Peter I: "If only Russia, its glory and welfare would live forever". The Presidential Library’s collections highlight the Battle of Poltava

July 2019 marks 310 years of the Battle of Poltava, which predetermined the outcome of the Northern War between Russia and Sweden for the access of our fatherland to the Baltic Sea. The Presidential Library’s collections contain a number of rare books that reproduce the events of more than three centuries ago with many details that will never be lost after digitizing books. First of all, these are the basic sources "Narva and Poltava" (1899) by A. Pogossky, "The Battle of Poltava and its Monuments" (1895) by I. Pavlovsky; "The Field of the Battle of Poltava and its Historical Monuments" by the authors mentioned above; “Poltava - “The Void Fortress”: Fortifications of the Poltava Fortress in the Course of the Great Northern War” (2013) S. Ivanyuk - based on the analysis of written and cartographic sources, field research, the city of Poltava and its fortress were presented during the defence against the Swedes in 1709.    

Upon assuming the throne, the future Peter the Great was distinctly aware, - say the authors of the book The Battle of Poltava Field and Its Historical Monuments”, - how poor people are with all the wealth of Russian lands, “how bad and insecurely the army was: the smallest enemies worried us, insulted and freely robbed. With sadness Peter I looked at it and deeply grieved about the fate of his fatherland. It contained inexhaustible sources of power, fortress and wealth, but did not know its strength and seemed to be dormant in its ignorance”.

Peter decided to take a bold step: to take away from the Swedes the shores of the Baltic Sea, which once belonged to our fatherland, and thereby cut through a window to Europe. The audacity of the plan was that Sweden at that time was very strong: in its power and significance, it was considered the first state in north-eastern Europe. The Swedish king Charles XII was very young and inexperienced at that time, but the very first battles with him showed that this 18-year-old youth was an excellent military leader and loved the war more than anything else in the world. At first, he easily defeated the Danes, Poles, Russians, as described in the publication “Narva and Poltava”.

In Poltava, with his army, he found himself thanks to the promises of the Little Russian hetman Mazepa, who, having betrayed Peter I, promised his enemies help in supplying their army with everything necessary. Poltava, besieged by the Swedes, burst into flames from fires, bombs exploded in it, an epidemic began from a difficult approach to the river; Several times the Swedes in a frenzy climbed on the city walls and placed royal banners on them. Russian officers, instructing the old men and women to put out the fire, rushed into battle, dragging the soldiers along with them: they threw the Swedes from the fortifications, made daring forays into the enemy camp.

Our soldiers were few in Poltava, the detachment consisted of four thousand soldiers and two and a half thousand armed militias against the 30-thousandth Swedish army. But the residents of the city cheered when the rumor passed: the tsar himself came to the Russian camp. He immediately opened a message with the besieged Poltava across the river, found various ways to help the city.

The Russian sovereign realized that the time had finally come to pay for everything with the Swedes, the moment was very appropriate: after long, including winter hikes, the Swedes were tired, lost heart and dreamed of returning to their homes. The Russian army, on the contrary, became stronger - its number exceeded 40 thousand people. And most importantly, it learned to fight... from its opponents. No wonder that Karl, besieging Poltava, once remarked: "I see that we taught the Muscovites to fight".

The day was approaching, and in both camps there was an active preparation for the fight. Finally, morning of July 8 (in the new style) of 1709 has come. At two o'clock before dawn, the Swedish army moved forward...  

Under the pressure of the Russians, the ranks of the Swedes faltered and leaned back. When Karl saw that his regiments were running in confusion, he began to shout in an attempt to detain them: “Swedes! Swedes! ” But the king was unable to stop them. By 11 o'clock in the morning, only indiscriminate crowds remained from the enemy, behind which the Russians were chasing the heels of " beating indiscriminately".

In total, up to nine thousand Swedes died in Poltava fields and up to three thousand were taken as a prisoners. Karl himself with a handful of retinues barely escaped from the attackers and fled to the Crimea, and then to Turkey. Swedish shelves (or rather, the part that remained of them) voluntarily laid down their arms.

“The Poltava victory is the only battle in the whole history, the consequence of which was not destruction, but the happiness of mankind, because it gave Peter the necessary space to go further along the path of transformation”, - says the book by S. Mikheev “History of the Russian Army. The Epoch of Peter the Great” (1910).