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The Battle That Shook Europe: Poltava and the Birth of the Russian Empire
'This victory', exulted Peter the Great, 'has laid the final stone in the foundations of St Petersburg!' The Battle of Poltava, 1709, marks the birth of the Tsar's vast Russian Empire. In 1700, seeking to open Russian trade routes to the West, the Tsar combined with Denmark, Saxony and Poland to attack Swedish hegemony in the North. Against the odds, King Charles XII of Sweden subdued the hostile coalition for nearly a decade, but in 1708 took his fatal decision to march for Moscow. His defeat at Poltava, in the Ukraine, proved the turning-point of the Great Northern War, heralding the collapse of the Swedish Empire and the rise of Russia, the effects of which would be felt for almost three hundred years. Swedish historian Peter Englund's vivid account of the three violent days of battle is an internationally acclaimed classic of military history, admired by scholars and the lay reader alike.
"1112493198"
The Battle That Shook Europe: Poltava and the Birth of the Russian Empire
'This victory', exulted Peter the Great, 'has laid the final stone in the foundations of St Petersburg!' The Battle of Poltava, 1709, marks the birth of the Tsar's vast Russian Empire. In 1700, seeking to open Russian trade routes to the West, the Tsar combined with Denmark, Saxony and Poland to attack Swedish hegemony in the North. Against the odds, King Charles XII of Sweden subdued the hostile coalition for nearly a decade, but in 1708 took his fatal decision to march for Moscow. His defeat at Poltava, in the Ukraine, proved the turning-point of the Great Northern War, heralding the collapse of the Swedish Empire and the rise of Russia, the effects of which would be felt for almost three hundred years. Swedish historian Peter Englund's vivid account of the three violent days of battle is an internationally acclaimed classic of military history, admired by scholars and the lay reader alike.
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The Battle That Shook Europe: Poltava and the Birth of the Russian Empire

The Battle That Shook Europe: Poltava and the Birth of the Russian Empire

by Peter Englund
The Battle That Shook Europe: Poltava and the Birth of the Russian Empire

The Battle That Shook Europe: Poltava and the Birth of the Russian Empire

by Peter Englund

Overview

'This victory', exulted Peter the Great, 'has laid the final stone in the foundations of St Petersburg!' The Battle of Poltava, 1709, marks the birth of the Tsar's vast Russian Empire. In 1700, seeking to open Russian trade routes to the West, the Tsar combined with Denmark, Saxony and Poland to attack Swedish hegemony in the North. Against the odds, King Charles XII of Sweden subdued the hostile coalition for nearly a decade, but in 1708 took his fatal decision to march for Moscow. His defeat at Poltava, in the Ukraine, proved the turning-point of the Great Northern War, heralding the collapse of the Swedish Empire and the rise of Russia, the effects of which would be felt for almost three hundred years. Swedish historian Peter Englund's vivid account of the three violent days of battle is an internationally acclaimed classic of military history, admired by scholars and the lay reader alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781780764764
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date: 04/15/2013
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 288
Sales rank: 435,431
Product dimensions: 5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Peter Englund is Professor of History at Uppsala University, Sweden's oldest and most prestigious seat of learning. He is heavily involved in the international media and has worked as a war correspondent in Afghanistan and the Balkans. He has recently been elected to the Swedish Academy, responsible for awarding the Nobel Prize for Literature. His bestselling The Battle that Shook Europe is recognised as the definitive work on the subject, and an international classic of the genre.

Table of Contents

Introduction

PROLOGUE
The Stoat

THE MARCH
 Sunday Morning
The Road to Poltava
The War
The Campaign
Anatomy of a Battlefield
A Council of War
Sunday Evening

THE BATTLE
8. Let Us Go Forward
9. Give the Enemy No Time
10. Cavalry Forward!! Shot in Vain
11. Would God Roos Were Here
12. They Are Leaving Their Lines
13. Not My Men but the King's
14. Sheep to Sacrifical Slaughter
15. No Musket-ball Will Hit
16. Â As Grass Before a Scythe
17. The Devil Couldn't Make them
18. Â It Goes Ill
19. He Tramples Down
20. All is Lost
21. To Gather in Retreat
22. Bodies Mountain-High

THE RETREAT
23. 100,000 Roubles
24. Fight at My Command
25. Would They Defend Themselves
26. Not Without Tears

EPILOGUE
27. Â A Fist Filled with Soil

Sources and Literature
Biographical Appendix
Index
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