Siege of Riga (1812)

Peterburg neighborhood of Riga before burning (1812)

During Emperor Napoleon's Invasion of Russia, two corps were sent to towards the Baltic Sea via Courland and Lithuania in-order to secure his northern flank. One of the corps, Marshal Étienne MacDonald's X Corps was sent towards the Courland and subsequently began moving towards Riga.[3]

By mid July 1812, the Riga garrison had grown to around 14,000 troops. The Russian Army of Finland commanded by Fabian Steinheil arrived with a further 10,000 troops shortly after the beginning of the siege.[3]

After the beginning of the siege, the French situation was precarious as Marshal MacDonald's 25,000 troops had to not only continue the siege, but control some 80 miles of the Daugava up to Dünaburg. This was further undermined as the 'allied' Prussian forces' loyalty was increasingly dubious.[3][4]

Buildings on fire during Siege of Riga (1812)

On July 7 the Battle of Iecava took place, in which the troops commanded by Prussian General Julius von Grawert, who approached Riga, defeated the forces of General Friedrich von Löwis of Menar. Governor-General Magnus Gustav von Essen, overestimating his opponent's options, ordered preparations for the siege and the burning of the suburbs, after doubt and cancellation — including those on the right bank. Commandant Ivan Emme announced the partial destruction of the Moscow and St. Petersburg (German: Petersburger Vorstadt) suburbs, and on the evening of July 11, police were ordered to start the arson. The fire, wind and poor organization spiraled out of control, causing even more damage to the townspeople than planned.

On July 19, 67 Russian gunboats finally arrived in Riga, much more than those made by Thomas Byam Martin. At that time, the Prussians were located around Riga in the southern semicircle along the line Sloka — Olaine — Kekava. Löwis of Menar's forces launched a counterattack in a western direction, and the Russian and English gunboats supporting it, moving up the Lielupe River, managed to reach Sloka and further Kalnciems. The boats moved on to Jelgava, which was shelled but retreated from it as a result of the Prussian artillery response fire. However, after a few days, the Prussians were able to push the Russians back from the captured territory.

On August 10 the Russians, after hoax attacks in the directions of Sloka and Olaine, attacked Kekava, forcing opponents to retreat to the south. On August 26 (September 7), the Prussians launched a counterattack and the Russians, in turn, retreated to the starting positions.

Jacques Macdonald, who was based in Dünaburg (Daugavpils) and, despite Napoleon's orders, had carried out very few active activities from there, after that he was transferred to Jēkabpils Ginenbein's brigade from the French 7th Division, which was to help take Riga. 130 heavy ("siege") cannons were placed in Pilsrundāle. But at the time, Moscow-leaning Napoleon himself called on Maconald not to rush, hoping for peace talks that were never launched.

On August 9, 1812, Martin, having decided that his further presence in Riga was not necessary, received permission to leave, but before that he took the British and Russian navies in a raid to the French war port of Danzig. They managed to create such panic that Maconald had to send some of his strength from Daugavpils to Danzig to calm his minds.

On September 10 the 10,000-strong Steinheil Corps arrived in Riga from Helsinki and was ordered to help the Riga garrison throw the enemy away from the vicinity of the city and destroy the siege cannons. Now the balance of power had changed for the Russians (22-25 thousand to 17) and they launched an attack in the direction of Pilsrundale, but Steinheil failed to find a common language with Essen, for whom it seemed more important to liberate Jelgava, and the Rosean Regiment and Steinheil's forces sent by Essen went in different directions.

On September 14 (26) Steinheil crushed a group of Prussian troops commanded by Horne, and York von Wartenburg, who protected Jelgava, decided to withdraw from it without fighting and joined the Pilsrundale group, fearing siege. Rosen, having captured the city, also seized its arsenal of numerous war materials, which convinced Essen of the correctness of his actions and allowed him to solemnly come to the city the next day. Essen ordered Steinheil to send a few more regiments (3,000 men) to Jelgava for the guard of the loot. All this delayed and weakened Steinheil while the Prussians actively prepared for the battles around Pilsrundale. Belgard's regiment sent by Steinheil, with the task of forsaken through the brass Lielupe and tying the Prussian left wing at Gravendhall, collided with fierce resistance; York von Wartenburg used the excitement and fatigue of Russian forces, moved on to attack and forced Steinheil to retreat towards Jelgava as a result of the Battle of Mezotne. Jelgava was not held either: Essen fled from it without waiting for Steinheil, and the city was occupied by the Prussians.

In mid-October, the Russians tried to carry out attacks in the direction of Ķekava and along the Lielupe River, but the Prussians managed to hold their recovered positions.

Russian military failures led to organizational changes. On October 14 (26) Essen was replaced with Filippo Paulucci and the Steinheil Corps was subjected to Peter Wittgenstein,[5] who was successfully fighting in the Polotsk neighborhood at the time.

The regiments driving Macdonald from the east to Riga, meanwhile, succeeded. On November 1, Günerbein captured Tome, taking 9 Russian officers and 130 soldiers prisoners. The next day, Masenbach scored the same victory in Jaunjelgava. A cold autumn began, and in Riga they began to worry that after the Daugava was frozen, the Prussian forces south of Riga would no longer have natural obstacles to achieving it, and were preparing for winter protection. Some gunboats were even frozen in the ice of the Daugava River. But on December 8 Prussian forces, on Macdonald's orders, following the example of the entire Napoleon Great Army, began to withdraw from Russia.

The consequence of these battles was the economic devastation caused by the requisitions carried out by both armies and the burning of part of Riga. At that time, the progressive or radical ideas that the French brought to parts of Europe with their occupation did not reach Latvia in this way.

A monument was erected in Riga in 1913 for Barclay de Tolly. In 1915 the monument was evacuated from the city due to war and lost at sea, but in 2002 it was restored.[6] Essen died in Baldone sulphur spring on August 11, 1813; there is an unconfirmed version of suicide as a result of depression (from both drowning and shooting).[7][8][9]

The order of battle of the forces involved was as follows (note: the nation of origin is listed behind units which came from said areas (other than French/Prussian/Russian)):

• List of battles of the French invasion of Russia

• Bodart, Gaston (1908). Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618-1905). Retrieved 5 April 2021.
• Clodfelter, Micheal (2008). Warfare and armed conflicts : a statistical encyclopedia of casualty and other figures, 1494-2007. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
• Chandler, David G. (2009). The Campaigns of Napoleon: The Mind and Method of History's Greatest Soldier. New York City, New York, United States of America: Sribner. ISBN 978-1439131039. OCLC 1085168952.
• Winfield, Rif (2005). British Warships in the Age of Sail: 1793 – 1817: Design, Construction, Careers, and Fates. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1844157174. OCLC 421815211.
• Smith, Digby (1998). The Greenhill Napoleonic wars data book. London Mechanicsburg, PA: Greenhill Books Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-1-85367-276-7. OCLC 37616149.

• The Commodore by C.S. Forester includes a fictional account of the siege.

• Media related to Siege of Riga (1812) at Wikimedia Commons