The Russians destroyed the Swedes in a crucial battle in Ukraine, becoming a great power
The Battle of Poltava was a decisive moment during the long and exhausting Great Northern War, fought between the Swedish and Russian armies. It ended in a Russian victory, and the Swedish king sought refuge in the Ottoman Empire. The elite and well-organized Swedish army was completely destroyed, and the Swedish kingdom never recovered from it. A new chapter began in the history of Northern Europe.
At the end of the 17th century, the peoples around the Baltic Sea could not conduct any ambitious foreign policy without the approval of the Swedish Empire. During the 16th and 17th centuries, it had expanded to include nearly all of Scandinavia and parts of the eastern and southern Baltic. The Poles, Saxons, and Danes were waiting for an opportunity to seize territory at the expense of the Swedes, and that opportunity appeared at the end of the 17th century.
The opportunity came in the form of a new Russian ruler named Peter Romanov. He was a very intelligent and capable young man who traveled through Europe in search of allies. Peter often traveled in disguise, but when he arrived at the courts of the Polish and Danish kings, he presented himself by name and offered them an alliance they could not refuse. He shared with them his plans to attack the Swedish Empire, and they immediately promised their support. The Poles would attack from the south, the Danes from the west, and together they would finally break the Swedes.
Swedes defeat Russian allies
The year 1700 came, and the war began. The Swedes quickly realized that nearly all their neighbors were at war with them and decided to defeat them one by one. First, they struck at the Russians and delivered a heavy defeat at Narva in the first year of fighting.
Peter was completely devastated by the loss, believing his dream of a Russian port on the Baltic was over. However, his military generals advised him that one battle did not mean the war was lost, and that while the Swedish king was fighting the Poles and Saxons, he had time to raise a new army.
The Swedes, under the leadership of King Charles XII, defeated Russia’s allies. They first crushed the Danes, then the Saxons, and finally the Poles. They forced them into vassal status and demanded armies from them to help crush the Russians.
Meanwhile, Peter and his army attacked Baltic territories in present-day Estonia and began building a city on the Neva River. That city was Saint Petersburg, which Peter soon declared the capital of the Russian Empire—a status it would hold until 1917.
Invasion of Russia
The Swedes marched through Poland into central Russia. Stationed soldiers were instructed to burn everything ahead of them to deny the enemy food and supplies. Peasants suffered the most, taking what little they had and fleeing into nearby forests with their livestock, waiting for the army to pass.
Charles XII decided to outsmart the Russians and headed south toward Ukraine. Ukraine has long been called the “breadbasket of Europe,” and Charles believed he could easily supply his 25,000-man army there. He looted town after town along the Dnieper River valley, while Peter rushed to confront him in open battle. Charles’s wandering across Russian territory lasted nearly two years before the fateful battle occurred.
The Battle of Poltava
In the middle of the night on July 8, 1709, the Swedish army attacked a Russian camp near the fortress of Poltava. However, the attack was poorly organized and sloppy. Charles had been wounded in the leg months earlier, and the injury had not yet healed, so he left command of the army to his generals. But those generals had internal conflicts, resulting in poor communication.
The Swedish assault was so amateurish that Peter could hardly believe what was happening. The Russian army repelled the first wave and then advanced toward the enemy camp. Elite Swedish units tried to stop them but were outnumbered. Charles barely escaped with his life and immediately sent a diplomat to Constantinople to request asylum for himself and his remaining forces.
The Ottoman sultan received him, and after several years Charles returned to Sweden. However, he soon died in a new clash with the Danes, and with him died the Swedish Empire. By 1721, Peter had become the most important political figure in Northern Europe. He occupied the Baltic, strengthened ties with Europe, and turned his country toward the West. From then on, European history had a new political player in the East.
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