The Battle of Poltava: 8 July 1709

The Great Northern War saw Peter’s opponent Charles XII of Sweden mustering immediate forces of more than 30,000 – and the Swedish king was confident, maybe overconfident, that he could deal with anything the Russians offered. On 6 September 1707, Charles travelled to Dresden to see Augustus II, the former King of Poland, now replaced by Stanislaus I and demoted to Elector of Saxony. Then he crossed his Rubicon, turning eastwards – towards Moscow – with his sights set on an invasion of Russia. He moved first into Silesia, then Poland, where much land had been wasted by Cossacks and Kalmucks. Halting at Posen, he ordered a fortified camp built, where he would spend the next two months