Campaigns of the
Danish-Norwegian Army

At the outbreak of the Great Northern War the Danish-Norwegian army consisted of 36 000 men. Although it was actually two separate armies with very distinct characters. The 23 000 men strong Danish army was at this time mainly composed of enlisted men of which half of them were foreigners (mostly Germans). The larger part of the Danish cavalry (the national regiments) was however recruited in a way very similar to Sweden's "indelta" cavalry. The 13 000 men strong Norwegian army was on the other hand, with the exception of a few regiments, recruited by conscription and consisted of ethnic Norwegians, who like the "indelta" Swedes were only part time soldiers when they were not on campaign. A more detailed description of the Danish-Norwegian army's organisation can be found on this page.

Denmark invaded Sweden's ally Holstein-Gottorp in the spring of 1700 but was forced already in August to sue for peace after a Swedish army had landed on Zealand. The now idle Danish troops were then hired out in great numbers to Austria and the Maritime powers (1702-1709 respectively 1701-1714) for participation in the War of the Spanish Succession. In total almost 20 000 men were sent to foreign service. Parts of that sum were new regiments raised specifically for that purpose. The shortage of troops to defend Denmark against possible Swedish attacks were however so great that a 17 000 men strong national militia was raised by conscription. Several of these national regiments, together with troops returning from Austrian service in 1709, were then fielded when Denmark resumed the war against Sweden.

Denmark-Norway's second participation in the Great Northern War (1709-1720) was more successful than the first. But the Danes still suffered humiliating defeats in the battles of Helsingborg 1710 and Gadebusch 1712. Together with their allies they managed however to capture Stenbock's Swedish army in Tönningen and occupy Sweden's German possessions as well as annexing the Schleswig part of Holstein-Gottorp. The Norwegian army was not involved in any major battles but it saw action in sieges and campaigns on both sides of the Swedish-Norwegian border. The most famous was Charles XII's Norwegian campaign of 1718 which ended with his death. Eventually a peace treaty was signed 1720 with no border changes.

The table below records which campaigns the various Danish-Norwegian regiments participated in. The letters mark battles (normal style) and sieges (italic style), and the colours show which theatre of war the regiment was deployed in each year according to the following system:

Danish Infantry

In the case of Livgarden til Fods and Fynske Regiment the table above give a too simplified picture of their deployment 1701-1714. Both regiments had three battalions, but only one each were in Anglo-Dutch service. The others remained in the homeland and participated in the campaigns against Sweden. The battalions in Anglo-Dutch took no part in these campaigns since they did not return to Denmark until 1714. In other word it was not the same guardsmen in Livgarden til Fods who fought in the battles of Malplaquet 1709 and Helsingborg 1710.