Why was the greatest and most climactic battle of the Great Northern War, the Battle of Poltova, one of the most important in all European history? What drove Charles XII of Sweden to invade Russia in the Summer of 1707, in the lead up to that totemic clash? Exactly what happened on the day of the Battle? Would both Peter the Great and Charles survive it unscathed, if at all? And, who would triumph on that bloodsoaked battlefield? Join Dominic and Tom for one of the most dramatic events of their journey through the bombastic life and reign of Peter the Great so far, as they describe the Battle of Poltova, and the day that changed Europe forever. 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
Chapter 1: What was the significance of the Battle of Poltava?
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Jeder Läufer kennt diesen Moment, wenn es einfach klickt. Wenn deine Beine einfach mitgehen, der Schmerz nachlässt, die Zweifel weg sind und du nur noch das Run as High spürst. Das ist der Grund, warum du so früh aufstehst. Warum dich ein bisschen Regen nicht auffällt. Warum Laufen zum Ritual wird. Also laufe und fühle das Runners High.
It was after dread Poltover's day, when fortune left the royal Swede. Around a slaughtered army lay no more to combat and to bleed. The power and glory of the war, faithless as their vain votaries' men, had passed to the triumphant Tsar, and Moscow's walls were safe again.
Until a day more dark and drear and a more memorable year should give to slaughter and to shame a mightier host and haughtier name, a greater wreck, a deeper fall, a shock to one, a thunderbolt to all. Der Anfang von Lord Byron's poem Mazepa, which he wrote in 1819.
And obviously, Dominic, he was writing there in the shadow of Napoleon's invasion of Russia and the failure of his attempt to capture Moscow. But Byron, although he was famously obsessed by Napoleon, is still very much aware that
The Great Northern War, this great titanic clash between Charles XII of Sweden and Peter the Great of Russia, that that conflict was more than fit to stand comparison with the storm and drang of the Napoleonic Wars. And it's kind of tribute, isn't it, to just how deeply the events of the summer of 1709, a century on, continue to reverberate through Europe.
Ja, absolut, Tom. Und es ist interessant, nicht wahr, dass in der englischsprachigen Welt, ich denke, dass die große Norden-Wahl jetzt vergessen oder etwas überlebt ist. Ich denke, es ist ein Eklips, nicht wahr? Die Spanische Succession, dann die Napoleonic Wars und dann natürlich die Weltkriege des 20. Jahrhunderts.
But at the time when Byron was writing, these characters, Peter the Great, Charles XII, and the character who gives his name to that poem, so that's Ivan Mazepa. The Hetman. The Hetman of the Cossacks, who we talked about last time. These are great romantic heroes, aren't they? They are individuals standing astride the course of history and shaping it to their will.
I mean, that's how people like Byron thought about it. Yeah, and they are heroes with a deep shade of darkness. Well, we've already had the tremendous business of Charles XII's Foot, which we were entertaining our assistant producers with just now, because they missed yesterday's recording.
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Chapter 2: What led to Charles XII's invasion of Russia?
Because if in doubt, he attacks. Exactly. He's very much of the Custer and Alexander the Great and Nelson school of thought. He absolutely is. And these are tremendous friends of the rest of history. It's fair to say that Custer does sometimes let himself down, doesn't he? So, darkness falls on the Sunday evening and let us sketch the scene. The Swedes are camped west of this fortress of Poltava.
There's about 30,000 Swedes.
And that's about half the force that Charles had set off with.
Yeah, and he's been hoping for all these reinforcements from the Crimean Tatars and the Poles and whatnot, who, remember, didn't turn up at the end of the last episode.
But his assumption is that one Swede is worth 10 Russians.
And that's pretty much everybody's assumption, because the Swedes are the finest fighters in Europe. Der Vorteil ist natürlich, dass sie gefroren sind, sie sind sauer, sie haben keine Beine, sie haben keine Pfeife und kein Essen. Aber auch so, sie haben ihre Chancen immer noch gewünscht, weil sie so gut sind.
Jetzt hinter der Fortress, auf der anderen Seite, ist der Worskler-River, der nach Norden nach Süden läuft. Also, Sie müssen sich das auf der rechten Seite der Bildung vorstellen.
Weiter nach Norden, auf der gleichen Seite des Rivers, der westlichen Seite, wie die Schweden, sind 80.000 Russen unter Peter der Große, sein General, Top-General Boris Sheremetov und sein großer trinkender Freund Alexander Menshikov, den wir vorhin gesprochen haben. Wenn die Schweden sie attackieren wollen,
Sie werden nach Norden nach den Russen reisen und sie werden über sechs defensiv-Earthworks, die Redoubts genannt werden. Ich liebe es, wenn du über militärische Bedingungen sprichst. Ja, ich liebe es. Das ist schön. Also werden es mehr Redoubts geben. Jeder dieser Redoubts ist ca. 100 Meter groß und die Russen haben sie auf der Straße von Poltava gebaut.
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