The Battle of Poltava By Eliseeva Valeria Commandersinchief

The Battle of Poltava By Eliseeva Valeria

Commanders-in-chief Оf the Russian army Оf the Swedish Army

Causes of the Battle of Poltava • 1. On September 28, 1708 near the village of Forest the battle took place, during which the Swedes were defeated. The Swedish army remained without provisions and supplies.

Causes of the Battle of Poltava • 2. In October 1708 the Swedish king turned Hetman Mazepa. He with Zaporozhe's Cossacks took the oath of allegiance to the Swedish crown. Cossacks could help them solve the problems with interrupted food and ammunition.

The balance of forces and means before the battle The Russian army before the battle: The Swedish army before the battle: The number - 60000 people (52000 Russian, Cossacks 8000) Cannon - 111 pieces Generals - I Peter, Boris Petrovich Sheremetev, Repin Anikita Ivanovich, Allart Ludwig Nikolaevich Menshikov Alexander Danilovich, Rennes Carl Edward Baur Radion Hristianovich, Skoropadskyi Ivan Ilyich. The number - 37, 000 people (30, 000 Swedes, 6, 000 Cossacks, 1000 Vlachos). Cannon - 4 pieces Generals - Karl 12, Renshild Carl Gustave, Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt, Carl Gustave Roos, Ivan Stepanovich Mazeppa.

We can see that the Russian army was better prepared for war than Swedish. Quantitative man in the army, as well as instruments at times exceeded the resources of the Swedish army.

Progress in the Battle of Poltava At 23: 00 on June 26 (the day before the battle) Carl XII ordered the army to wake up and to make the battle formation for the march BUT Because of the disunity of the Swedes they could lead troops in battle order only 2 am on June 27 th. The plans thwarted by Charles’s shuffle up to 3: 00 completely deprived him of surprise attack factor.

because of Sturm redoubts began early in the morning of June 27 and the Battle of Poltava with it ! The first two redoubts were taken immediately. Though it should be noted that they were unfinished. The remaining redoubts were not taken. After losing the first two redoubts the Russian cavalry under the command of Menshikov popped to position. His mission completed redoubts - they harassed the Swedes before the battle, while the main force of the Russian army remained fresh. In addition, the Swedes had lost about 3, 000 people on the main approaches to the battle:

The decisive battle With great difficulty the Swedes overcame redoubts. Swedish infantry were lined up and ready to fight. Construction on the line, it was a favorite tactic of Karl they adopted a waiting attitude, waiting for a quick arrival of his cavalry General Roos had already been surrounded by Russian units and surrendered It was believed that if you allow the Swedes to build a military order, it is impossible to defeat them In fact, it turned out otherwise. . .

The attack of the Swedes began at 9 am. For 2 hours Peter's army won a complete victory. As a result of the shelling, as well as burst firing small arms, the Swedes suffered huge losses from the first minutes. The results: after the attacks Swedes started to panic and flee. It happened at 11 o'clock. The attack system was completely destroyed. At the same time the Swedes were still not able to create a line of attack the length of which would exceed the Russian line.

Losses of the sides in the battle The total losses of the Russian army amounted to 1345 killed, 3290 wounded people. The loss is the Swedish army were simply dreadful: Killed or captured all the generals 9, 000 people killed 3, 000 captured 16000 people were taken prisoner after 3 days after the battle, when it was possible to overtake the main forces retreating Swedes near the village Perevolochna.