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Museum of money of Feodosia
>> COINS WITH UKRAINIAN THEME >> USSR >> The Battle of Poltava. 1709. The Battle of Poltava (or Pultowa) was a battle between the armies of Peter I of Russia and Charles XII of Sweden on 28 June (new style 8 July) 1709, the most famous of the battles of the Great Northern War. The decisive victory of the Russians is said to have started the end of Sweden's role as a Great Power and took their place as the leading nation of northern Europe. This also meant the dawn of Imperial Russia. Early Swedish victories at Copenhagen and at the Battle of Narva in 1700 knocked both Denmark and Russia temporarily out of the war. During this time Peter rebuilt his army into modern form, basing it primarily on infantry trained to properly use linear tactics and modern firearms. To end the war, Charles ordered a final attack on the Russian heartland with an assault on Moscow from his campaign base in Poland. Charles marched along the main route between Poland and Moscow and waited as long as he could for General Lewenhaupt to arrive. At one point they were only 130 kilometres apart, but Charles gave up because that he needed supplies, and turned south into the Ukraine in search of grain and better weather. The Ukrainian forces, under the command of the Cossack hetman Mazepa, had been in discussions with Charles for some time, and at this point officially allied himself to the Swedes in order to gain independence from Russia. 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. Charles's first action was to lay siege to the fort of Poltava on the Vorskla River in the Ukraine. Peter had already organized a huge force to protect it, and he quickly arrived. 27 June Charles received information that big Kalmyk forces were going to join Peter and to cut all supplies of Swedish Army. When the battle opened, Charles had about 20,000 men, while Peter commanded about 45,000. To make matters worse for the Swedish, Charles was wounded during the siege on June 17 when he was hit in the foot during an inspection of the Swedish outposts on the banks of the Vorskla where he took part in a small engagement, and had to turn over command to Field Marshal Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld and General Adam Lewenhaupt. Unfortunately when the high command decided to plan the battle they forgot to tell the subordinated commanders. The battle began before dawn at 3:45 a.m. on June 28, with the Swedes advancing boldly against the Russian fortified lines. 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. The Swedish seemed to possess an advantage, but this was quickly nullified. The Swedish infantry, commanded by General Lewenhaupt, attempted to attack the Russians. But the Swedish advance soon faltered, partly because the infantry had been ordered to withdraw and reorganise. To make matters worse, one Swedish detachment, commanded by General Roos that hadn't been told about the overall plan, became isolated in the Russian defensive redoubts when a column of about 4,000 Russian reinforcements re-occupied the fortified positions, trapping Roos and his 2,600-man force. With over 1,000 casualties and ammunition running low, Roos was forced to surrender his command. The Swedes waited for Roos to arrive and, as time went by, the Russians decided to take action, and their infantry moved out of their fortified camp. Around 9:00 am the Swedish line started to move forward; 4,000 Swedish infantry against 20,000 Russian infantry. They marched on and the Russians saluted them with their guns creating a firestorm of shells. When the Swedes were 100 meters from the Russian line, the Russians aimed and fired their muskets, but the Swedes marched on. 30 meters from the Russian line, the Swedes fired one volley and charged. They were on the verge of a breakthrough and needed the cavalry, unfortunately it was disorganized. The Russian line was longer than the Swedish line and the Russian right soon flanked the Swedish infantry. The cavalry tried to buy the infantry time to get away and several units attacked the Russians head on despite them forming into squares. 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 had been captured, and Lewenhaupt led the surviving Swedish 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 July 1. Several thousand prisoners were taken, many of whom were put to work building the new city of St. Petersburg. Charles managed to escape with about 1,500 men to Bendery, Moldavia, then controlled by the Ottoman Empire, and spent five years in exile there before he was able to return to Sweden. www.en.wikipedia.org You can see various coins of the Russian Federation and Tuvalu dedicated to the Battle of Poltava.
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No part of the materials be used acknowledging the Museum of Money site. The design of the site is developed by WEB-Kafa firm and modernized 'Museum of money'.
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1.13.04. 1 Kopiyka NBU. 2011. Circulation mintage.
2.15.05. UEFA Euro 2012 coin. Poland. 3.21.05. 10 Kopiyok NBU. 2011. Circulation mintage. |
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