After establishing the city of St Petersburg, what was Peter the Great’s next step in his titanic struggle against Charles XII of Sweden, for mastery of northern and eastern Europe? What drastic, brutal action did he take against Poland, to slow the Swedish advance into his territories? And, after the defection of one of his oldest and most important allies - the leader of the Ukrainian Cossacks - to the Swedes, could Peter and his army survive to fight on? Join Dominic and Tom as they discuss the next and deadliest stage of the Great Northern War: from action-packed military conquests, and harsh marches into the depths of a northern winter, to great betrayals, and the outbreak of the battle that would decide the fate of two of Europe’s mightiest rulers… The Rest Is History Club: Become a member for exclusive bonus content, early access to full series and live show tickets, ad-free listening, our exclusive newsletter, discount book prices on titles mentioned on the pod, and our members’ chatroom on Discord. Just head to therestishistory.com to sign up, or start a free trial today on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/therestishistory. For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett + Aaliyah Akude Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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I saw His Majesty King Charles XII a great way off, with a suite of some fifty horsemen, riding along a column of wagons. His Majesty came at last to mine and inquired who I was. The Colonel replied, This is the unfortunate Ensign Piper of the Guards, whose feet were frostbitten. His Majesty then rode up close beside the wagon and asked me, How is it with you?
I replied, ill enough, your majesty, for I cannot stand upon either foot. His majesty asked, have you lost part of your feet? I told him that heels and toes were gone, and to this he said, a trifle, a trifle.
And resting his own leg upon the pommel of his saddle, he pointed to half the soul, saying, I have seen men who lost this much of their foot, and when they had stuffed their boot, they walked as well as before. Turning then to the Colonel, His Majesty asked, Perhaps he will run again? The Colonel replied, He may thank his God if he can so much as walk. He must not think of running.
As His Majesty rode away, he said to the Colonel, He is to be pitied, for he is so young. So that was Ensign Gustav Peiper of the Swedish guards who had lost both his heels and most of his toes to frostbite talking to Mr. Motivator himself, Charles XII of Sweden in April 1709. It's a trifle, a trifle. I love that. Half his foot gone.
Dominic, this is classic territory for armies that invade Russia, isn't it? Soldiers losing their feet to frostbite. probably kind of eating straw, all that kind of thing.
Yeah, we think that now, but they didn't think that then. So if you remember, we are in the frozen grip of the Great Northern War, the great struggle, the titanic showdown between Peter the Great of Russia and Charles XII of Sweden for mastery of the north and the east of Europe. And...
When Charles set off, if you remember, everybody was terribly optimistic and there was no thought of frostbite or missing toes and heels. Certainly no thought of stuffing a boot with straw to make up for the loss of your foot. They would be celebrating in the Kremlin. That was the plan. That's what they thought.
So listeners will remember from the last episode that Peter had seized part of the Baltic coast and he'd founded his new city of St. Petersburg amid the bogs and marshes. But all the momentum seemed to lie with the ultimate Scandinavian. I mean, surely he'd be played by Alexander Skarsgård, wouldn't he? Of course he would, yeah. He would be hunting bears with a pitchfork.
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