by Daniil Pelymov
[REGNUM] At the beginning of the 18th century, Vyborg, a small fortress town in a convenient bay founded by the Swedes in 1293, became a significant threat to the young Northern capital of Russia. After the victory at Poltava in 1709, Tsar Peter I decided to finally cut the Swedes off from Russian possessions in the Baltics. By 1710, columns of the Russian army and navy rushed to the Karelian coast - 13 thousand people under the command of General Admiral Fyodor Apraksin. The Russians faced the most important task - to ensure a security zone in the adjacent part of Finland and protect the rear of St. Petersburg from threats from the north.
Vyborg, which allowed the Swedes to close off the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland (and therefore the mouth of the Neva with the newly built St. Petersburg), as well as control the Karelian Isthmus, had already become a cause for concern for the Russian command more than once.
Peter I first attempted to capture Vyborg in 1706, but the poorly supplied and underprepared army was forced to retreat without achieving any results. This defeat clearly demonstrated that success would require not only force, but also endurance, engineering skill, and naval support.
RUSSIAN BRUCE VS. SWEDISH AMINEV
After the defeat of the main Swedish forces at Poltava in 1709 and the collapse of attempts at a diplomatic settlement, the campaign against Vyborg was again on the agenda. In the spring of 1710, Peter gathered troops and approved a carefully planned offensive.
On April 1, Apraksin's corps, having overcome a difficult path across the still frozen Gulf of Finland, quickly reached the walls of Vyborg. According to contemporaries, movement across the melting ice required exceptional discipline and determination: soldiers walked across ice floes, risking falling into the water, carrying guns and supplies.
The Russian army quickly encircled the fortress, cutting it off from possible help from the land. At the same time, another part of the operation was unfolding in the Baltic: the fleet was making its way through the ice fields and storms of the Gulf of Finland to the siege site.
The fortress garrison numbered about six thousand people, well armed and provided with artillery. It was headed by Colonel Zacharias Aminoff, an elderly and experienced Swedish officer of Russian origin (one of the descendants of the Ivangorod voivode Fyodor Aminev, who defected to the Swedes during the Time of Troubles).
Despite the prolonged spring, the cold and the shifting ice, the besiegers continued to attack vigorously. Under the leadership of General Feldzeugmeister Jacob Bruce and engineer Georg Bernoulli, there was continuous artillery fire, digging and laying of earth mines.
By the end of April, with the arrival of reinforcements and the strengthening of the fleet, the Russian troops deployed heavy siege artillery. Two batteries were aimed at the stone fortifications of the old city, the third at the earthen ramparts of the bastion part. The guns were installed with the expectation of prolonged shelling: preparations were underway for the decisive blow.
WILL THERE BE AN ASSAULT?
In the tradition of siege warfare, Apraksin sent an ultimatum to the Swedish commandant Aminoff: to surrender the fortress “on the accord that (the commandant) desires.” This meant that Aminoff was offered surrender on some compromise terms.
To which the commandant calmly replied: “Why would I surrender a defensive and armed fortress?” – this is what the oath obliged him to answer even in the most desperate situation.
The Russians ordered the preparation of pontoon bridges and assault columns - they were going to take the Scandinavian outpost by force.
On May 31, Apraksin received permission to begin the assault as soon as a breach appeared. The very next day, he again offered the enemy to surrender, but was refused. On the evening of June 1, a five-day artillery bombardment began, which caused serious damage to the fortress walls and the city. The Swedes staunchly resisted and responded with fire, but were unable to turn the tide.
An important success was the capture of a key fortification, which opened the way to the bastion and allowed the preparation of assault vehicles. Despite losses, the positions were held. There was no help to be expected from outside: attempts to break through to the besieged were unsuccessful. The situation for the Swedish garrison became critical.
By June 9, the assault had been carefully prepared, the troops were distributed into columns and supplied with the necessary equipment. The plan called for decisive action on both sides and strict discipline. Meanwhile, the enemy, realizing the hopelessness of the situation, began negotiations for surrender. Despite stubborn resistance, it was clear that there would be no help; the arrival of His Majesty helped catalyze the capitulation.
CAPITULATION AND HONORS TO THE VICTORS
On June 12 (23), 1710, the negotiations finally ended with an agreement to capitulate the fortress. The Swedish garrison, devastated by the hurricane fire, surrendered with honor. The next day, the Russian Tsar triumphantly entered the city at the head of the Preobrazhensky Regiment. He found 141 cannons, gunpowder supplies, and 5,500 rifles here – huge trophies.
At first, there were plans to exchange the nearly 3,400 Swedish soldiers and officers who had been taken prisoner, but Peter I rejected this, reproaching the Stockholm government for its cruelty in treating Russian prisoners and for refusing to exchange the Russian ambassador, Prince Andrei Khilkov, who had been arrested by the Swedes.
The celebration was loud and wide. Peter I awarded the participants of the siege: officers were given gold medals, and privates - silver. Apraksin was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called.
In honor of the victory, a commemorative silver medal with a diameter of 46 mm was minted with an image of the siege plan and Latin inscriptions. This medal became a symbol of the return of Vyborg and the adjacent Karelian lands to Russia, which had been developed by Novgorodians in the early Middle Ages.
OPEN BALTIC
The capture of Vyborg in 1710 was of enormous strategic importance. This fortress was the main Swedish bastion in the North-West and stood on the way to St. Petersburg. Russia for the first time finally cut off Sweden from its possessions in Eastern Finland. Now the Baltic Sea was open to the Russian fleet: St. Petersburg received a reliable outlet to the sea, and the Russians began mass colonization and fortification of the coasts of Finland.
The Petersburg and Karelian directions quickly entered the sphere of Russian influence: new fortresses, settlements and roads were founded along the Karelian Isthmus. Russian naval forces consolidated their positions on Kotlin Island, guarding the Neva Bay. The fortress of Kronstadt was built on this island.
By September 1721, according to the Treaty of Nystad, practically all of Swedish Finland (including Kexholm and the Åland Islands) was ceded to Russia. Peter's creation received a reliable shield for many centuries: " And so, through the capture of this city (Vyborg), St. Petersburg received its final security," the autocrat wrote.
THERE, 230 YEARS LATER
When the Red Army entered Vyborg (called Viipuri when it was part of Finland) in March 1940, history came full circle. Exactly 230 years after the city first became part of Russia thanks to the efforts of Peter the Great, it returned once again under the Russian flag – this time under the banner of the Soviet Union. And just as in the 18th century this was dictated by strategic considerations for the protection of St. Petersburg, so in the 20th century Moscow acted in the interests of the security of Leningrad, the new capital of the North.
After the collapse of the Russian Empire, Vyborg found itself outside the new state border. Finland, previously the grand ducal outskirts of the empire, became a hostile buffer. Leningrad, one of the most important industrial and cultural centers of the USSR, became a dangerously close front line, fortified under the command of Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, a general who had once served the Russian Empire. Like Aminoff, who defended Vyborg from Peter the Great, Mannerheim found himself in the role of a commandant who had come out against his historical homeland.
The Soviet command could not allow a repeat of the threat from the north. The breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line became a symbol of Moscow's military will to restore control over key positions on the Karelian Isthmus. This had not only military but also historical logic: the return of Vyborg was an act of restoring natural borders.
And again on the 12th the northwestern neighbor capitulates, although this time with the signing of a peace treaty in Moscow, on March 14, 1940 the last Finnish units left Viipuri. Two wars, two centuries, two empires - and one constant task: the defense of the Northern capital, no matter what it is called, St. Petersburg or Leningrad.
History, as we know, does not repeat itself literally, but sometimes it rhymes. And in March 1940, the echo of Peter's victory once again sounded over the shores of the Vyborg Bay.
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