page_title: Battle of Selburg
section_title: Prelude
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Selburg / Prelude
caption_attribution_description: English: Aleksander Korwin Gosiewski
context_page_description: The Battle of Selburg was fought during the Polish–Swedish War, between Sweden and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in September 1626. The Polish forces under Aleksander Gosiewski managed to recapture Selburg from the Swedes earlier in 1626 and stationed their troops in the castle. In response the Swedish general Jacob De la Gardie gathered his force to once again capture the town for the Swedes.
context_section_description: In 1625 the Swedish royal army under king Gustavus Adolphus swept through Livonia and subsequently captured strategically important towns gaining advantageous footholds before the upcoming truce which ended the Polish–Swedish War (1600–1629). Some of these were Kokenhausen and Selburg. Gustavus then entered Prussia in 1626, in an attempt to achieve a decisive victory against the Poles under the command of Sigismund III Vasa. However, Livonia still remained a theater of war, and the Swedish king left Jacob De la Gardie as first in command, and Gustav Horn as second, to defend his conquers. In 1626, a Polish army under Aleksander Gosiewski sieged the city of Selburg and captured it just a few days later. The shortage of water was one of the primary factors behind the surrender. De la Gardie then planned to recapture the city as it was of great strategic importance and the key to defense of the Swedish held Kokenhausen, further up the Daugava River.
caption: Aleksander Gosiewski, the Polish military commander at the battle.
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