Editing Battle of Narva (1700) (section)

==High command==
The Swedish army was commanded personally by Charles XII, assisted by [[lieutenant general|Lieutenant-General]] [[Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld]]<ref name=Black111>Jeremy Black (1996), p. 111</ref> and [[General of the cavalry]] [[Otto Vellingk]]. During the [[Scanian War]] in 1675–1679, Vellingk was already a colonel and commanded a cavalry regiment, and Rehnskiöld rose from lieutenant to lieutenant-colonel. Both also had the experience of service in foreign armies: Vellingk served for ten years in France, during which he rose to the rank of colonel, and Rehnskiöld participated in the [[Nine Years' War|Franco-Dutch War (1688—1697)]]. From 1698 Vellingk was a governor in [[Ingria#Swedish Ingria|Ingermanland]] and at the beginning of the Great Northern War commanded a small corps, sent to help [[Siege of Riga (1700)|besieged Riga]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://rusmilhist.blogspot.ru/2016/01/vellingk-otto.html |title=Vellingk, Otto |access-date=2018-03-05 |archive-date=2017-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222053040/http://rusmilhist.blogspot.ru/2016/01/vellingk-otto.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[https://runeberg.org/nfcb/0648.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190823053337/http://runeberg.org/nfcb/0648.html|date=2019-08-23}} Rehnsköld, Karl Gustaf // Nordisk familjebok</ref>

Peter and [[Charles Eugène de Croÿ]] commanded the Russian forces. Peter had left Narva just the day before and was not present during the actual fighting. Trying to explain this act, some historians suggest that he did not expect an immediate attack on his well-fortified and numerically superior force, or he was sure that such an attack would be easily repulsed. It is suggested that Peter wanted to speed up the arrival of reinforcements, address supply issues, and negotiate with Augustus. Some interpretations consider his departure from Narva the night before the battle as cowardly; most of Europe mocked the Tsar for his departure. However, some scholars believe this accusation has little merit, as reportedly, the Tsar had placed himself in physical danger too many times for this departure to be an act of cowardice.{{sfn|Massie|1980|p=329}}

Peter not only left the army on the eve of the battle but also took with him the formal commander-in-chief—[[Field Marshal]] [[Fyodor Alexeyevich Golovin|Fyodor Golovin]]. The new commander-in-chief, de Croÿ, was not at all a Russian general—August II sent him with a diplomatic mission (he asked for an auxiliary Russian corps) and met with Peter in Novgorod only on {{OldStyleDate|10 September|1700|30 August}}. Due to a lack of experienced commanders, Peter retained de Croÿ with him; they reconnoitered the fortifications of Narva together, but de Croÿ did not hold any official post and never before commanded any unit of the Russian army.{{sfn|Massie|1980|p=329}}<ref>{{cite book |author=Дмитрий Николаевич Бантыш-Каменский |title=Биографии российских генералиссимусов и генерал-фельдмаршалов: Часть первая |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nqheAAAAcAAJ |year=1840 |page=30 |access-date=2019-07-28 |archive-date=2023-11-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130064346/https://books.google.com/books?id=nqheAAAAcAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> De Croÿ refused to accept the command several times and relented only after Peter personally "strengthened his resolve with a glass of wine". This happened only the day before the battle, and the official instruction for the transfer of command was dated {{OldStyleDate|30 November|1700|19 November}}, ''i.e.'', when the Swedish relief force arrived at Narva.{{sfn|Петров [Petrov]|1901|pp=218–220}}

The Russian army near Narva was divided into three main parts (''general'stvo''), commanded by [[Avtonom Golovin]], [[Ivan Trubetskoy|Trubetskoy]], and [[Adam Veyde|Weide]]. All of them were young men (born in 1667), and their combat experience was limited to the two sieges of the [[Azov campaigns (1695–96)|Turkish fortress of Azov]], but they had served in Peter's favorite [[poteshnye voiska]]. More experienced generals were sent to command remote garrisons.<ref name=elit>{{Cite web |url=http://rusmilhist.blogspot.ru/2016/02/1700-09.html |title=Великанов В.С. Формирование генералитета русской армии в 1700–09 гг. // Русская военная элита. Сборник материалов научной конференции. — Севастополь: Изд-во «Шико-Севастополь», 2015. С. 97–111 |access-date=2018-03-05 |archive-date=2018-03-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180305202742/http://rusmilhist.blogspot.ru/2016/02/1700-09.html |url-status=live }}</ref> A popular commander, [[Boris Sheremetev|Sheremetev]], known for his successful actions against Turks, had no rank in the hierarchy of the regular army and was ordered to command the feudal levy cavalry.{{citation needed|date = November 2018}}

The Swedish artillery was commanded by experienced [[Master-General of the Ordnance (Sweden)|Master-General of the Ordnance]] {{ill|Johan Siöblad|sv}}. He had almost forty years of service in artillery and was an author of the first Swedish Artillery Regulation of 1690. Massie notes the excellent actions of the Swedish artillery in the skirmish at [[Pühajõe|Pyhajoggi]] Pass, eighteen miles west of Narva. Under the screen of their dragoons, the cannons were quickly deployed and suddenly opened fire on the clusters of Russian cavalry from a close distance. Since the Russians had no artillery at Pyhajoggi, they could not hold this advantageous position and had to retreat.{{sfn|Massie|1980|pp=688–689}}

The formal commander of Russian artillery was [[Prince Alexander of Imereti (1674–1711)|Prince Alexander of Imereti]], a young man of 26, a close companion of Peter in his entourage. His experience was limited to several months studying the theoretical foundations of gunnery in [[The Hague]] in 1697. After his return to Moscow, he soon received the highest artillery rank of [[Feldzeugmeister|General Feldzeugmeister]] (May 1700). There is much evidence of the extremely unsuccessful actions of Russian siege artillery against Narva<!--before the battle? during it?-->.<ref name=elit/>{{sfn|Massie|1980|pp=682–683}}