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Swedish invasion of Russia
Part of the Great Northern War
The Battle of Poltava by Pierre-Denis Martin
Date 1 January 1708 — 8 July 1709 Location Tsardom of Russia Result Russian victory
Belligerents
Tsardom of Russia Cossack Hetmanate Kalmyk Khanate Sandomierz Confederation	Swedish Empire Cossack supporters of Mazepa (from October 1708) Warsaw Confederation
Commanders and leaders
Peter the Great Aleksandr Menshikov Ivan Mazepa (until October 1708) Ayuka Khan	Charles XII Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt Ivan Mazepa (from October 1708)
Strength
192,000	97,000
Casualties and losses
21,675–26,248 combat casualties Thousands froze to death	15,088–19,085 combat casualties 14,800–14,977 captured 13,759 froze to death

The invasion of Russia by Charles XII of Sweden was a campaign undertaken during the Great Northern War between Sweden and the allied states of Russia, Poland, and Denmark. The invasion began with Charles's crossing of the Vistula on 1 January 1708, and effectively ended with the Swedish defeat in the Battle of Poltava on 8 July 1709, though Charles continued to pose a military threat to Russia for several years while under the protection of the Ottoman Turks.

Historical context

In the years preceding the invasion of Russia, Charles had inflicted significant defeats on the Danish and Polish forces, and enthroned the king Stanisław Leszczyński in Poland. Having consolidated his victories there, he invaded Saxony, forcing it out of the war. Charles then turned his attentions to Russia. He entered Russia by crossing the frozen Vistula River at the head of 40,000 men, approximately half of them cavalry. This tactic was characteristic of his military style, which relied on moving armies with great speed over unexpected terrain. As a consequence of this rapid initiation of the campaign, Charles nearly gave battle with Peter the Great just one month into the campaign, reaching Grodno, now in Belarus, a mere two hours after Russian forces had abandoned it.

Charles was a skilled military leader, and probably considered the invasion to be a risky enterprise; he had resisted the advice of his generals to invade during the Russian winter following the first Battle of Narva (1700). He chose to continue his invasion now because he expected Swedish reinforcements and the alliance of the Cossacks under Ivan Mazepa. The reinforcing Swedish army, however, was ambushed by Russians, and a Russian army under Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov had destroyed Mazepa's capital and chased him to Charles with just thirteen hundred men.

Outcome

The invasion was further complicated by the scorched earth strategy formulated by Peter and his generals. The Russian armies retreated continuously, dispersing the cattle and hiding the grain in the peasant towns they passed, burning unharvested crops, and leaving no resources for the Swedish army to stave off the Russian winter. By the end of the winter of 1708–1709, the "Great Frost of 1709" had devastated the Swedish army and shrunk it to 24,000 men. In May 1709, the Swedish forces caught up to the Russians, and the two armies clashed in the Battle of Poltava. The Swedish were defeated, and the greater part of Charles's army, some 19,000 men, were forced to surrender.

Charles fled with his surviving 543 men to the protection of the Ottoman Turks to the south, who were traditionally hostile to Russia. Here, Charles was eventually able to persuade the Sultan Ahmed III to declare war on Russia. Backed by a Turkish army of 200,000 men, Charles led the Turks into the Russo-Turkish War (1710–1711). Before Charles could give battle, though, Peter was able to bribe the Turkish vizier to peace; with this, Charles's ambitions to invade Russia were ended.

Consequences

The consequences of the failed invasion were far-reaching. The Swedish Empire never added new territory after the Battle of Poltava, and shortly thereafter lost more possessions. George I of Great Britain led Great Britain and Prussia into war against Sweden, and Denmark reentered the war. Russia maintained its conquered possessions in Ingria and the Baltic, was able to consolidate its hold over Ukraine and Poland, develop the new city of Saint Petersburg, and gain vital trade links in the Baltic trade.

Battles

Notes

1. 121,000 Russians of which 57,500 directly under Peter I stationed between Severia and Smolensk, 24,500 at Saint Petersburg under Fyodor Apraksin, 16,000 at Dorpat under Christian Felix Bauer, 12,000 at Kiev under Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn and 11,000 at Moscow. Another 12,000 men were used to beat the Bulavin Rebellion, however these were only able to assist in the fight against the Swedes at the end of the campaign. 35,000–40,000 Cossacks by Ivan Mazepa and Konstantyn Hordijenkas and 10,000 Kalmyk troops by Ayuka Khan. 23,500 Poles under Adam Mikołaj Sieniawski in Poland.
2. 77,000 Swedes of which 33,000 directly under Karl XII at Grodno, 22,000 in Livonia, Ingria and Courland under Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt, 14,000 in Finland under Georg Lybecker and 8,000 in Poland under Ernst Detlof von Krassow with about 20,000 Poles under Stanisław I.

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24. Тарле Евгений Викторович Северная война и шведское нашествие на Россию. – Сочинения. – Москва: Издательство Академии Наук СССР, 1959. – Т. 10. – С. 363–800. – 841 с.
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39. "Encyclopedia of Ukraine". Archived from the original on 1 January 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
40. (in Russian) Istorīia Petra Velikago, p. 355

• Great Northern War
• Invasions of Russia
• Invasions by Sweden
• 1708 in Russia
• 1709 in Russia
• 1708 in military history
• 1709 in military history
• Charles XII of Sweden
• Russia–Sweden military relations
• Scorched earth operations