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

Firstly it must be said that this narrative is told from a distinctly Swedish perspective. The Russian forces are largely faceless and there nowhere near the same degree of detail about the Russian forces of Peter the Great as there is those of Charles the XII.Englund starts with detailed analysis of force organisation. How did such a small country with a combined population of a little over a Million become the major power in Northern Europe? Some clues are found in the revolutionary way of raising the Swedish Army and the skilful leadership of Charles XII. The Swedes were also not the lovable pastey-faced ideoluges of peace and understanding as we know them today; they were ruthless in their suppression of enemy popultions and their rapacious behaviour in cowing almost all of central Europe. Moreover they highly motivated by territorial incentives. Peter the Great's Russia was unfortunate enough to be the nearest and most logical enemy to attack with Sweden traditionally controlling almost all of the modern-day Baltic states as an advanced glacis to both protect and launch offensives against Russia.Englund dwells very little on the political motives for war and plunges right in with the march of the Armies from Livonia and modern-day Poland into the heart of Russia. We follow this army as Russia eventually draws is deeper and deeper into Sweden trading land for time and letting the elements of Russia eat away at the invader. In the hot summer sun the Battle of Poltava is really the only military option that Charles had and although it may have been successful one is always amazed at the plan to battle through a line of heavily armed forts, reform on the other side and then wheel to attack the main Russian force, also heavily entrenched. But Englund gives us a breath of adventure and dash in the movements of the Swedes and we hope that they will somehow pull if off...The fighting is as desperate and intense as in any war, but as with the Germans over 300 yrs later, there is a particularly frightening shadow of being isolated and cut off by the Russians with no hope of reuniting with your main force.... all the time being deep in the Russian hinterland.We follow the army as it turns and tries its getaway. Compressed within the ends of the Dnieper it eventually gives way, but our redoubtable Charles XII escapes. Englund leaves us there, there is nothing more about the remarkable adventure of Charles from that point, or his further attempts to dominate Europe, all crushed eventually. Poltava ended a 100 year dominance of the Swedes as the greatest land army in Europe, unbeatable until Poltava, but never really challenging the heartland of Russia.

"The Battle That Shook Europe" is for sure the only real definitive account of the Battle of Poltava. Peter Englund has written a riveting story that gives us a lens to peer into this incredible era of warfare. Not only does he send you to that hot Ukrainian battlefield in the boots of the Swedish soldier, he also provides valuable insight into the battle tactics of the time. I can think of no better book that truly puts the characteristics of 17th and 18th century warfare into perspective for the modern reader. Englund does fill a few pages with dry statistics of casualties and also the regimental structures of the Tsarist and Carolean army, but this should not deter the reader; For this only testifies to the impeccable scholarship shown by Englund.The author does not write about the battle and the Great Northern War solely in textbook fashion, he also brings out the human face of war. The descriptive re-telling of the iron-disciplined Swedish infantry unflinchingly marching to the Russian line under stupefying volleys of cannon round-shot and grapeshot then finally the vaunted mass of musketry, is by itself enough reason to read this. Englund includes a variety of personal accounts from the Swedish side, and does not at all glorify the ugly reality that the rank and file experienced on campaign and in combat. War crimes and massacres are not left out, and the gruesome after-effects of battle are descriptively told throughout. I read every page of this book with pleasure, and will no doubt come back to it again in the future.

This is one of the best books on war and history I have ever read. It lays out the broad picture of northern European political conflicts, as well as the small details of Swedish society and aristocracy around 1700. Its detailed description of the battle and its participants is a page-turner. A must-read for anyone interested in European history and war history.

This book ranks amongst the very best military history I have ever read. It incorporates a detailed account of Charles XII's campaign that led his army deep into Ukraine, the action at Poltava, clear portraits of the main actors and moving accounts of what happened to so many of the ordinary Swedish soldiers (the wealth of information that the writer has for such an old battle is really astonishing). As it says on the cover, it pulls no punches about fighting. It makes an excellent starting point for delving into warfare of the era. I was especially impressed by the descriptions of the artillery fire and its consequences, the terrible fate of the wounded, the sacrifices made by the Swedish soldiers in order to save their king and the paradox ethics of warfare at that time. The book is mainly focused on the Swedish side with the Russians mentioned in a general and not so analytical way. Thus the subtitle on the cover should rather be "Potlava and the Demise of the Swedish Empire".

Great Read.

An intense and terrifyingly visceral account of the Battle of Poltava, the pinnacle of Charles XII of Sweden’s tragically ill-conceived invasion of Russia in 1708-1709. Seamlessly composited from hundreds of first-hand accounts, this reads more like a fast paced, gory thriller than any traditional history. The details are gut punching. Surely one of the best military histories ever composed. Only complaint is the cumbersome title and a slight lack of visual references.

This is a unique book. It combines a near-novelization with a documentary approach. I have no idea how it reads in Swedish, but the power of the words in English is still felt. It puts you into the shoes of the doomed army of Charles XII as he leads them deeper into Russian Empire and through hubris, ill luck and bad planning changes the fates of his men and the course of history. Highly recommended.

A very well written account of an important battle for which there are few little English-language accounts. The author sets the scene well, explaining not just the political motivation of the Great Northern War but the societal pressures that led to the creation of the Swedish empire in the Baltic.The author writes primarily from the Swedish point of view, which is understandable given his nationality, but remains fair in his assessments. The long and careful description of the battle relays to the reader the sense of desperate hope the Swedes felt hurling themselves at an army many times the size of their own and, despite the set backs and errors, coming surprisingly close to actually achieving what would have been a stunning victory.The translation is very good and rarely stilted. My one criticism is when the Swedish "granaten" is translated as "grenade" when, from the context, the alternate translation "mortar bomb" was meant. This mistake is repeated many times. Evidently, the translator and his editor lack a solid understanding of military terminology in either Swedish or English.

Did the battle of Poltava really shake Europe? And was the Russian Empire born on that very day? I wonder. But, to be fair, this is a really good book. Partly this is because the story is good in itself: it has extreme characters (Peter the Great, Charles XII but also August the Strong), extreme circumstances (a Swedish army walking 1000s of miles into the heart of the Ukraine) and a dramatic ending. Having said this, Englund certainly deserves a lot of credit for this exciting book. A nice feature is that the writer 'zooms in' on individual Swedish soldiers & officers, discussing where they were from, what they did in life before joining the army, how many kids they had, the names of pets if any, etc. This certainly adds to the bizarreness of the whole proposition of a starved Swedish army which, after years of war & incredible deprivations (Russian winters, disease) is more or less surrounded in a hopeless position, many months' walking away from home, and still finds the psychological strength to go on a final - suicidal - attack against a greatly superior enemy. The only room for improvement left for a new issue would be the maps; as for so many books on historic battles they could and should be more numerous & more clear.

Cracking book. Two hundred and fifty pages of military and human drama. Knew virtually nothing about this battle or the Great Northern War before and am now fascinated. If you've read about 1812 or Barbarossa, this book will have echoes and will grip you about this equally ill-fated assault on the Russian Bear. Great stuff.

Interesting for me