Battle of Poltava
Peter I destroyed the Swedish army at Poltava on 27 June 1709 and the Baltic empire went with it. Charles XII had invaded Russia in 1708 and had spent the winter in Ukraine, in the coldest European winter in five hundred years, on an alliance with the Cossack hetman Mazepa that delivered far fewer men than promised. His supply column under Lewenhaupt had been intercepted the previous autumn and lost most of its wagons. By June he had perhaps 20,000 effective men, almost no gunpowder, and four usable field guns. He was also wounded in the foot on a reconnaissance days before the battle and had to be carried on a litter, which meant the army fought without the commander who had never lost. Peter had some 45,000 men, over a hundred guns, and a fortified camp with redoubts across the approach that the Swedes had to pass in the dark. The attack went in at dawn, the columns lost contact, one wing was cut off and captured before the main action, and the rest advanced against artillery firing canister. The Swedish infantry broke in about two hours. Charles escaped south into Ottoman territory with a few hundred men and stayed five years. Some 17,000 Swedes were killed or taken, and the survivors surrendered at Perevolochna days later. The coalition against Sweden reformed immediately, and Russia became the dominant power in the north for the next two centuries. Sweden never recovered its position and has not fought a war since 1814, which is the longest unbroken peace of any European state. Ukraine's own reading of Poltava is a separate argument, since Mazepa's decision to change sides is remembered there as a bid for independence rather than as treason.
- Year: 1709 CE
- Category: Military
