It was the first offensive during the war by the Swedish army, and it was directly led by Charles XII of Sweden commanding the right flank and Arvid Horn together with Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld at the left.

Denmark wanted to reclaim territory lost in the Second Northern War, Russia to get a port to the Baltic Sea, and Saxony–Poland–Lithuania to take back Livonia.

However, this new threat Charles had to deal with was averted during the first years of the war due to surprising movements made by the Swedish king's troops, one of them being the landing on Humlebæk, an invasion of Denmark with the aim of capturing Copenhagen undertaken in reaction to the Danish attack on Holstein-Gottorp.

Instead of sending troops to help the occupied Holstein, Charles decided to land on Humlebæk which had been suggested by Carl Magnus Stuart and Hans Wachtmeister.

The Danish forces on Zealand consisted of 5,000 men of which 350 cavalry and 350 peasants were defending the entrenched beach, commander of these were Jens Rostgaard who also had 7 artillery pieces in his favor.

At August 4, 1700 six o'clock Sweden launched the attack, a cannon strike was heard as a signal and with supporting fire from nearby ships bombarding the Danish defences, the small landing boats closed in to Humlebæk.

The actions portrayed by Siegroth quickly encouraged the Swedish right flank under the lead of Charles XII who didn't hesitate to jump into the water.

The Swedes built up field redoubts and camps the very next day for the 4,700 troops, their state was however critical, without having any cavalry on shore they were like rats stuck in a corner for any possible Danish assault.