316 years ago today, on July 8, 1709 (June 2, 1709), the Battle of Poltava was fought between the armies of Peter the Great of Russia and Charles XII of Sweden on June 27, 1709 (July 8 in the Russian calendar). It was the most famous battle of the Great Northern War. The decisive victory of the Russian army ended the era of Sweden as a European power. Victory over Denmark and Russia as early as 1700 prompted them to withdraw from the war, but Charles XII failed to end the war and would face the remaining opponent, the Saxony-Poland alliance, eight years later. During this time, Peter the Great rebuilt his army into a modern one, and with this goal in mind, he primarily trained his infantry in the proper use of muskets. He later won a beautiful victory in the region of St. Petersburg, Livonia, which he later built. The Russians thus angered Charles XII, who then made an irreparable mistake and decided to attack the Russian heartland and Moscow. Charles XII's army first invaded Russia in 1708, but the Russians avoided confrontation with the Swedes and used the same method they often used in war against invaders: a policy of fortification. The Russian summer was cold and wet, making it difficult to provide ground supplies, and Charles had to rely on a supply column to transport enough food to maintain his army for a long period of time. The supply column, led by General Arden Ludwig Lewincht, consisted of 11,000 men, 16 artillery pieces, a herd of cattle, and a thousand carriages. It was usually slow at its best, but now slowed down to a slow pace due to the road conditions. With no direct contact between the two armies, Charlie's army had to wait for General Lewincht's supply column to arrive soon. With only 130 kilometers left between the two armies, Charlie decided to give up and ordered the army to retreat and move south to Ukraine in search of food and better weather. Ukraine, under the command of Maripa, negotiated with Charlie and formed an alliance with Sweden to gain independence from Russia. On the other hand, General Lewincht also turned south and was attacked while crossing a small river in a neighboring village, resulting in the Battle of Lisnaya. His column was attacked by the Russians and was surprised by the strength of the newly built Russian army. General Lewincht wanted to meet Charlie at full speed, so he abandoned a lot of artillery, cattle, and most of his food, causing the soldiers to riot. The soldiers were drunk due to the theft of wine, and General Lewincht was forced to leave behind 1,000 soldiers who were drunk in the woods. Finally they finally joined Charlie's main force in the winter, with no supplies and only 6,000 men left. Charlie resumed his attack in the spring, but lost a third of his men in the winter due to starvation, frostbite, or other weather conditions. The humid weather severely depleted the army's supplies and gunpowder; the artillery could not operate due to a lack of shells. Charles' first action was to besiege the fortress of Poltava on the River Hoskala in Ukraine. Peter the Great had already organized a large army to defend the fortress, and quickly reached and established a counter-siege line, luring the Swedish army into the trap between the fortress and the Russian army. When Peter the Great commanded 45,000 soldiers to attack, Charles XII had about 20,000 soldiers under his command. To make matters worse for the Swedish army, Charles XII besieged Poltava on June 17. While inspecting the forward base, Charles XII was wounded in the leg by a Russian sniper on the embankment of the Hoskala River with a musket, and needed to be transferred to Field Marshal Ulrika Eleanora. However, he planned to break through the Russian lines and escape from the north. The campaign began at 3:45 before dawn on June 28, when the Swiss began to attack the Russian lines. At first, the campaign was conducted in a traditional style of warfare, with the better-trained Swedish army pressing towards the left flank and center of the Russian army, breaking through some Russian strongholds. The Swedish army seemed to have the advantage, but it was soon lost. At dawn, the weather became hot and humid, and the rising sun was obscured by the ash of artillery and muskets. Peter the Great, with a considerable number of infantry, held back the Swedish army with artillery, and at nine in the morning he organized a reinforcements of 25,000 in the center of the line, in front of the Russian barracks, supported by 73 heavy artillery. The Swedish infantry, commanded by General Livencht, tried to attack the Russian infantry in front of the barracks. But the Swedish attack soon fell back and was disoriented by poor communication. To make matters worse for the Swedish army, a contingent of 2,600 men under the command of General Huss was surrounded by Russian strongholds after a column of 4,000 Russian reinforcements regained their positions. After the detachment suffered 1,000 casualties, the ammunition was exhausted, and General Huss was forced to surrender. On the North Face of the battlefield, at 10:10 am, the Swedish attack was routed by a Russian cavalry counterattack under the command of General Manskigov. The infantry on the right flank of the Swedish army was surrounded by the Russian central infantry led by Peter the Great. At 10:30, General Bawa led the Russian cavalry to attack again, attacking the left flank and rear of the Swedish army, dismantling the Swedish line within 15 minutes. Seeing that his army was defeated in the rear, Charles ordered a retreat at 11:00. At 12:00 noon, the Russian cavalry cleared the scattered soldiers on the battlefield and returned to the Russian lines, and the battle was over. Charles gathered the remaining Swedish troops and baggage lines and retreated to the south on the same day, giving up the siege of Poltava. The Swedish army crossed the Deniab River, but the Russians pursued tenaciously, and finally the Swedish army was forced to surrender three days later at the town of Piliehe Lochana on July 1. During the campaign, several thousand Swedish prisoners of war were sent by the Russian army to build St. Petersburg. Charles XII managed to escape with about 1,500 men to Tigina in Moldavia, which was then under the protection of the Ottoman Empire, and lived a vagrant life for five years before returning to Sweden. Why Charles XII still ventured into the offensive after the harsh Russian winter remains a mystery. However, the battle was not the end of the Great Northern War, which continued for more than twelve years. The end of the war was when the Russian navy created in St. Petersburg forced Sweden to withdraw from the war. Comments: The first in a series of tragedies to march on Moscow.