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

New York: I. B. Tauris, 2003. Second Printing . Trade Paperback. Very Good. 5 1/2" x 8 1/2. 287 Pages Indexed. First published in the UK in 1993. This is a 2003 release copyright. Very minor cover edge wear. Otherwise a tight As New book with flawless interior text pages. The Battle of Poltava, 1709, marked the birth of the Tsar's vast Russian Empire. In 1700, the Tsar had allied with Denmark, Saxony and Poland, seeking to break the Swedish stranglehold on power in the North and to open up Russia's trade route to the West. For nearly a decade, the young King Charles XII of Sweden, one of the best warriors and strategists in Europe, managed to resist the hostile coalition. But in 1708, he took the fatal decision to march on Moscow. The Russian army pulled him deeper and deeper into their territory, starving his troops and freezing his baggage trains. By the summer of 1709, his battered and demoralised army had strayed deep into the Ukraine. In the harsh winter, many had died of cold; now more were dying of hunger and disease. In the last days of June, outside the little town of Poltava, me Russians finally turned on their pursuers, and the Swedes were annihilated. Their terrible defeat heralded the final collapse of the Swedish Empire and the birth of Imperial Russia, now poised to spread across the entire Eurasian landmass. The Battle that Shook Europe is the gripping account of those three violent, frantic days of fighting. It recreates in dramatic detail the lives of those who fought, those who followed and those who died on the long road, but its focus is on the battle itself, gruesome and terrifying as it was. For the extraordinary intimacy of its description, it is internationally acclaimed as one of the great classics of military history. But Peter Englund's narrative tells a more general story of war at the time. Amidst immense suffering and slaughter, he tells of how an army survived, how it was managed, who joined the ranks and why. He tells of preparations and strategy, of supply lines and politics. And in the wealth of detail in this immensely readable book lies the greater history of the 17th and 18th centuries. Contents in Three Parts: The March, The Battle, and The Retreat. Illustrated with eight maps.