Swedish invasion of Russia

Karl XII's invasion of Russia from 1708–1709

Swedish invasion of Russia

Part of the Great Northern War

The Battle of Poltava by Pierre-Denis Martin
| Date| 1 January 1708 — 8 July 1709

|

Location|

Tsardom of Russia

Result|  Russian victory
Belligerents
Tsardom of Russia
Cossack Hetmanate
Kalmyk Khanate
Sandomierz Confederation|  Swedish Empire
Cossack supporters of Mazepa
(from October 1708)
Warsaw Confederation
Commanders and leaders
Peter the Great
Aleksandr Menshikov
Ivan Mazepa
(until October 1708)
Ayuka Khan|  Charles XII
Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt
Ivan Mazepa
(from October 1708)
Strength
192,000[a]|  97,000[b]
Casualties and losses
21,675–26,248 combat casualties
Thousands froze to death|  15,088–19,085 combat casualties
14,800–20,000+ captured
13,759 froze to death

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* t
* e

Charles XII
invasion of Russia

* Grodno II
* Holowczyn
* Neva
* Malatitze
* Rajovka
* Lesnaya
* Desna
* Baturyn
* Koniecpol
* Veprik
* Oposhnya
* Krasnokutsk–Gorodnoye
* Sokolki
* Poltava
* Perevolochna

The invasion of Russia by Charles XII of Sweden was a campaign undertaken during the Great Northern War between Sweden and the allied states of Russia, Poland, and Denmark. The invasion began with Charles's crossing of the Vistula on 1 January 1708, and effectively ended with the Swedish defeat in the Battle of Poltava on 8 July 1709, though Charles continued to pose a military threat to Russia for several years while under the protection of the Ottoman Turks.

## Historical context

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In the years preceding the invasion of Russia, Charles had inflicted significant defeats on the Danish and Polish forces, and enthroned the king Stanisław Leszczyński in Poland. Having consolidated his victories there, he invaded Saxony, forcing it out of the war. Charles then turned his attentions to Russia. He entered Russia by crossing the frozen Vistula River at the head of 40,000 men, approximately half of them cavalry. This tactic was characteristic of his military style, which relied on moving armies with great speed over unexpected terrain. As a consequence of this rapid initiation of the campaign, Charles nearly gave battle with Peter the Great just one month into the campaign, reaching Grodno, now in Belarus, a mere two hours after Russian forces had abandoned it.

Charles was a skilled military leader, and probably considered the invasion to be a risky enterprise; he had resisted the advice of his generals to invade during the Russian winter following the first Battle of Narva (1700). He chose to continue his invasion now because he expected Swedish reinforcements and the alliance of the Cossacks under Ivan Mazepa. The reinforcing Swedish army, however, was ambushed by Russians, and a Russian army under Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov had destroyed Mazepa's capital and chased him to Charles with just thirteen hundred men.

## Outcome

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The invasion was further complicated by the scorched earth strategy formulated by Peter and his generals. The Russian armies retreated continuously, dispersing the cattle and hiding the grain in the peasant towns they passed, burning unharvested crops, and leaving no resources for the Swedish army to stave off the Russian winter. By the end of the winter of 1708–1709, the "Great Frost of 1709" had devastated the Swedish army and shrunk it to 24,000 men. In May 1709, the Swedish forces caught up to the Russians, and the two armies clashed in the Battle of Poltava. The Swedish were defeated, and the greater part of Charles's army, some 19,000 men, were forced to surrender.

Charles fled with his surviving 543 men to the protection of the Ottoman Turks to the south, who were traditionally hostile to Russia. Here, Charles was eventually able to persuade the Sultan Ahmed III to declare war on Russia. Backed by a Turkish army of 200,000 men, Charles led the Turks into the Russo-Turkish War (1710–1711). Before Charles could give battle, though, Peter was able to bribe the Turkish vizier to peace; with this, Charles's ambitions to invade Russia were ended.

## Consequences

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The consequences of the failed invasion were far-reaching. The Swedish Empire never added new territory after the Battle of Poltava, and shortly thereafter lost more possessions. George I of Great Britain led Great Britain and Prussia into war against Sweden, and Denmark reentered the war. Russia maintained its conquered possessions in Ingria and the Baltic, was able to consolidate its hold over Ukraine and Poland, develop the new city of Saint Petersburg, and gain vital trade links in the Baltic trade. During the invasion, no less than 20,000 Swedish soldiers and thousands more civilians fell into Russian captivity.[5]

## Battles

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Battles during the invasion of Russia by Charles XII  Battle  | Swedish numbers  | Russian numbers  | Swedish casualties  | Russian casualties  | Result

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Grodno | 800[6] | 9,000[6] | 54[7] | 200[7] | Swedish victory
Holowczyn | 12,500[8][9] | 28,000[9] | 1,293  | 1,655–6,000[10][11][12][13][14][15] | Swedish victory
Neva | 2,000[16] | 4,000–8,000[17] | 380[18] | 900[17] | Swedish victory
Malatitze | 4,000[19] | 13,000[19] | 700[20]–2,000[21] | 1,566[22]–2,700[19] | See Aftermath
Rajovka | 2,400[23] | 10,000[24] | 100[24] | 375[25] | Inconclusive
Koporye | 1,800  | 2,000–3,000  | 70  | 600  | Swedish victory
Lesnaya | 12,500[26] | 26,500–29,000[27][28] | 3,000–3,873[26] | 7,000[26] | Russian victory
Kolkanpää | 600–800  | 3,000–3,500  | 600–800  | 270  | Russian victory
Desna | 2,000[29] | 4,000[29] | 200[30] | 1,700[31][30] | Swedish victory
Veprik | 3,000  | 1,500  | 1,000–1,600  | 1,500  | Swedish victory
Oposhnya | 2,000[32] | 6,000[32] | 19[32] | 450[32] | Swedish victory
Krasnokutsk-Gorodnoye | 2,500[33] | 5,000–10,000[33] | 132[34] | 774–1,200[35][36] | Swedish victory
Sokolki | 6,000  | 7,000  | 290  | 50–1,400  | Inconclusive
Stari Sanzhary | Unknown  | 6 dragoon regiments  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Russian victory
Poltava | 17,000[37] | 42,000[37] | 6,900–9,224 killed/wounded
2,800–2,977 captured[38][39] | 4,635–5,953[40][41] | Decisive Russian victory
Perevolochna | 12,000  | 9,000  | 12,000 captured  | Unknown  | Swedish surrender

## Notes

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1. ^ 121,000 Russians of which 57,500 directly under Peter I stationed between Severia and Smolensk, 24,500 at Saint Petersburg under Fyodor Apraksin, 16,000 at Dorpat under Christian Felix Bauer, 12,000 at Kiev under Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn[1] and 11,000 at Moscow.[2] Another 12,000 men were used to beat the Bulavin Rebellion, however these were only able to assist in the fight against the Swedes at the end of the campaign.[3] 35,000–40,000 Cossacks by Ivan Mazepa and Konstantyn Hordijenkas and 10,000 Kalmyk troops by Ayuka Khan.[2] 23,500 Poles under Adam Mikołaj Sieniawski in Poland.[1]
2. ^ 77,000 Swedes of which 33,000 directly under Karl XII at Grodno, 22,000 in Livonia, Ingria and Courland under Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt, 14,000 in Finland under Georg Lybecker and 8,000 in Poland under Ernst Detlof von Krassow[4] with about 20,000 Poles under Stanisław I.[1]

## References

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1. ^ a b c Dorrell, Nicholas. The Dawn of the Tsarist Empire: Poltava & the Russian Campaigns of 1708–1709, Partizan Press (2009). pp. 52–62
2. ^ a b Konovaltjuk & Lyth, Pavel & Einar (2009). Vägen till Poltava. Slaget vid Lesnaja 1708 (in Swedish). Svenskt Militärhistorisk Biblioteks Förlag. p. 39
3. ^ Gordon A. The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia: To which is Prefixed a Short General History of the Country from the Rise of that Monarchy: and an Account of the Author's Life, Volume 1. Aberdeen. 1755. pp. 266
4. ^ Peter From. Katastrofen vid Poltava. Lund, 2007. p. 50
5. ^ Wolke 2025, p. 104.
6. ^ a b Peter From, Katastrofen vid Poltava (2007), Lund, Historiska media. pp. 77.
7. ^ a b Nordberg, Jöran (1740). Konung Carl den XII:tes historia, volume 1 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Pet. Momma. pp. 844–845.
8. ^ Liljegren, B "Karl XII: En Biografi", 2000, p. 156
9. ^ a b Nationalencyklopedin
10. ^ Ericson, Lars, ed. (2003). Svenska slagfält (in Swedish). Wahlström & Widstrand. p. 280\. ISBN 91-46-21087-3.
11. ^ Kuvaja, Christer (2008). Karolinska krigare 1660–1721 (in Swedish). Helsingfors: Schildts Förlags AB. p. 181\. ISBN 978-951-50-1823-6.
12. ^ Ullgren, Peter (2008). Det stora nordiska kriget 1700–1721 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Prisma. p. 169\. ISBN 978-91-518-5107-5.
13. ^ Englund, Peter (1988). Poltava (in Swedish). Stockholm: Atlantis. p. 38\. ISBN 91-7486-834-9.
14. ^ Cooper, Leonard (1968). Many Roads to Moscow: Three Historic Invasions. London: Hamish Hamilton. p. 42\. ISBN 0-241-01574-X.
15. ^ "Charles XII and the Collapse of the Swedish Empire, 1682–1719 – R. Nisbet Bain". Archived from the original on 23 May 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
16. ^ Dorrell, Nicholas. The Dawn of the Tsarist Empire: Poltava & the Russian Campaigns of 1708–1709, Partizan Press (2009). pp 121
17. ^ a b Ett kort dock tydeligit utdrag utur then öfwer konung Carl den Tolftes lefwerne och konglida dater, Jöran Andersson Nordberg (1745). pp 585
18. ^ Peter From, Katastrofen vid Poltava (2007), Lund, Historiska media. pp. 174.
19. ^ a b c Clodfelter, Micheal (2002). Warfare and Armed Conflict. McFarland. pp. 94, 97.
20. ^ Dorrell, Nicholas. The Dawn of the Tsarist Empire: Poltava & the Russian Campaigns of 1708—1709. Partizan Press (2009). pp. 92–97
21. ^ Н.Н Молчанов. Дипломатия Петра Первого. —М.: Международные отношения, 1984—440с. —/Библиотека: «внешняя политика, Дипломатия
22. ^ В. А. Артамонов (2013). "Книга В. А. Артамонова «Полтавское сражение». Главы 3 и 4. - Бои при Добром, Бели и Раевке". Archived from the original on 25 September 2022. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
23. ^ Bengt Liljegren, Karl XII: En biografi. (2000) Lund, Historiska media. pp 159. ISBN 91-85377-14-7
24. ^ a b Dorrell, Nicholas. The Dawn of the Tsarist Empire: Poltava & the Russian Campaigns of 1708–1709, Partizan Press (2009). pp 98
25. ^ Тарле Евгений Викторович Северная война и шведское нашествие на Россию. – Сочинения. – Москва: Издательство Академии Наук СССР, 1959. – Т. 10. – С. 363–800. – 841 с.
26. ^ a b c Massie (2001)
27. ^ Nicholas Dorrell (2009)
28. ^ Moltusov, Valerij Aleksejevitj (2009). Poltava 1709: Vändpunkten (in Swedish). SMB. p. 83\. ISBN 978-91-85789-75-7.
29. ^ a b Ett kort dock tydeligit utdrag utur then öfwer konung Carl den Tolftes lefwerne och konglida dater, Jöran Andersson Nordberg (1745). pp 593
30. ^ a b Peter From, Katastrofen vid Poltava (2007), Lund, Historiska media. pp. 240.
31. ^ Karl XII:s ryska fälttåg: källstudier, Hans Villius (1951). pp 60
32. ^ a b c d Dorrell, Nicholas. The Dawn of the Tsarist Empire: Poltava & the Russian Campaigns of 1708–1709, Partizan Press (2009). pp 155
33. ^ a b Lanciai Christian, Segern och nederlaget (1974) p. 107
34. ^ "Nordisk Familjebok". Archived from the original on 9 June 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
35. ^ Anders Fryxell: Berättelser ur svenska historien, Volym 15. p. 166, 1861
36. ^ Peter Frost, Katastrofen vid Poltava (2007) p. 259
37. ^ a b Moltusov, Valerij Aleksejevitj (2009). Poltava 1709: Vändpunkten (in Swedish). SMB. p. 93\. ISBN 978-91-85789-75-7.
38. ^ Peter Englund: Poltava, p.215. Atlantis 1988. ISBN 91-7486-834-9.
39. ^ (in Swedish) Christer Kuvaja: Karolinska krigare 1660–1721, p.192. Schildts Förlags AB 2008. ISBN 978-951-50-1823-6.
40. ^ "Encyclopedia of Ukraine". Archived from the original on 1 January 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
41. ^ (in Russian) Istorīia Petra Velikago, p. 355

## Works cited

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* Wolke, Lars Ericson [in Swedish] (2025). Mot Sankt Petersburg! Den karolinska arméns desperata kamp 1708 [Towards Saint Petersburg! The desperate struggle of the Carolean army in 1708] (in Swedish). Carlssons. ISBN 9789189826557.

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