The Battle of Warsaw (also known as the Battle of Rakowitz or Rakowiec) was fought on 31July 1705 (Gregorian calendar) near Warsaw, Poland, during the Great Northern War. The battle was part of a power struggle for the Polish–Lithuanian throne. It was fought between Augustus II the Strong and Stanisław Leszczyński and their allies. Augustus II entered the Northern war as elector of Saxony and king of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and had formed an alliance with Denmark–Norway and Russia. Stanisław Leszczyński had seized the Polish throne in 1704, with the support of the Swedish army of Charles XII of Sweden. The struggle for the throne forced the Polish nobility to pick sides; the Warsaw Confederation supported Leszczyński and Sweden, and the Sandomierz Confederation supported Augustus II and his allies. The conflict resulted in the Polish civil war of 1704–1706.
In 1705 two events were planned to take place in Warsaw: a session of the Polish parliament to formally negotiate peace between Poland and Sweden; and the coronation of Stanisław Leszczyński as the new Polish king. Meanwhile, Augustus II and his allies developed a grand strategy that envisioned a combined assault to crush the Swedish forces and restore Augustus II to the Polish throne. Accordingly, an allied army of up to 10,000 cavalry under the command of Otto Arnold von Paykull was sent towards Warsaw to interrupt the Polish parliament. The Swedes sent a 2,000-strong cavalry contingent of their own, under the command of Carl Nieroth, to protect it. Encouraged by the fact that he heavily outnumbered the Swedes, Paykull took the initiative and attacked. He managed to cross the Vistula River with his army on 30 July, after a stubborn defence by a few Swedish squadrons, and reached the plains next to Rakowiec, directly west of Warsaw, on 31 July, where the two forces engaged in an open battle.
Augustus II's allied left wing quickly collapsed; after a short but fierce fight, so did the right and centre. Paykull managed to rally some of his troops a few kilometres away, at the village of Odolany, where the fight was renewed. The Swedes again gained the upper hand and, this time, won the battle. They captured Paykull along with letters and other documents which informed the Swedes of the strategic intentions of Augustus II's allies. The coronation of Stanisław Leszczyński occurred in early October. Peace between Poland and Sweden in November 1705 allowed the Swedish king to focus his attention on the Russian threat near Grodno. The subsequent campaign resulted in the Treaty of Altranstädt (1706), by which Augustus II renounced both his claim to the Polish throne and his alliance with Peter I of Russia.
Background
After defeating the Danes at Humlebæk and the Russians at Narva in 1700, Charles XII of Sweden turned his attention towards his third enemy, Augustus II of Poland and Saxony, defeating him in a fierce battle at the Crossing of the Düna in 1701. The same year, he launched an invasion of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to dethrone Augustus II and install a candidate acceptable to Sweden. After the Swedes' seizure of Warsaw, Kraków and Sandomierz and another defeat for Augustus II at the Battle of Kliszów, a growing number of Polish-Lithuanian magnates switched sides, in favour of Charles XII.
After further success in the engagements at Pultusk and Toruń, the Swedes proclaimed Stanisław Leszczyński king with the support of the Warsaw Confederation of Polish nobles. To oppose him, the Sandomierz Confederation was created by other nobles, in support of Augustus II, thus starting the Polish civil war of 1704–1706. Some smaller engagements at Poznań, Lwów, Warsaw and Poniec followed in 1704 as a consequence of Augustus II's attempts to restore the situation to his favour.
In 1705 Stanisław Leszczyński was due to be crowned in Warsaw, after which peace negotiations between Sweden and Poland could take place. The Swedes were eager to increase support for Leszczyński to strengthen their position in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The coalition forces, under Peter I of Russia and Augustus II, would not sit idle, and planned a grand strategy of their own, mainly based upon the ideas of Johann Patkul and Otto Arnold von Paykull; they would gather all available forces and crush the Swedish Army in Poland–Lithuania by a joint offensive.