Battle of Copenhagen (1807)

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Battle of Copenhagen 1807
Part of Napoleonic Wars
Copenhagen on fire, painted by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg
Date 16 July–September 5, 1807 Location Copenhagen Result Decisive British victory
Combatants
United Kingdom	Denmark
Commanders
James Gambier	Ernst Peymann

Gunboat War
Copenhagen (1801) – Copenhagen (1807) – Zealand Point – Christiansø – Anholt – Lyngør

The Second Battle of Copenhagen, which lasted from 16 August to 5 September 1807, was, like the First Battle of Copenhagen, an attack by the British on the Danish capital of Copenhagen.

The British government decided to seize the Danish fleet to avoid its ending up in the hands of Napoleon and attacked Copenhagen without any declaration of war. At this time most of the Danish army under the Crown Prince was defending the southern border against possible attack from the French; thus the defence of Copenhagen was extremely limited. British troops commanded by General Wellesley defeated weak Danish forces near the town of Køge, south of Copenhagen. Within a few days, Copenhagen was completely encircled. The British offered to accept a surrender. Following the denial, a British fleet under Admiral James Gambier bombarded the city from 2 September to 5 September 1807. On 7 September 1807, Danish General Peymann surrendered both the city and the fleet (18 battleships, 1 frigate, 1 pram, 2 ships, 2 ship-sloops, 7 brig-sloops, 2 brigs, 1 schooner and 25 gunboats) to the overwhelming British and Hanoverian force under General Lord Cathcart. In addition, 3 74-gun battleships on the stocks were broken up or destroyed, along with 2 of the aforementioned battleships, the frigate and the pram.

On the first night of bombardment 5,000 rounds were fired into Copenhagen. The British, seeing the damage they had wrought, eased up enough to allow the city defenders to have honor, on the second night only firing 2,000 rounds into the city. Irritated at the stubborn Danes refusal to surrender, on the third night they fired 7,000 rounds into the city.

Peymann was under orders to burn the Danish fleet from the Crown Prince as the Danish King at this time was not mentally stable. The main Danish army at this time was in Holstein facing a French army of similar size, in a game of tête-à-tête. No one really knows why the fleet was not burned. It should be noted that at this time Denmark was a greater European power than today, possessing the province of Holstein (currently part of Germany) and all of Norway.

More than 2.000 civilians were killed and 30 % of the buildings were destroyed during the battle. The bombardment had included Congreve Rockets which caused fires. On 21 October 1807, the British fleet left Copenhagen for England. The war continued up to 1814, when the Treaty of Kiel was signed.

After capture, 1 ex-Danish battleship, Neptuno, ran aground and was burnt on or near the island of Hven, and a storm sank 22 of the gunboats in the Kattegat. Of the battleships which reached England, only 4 — Christian VII 80, Dannemark 74, Norge 74 and Princess Carolina 74 — were taken into British service.