Battle of Poltava The Battle of Poltava ( , , ) on 27 June 1709 ( 8 July , N . S . ) was the decisive victory of Peter I of Russia over the Swedish forces under Field Marshal Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld in one of the battles of the Great Northern War . It is widely believed to have been the beginning of Sweden ' s decline as a Great Power ; as Russia ( Russian Empire from 1721 ) took their place as the leading nation of north - eastern Europe . Prelude . Charles XII led early Swedish victories at Copenhagen and at the Battle of Narva in 1700 when he knocked both Denmark - Norway and Russia temporarily out of the war . However , he was unable to bring the war to a conclusion , and it would take six years before he had dealt with the remaining combatant Augustus II of Saxony - Poland . During this time Peter I of Russia rebuilt his army into modern form , basing it primarily on infantry trained to use linear tactics and modern firearms properly . He then achieved a stunning propaganda victory when he established the city of Saint Petersburg on Swedish territory , in Ingria . Trying to end the war , Charles ordered a final attack on the Russian heartland with a possible assault on Moscow from his campaign base in Poland . The Swedish army of almost 44 , 000 men left Saxony on 22 August 1707 and marched slowly eastwards . When they reached the Vistula River they waited for it to freeze and didn ' t cross until 30 December , then continued through a hostile Masuria and took Grodno on 28 January 1708 after the Russians had left without a fight . At that time , the Russians had been dealing with a large rebellion of Don Cossacks , known as Bulavin Rebellion . The mutiny was contained in part by the forces of the Cossack Hetmanate led by Hetman Ivan Mazepa . The Swedes continued to the area around Smorgon and Minsk where the army went into winter quarters . Left in western Poland were 8 , 000 dragoons under major - general von Krassow . The Swedish army , which had suffered badly from different epidemic diseases during the winter , left its quarters in early June 1708 and marched towards Smolensk . During the spring General Lewenhaupt in Courland had been ordered to gather supplies and march with his army of about 12 , 000 men to join Charles ' army , although he didn ' t leave Mitau until late June and couldn ' t join Charles ' forces until 11 October . At one point they were only 130 kilometres apart , but Charles gave up because he needed supplies , and turned south into Ukraine in search of grain and better weather . According to the Russian history the Ukrainian forces , under the command of Cossack hetman Ivan Mazepa , had been in discussions with Charles for some time , and at this point he , Mazepa , officially allied himself to the Swedes in order to gain independence from Russia . However there is no direct evidence or documentary proof of any preliminary negotiations between Mazepa and Charles . Mazepa , however , had sent most of his Cossacks to Belarus and Right - bank Ukraine to contain Polish forces , and Charles ' s decision to turn to Ukraine , according to Mykhailo Hrushevskyi , was unexpected for Mazepa . His plans were that Charles ' s forces would move forward to Moscow and then he could create his own uprising in Ukraine . As Charles forces were moving towards Ukraine , Peter sent his Moscow reserves to intercept them at Starodub and asked Mazepa to supply some reinforcements . Lewenhaupt followed south and was attacked while crossing a river near a small village that gave name to the Battle of Lesnaya . His forces met the Russian attack , but they were amazed to find that the new Russian army gave them a serious fight . Lewenhaupt , seeing that he was about to lose , decided to rejoin Charles with all speed , so he abandoned the cannon , the cattle and most of the food , driving the soldiers to mutiny . Stealing all of the alcohol , the soldiers became drunk , and Lewenhaupt was forced to leave about 1 , 000 men drunk in the woods . By the time they finally reached Charles and the main force in the winter , only 6 , 000 men without supplies remained . Mazepa was hesitant and gathered the Starshina Council to decide the further course of actions . The council approved the negotiations with Charles . He left his last Cossack reserves in Baturin and moved to the Desna River for negotiations with Charles . When Peter heard of that move he sent Aleksandr Menshikov to Baturin and mercilessly razed the city . A series of repressions spread throughout the Cossack Hetmanate along with claims that Mazepa had deserted to the Swedes in order to subjugate Ukraine to Poland , provide Unia , and root Orthodoxy out of Ukraine . Tsar decrees were sent to starshina inviting them to Glukhov . In Glukhov Mazepa was figuratively dismissed as Hetman and replaced with the Starodub Colonel Ivan Skoropadsky . In the spring Charles resumed his advance , but his army had been reduced by about one - third due to starvation , frostbite and other effects of the weather . The wet weather had also seriously depleted the army ' s supplies of gunpowder ; the cannon were also essentially out of action , due to a lack of usable ammunition . Charles ' s first action was to lay siege to the fort of Poltava on the Vorskla River in Ukraine . Peter had already organized a huge force to protect it , and he quickly arrived . On 27 June , Charles received information that large Kalmyk forces were going to join Peter and cut off all supplies to the Swedish Army . The Zaporozhian Host that was in opposition to Mazepa decided after some hesitation to side with Mazepa and Charles . Moscow forces with the help of the Cossack starshina Galagan , who disclosed Mazepa ' s intentions , conducted a pre - emptive strike and destroyed the Sich , thus denying any possible reinforcements to Swedish troops . Battle . When the battle opened , Charles had about 14 , 000 men , while Peter commanded about 45 , 000 . However , although Charles had faced great odds before , his expertise could not be brought forth during the actual battle , as he had been wounded during the siege on 17 June , when he was hit in the foot while taking part in a small engagement during an inspection of the Swedish outposts on the banks of the Vorskla . He had to turn over command to Field Marshal Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld and General Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt . This was made all the more unfortunate by the divergent personalities of the two generals . The change in command was not communicated to the subordinate commanders when the battle was planned . Also the Russians managed to weaken the Cossacks who had decided to join the Swedes against them . The Russian army occupied and destroyed the Zaporozhian Host with the help of Galagan , a former Cossack officer . The rest of the Cossacks moved their Host down the Dnieper River for the next 19 years . The battle began before dawn at 3 : 45 a . m . on 28 June ( Swedish calendar ) , with the Swedes advancing boldly against the Russian fortified lines just north of Poltava . At first , the battle started off in a traditional fashion , with the better trained Swedes pressing in on the Russians ' redoubts , overrunning a few Russian defensive redoubts within the first 15 minutes . The Swedish seemed to possess an advantage , but this was quickly nullified . By dawn ( at around 4 : 30 a . m . ) , the weather was unusually very hot and humid with the rising sun obscured by smoke from cannon and musket fire . The Swedish infantry , commanded by General Lewenhaupt , attempted to attack the Russians in their fortified camp just north of Poltava . But the Swedish advance soon faltered , partly because the infantry had been ordered to withdraw and reorganize . To make matters worse , one Swedish detachment , commanded by General Roos , had not been told about the overall plan and became isolated in the Russian defensive redoubts when a column of about 4 , 000 Russian reinforcements reoccupied the fortified positions , trapping Roos and his 2 , 600 - man force at 6 : 15 a . m . With over 1 , 000 casualties and ammunition running low , Roos was forced to surrender his command at 9 : 30 a . m . At 8 : 30 a . m . the bulk of the Swedish army moved north to attack the Russian fortified camp , but waited for Roos to return , unaware of his defeat . As time went by , the Russian infantry , led by Peter himself , moved out of its fortified camp and formed two battle lines facing the Swedes massing just west of their camp , supported by overhead cannon fire from its camp . At 9 : 45 a . m . , Lewenhaupt ordered the Swedish line to move forward ; 4 , 000 Swedish infantry against 20 , 000 Russian infantry . They advanced and the Russians opened fire on them with their cannons creating a firestorm of shells . When the Swedes were 100 meters from the Russian line , the Russians aimed and fired their muskets . When they were 30 meters from the Russian line , the Swedes fired one volley and charged with their musket and pikesmen , actually pushing the Russians back slowly towards their camp despite suffering heavy casualties . The Swedes were on the verge of a breakthrough and needed the cavalry of General Cruetz ; unfortunately for the Swedes , it was disorganised . The Russian line was longer than the Swedish line , and the Russian right flank , led by Menshikov , soon flanked the Swedish infantry . Several Swede regiments were surrounded in a classic Cannae - style battle as Bauer ' s Russian cavalry swarmed around the Swedish army and attacked the Swedish rear guard . Cruetz and the cavalry tried to buy the infantry time to get away ; several units attacked the Russians head on despite them forming into squares . By this stage , the Swedes had no organised bodies of troops to oppose the Russian infantry or cavalry . Small groups of foot soldiers managed to break through and escape to the south while most of the rest were overwhelmed and ridden down . Seeing the defeat of his army from a stretcher in the rear , Charles ordered the army to retreat at 11 : 00 a . m . By noon , the battle was over as Russian cavalry had mopped up the stragglers on the battlefield and returned to their own lines . Charles then gathered the remainder of his troops and baggage train , and retreated to the south later that same day , abandoning the siege of Poltava . Rehnskiöld was captured . Lewenhaupt led the surviving Swedes and some of the Cossack forces to the Dnieper River , but was doggedly pursued by the Russian regular cavalry and 3 , 000 Kalmyks and forced to surrender three days later at Perevolochna , on 1 July . Aftermath . Almost the entire surviving Swedish army amounting to several thousands capitulated at Perevolochna on 30 June 1709 ( O . S . ) / 1 July 1709 ( Swedish calendar ) / 11 July 1709 ( N . S . ) . Prisoners were put to work building the new city of Saint Petersburg . Charles and Mazepa were allowed to escape with about 1 , 500 men to Bendery , Moldavia , then controlled by the Ottoman Empire . Charles spent five years in exile there before he was able to return to Sweden .