Storm of Kokenhusen | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of Second Northern War / Russo-Swedish War (1656–1658) | |||||||||
![]() A drawing of Kokenhusen and its fortress about 30 years prior to the storming. | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Belligerents | |||||||||
![]() |
![]() | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
![]() |
![]() | ||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
300[1] | 2,500[2] | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
300[1] |
67 killed 430 wounded[3] |
The Storm of Kokenhusen by the Russian Army under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was one of the first events of the Russo-Swedish War (1656–1658), a theater of the Second Northern War. On 14 August 1656 Russian troops stormed and captured the well-fortified town of Kokenhusen (Koknese) in Swedish Livonia (present-day Latvia)
According to the Tsar, this town “was very strong, had a deep moat, like a small brother of the Kremlin's moat, and its fortress is like a son of Smolensk's fortress”. Tsar also gave city new name, "Tsarevich-Dmitriev" (Russian: Царевич-Дмитриев) in honor of his infant son, Tsarevich Dmitry Alexeyevich of Russia, who had died in 1649. This new name didn't last since in 1681 city was returned to Swedish Livonia. [4]
After capturing Kokenhusen, Russia gained control of the Daugava River and the way to Riga was opened.