The defeat of the Swedish army near Poltava and the inglorious surrender of its remnants at Perevolnaya made a huge impression both in Sweden and in all European countries.
A fundamental turning point in the course of the Northern War
The English ambassador Charles Whitworth wrote at the time:
"Perhaps in the whole history there is no such example of submissive submission to fate on the part of so many regular troops."
Danish Ambassador Georg Grund is also perplexed:
“Such a multitude of armed people, amounting to 14-15 thousand, divided into regiments and supplied with generals and officers, did not dare to draw their swords, but surrendered to a much smaller enemy. If their horses could carry them, and they themselves could hold a sword in their hands, then it seems to everyone that surrender without a fight is too much."
The Swedish army lost its aura of invincibility, and Charles XII no longer seemed like a strategist of the level of the Great Alexander.
As a result, Joseph I, the Holy Roman Emperor of the German nation, who was forced by the Swedish king to give guarantees of religious freedom to the Protestants of Silesia, immediately retracted his promises.
Karl's protege in Poland Stanislav Leszczynski gave up his crown to the former owner - the Saxon Elector Augustus the Strong. With the help of another European king (his son-in-law Louis XV), he still tried to return to Poland in 1733, but without the consent of Russia it was already impossible. The army of Peter Lassi will defeat the Confederates, forcing the hapless king to flee Danzig in the clothes of a peasant. Then hetman Pototsky, who supported him, will be defeated, and Leshchinsky will again renounce the title of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. Poland finally ceased to be a subject of international politics, turning into its object.
All the more surprising is the behavior of Charles XII, who, instead of returning to his homeland and trying to somehow correct his previous mistakes, spent more than five years on the territory of the Ottoman Empire (first in Bender, then in Demirtash near Adrianople) - from August 1709 years to October 1714. And his kingdom at this time was bleeding to death in the fight against the superior forces of its opponents. A certain Dane Van Effen wrote about Sweden in those years:
"I can assure … that I have not seen, apart from soldiers, not a single man from 20 to 40 years old."
The quality of the Swedish army was also steadily declining. The experienced caroliners were replaced by poorly trained recruits, whose morale was no longer as high as that of the soldiers of the first years of this war.
The mercenary troops from the German principalities and the Eastsee provinces had nothing to pay, which made them unreliable and unstable. The Swedes could still fight against the Danes, Hanoverians and Saxons, but they no longer had the slightest chance of defeating the Russian troops in a large land battle. And Karl himself, after the return of the Ottoman Empire, did not even try to take revenge on his eastern neighbor, which had become formidable.
The only circumstance that allowed Sweden to delay the signing of the inevitable peace with the formal recognition of the already taken place transfer of Ingria, Estonia and Livonia under the control of Russia was the absence of a military fleet in Peter I, which could fight on an equal footing with the Swedish, and carry out the landing on the coast of the metropolis. But the situation was steadily changing. New battleships entered service: 17 were purchased from England and Holland, 20 were built in St. Petersburg, 7 - in Arkhangelsk, two each - in Novaya Ladoga and at the Olonets shipyard. In addition to them, frigates were purchased: 7 in Holland and 2 in England. The fleet included 16 shnavs (a two-masted vessel with 14-18 guns on board), as well as more than 200 galleys.
In June 1710, Russian troops took Vyborg, in July - Helsinfors (Helsinki), and in October of the same year, two important Baltic fortresses fell, which had long been besieged by Russian troops - Riga and Revel.
The Swedes hoped for help from the Ottoman Empire, as well as from England, France, Prussia, who were already beginning to fear the strengthening of Russia and its growing influence on European affairs. And help really came.
In November 1710, an extremely unsuccessful war for Russia with Turkey began, during which the army of Peter I was surrounded by the Prut River (July 1711). Azov and Taganrog were lost, the Azov fleet (about 500 ships) was burned, the Zaporozhye Sich came under the jurisdiction of the Sultan, Russia undertook to withdraw its troops from Poland.
And the so-called powers of the Great Alliance (England, Holland and Austria, allies in the "War of the Spanish Succession") on March 20, 1710 signed the Northern Neutrality Act. According to this document, Sweden's opponents had to abandon the invasion of Swedish possessions in northern Germany, and the Swedes had to not replenish their troops in Pomerania and not use them in a further war. Moreover, in The Hague on July 22 of the same year, a convention was signed that provided for the creation by the "Great Alliance" of a "peacekeeping force" corps, which would guarantee that the parties concerned would comply with the terms of this act. It was supposed to include 15, 5 thousand infantry and 3 thousand cavalry.
Renewal of the Northern Alliance
Despite the clear benefit, Charles XII rejected the offer. As a result, in August 1711 the Danish and Saxon armies (supported by Russian units) entered Pomerania, but the actions of the allies were unsuccessful, and it was not possible to take the besieged fortress of Stralsund. In March 1712, a Russian corps under the command of Menshikov was sent to Pomerania (later Peter himself joined him). The Danes and Saxons acted passively, allowing the Swedish general Magnus Stenbock to capture Rostock and Mecklenburg. In December, Stenbock struck the Danish-Saxon army, which, contrary to the advice of Peter I, entered the battle without waiting for the approach of the Russian units, and was defeated at Gadebusch. At the same time, the Danes lost all their artillery.
Military operations resumed in January 1713 - already in Holstein. At Friedrichstadt, Stenbock was defeated, the remnants of his army took refuge in the Holstein fortress of Tenningen. Its siege lasted until May 4 (15), 1713: the Swedish army of 11,485 people, weakened by hunger and epidemics, surrendered, after which Menshikov's troops besieged Stettin and took this city by storm - September 18 (29). This city was transferred to Prussia - in exchange for the accession of this country to the Northern Union.
Battle of Gangut
And on July 27 (August 7), 1714, the Russian fleet won a victory at the Gangut Peninsula (from the Swedish Hangö udd), which now bears the Finnish name of Hanko.
This battle was the largest naval battle between Sweden and Russia in the Northern War, in honor of this victory the name "Gangut" was given to 5 large warships.
By this time, Russian troops already controlled southern and central Finland (which they occupied mainly in order to have something to concede to Sweden in peace negotiations). In the city of Abo (modern Turku), north of the Gangut, a Russian garrison was stationed, to strengthen which in June 1714 99 galleys, scampaways and other ships were to deliver a corps of 15 thousand people.
The Swedish fleet, commanded by Gustav Vatrang, went to sea to prevent the passage of this squadron to Abo. It consisted of 15 battleships, 3 frigates and 9 galleys. Thus, being inferior to the Russians in the number of ships, the Swedes significantly outnumbered their fleet in firepower, and believed that they could easily defeat light and weakly armed rowing ships. A detachment of Vice Admiral Lilje, consisting of eight battleships and two bombers, blocked the Russian squadron in Tverminna Bay. Wattrang with the rest of the ships is located nearby.
Peter I, who was with the squadron in the rank of shautbenacht (this rank corresponded to major general or rear admiral) and the squadron commander, Admiral General F. M. Apraksin, did not want to give a big battle using the fleet of "real" large sailing ships (in Reval at that time there were 16 ships of the line). Instead, a decision was made, worthy of an ancient Greek or Roman strategist: the soldiers landed on the shore began to arrange a "crossover" in the narrowest part of the isthmus, where its width reached only 2.5 km. Wattrang responded by sending an 18-gun Elephant (sometimes mistakenly called a frigate) to the northern coast of the peninsula, accompanied by six galleys and three skerboats - all these ships carried 116 guns on their sides. Rear Admiral N. Ehrensjold was appointed commander of this detachment.
Some believe that the haulage work was originally conceived by Peter to distract part of the Swedish forces. However, it seems that it was arranged seriously and only favorable weather conditions for the Russians (calm) forced the Russian command to change their plans. On the morning of July 26, 20 galleys under the command of Commander M. Zmaevich, followed by another 15 Lefort scampways, paddled 15 miles, bypassing enemy ships. The Swedes could not prevent them, since their ships, which had lost their mobility, had to be towed by boats. And Rear Admiral Taube, who led a detachment of one frigate, five galleys and 6 skerboats, which could block the movement of Russian rowing ships, unexpectedly turned back, because he decided that the entire Russian fleet was in front of him.
But by noon, the situation changed: a weak wind blew, taking advantage of which, the Swedish ships Vattranga and Lilje moved towards each other and lined up in two lines, dividing the Russian squadron into two parts. But at the same time, the Swedes freed a narrow strip of water near the coast, along which Russian rowing ships with low draft could pass. As a result, in the early morning of July 27, the remaining Russian ships (with the exception of one galley that had run aground) went to sea.
Rear Admiral Ehrenskjold, who "watched" the Russian ships in the northwest, having heard the cannonade, decided to lead his ships to the main forces, but in the fog his ships turned a little to one side, ended up in a small bay of Rilaxfjord and were blocked in it by the detachment of Zmaevich and Lefort …
Hoping for the help of the main forces of his fleet, Ehrensjold refused to surrender, and at about two o'clock in the afternoon, Russian galleys attacked his ships.
Peter I personally took part in the boarding battle, for which he later received the rank of vice admiral.
The Swedes claimed that they managed to repel two of the three attacks. But there is evidence that all 10 of their ships were captured at the very first attack: it took the Swedes to talk about stubborn resistance in order to somehow justify their defeat.
In this battle, the Russians lost 127 people killed (8 of them were officers), 342 soldiers and officers were wounded, 232 soldiers and 7 officers were captured (they were on the gallery that ran aground).
Swedish losses: 361 people killed (including 9 officers) and 580 prisoners (350 of them were wounded).
After the defeat of Ehrensjold, Admiral Wattrang did not dare to join the battle, and took his squadron to the coast of Sweden, informing the Senate that he could now only defend the capital.
Return of the King
In the fall of the same 1714, Charles XII finally left the Ottoman Empire - to the great delight of the Sultan and everyone who managed to get to know this Swedish king at least a little. On November 21, 1714, Karl arrived at the Pomeranian fortress of Stralsund, which belonged to Sweden.
He ordered to start a privateer war against all foreign (non-Swedish) merchant ships in the Baltic Sea, and to send recruits to Pomerania. After receiving reinforcements, Charles XII attacked Prussia, which had received Stettin.
For another 4 years, he threw the best men of his kingdom into the furnace of a war, which the desperate Swedes, it seemed, did not have the slightest opportunity to end.
In July 1715, 36 thousand Danish-Prussian troops again laid siege to Stralsund, where Charles XII himself was. The nine thousandth garrison of the fortress fought against superior enemy forces until December 11, 1715. Two days before the fall of the fortress, Karl left Stralsund on a six-rowed boat: for 12 hours this boat was carried around the sea, until a Swedish brigantine met her, on which he arrived home.
On April 7, 1716, the last Pomeranian fortress in Sweden, Wismar, surrendered. Karl fought in Norway at that time, which was then part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
Russian fleet in Copenhagen
Meanwhile, by June of this year, many Russian warships had gathered in Copenhagen: three ships built in Amsterdam (Portsmouth, Devonshire and Malburg), four Arkhangelsk ships (Uriel, Selafail, Varakhail and "Yagudiil"), a Sivers squadron of 13 ships (seven battleships, 3 frigates and 3 shnyavs) and Zmaevich's galleys. The planned landing on the Scania coast did not take place, the Russians accused the Danes of wanting to conclude a separate peace treaty, and they accused Peter I of trying to seize Copenhagen. It's hard to say what really happened, but the situation at some point became extremely serious. The garrison of the Danish capital was put on full alert, King George I of Great Britain demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Germany and Denmark, ordering the commander of the British squadron, Norris, to blockade the Russian fleet. But, realizing that such actions could lead to war, the admiral showed prudence: referring to some inaccuracies in the wording of the royal order, he did not carry it out, asking for confirmation. And the royal ministers, meanwhile, were able to convince the monarch that the severance of relations with Russia would be extremely unprofitable for Britain, would lead to the arrest of British merchants and the termination of the import of strategically necessary goods. A military conflict between England and Russia was avoided. The Russian fleet left Copenhagen, the infantry units were withdrawn to Rostock and Mecklenburg, the cavalry to the Polish border. In Denmark, one cavalry regiment was left to symbolically signify an alliance with this kingdom.
The death of Charles XII
On November 30, 1718, Charles XII was killed in Norway at the Fredriksten fortress.
The circumstances of his death are mysterious. Many historians believe that he was shot by one of his close associates, and not with a bullet, but with a button cut from one of his uniforms and filled with lead: in Sweden they believed that this king could not be killed with an ordinary bullet. This button was even found at the site of Karl's death in 1924. And its diameter coincided with the diameter of the bullet hole in the king's hat, analysis of DNA traces found on the button and royal gloves showed the presence in both samples of a rare mutation found only in Sweden.
Nevertheless, the question of the death of Charles XII has not yet been finally resolved, historians of that period are divided into two groups holding opposite points of view.
With the death of Charles XII, perhaps the main obstacle to the conclusion of peace was removed. Sweden now continued to fight, hoping only to bargain for more acceptable peace terms. It was required to convince the Senate, Queen Ulrika Eleanor and her spouse, Frederick of Hesse (who will become king of Sweden in 1720), that both the indigenous territories of Sweden and Stockholm itself are now in danger and can be captured by Russian troops.
Battle of Ezel Island
On May 24 (June 4), 1719, the Russian fleet won its first victory on the high seas and in an artillery battle (without boarding skirmishes) - this was the battle off the island of Ezel (Saarema).
Since 1715, Russian ships and squadrons began to seize Swedish merchant ships in the Baltic Sea. So in May 1717, von Hoft's detachment (three battleships, three frigates and one pink) "hunted" in the sea, capturing 13 "prizes". The captain of one of these ships reported about another caravan, which was supposed to proceed from Pillau (now Baltiysk, Kaliningrad region) to Stockholm under the protection of warships. Having received this news, General-Admiral F. M. Apraksin sent a second combat detachment "on the hunt", which was headed by Captain 2nd Rank N. Senyavin. It consisted of six 52-gun battleships and an 18-gun shnyava.
Some of the Russian ships that took part in the Ezel battle:
In the early morning of June 4, a Russian squadron discovered three Swedish warships off the island of Ezel. These were the battleship "Wachmeister", the frigate "Karlskrona" and the brigantine "Bernard", under the command of Captain-Commander A. Wrangel. Assessing the situation, Wrangel tried to hide his squadron in the skerries near Sandgamna Island, but did not have time. The first to attack it were the battleships Portsmouth (flagship of the Russian squadron) and Devonshire. All three Swedish ships focused their fire on the Portsmouth - on this ship, the headquarters and the Mars were destroyed. The forces were unequal, and the weaker Swedish ships (frigate and brigantine) lowered the flag even before the approach of other Russian ships - "Yagudiila", "Raphael" and "Natalia". The Wachmeister tried to leave the battlefield and the Yagudiel and Raphael rushed after him, followed later by Portsmouth.
The Swedish flagship was overtaken at about 12 noon, after a three-hour battle, he was forced to surrender.
The losses of the parties were incomparable: the Swedes lost 50 people killed, 376 sailors, 11 officers and the captain-commander were captured. The Russians killed 3 officers and 6 sailors, 9 people were injured.
Beat the enemy on his territory
And in July of the same year, Russian airborne units were first landed on the coast of Sweden.
The troops of F. M. Apraksin burned iron and copper factories on the island of Ute, captured the cities of Sørdetelier and Nykoping, and the city of Norrkoping was burned by the Swedes themselves, having sunk 27 of their own merchant ships in its harbor. On the island of Nekwarn, a cannon factory was captured by the Russians, and 300 guns were taken as trophies.
Detachment P. Lassi, numbering about 3500 people, destroyed factories in the vicinity of the town of Gavle. The Swedish units, which twice tried to enter the battle, did not achieve success, having lost three guns in the first skirmish, and seven in the second.
In August of this year, troops landed on both sides of the strategically important Steksund fairway. These units managed to reach the Vaxholm fortress that defended Stockholm, which caused panic among the population of the Swedish capital.
In total, as a result of this operation, 8 cities, 1363 villages were captured, 140 country houses and castles of Swedish aristocrats were burned, 21 factories, 21 mills and 26 military warehouses were destroyed.
The conclusion of peace was then prevented by England, which promised Sweden military assistance and sent its squadron to the Baltic Sea in the spring of 1720 (18 battleships, 3 frigates and other, smaller, ships).
Naval battle off Grengam Island
The Russians were not embarrassed by this, and M. Golitsyn sent brigadier Mangden to the Swedish coast with a six-thousandth landing on 35 galleys. This detachment captured 2 cities and 41 villages. The united Anglo-Swedish fleet came to the shores of Sweden, the troops of Mangden returned to Finland, and the skerry squadron of M. M. Golitsyn (61 galleys and 29 boats) advanced to the Aland Islands. On July 27 (August 7), 1720, near the Grengam Island, which is part of the Aland Islands, the Russian fleet won another victory over the Swedes.
The Swedish fleet, led by Karl Schöbald, included a battleship, 4 frigates, 3 galleys, 3 skerboats, shnavas, galiots and brigantines with a total of 156 cannons on board. The Swedish admiral was the first to attack the Russian galleys, which withdrew into the narrow and shallow strait between the islands of Grengam and Fleece. Here the advantage was already on their side: despite strong enemy artillery fire, which knocked out 42 galleys (many of them were later recognized as unusable and burned), 4 frigates were captured and the battleship was almost taken on board. The amazed British, convinced that their large sailing ships would be in great danger in the event of a battle against the skerry fleet of Russian galleys, did not even try to help their allies.
The battles at Gangut and Grengam took place in different years, but on the same day, on which the Orthodox Church commemorates the healer and the holy Great Martyr Panteleimon. In honor of these victories in 1735, a church was laid in St. Petersburg, consecrated on July 27, 1739.
Nystadt world
In May of the following year, Sweden was forced to enter into negotiations, which ended on August 30 (September 10), 1721 with the signing of a peace treaty in Nishtadt (now Uusikaupunki, Finland), which consolidated the Russian conquests in the Baltic. The Swedes "sold" Russia to Ingria, Karelia, Estonia and Livonia for 2 million thalers - a huge amount, but that is how many gold Saxon thalers were seized from the Swedes after the Battle of Poltava, and about 700 thousand more from Perevolochnaya.
Peter I, even during the celebration of the Peace of Nystad in St. Petersburg, remained true to himself, making part of the holiday the jester's wedding of the new prince-pope Buturlin with the widow of his predecessor, Nikita Zotov.
But, although this holiday was somewhat frivolous and parodic, the victory itself was real.
At the end of the Northern War, the Swedish authorities refused to help Russian prisoners of war return home. But the Russian government took upon itself the costs of transporting prisoners who were brought from all over the country to St. Petersburg and Kronstadt, from where they were sent by sea to Stockholm.
Charles XII and Peter I: views of descendants
Currently, both in Sweden and in Russia are very differently treated monarchs, under whose leadership these countries fought a long and bloody war, the Northern War. There is no consensus either here or there.
In Sweden, on the one hand, they do not deny the catastrophic defeat and ruin of the state under Charles XII. Swedish historian Peter Englund admits:
"The Swedes left the stage of world history and took their seats in the auditorium."
In addition to the loss of the eastern Baltic, Sweden was forced to cede part of its lands to Prussia and Hanover, and Denmark received Schleswig (because of the desire to own it, she entered the war).
But even this defeat was almost credited by some in Sweden to the "warrior king", saying that it was the reason for the rejection of the great-power policy and the curtailment of the power of the monarchs with the simultaneous strengthening of the parliament. Although they should thank the opponents of this king for this.
Local nationalists, as before, consider Charles XII the hero who made Sweden famous, who only sought to protect Europe from Russian aggression. Panscandinavians since the 19th century have mourned the failed attempt of Charles XII to create an alliance between the united Kingdom of Sweden and Norway and Denmark.
The famous Swedish poet E. Tegner called Karl XII “the greatest son of Sweden”. Some historians of this country have compared him to Charlemagne.
On the day of the death of Charles XII (November 30), Sweden celebrates the Day of cabbage rolls ("Koldulmens dag") - a dish created on the basis of the Turkish dolma recipe, which the Swedes who accompanied this king after his flight from Poltava met on the territory of the Ottoman Empire - in Bendery.
And even the Swedish sobriety society on November 30 honors the memory of the king, who "drank only one water, and despised wine."
And it should be admitted that for all the controversy of such a position, it evokes a certain respect: the Swedes do not renounce their history, they are not ashamed of it, they do not spit on or denigrate anything or anyone. It would be no sin for us Russians to learn such a reasonable approach to assessing our history.
In Russia, in addition to the official point of view, there is an alternative one, whose supporters believe that the reign of Peter I violated the natural course of Russian history and are extremely critical of the results of his activities.
M. Voloshin wrote about it in the poem "Russia":
Great Peter was the first Bolshevik, He who conceived Russia to throw, Declinations and morals contrary to, For hundreds of years to her future distances.
He, like us, did not know other ways, To condemn the decree, executions and dungeons, To the realization of truth on earth.
And here are the lines that Voloshin dedicated to Petersburg:
A hot and triumphant city
Built on corpses, on bones
"All Russia" - in the darkness of the Finnish swamps, With the spiers of churches and ships
With the dungeons of underwater casemates, With standing water set in granite, With palaces the color of flame and meat, With a whitish haze of nights
With the altar stone of the Finnish chernobogs, Trampled by the hooves of a horse
And with illuminated laurels and anger
Mad face of copper Peter.
Emperor Alexander I, who was well aware of the "stranglehold that limits the Russian autocracy" (and even touched one of them with his plump white fingers) said enviously:
"Peter I had a rather heavy fist so as not to be afraid of his subjects."
A. S. Pushkin, who wrote the famous and textbook "Poltava", called Peter I both Robespierre and Napoleon, and spoke about his work in the archives:
"I have now examined a lot of materials about Peter and will never write his story, because there are many facts that I cannot agree with my personal respect for him."
L. Tolstoy called Peter I "a raging, drunken beast rotted from syphilis."
V. Klyuchevsky said that “Peter I made history, but did not understand it,” and one of his most famous quotes is the following:
"To protect the fatherland from the enemy, Peter I devastated it more than any enemy."
However, it must be admitted that Sweden, as a result of the reign of Charles XII, turned into a secondary, little meaningful state on the outskirts of Europe, and the barbarian kingdom of Muscovy during the time of Peter I, in front of amazed contemporaries, was transformed into the Russian Empire, which even Gorbachev and Yeltsin could not completely destroy. …
