The battle of Poltava marked the turning point in the Great Northern War.
The Swedes, who were on the offensive for the majority of the last decade,
were left with the difficult task of defending their empire
without their elite army. The Russians, finally out from the shadow of their earlier defeats,
were at liberty to attack in all directions without the worry of a powerful opposing army.
The rest of Sweden’s enemies would not sit idle at this opportunity either. The conflict was far
from over and although Sweden’s military might be crippled, they would not go down without a fight.
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Peter left Poltava for Kiev shortly after the surrender of the Swedish army at Perevolochna.
Once there, he sent letters throughout the continent, describing the details of the battle
and his complete victory. Europe was left in complete shock as, until that moment,
they had only received news of continuous Swedish victories. The Duke of Marlborough famously wrote,
“We have no confirmation as yet of the battle between the Swedes and Muscovites,
but should it be true of the first being so entirely beaten as is reported,
what a melancholy reflection it is that after constant success for ten years,
Charles XII should in two hours’ mismanagement and ill success, ruin himself and his country”.
The rest of Europe’s elite had a similar disposition towards the Russian victory,
however, some welcomed Russia on the European stage. The famous polymath and philosopher,
Leibniz, remarked that Peter would now be “the Turk of the North”.
Charles himself only avoided capture by sacrificing the majority of his elite army
and his most trusted commanders. Though Russian forces pursued the Swedish king, they could not
catch him before he crossed the Bug and entered Ottoman territory. Sultan Ahmed III prepared
a camp for Charles and his followers at Bender and they would settle there for the time being.
Peter was elated because of his grand victory, yet he was also equally disappointed due to
Charles’ and Mazeppa’s escape into Ottoman lands. Wasting no time, the tsar entered diplomatic
talks with Augustus of Saxony, Frederick of Denmark, Frederick William of Prussia,
and George I of Hannover. The victorious Russian army was subsequently split into two – Sheremetev
would move north, towards the Baltic, while Menshikov would advance west into Poland.
Stanislaw, whose position in Poland was already negligible, saw his royal authority erode
completely after the defeat of the Carolean army. Augustus repudiated the Treaty of Altranstadt and
advanced into Poland with an army. The magnates of the Commonwealth, either out of dislike towards
Stanislaw or fear of Russian aggression, began endearing themselves to their former monarch
and offered him the crown once again. Left without any alternative, Stanislaw joined the Swedish
forces in their retreat to Pomerania, and then abdicated. To compensate him for the lost crown,
Charles granted him the principality of Zweibrucken and named him Count Palatine.
King once again, Augustus met Peter on the 9th of October at Torun. He feared Peter’s reaction
to having been abandoned in 1706, however, the tsar did not hold a grudge. Nevertheless,
at dinner Peter could not resist an ironic thrust at Augustus’ faithlessness.
“I always wear the cutlass you gave me,” Peter said,
“but it seems you do not care for the sword I gave you as I see you are not wearing it.”
Augustus replied that he prized Peter’s gift but that somehow in the haste of his departure from
Dresden he had left it behind. “Ah,” said Peter, “then let me give you another.” He gave Augustus
the same sword he had given him before, which had been discovered in Charles’ baggage at Poltava.
The monarchs signed a new treaty that effectively made the Commonwealth a Russian dependency
in all but name. The Russians were allowed to station their troops in the Commonwealth, Peter
would become the guarantor of the rights of the Polish nobility, while Augustus would join all of
Peter’s wars. One secret clause of the treaty was that Augustus would be allowed to claim Livonia.
In the following days, Peter also established alliances with the Danes and the Prussians,
who would enter the war again by the end of 1709. A large Danish army landed in Scania
at the beginning of 1710. Alarmed at the prospect of an attack on mainland Sweden,
a 15000 strong army was raised by Magnus Stenbock. At the battle of Helsingborg,
in March, the Swedish army decisively defeated their Danish counterpart.
This effectively marked the last time that the Danish tried to reclaim Scania.
As Augustus was consolidating his power in the Commonwealth for most of 1710, and the
Danish were rebuilding their armies at the same time, the Western front of the war went through
a lull for most of the year. The same cannot be said for the Eastern Baltic though. Sweden’s
Baltic ports remained relatively undefended, now that the Carolean army had capitulated. In July,
Riga, Sweden’s richest and most populous city, surrendered to the Russians after negotiating the
restoration of old privileges for the Livonian nobility. According to the treaty of Torun,
Riga was supposed to be handed over to Augustus, however, the topic seemingly never resurfaced
again. Dünamunde and Pernau fell in August, while Arensburg and Reval capitulated in September.
In March of the same year, Vyborg had been besieged, too. Suffering from a lack of supplies
and artillery, the Russian army was unable to assault the well-defended fortress. Finally, after
several months, Peter arrived with his new fleet, bringing his army much-needed food and weapons.
The massive Russian artillery barrages breached the walls within a few days
and the Swedish garrison quickly surrendered. With this, Peter had finally achieved one of his main
personal goals – to form a powerful defensive corridor around his capital St. Petersburg.
The Russians led several offensives into Finland during the next two years,
however, due to logistical issues they were unsuccessful.
No sooner had Charles taken refuge in the Ottoman Empire, Peter had begun sending letters to the
Sultan, requesting the Swedish king’s extradition. These letters became increasingly threatening as
the months passed, much to the annoyance of Ahmed. Taking the last of Peter’s letters as a personal
insult, the Sultan, declared war on Russia in October of 1710. The tsar was still under the
impression of his victory at Poltava and this prompted him to enter the war with a
much smaller army than the Ottoman one, relying only on the support of Moldavia and Wallachia.
This war, known as the Pruth campaign, ended in a swift defeat for the Russians, with Peter
himself only avoiding being captured due to the incompetence of the Ottoman grand vizier.
The subsequent Pruth Treaty stipulated, among other things, that Peter would allow Charles
free passage to Sweden. Charles would not use that right however, instead choosing
to remain in the Ottoman Empire to try and persuade the Sultan to attack Russia again.
In 1711, the allied forces began a massive offensive into Swedish Pomerania,
besieging the fortresses of Stralsund, Stettin, and Wismar, but since the armies were more
interested in raiding the countryside, the sieges were not effective. Additionally,
disagreements between the commanders and a lack of siege artillery ensured that nothing
of note would be achieved. In September, Stenbock landed on the island of Rügen with a large army.
Alarmed at the prospect of facing a strong Swedish army, the allied forces retreated from Stralsund
and Stettin. As the allies were insufficiently strong to take such well-garrisoned cities,
they remained content with sporadic raids on smaller settlements. In the spring of 1712,
another strong Swedish army arrived in Stralsund. Consequently, the Danish navy began tightening
its grip over the Baltic Sea, which worsened the situation for the defenders of the Swedish forts.
Stenbock knew that Stralsund would not survive a combined land and sea-based blockade, however,
facing the combined Danish-Saxon-Russian army was not a feasible option either.
In autumn, the allied forces spilt up into two so that one part could raid
Mecklenburg. Stenbock’s options now were to face a large Russian-Saxon army south of Stralsund
or to head west into Mecklenburg and fight the Danish. In the end, he decided on the
latter option. Peter was in Dresden at the time, recovering from an illness. He was already furious
because of the lack of coordination between the allied commanders and after hearing of Stenbock
advancing towards Mecklenburg, he ordered his forces to engage in a pursuit without him.
Stenbock advanced quickly, much faster than the Russian-Saxon armies did.
On the 3rd of December, the Danish army encamped for winter quarters southwest of Wismar,
near the town of Gadebusch. The Swedish army arrived at Warnow on the 14th and by the 18th,
they were already at Brusewitz, merely 10km away from the Danish army.
At that point, the Russian army was south of Lake Schwerin and could not provide any assistance.
Only a small Saxon cavalry detachment arrived to aid the Danish by the eve of the battle.
Stenbock knew that any delay would be detrimental to his cause,
so he marched his army through a snowstorm, arriving on the other side of the river
on the morning of the 20th. Jobst von Scholtens, the leader of the Danish army,
placed his forces behind a river and dense marshland, near the village of Wakenstädt.
The strong Danish defensive position made their leaders believe that the Swedes would turn south
and try to cross the river at a safer point before attacking. After reconnaissance, however,
Stenbock concluded that their only chance of victory would be through a full-frontal assault.
The allied army was around 17000 strong, with 8000 Danish infantrymen, 5000 cavalry, along
with another 4000 Saxon horsemen. The Swedish army had about 12500 men, with 6500 footmen and
6000 cavalry. Both sides placed their infantry in the center and their cavalry on the flanks.
The Swedes had 30 cannons, while the Danish had 14. Jobst von Scholten led the Danish army,
Jacob von Flemming led the cavalry on the left flank. Stenbock led the Swedish army.
At 1p.m., the Swedish artillery opened fire and the rest of their troops advanced. The Swedes
were using a new type of cannon, which was more mobile and precise than the Danish artillery.
Their artillery barrage not only managed to cover the advance of their troops,
but also dealt heavy casualties to the Danish forces. The Swedish infantry advanced
towards the Danish position through a narrow clearing. Adhering to the Carolean tactics,
they advanced until they could discern their enemies’ facial features and fired several
devastating volleys. The Danish infantry returned fire, however, it was not precise.
Scholtens attempted to break the Swedish center with a cavalry attack from the right. This attack
failed due to precise Swedish volleys, as well as artillery barrages and the cavalry retreated after
suffering significant casualties. Afterwards, the Swedish left attacked the winded Danish right.
This forced Scholten to wheel his entire army to the left to avoid being outflanked.
Simultaneously, the Swedish cavalry on the right managed to find a small path through the marsh and
attacked. The Danish left was caught completely by surprise and began retreating because of
the relentless Swedish assault. The allied army, though in a strong defensive position,
was suffering from disorganization. Flemming, the leader of the Danish forces on the left,
requested that the cavalry which was kept behind Wakenstädt be brought to the front
on the morning of the battle. Scholten acquiesced, however, his order came in late
and those cavalry regiments were caught behind the Danish left during the retreat. As they were
unprepared for battle and caught in a position where maneuvering was difficult, disorder broke
loose within their ranks. They were pushed back into Wakenstädt, where brutal fighting ensued.
The quick and precise Swedish assault along the entire front pushed the Danish army back and
some units began routing. Unable to save their left flank, Flemming and Scholtens retreated
behind Wakenstädt and formed a new defensive line there. The Swedish left once again assaulted the
Danish right, however, they were fired upon by the Danish royal guard and lost some of
their momentum. Nonetheless, the Danish right almost broke and Flemming had to reinforce it
with his Saxon cavalry. The Saxons managed to stabilize the line, however, their attempts to
push the Swedes back were unsuccessful. The royal guard still continued firing
at the Swedish cavalry, causing many casualties. This forced Stenbock to send
his elite infantry regiments to fight them and the two sides engaged in a brutal melee.
This engagement was eventually won by the Swedes, and the Danish center began to retreat.
The Saxons, though unable to defeat the Swedish left, fought fiercely and ensured that their
enemies could not pursue the retreating forces. Most of the troops on the Danish left were either
killed or captured, and only a few soldiers managed to retreat with the rest of the army.
In the end, the Danish army lost all of their artillery and around 6500 men, most of whom were
captured, while the Swedes lost 1500. Although this battle was a tactical success for Stenbock’s
army, it proved to be strategically insignificant – the Danish army was not completely broken
and the Russians and Saxons still had overwhelming numerical superiority.
Furthermore, the Swedish army was no longer within the safety of Stralsund’s walls,
and marching back would be a risky move. A lack of supplies also began to take its toll on them and
to make matters worse, the Baltic Sea was still frozen, so resupplying by ship was not an option.
Stenbock subsequently moved west with his army, trying to extort funds and supplies out
of the Danish-controlled city of Altona. When the citizens failed to meet the overwhelming demands,
the Swedish army burned the city to the ground. The army headed east afterwards, however,
it was surrounded by a large Russian-Saxon force nearby Tönning. Breaking his neutrality,
Charles Frederick of Holstein-Göttorp provided refuge to the Swedish army inside his fort,
as with the Spanish war of succession nearly over, the Duke expected aid from Great Britain
and the United Provinces, just like in 1700. Their ships never arrived and with hunger and
disease running rampant throughout his army, Stenbock surrendered on the 13th of May.
Having lost another army, Charles seemed to be in dire straits, with the defeat being an
increasingly realistic option. The allied powers were more than willing to make peace with Sweden.
Charles, adamant that he would not relinquish even an inch of land,
refused even the most lenient offers. With a King so headstrong and averse to defeat,
it became evident that war-weary Sweden would not sue for peace, at least not until Charles
XII was still breathing. Our next episode will see the conclusion of the Great Northern War,
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