The consequences of the Thirty Years' War were halfway over when Mecklenburg was once again the scene of battles between foreign powers. Sweden and Denmark, engaged in the Nordic War (1700-1721), met at Gadebusch in 1712 and ensured that the small town still has historical significance today.
In the course of the Nordic War (1700-1721) for supremacy in the Baltic Sea region, the Swedish field army under the leadership of General von Stenbock passed through Mecklenburg from September to December 1712. It was hot on the heels of the Danish troops, who had already begun their retreat from Rostock and Wismar. On December 20, a bloody battle took place near Wakenstädt. The King of the Danes, Frederick IV, moved up with the allied Saxons against the Swedes without waiting for the Russian army, which was also allied and advancing. The battle, with about 14,000 soldiers involved, began at 1 p.m. and was bitterly fought, but in the end the Danes lost to the superiority of the Swedish troops and had to retreat to Ratzeburg and Mölln. The battle of Gadebusch ended with the victory of the Swedes and about 4,000 dead.
Most of the fallen were buried on the battlefield, some officers were buried on the grounds of the Gadebusch church. A memorial near Wakenstädt with several information boards and memorial stones commemorates the battle 300 years ago, which went down in history as the largest field battle in Mecklenburg.
