian and Saxon troops. The campaign, executed by Peter I of Russia and Augustus II of Saxony, began in July 1705 and lasted almost a year. In divided areas the allies would jointly strike the Swedish troops occupied in Poland, in order to neutralize the influence the Swedes had in the Polish politics. However, the Swedish forces under Charles XII successfully outmaneuvered the allies, installed a Polish king in favor of their own and finally won two decisive victories at Grodno and Fraustadt in 1706. This resulted in the Treaty of Altranstädt in which Augustus renounced his claims to the Polish throne, broke off his alliance with Russia, and established peace between Sweden and Saxony.
context_section_description: Charles had won one of his greatest victories at Grodno 1706, by simply cutting off his opponents' resources and supplies. Later, in a letter to his ally Frederick IV of Denmark, Peter I confirmed losses of up to 17,000 men during the encirclement and retreat. After his pursuit of the Russian army, having chased them out of Lithuania, Charles saw his opportunity to march back to Poland in order to meet up with Rehnskiöld, in preparation for the invasion of Saxony. He arrived there on August 5. Meanwhile, Schulenburg did what he could in an attempt to increase the Saxon army to measure the expected invasion from the Swedes, something which was proven close to impossible after the battle of Fraustadt. In a last attempt to stop the invasion, Augustus II of Saxony offered Courland to Sweden and Lithuania to the newly crowned king Stanisław I of Poland. The generous offer was, however, denied by Charles, who crossed the Saxon border on September 5. As Saxony was close to defenseless, the Swedes could easily push away any resisting troops. On September 19, they occupied the city of Leipzig which finally forced Augustus into unconditional peace under Swedish terms. Among other things, the traitor and second principal behind the Grodno campaign, Johann Patkul was turned into Swedish custody.
caption: The Treaty of Altranstädt, 1706.
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