| Battle of Poltava |
| Part of Great Northern War |
The Battle of Poltava by Denis Martens the Younger, painted 1726 |
|
|
| Combatants |
Swedish Empire |
 Russian Empire |
| Commanders |
|
Carl Gustaf Rehnskiöld # |
Peter the Great |
| Strength |
| 17,000 troops attacking, 8,000 besieging Poltava, |
45,000 troops,
130 cannons (about 100 participated in the battle) 3,000 Kalmyks arrived at the end of
battle |
| Casualties |
6,900 killed, wounded or missing
2760 prisoners |
1,345 killed
3,290 wounded |
The Battle of Poltava (or Pultowa) was a battle between the armies of Peter I of
Russia and Charles XII of Sweden on 28
June (according to the then-used Swedish calendar; 27 June in the old style and
8 July in the new style) 1709, the most famous of the battles of
the Great Northern War. The decisive victory of the Russians is said to have started the end of Sweden's role as a
Great Power and took their place as the leading nation of northern Europe. This also meant
the rise of Imperial Russia.
Prelude
Early Swedish victories at Copenhagen and at the Battle of Narva in
1700 knocked both Denmark and Russia temporarily out of the war. However, Charles was unable to bring the war to a conclusion, and it would
take six years before he had dealt with the remaining combatant Charles Augustus of Saxony-Poland. During this time Peter rebuilt his army into modern form, basing
it primarily on infantry trained to properly use linear tactics and modern firearms. He then achieved a stunning propaganda
victory when he established the city of Saint Petersburg on Swedish territory, not
Livonia. To end the war, Charles ordered a final attack on the Russian heartland with an assault on Moscow from his campaign base in Poland.
Charles marched along the main route between Poland and Moscow and waited as long as he could for General Lewenhaupt to arrive. At one point they were only 130 kilometres apart, but Charles gave up
because that he needed supplies, and turned south into the Ukraine in search of grain and better
weather. The Ukrainian forces, under the command of the Cossack hetman Mazepa, had been in
discussions with Charles for some time, and at this point officially allied himself to the Swedes in order to gain independence
from Russia.
Lewenhaupt followed south and was attacked while crossing a river near a small village that gave name to the Battle of Lesnaya. His forces met the Russian attack, but they were amazed to find that the new
Russian army gave them a serious fight. Lewenhaupt, seeing that he was about to lose, decided to rejoin Charles with all speed,
so he abandoned the cannon, the cattle and most of the food, driving the soldiers to mutiny.
Stealing all of the alcohol, the soldiers became drunk, and Lewenhaupt was forced to leave about 1,000 men drunk in the woods. By
the time they finally reached Charles and the main force in the winter, no supplies and only 6,000 men remained.
In the spring Charles resumed his advance, but his army had been reduced by about one-third due to starvation, frostbite and
other effects of the weather. The wet weather had also seriously depleted the army's supplies of gunpowder; the cannon were also
essentially out of action, due to a lack of usable ammunition. Charles's first action was to lay siege to the fort of
Poltava on the Vorskla River in the Ukraine. Peter had already organized a huge force to protect
it, and he quickly arrived. On 27 June, Charles received information that large Kalmyk
forces were going to join Peter and to cut off all supplies of Swedish Army.
Battle
When the battle opened, Charles had about 14,000 men, while Peter commanded about 45,000. To make matters worse for the
Swedes, Charles was wounded during the siege on June 17, when he was hit in the foot when he
took part in a small engagement during an inspection of the Swedish outposts on the banks of the Vorskla. He had to turn over command to Field Marshal Carl Gustav
Rehnskiöld and General Adam Lewenhaupt. This was made all the more unfortunate by the divergent personalities of the two
generals. Unfortunately, when they planned the battle, they forgot to tell their subordinate commanders.
The battle began before dawn at 3:45 a.m. on June 28, with the Swedes advancing boldly
against the Russian fortified lines. At first, the battle started off in a traditional fashion, with the better trained Swedes
pressing in on the Russians' redoubts, overrunning a few Russian defensive redoubts. The Swedish seemed to possess an advantage,
but this was quickly nullified. By dawn, the weather was already very hot and humid with the rising sun obscured by smoke from
cannon and musket fire. The Swedish infantry, commanded by General Lewenhaupt, attempted to attack the Russians. But the Swedish
advance soon faltered, partly because the infantry had been ordered to withdraw and reorganise. To make matters worse, one
Swedish detachment, commanded by General Roos, hadn't been told about the overall plan and became isolated in the Russian
defensive redoubts when a column of about 4,000 Russian reinforcements reoccupied the fortified positions, trapping Roos and his
2,600-man force. With over 1,000 casualties and ammunition running low, Roos was forced to surrender his command.
The Swedes waited for Roos to return. As time went by, the Russians infantry moved out of its fortified camp. Around 9:00 am,
the Swedish line started to move forward; 4,000 Swedish infantry against 20,000 Russian infantry. They advanced and the Russians
saluted them with their guns creating a firestorm of shells. When the Swedes were 100 meters from the Russian line, the Russians
aimed and fired their muskets. When they were 30 meters from the Russian line, the Swedes fired one volley and charged. They were
on the verge of a breakthrough and needed the cavalry; unfortunately it was disorganised. The Russian line was longer than the
Swedish line, and the Russian right soon flanked the Swedish infantry. Several regiments were surrounded in a classic
Cannae-style battle. The cavalry tried to buy the infantry time to get away; several
units attacked the Russians head on despite them forming into squares. Seeing the defeat of his army from a stretcher in the
rear, Charles ordered the army to retreat at 11:00 a.m. By noon, the battle was over as Russian cavalry had mopped up the
stragglers on the battlefield and returned to their own lines. Charles then gathered the remainder of his troops and baggage
train, and retreated to the south later that same day, abandoning the siege of Poltava. Rehnskiöld was captured. Lewenhaupt led
the surviving Swedish forces to the Dnieper River, but was doggedly pursued by the Russian
regular cavalry and 3,000 Kalmyks and forced to surrender three days later at Perevolochna,
on July 1.
Aftermath
Orth. Church on the battlefield
Several thousand prisoners were taken, many of whom were put to work building the new city of St. Petersburg. Charles managed
to escape with about 1,500 men to Bendery, Moldavia, then
controlled by the Ottoman Empire, and spent five years in exile there before he was able
to return to Sweden.
Bibliography
- G. Adlerfelt, The Military History of Charles XII, King of Sweden, Written by the Express Order of His Majesty.
London, 3 vols, 1740.
- Peter Englund, The Battle That Shook Europe: Poltava and the Birth of the Russian Empire. London, 1992, 288 pages ISBN
1860648479
- Angus Konstam, Poltava 1709, Russia Comes of Age. Osprey Campaign #34. Osprey Publishing, 1994, 96 pages. ISBN
1855324164
- Robert K. Massie, Peter The Great: His Life and Times Ballantine Books; 1981. 932 Pages, ISBN-10: 0345298063 :
ISBN-13: 978-0345298065
External links
Coordinates:
49°34.47′N,
34°34.12′E
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