Loading summary
Transcript213 lines
- [00:00]
Dominic Sandbrook
Thank you for listening to the Rest is History. For weekly bonus episodes, ad free listening, early access to series and membership of our much loved chat community, go to thereestishory.com and join the club that is.
- [00:14]
Tom Holland
Thereestishistory.Com starting a business can seem like a daunting task unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond shopping, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into Sign up for your $1 per month trial@shopify.com SpecialOffer Memorial Day Savings are here at the Home Depot, so take your kitchen to the next level with up to 35% off plus up to an extra $450 off select appliances like LG. Plan your get togethers with an LG refrigerator you can count on for years to come. At the Home Depot and connected ThinQ app, you'll know if the door is left open and when to change the filter. Spend less time worrying this Memorial Day with savings on lg, America's most reliable appliance brand at the Home Depot offer valid May 15 through June 4 US only. C store or online for details Morning Decisions A creamy mocha Frappuccino drink, a sweet vanilla, maybe a smooth caramel or that white chocolate mocha. Whichever you choose, delicious coffee awaits. Start your day with bottled Starbucks Frappuccino drinks. Pick up a bottle near you wherever you buy your groceries.
- [01:41]
William Googe
Twas after dread Pultowa's day when fortune left the Royal Swede around a slaughtered army lay no more to combat and to bleed the power and glory of the war. Faithless as their vain votaries, men had passed to the triumphant Tsar, and Moscow's walls were safe again, Until a day more dark and drear and a more memorable year should give to slaughter and to shame A mightier host and haughtier name, a greater wreck, a deeper fall, a shock to one, a thunderbolt to all. The beginning there of Lord Byron's poem Mazeppa, which he wrote in 1819, and obviously Dominic, he was writing there in the shadow of Napoleon's invasion of Russia and the failure of his attempt to capture Moscow. But Byron, although he's, you know, he was famously obsessed by Napoleon, is still very much aware that the Great Northern War, this great titanic clash between Charles XII of Sweden and Peter the Great of Russia that that conflict was more than fit to stand comparison with the Storm and Drang of the Napoleonic Wars. And it's kind of tribute, isn't it, to just how deeply the events of the summer of 1709 a century on, continue to reverberate through Europe?
- [03:11]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yeah, absolutely, Tom. And it's interesting, isn't it, that in the English speaking world, I think by and large the Great Northern War has now been forgotten or slightly overlooked. I think it's been eclipsed, hasn't it, by the War of Spanish success and then the Napoleonic wars and then of course, the World wars of the 20th century. But at the time when Byron was writing these characters, Peter the Great, Charles XII and the character who gives his name to that poem. So that's Ivan Mazepa, the hetman, the hetman of the Cossacks who we talked about last time. These are great romantic heroes, aren't they? They are individuals standing astride the course of history and shaping it to their will. I mean, that's how people like Byron thought about it. Yeah.
- [03:53]
William Googe
And they are hero. Deep shade of darkness.
- [03:57]
Dominic Sandbrook
Well, we've already had the tremendous business of Charles XII's foot, which we're entertaining our assistant producers with just now because they missed yesterday's recording.
- [04:06]
William Googe
I know, so. So a boot full of blood and splintered bone squashing.
- [04:11]
Dominic Sandbrook
There's loads of blood and splintered bones to come in today's episode and indeed the final episode of this series. And behind all this is, is a really major political and diplomatic shift. It's because what we're talking about today is one of the most decisive battles in European history. It's the death knell of one empire, the Swedish Empire, the birth of another, the Russian, and it redraws the map of Eastern and northern Europe for centuries to come.
- [04:37]
William Googe
Well, right the way into the present, I mean, the, the consequences of the Battle of Piltova are with us right now.
- [04:45]
Dominic Sandbrook
They are indeed. Absolutely. So, Tom, should we remind ourselves where we've got to for those people who are not members of the Rest is history club and are not continuing directly from episode four.
- [04:55]
William Googe
Go for it.
- [04:56]
Dominic Sandbrook
So the Great Northern War has been raging since 1700. People remember that the Swedish Empire are facing this coalition of Denmark, the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia. Charles XII had invaded Russia in the summer of 1707, planning to reach Moscow and dictate terms to end the war there. But everything went wrong. People remember that his supply column under Count Leuvenhaupt was routed. There was a lot of poor behavior from the Swedes.
- [05:20]
William Googe
They got Drunk, didn't they?
- [05:21]
Dominic Sandbrook
In discipline, I think it's fair to say. And so Charles decided to change his plan and to go on a massive diversion south.
- [05:29]
William Googe
Away from Sweden.
- [05:30]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yeah, away from Sweden and away from Moscow into Ukraine, where he would team up with the Cossack leader, Ivan Mazepa. They had that terrible winter. Three thousand men froze to death. And now Charles has been cornered outside the town of Poltava, some 200 miles east of Kyiv, and he is outnumbered at least 2 to 1. He has had this terrible foot injury and nearly died, but then he's come back from the dead. And on Sunday 27 June, he's summoned his generals and said, come on, let's do this. Let's just go for it. Death or glory. A final showdown to decide this war once and for all.
- [06:08]
William Googe
And Dominic, that was always what he was gonna do. Because if in doubt, he attacks.
- [06:12]
Dominic Sandbrook
Exactly.
- [06:12]
William Googe
He's very much of the Custer and Alexander the Great and Nelson school of thought.
- [06:17]
Dominic Sandbrook
He absolutely is. And these are tremendous friends of the Restor's history, it's fair to say. Although Custer does sometimes let himself down, doesn't. So darkness falls on the Sunday evening and let us sketch the scene. The Swedes are camped west of this fortress of poltava. There's about 30,000 Swedes, and that's about.
- [06:33]
William Googe
Half the force that Charles had set off with.
- [06:36]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yeah, and he's been hoping for all these reinforcements from the Crimean Tatars and the Poles and whatnot, who, remember, didn't turn up at the end of the last episode.
- [06:44]
William Googe
But his assumption is that one Swede is worth 10 Russians.
- [06:47]
Dominic Sandbrook
And that's pretty much everybody's assumption, because the Swedes are the finest fighters in Europe. The downside, of course, is they're frozen, they're sodden, they've got no feet, they've got no gunpowder and no food. But even so, they still kind of fancy their chances because they're so good. Now, behind the fortress on the other side is the river Vorskla, which runs north to south. So you've got to imagine that on the right hand side of the picture, further north, on the same side of the river, the western side, as The Swedes are 80,000 Russians under Peter the Great, his general, top general Boris Sheremetev, and his great drinking pal Alexander Menshikov, who we talked about before. Now, if the Swedes do want to attack them, they're going to be charging north towards the Russians. And they will have to get past six defensive earthworks which are known as redoubts I do love it when you.
- [07:35]
William Googe
Talk military disposition story.
- [07:37]
Dominic Sandbrook
Oh, love it. Well, that's nice. So there's more redoubts to come. Each of these redoubts are about 100ft tall, and the Russians have built them on the road from Poltava, so they're kind of like makeshift forts, I suppose. If the Swedes can get past these redoubts, they will reach Peter's camp. And Peter's camp has been fortified with his big earth and ramparts and trenches and loads and loads of cannons, so it's effectively a fort. So the Swedes, they have it all to do. And Peter, I think, is very confident that he will win this. For the first time in this entire story, the Russians, you know, have the upper hand, because really, if even a draw is a win for him, because he has massive manpower, massive resources, he's on home turf. All he has to do is to avoid defeat. And he has issued that proclamation that you read very resoundingly at the very beginning of this series, remember the address to the troops. You're doing this for your kin, for Russia.
- [08:32]
William Googe
Yeah. The one that Putin's so fond of.
- [08:33]
Dominic Sandbrook
The one that Vladimir Putin is so fond of. Exactly. Now, what's Charles thinking? Charles, he knows that his men are exhausted. They haven't eaten for about six months. All of this. However, he is still confident that their superpower, which is their discipline, their training, their extraordinary fighting spirit, will be enough. And partly because of that, he says to Ivan Mazepa, look, you stay out of this. We don't need the Cossacks, because they'll just get in the way and they're undisciplined and they'll be riding around shouting and stuff and firing randomly into the air. We don't want that. We don't need your men. Which is an extraordinary thing to say.
- [09:07]
William Googe
Yeah. Considering he's only. I mean, there's 6,000 men and he's only got 30,000 and he's facing, what, 80,000 or something?
- [09:12]
Dominic Sandbrook
Exactly, 80,000. So Charles himself is not going to fight, obviously, because he's only got one workable foot and he's just on a stretcher. He's going to be with the infantry, but he's going to be carried the whole time. And he's surrounded by 24 bodyguards, so he's not even really able. He can't even really sit up, so he can't actually see the battlefield.
- [09:32]
William Googe
So he's just looking up at the sky.
- [09:33]
Dominic Sandbrook
He's just looking up at the sky and everything is being described to him.
- [09:36]
William Googe
And I guess that this is a real problem because he is an incredibly competent general and as we have seen from previous episodes, his two deputies aren't.
- [09:47]
Dominic Sandbrook
Well, do you know what? I think you're being too harsh there, Tom, because actually his deputies, I mean, we can talk about them. So the field command is going to go to Field Marshal Karl Gustav Reinskjold, who we talked about last time, who has, if you remember, he's full of shrapnel. He was wounded randomly and he's full of shrapnel. He is actually reputed to be one of the best cavalry commanders in Europe. He's very brave, he's very. He has that sort of Swedish stoicism. The downside with him is that he's exhausted and not very well because he's full of shrapnel and he's very bad tempered, as you might expect.
- [10:20]
William Googe
Well, you would be, wouldn't you? Every time you sit down you feel a bit of shrapnel digging into your bum.
- [10:24]
Dominic Sandbrook
Now the other guy is Count Leuvenhaupt, the man who made a terrible mess of bringing in the supply train. Now he also is regarded as a very, very competent commander. He's Sweden's best infantry general. The problem is that Reinskild and Leeuwenhaupt absolutely despise one another. They won't even really speak to each other. And normally it's fine because Charles is in control, but Charles is lying down staring at the sky.
- [10:48]
William Googe
I mean, I'm sure they're competent, but they're not geniuses. And what you need in a situation like this is a kind of Alexander the Great level of charisma and military genius.
- [10:58]
Dominic Sandbrook
I think that's fair. I can't disagree with that at all.
- [11:00]
William Googe
Which Charles the 12th so far had provided.
- [11:03]
Dominic Sandbrook
Exactly. So as dusk falls, they make ready to strike the next morning. And their plan is this. Just before dawn, they will move out very quickly. They will leave their artillery behind because it will slow them down and because their gunpowder is waterlogged, they'll just rush past these redoubt, ignoring the fire from the defenders. And then they'll form up on the plain beyond. The Swedish cavalry will clear out Alexander Menshikov's dragoons and then the Swedish infantry will pin Peter's troops back inside this sort of encampment. And either they will lure Peter's troops out to be destroyed, which is, you know, I mean, quite a big ask, I think it's fair to say, or they will blockade them in this fort until they starve and the Swedes think, well, this is a great plan. This is obviously going to work. So at about 11 o' clock, night falls. We're in summer, remember. So it gets dark very late. The Swedes break camp. They move to their assembly points. Charles has got dressed in his full uniform with a sword. Even though he's lying down on this, on the stretcher, he's carried to the front where Reinskild and Leuvenhaupt and co are waiting. The watchword is exchanged. It's with God's help in Swedish, because as we said last time, that that's a really important element of this. These Swedish Lutherans think they're doing God's work and that God is smiling on them. While they're waiting for everyone to arrive, Rainskild and Leuvenhaupt have this gigantic row. Before they've even started, Rainskild shouts at Leeuwenhaupt and he's overheard by officers saying, where the hell are you? He says, can't you see that everything is in confusion? I don't need your help. I expected better of you. But I can see that I was wrong, which obviously isn't.
- [12:37]
William Googe
No, I mean, that's not good for morale, is it?
- [12:39]
Dominic Sandbrook
If Theo said that to us before we went on stage at the Royal Albert Hall, Tom, that would not be ideal preparation. I mean, he does say it, he does talk like that to us, but.
- [12:47]
William Googe
I'd have a breakdown. I'd cower, I'd whimper.
- [12:50]
Dominic Sandbrook
The Swedes don't whimper. So while the Swedes are not whimpering, they hear this hammering sound out in the darkness. And Reedskjold sends scouts to investigate and they come back. They've made a shocking discovery. In the night, the Russians have been building yet more earthworks, these redoubts, right in the path of where the Swedes plan to advance. And the Swedes will have to go round them, and that means they would have to break into kind of two wings passing on either side of them. And just as the scouts are kind of digesting this, they are spotted by the Russians in the darkness. And they hear there are pistol shots in the night, they hear the ominous sound of a drum beating far away in the night. So they get back to the Swedish lines and they tell this to Rainskild and he says, look, we're clearly going to lose the element of surprise here. We have to ride now before it gets light or we'll never have this chance again. And Charles XII says, you know, go for it. Brilliant. So they amend their plan. Basically, they're going to divide into three divisions. The army on the left hand side is Field Marshal Rainskild with the cavalry and a third of the infantry. They're going to go past the redoubts on the left hand side, rush past them, and then form up on the grasslands beyond. Then on the right hand side. So imagine the other side is Leuvenhaupt with six infantry battalions. So they'll go on the other side of these redoubts closest to Peter's camp, and then they'll rendezvous with Rheinskiold. And that leaves a sort of middle division of six infantry battalions under a guy called Major General Roos. And they say to him, right, you deal with these forts, these kind of earthworks in the middle. Distract them while we're passing on either side. Now, to explain all this, They've probably took longer to explain it than I did and explained it in perhaps a more detailed and coherent way. They've lost a lot of time. So it's now about 4 o' clock in the morning and the sun is beginning to rise and they can hear the first sounds of cannons firing from the Russian redoubts. The Swedes finally begin to advance. And it really is an amazing scene. It's like a scene from a Ridley Scott movie or something. The sun is rising over the grasslands of Ukraine. There's these orderly blocks of Swedish musketeers. They're marching over the steps in their blue uniforms. There's the cavalry in their kind of blue and yellow coats, cantering and trotting on ahead. Soon they get to the first earthworks and just as planned, the Swedish army kind of divides and they sort of go around them like the sea kind of parting around them. While in the middle, Major General Roos battalions get stuck in against the redoubt and actually get a bit bogged down straight away. So the Russians fight back very fiercely and Rus's battalions end up getting dragged into a long kind of firefight. So they get left behind. They sort of dig in in this fight against the forts, which means that the other two wings have pressed on and left a third of the Swedish infantry behind from the very beginning, together.
- [15:49]
William Googe
With the Cossacks, right?
- [15:51]
Dominic Sandbrook
Well, the Cossacks are miles away.
- [15:52]
William Googe
Yeah.
- [15:52]
Dominic Sandbrook
So now it's about 5 o' clock and the sun is fully up as planned. Most of the Swedish troops, not this group under Rus, but most of the Swedish troops, are now moving on to the grasslands behind the Russian redoubts. And at first Rainskild and his men are absolutely delighted. They Think everything is going to plan. Charles is brought up on a stretcher. People are redressing the wound on his foot because it's bleeding all the time. And some of the officers actually say, you, Majesty, congratulations. Everything is going according to plan. This is going to be a great day. And then Rainsfeld looks around and he says, well, where's the right wing of the army under Leeuwenhaupt? They should have joined us by now. And actually what has happened is that Leeuwenhaupt has swung off more than a mile to the right, partly to keep away from the Russian fire from the little forts, but also because he cannot wait to get stuck into Peter's camp. And he doesn't even care that he has become detached from the main body of the army. He says to his officers, I'm actually sick of Field Marshal Rainskill talking to me like I'm a lackey or a servant or something.
- [16:53]
William Googe
You see? I mean, you say that he's a good commander. He seems terrible. He's always wandering off and getting lost.
- [16:57]
Dominic Sandbrook
And the truth is, we've probably missed out because, remember, we skipped over a lot of the Great Northern War. There were an awful lot of Swedish victories against the Poles and the Saxons or whatever.
- [17:07]
William Googe
Okay, well, he's not covering himself with glory here.
- [17:09]
Dominic Sandbrook
Have you ever commanded a Swedish infantry division in battle, Tom?
- [17:13]
William Googe
No, I haven't. But I think that if I had, and I had a reputation as being the best infantry commander in Europe, I hope that I do a bit better.
- [17:21]
Dominic Sandbrook
I don't think you'd behave quite as courageously as Leeuwenhaupt does, because Rainsgold sends him a messenger very quickly and says, what are you doing? Come back. Come and reform with us. And the messenger arrives just as Lewenhout is ordering his men to storm the southern ramparts of Peter's camp. And to give you a sense of the odds here, that's 2,500 men charging 30,000 Russians.
- [17:44]
William Googe
Okay, I mean, that's courageous, but courage doesn't necessarily equate to military competence.
- [17:49]
Dominic Sandbrook
No, no, that's true. But it's an extraordinary sign of the Swede's self belief, which often really matters and is such a huge factor in battle.
- [17:57]
William Googe
I mean, the test is whether it's going to work out well. So let's see.
- [18:00]
Dominic Sandbrook
Exactly. Anyway, Leeuwenhap gets the message, break off the attack. And he will never know because he does break off that particular attack. So he says, fine, all right. He disengages. He orders his men to rejoin the main force. That's two miles to the west, so it's now 6 o' clock. At 6 o' clock, around about now, Peter's guns open up from the Russian camp, hammering the Swedish army. The Swedes, of course, can't fire back. They've left their artillery behind because of speed and because of water, logging issues. They're kind of sitting ducks. And at one point a cannonball actually bounces off Charles's stretcher but doesn't kill him. So God is really smiling on him now. The Swedes take a long time to sort themselves out. About an hour. Rainskold sends messengers back to Rus at the redoubt, saying, come on, hurry up. What are you doing? Leave those alone. Actually, what has happened is that Roose has got completely sort of bogged down and he's lost half of his men to Russian fire. By the time he does decide to withdraw, he's completely lost track of where he is and what's going on. The smoke everywhere, so you cannot see even really see where you are. He tells his men to withdraw into a nearby wood.
- [19:07]
William Googe
So that's very Battle of the Little Bighorn, isn't it?
- [19:10]
Dominic Sandbrook
Exactly the same kind of scenario at that point, Menshikov's dragoons come thundering in with their sabers drawn and it's an absolute bloodbath. About 2,000 of Rus's men are cut down or captured. So that means really about a third of the Swedish infantry have been annihilated from that point onwards.
- [19:30]
William Googe
A very little cost to the Russians.
- [19:31]
Dominic Sandbrook
A very little cost to the Russians. The Russians have not lost many men at this point and of course the Russians can afford to lose loads of. Because they have loads. So Rainskjold, up on the grasslands is waiting and waiting and that third division never turns up. And at about 9 o' clock he says, I'm going to have to make a decision now. We could attack the Russian camp as planned. But he's like you, Tom, he's a little bit more cautious. He says the Russian guns are causing absolute carnage. I'm thousands of men short of what I should have actually. Do you know what? I think the odds are too great. Let's fall back a bit. Let's rejoin the troops that we've left with the baggage and whatnot and. And then we'll see where things stand. Let's not risk everything in a. In a sort of reckless. Throw the dice. And he gives the order to retreat. He says, all right, prepare to march out and march backwards. And it's at that point that Peter the great who has just been sitting there in his camp that he strikes and that he rolls the dice. It is the single most important military decision of Peter's life. And the timing is absolutely perfect. I always think it must be like the scene and you know in the Return of the King when the sort of. The doors of Minas Morgul crash open and the Witch King appears and the great army of Mordor marches out for the attack on Minas Tirith. This is what happens. So basically, suddenly the entrances of Peter's camp crash open the bridges crash down over the defensive trenches. And then tens of thousands of Russian troops are pouring out of the camp and lining up for battle. They've got their swords, they've got their muskets and their. They're very modern. Bayonets at the ready.
- [21:06]
William Googe
And so previously they'd been in massive shambles, but are they now?
- [21:11]
Dominic Sandbrook
Absolutely. Everybody had always said, oh, the Russians are useless now. They've got these nice green uniforms. They're very well drilled, they're very well organized. This is the kind of Russian army the like of which the Swedes have not seen before. And Peter is there. He's so conspicuous. He's on a. An Arabian horse that was given him by the Ottoman sultan. He's wearing a green guards uniform. He's got his black tricorn hat, he's got his big boots. He's so tall. Yeah, he looks unbelievably impressive. And Field Marshal Rainskild says to the Swedes, stop the retreat. We have no choice now. We have to turn wheel about and prepare for battle. So it's now 10 o' clock. This is the crucial hour. The Swedes are unbelievably outnumbered. So the numbers that are facing each other at this moment is about 5,000 infantry of the Swedes with no artillery at all against 24,000 Russian infantry with 70 cannons. And the Swedes, you know, they know that they're really up against it and the only way they can win is A, if God is on their side and B, they're just their spirit and their training and their courage and all of that.
- [22:17]
William Googe
Or if Frodo drops the ring into the crack of doom, it's the only way.
- [22:20]
Dominic Sandbrook
Exactly. And there's a wonderful scene which you would have, you know, a sort of Ridley Scott style director would love this. Rainskild rides up to Count Leuvenhaupt, the man who, you know, with whom he's had this massive long running feud. And he holds out his hand to him and he says, count Leuvenhaupt you must go and attack the enemy. Bear yourself with honor in His Majesty's service. And Leeuwenhaupt takes his hand and he says, in God's name, then, and may his grace be with us.
- [22:49]
William Googe
So they've made up.
- [22:50]
Dominic Sandbrook
It's an amazing scene.
- [22:51]
William Googe
Very touching.
- [22:52]
Dominic Sandbrook
And he gave the signal and the Swedish drums start beating and they begin to advance this kind of thin blue line against this vast green crescent. The Russian guns are firing faster and faster. They're ripping holes in the Swedish line. But the Swedes just keep coming. They're not firing, they're just advancing, you know, onwards and onwards. The Russian musketeers start firing. So there's a kind of hailstorm of musket balls, but still the Swedes keep coming. They don't fire a single shot. They want a. A kind of close action, very Nelson at Trafalgar, actually. And they're closer and closer, just watching steadily. And then finally the Swedes are on them. And as always, when the Swedes attack, it is this kind of storm of muskets and bayonets and slashing swords. They are not the best soldiers in Europe for nothing. They smash into the Russian line, they start to push it back. On the right hand side, they are pushing the green coats backwards. You know, for a moment it feels like the Swedes are going to do it. And actually, amid all this, Peter is supposedly three times brought close to death. So once a Swedish musket ball knocks off his hat, another Swedish musket ball hits his saddle, and a third Swedish musket ball. I can sense what you're going to say about this. Tom is deflected by a cross around his neck that once belonged to the Emperor Constantine the Great.
- [24:16]
William Googe
That definitely happened.
- [24:17]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yeah, of course that happened. That's not a. That's not a story from Russian propaganda at all. Of course, had Peter fallen, the result of this might have been very different, and the map of Europe might look different today. But he doesn't fall. God is with him, not with the Swedes. And what happens next is a very familiar story from other battles that we've done in this podcast. As the Swedes press forward, the gaps between their left and right become wider and wider. Peter throws in more reserves. The Swedes become engulfed and sort of encircled, especially on the right. Their momentum slows. And as they slow and as the Russians kind of swarm around them, their morale begins to waver and then to break. And then the first Swedes begin to run. And then it proves infectious. It's like their momentum has Carried them so far, but no further.
- [25:06]
William Googe
Kind of like the adrenaline suddenly dropping.
- [25:08]
Dominic Sandbrook
Exactly right. It's so much of. When you read a cancer battle, so much of it is about self belief. And they've had. Their self belief has sustained them to an extraordinary level, not just in recent.
- [25:19]
William Googe
Hours, but all through that terrible winter. And.
- [25:22]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yeah, but now they've reached. Everybody has a breaking point. Lewenhaupt said afterwards, I begged, threatened, cursed and hit out, but all was in vain. It was as if they neither saw nor heard me. And remember, these are the most disciplined troops in Europe, if not the world.
- [25:37]
William Googe
And Charles XII in his litter is kind of crying out in a feeble voice, isn't he? Swedes. Swedes, yeah. And he can't rally them either.
- [25:44]
Dominic Sandbrook
No, he can't. And actually it's like the waves breaking over the top of them, you know, this sort of wave upon wave of kind of green coats.
- [25:52]
William Googe
A tsunami.
- [25:53]
Dominic Sandbrook
A tsunami. Exactly. And in just half an hour, this Swedish infantry that had advanced with such courage has been almost completely destroyed. And the cavalry has been decimated by Russian cannon fire. Rains Guild was captured. Charles is almost captured. His stretcher bearers are shot down. Another officer, remember Charles has got this terrible foot. Another officer drags him onto a horse, but in the chaos, the bandages come off his foot, the wound reopens and blood starts pouring out of his foot. This first horse that he's put on is shot from under him. They have to drag him up and put him onto another horse. That's blood everywhere. Somehow they get away with him, and they meet up with Leeuwenhaupt, who's also managed to get away, and they gallop south with what is left of their army. So in just a few hours, the Swedes have lost 10,000 men killed, wounded or captured. The Russians have lost just 1,500 killed, and they've had about 3,000 wounded. So a stunning victory for Peter's army. Peter has the captured Swedish officers brought to his tent, and Field Marshal Reinskild is exhausted, kind of presumably covered in soot and blood and sweat and whatever is brought into his tent. And Peter says, why did you invade such a vast country with so few men? You know, how could you dare to do that? How could you have the recklessness? And Rainsfield says, my king ordered it. It was my duty to obey. And Peter loves this answer. He asks, he calls for wine. And he says, a toast, gentleman, to my teachers in the art of war. And Rainskild says to him, well, who is that, your Majesty? And Petyr says, You gentlemen, very gallant, very impressive. And Rainskild says, then, well, have the pupils returned? Thanks to their teachers. It's all very kind of, you know. Well played, well played. Now, meanwhile, what's of Charles? Charles that later that afternoon regroups with the Cossacks. I mean, they really should have taken the Cossacks. I think the remains of the Swedish army and his baggage train. They all need to get away because obviously they're going to be destroyed. The only route, ironically, is even further south, even further away from Sweden. So they say, well, let's do it. They're riding through the sort of afternoon and the evening. They're exhausted. They're obviously utterly crushed. They are frightened.
- [28:15]
William Googe
I don't think Charles is frightened.
- [28:17]
Dominic Sandbrook
Probably not, no. Everybody else is frightened. Well, it's ridiculously hot, so they're all dripping with sweat. I mean, God, they can't win. It's either they're either freezing or they're just absolute boiling. Charles is delirious. His wound is like. Is in a terrible state. He's slipping in and out of kind of sleep. He keeps saying, where's Rainskiold? And everyone says, he's been captured, your majesty. And he just doesn't seem to register that. After two days, they reach the river Dnieper, and they don't have many boats. They don't have enough boats to get across. And the Russians are chasing them, and basically they're not going to get the whole. There's about 14,000 of them. They're not all going to get across. Who's going to go? And Charles says, well, obviously I won't go. I'll stay here. And his officers fall to their knees and beg him, you have to go. You cannot be captured. If you are captured, Sweden is defeated. Now to the war. Our only chance is if you can get away and maybe you can raise support among the Tatars or the Ottomans. That's our only chance. And very reluctantly, Charles agrees. And he is transported across the River Dnieper with the wounded and the Cossacks and what remains of his Drabant elite bodyguard that we talked about last time. He gets across the river and they turn west across the grasslands, heading towards the River Bug.
- [29:32]
William Googe
That's a great name for a river, isn't it?
- [29:34]
Dominic Sandbrook
It is the River Bug, and that it's an important river because that is the frontier with the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire.
- [29:41]
William Googe
He's entered the Ottoman Empire.
- [29:42]
Dominic Sandbrook
Now he's entering the Ottoman Empire. And the men on the other side watched him go. Watch and watch until finally, he disappears from sight. And what will become of him? We will find out, Tom, after the break.
- [29:58]
William Googe
This is a paid advertisement from BetterHelp.
- [30:01]
Dominic Sandbrook
Now, Tom, when we talk about the stigma around mental health, it is tempting to think of it as a modern issue. But the truth is it has been with us throughout history.
- [30:10]
William Googe
It has. Dominic Lunatic asylums, where people with bad mental health would be locked up were places of public entertainment. They were like zoos. So people would go to somewhere like Bedlam and laugh at the lunatics.
- [30:22]
Dominic Sandbrook
A recent British survey found that 37% of people still feel uncomfortable discussing mental health because, sadly, they fear being judged.
- [30:30]
William Googe
That silence can be very damaging, not just to individuals, but to families, to workplaces, even to whole communities. The world is better when people are healthy, happy.
- [30:39]
Dominic Sandbrook
And that's where BetterHelp comes in. They're the world's largest online therapy provider, connecting people with experienced professional mental health support across a wide range of needs.
- [30:50]
William Googe
We're all better. With help our listeners get 10% off their first month@betterhelp.com RestHistory that's betterhelph.com RestHistory.
- [31:03]
Unknown
I'm William Googe, a viewer, collaborator and professional ultra runner from the uk. I love to tackle endurance runs around the world, including a 55 day, 3,064 mile run across the US. So I know a thing or two about performance wear. When it comes to relaxing, I look for something ultra versatile and comfy. The Ponto Performance Jogger from Vuri is perfect for all of those things. It's the comfiest jogger I've ever worn and the Dreamlit fabric is why I'll always reach for them over other joggers. Check them out in the Dreamlit collection by going to vuorie.com william that's V-U-O-R-I.com william where new customers can receive 20% off their first order, plus enjoy free shipping in the US on orders over $75 and free returns. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions.
- [31:58]
William Googe
Did you know that our Sunday Times best selling book the Rest Is History Returns, is now out in paperback. From finding out who British history's biggest lad was to tracing the admittedly hazy ancient origins of Raiders of the Lost Ark. It's filled, cover to cover, with more curious historical moments than you can crack a lasso at, plus puzzles and a pub quiz, the Rest Is History Returns available now in all good bookshops. Hello, welcome back to the Is History. Peter has triumphed at Potava, one of history's most decisive battles. And Dominic, one of the measures of how decisive it is is that Peter's conquests in the north, and more specifically on the Baltic, are now secure. And that means that St. Petersburg is secure. And so he actually writes letters to his wife, doesn't he? And his. His family and his friends. And he says that his victory at Poltava is the final stone in the foundation of St. Petersburg.
- [33:04]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yeah, that's absolutely right. But it's arguably much more than that. It's the. The final stone in the foundation of Russia as a great power.
- [33:12]
William Googe
Well, let's just do a counterfactual. Because. Because counterfactuals kind of serve to emphasize the consequences of what does actually happen. Let's suppose he had lost Poltava. How different would history have been?
- [33:24]
Dominic Sandbrook
I think it could have been very different. A lot of people listening to this might say, well, Russia was always fated to become a great power anyway. But remember, in the 17th century, Russia had been a basket case for a long time. It could easily have been won again. So if Charles had won, there would have been nothing to stop him advancing on Moscow. Imagine he'd taken Peter prisoner. He would have ridden into Moscow. He would possibly have installed a kind of Swedish client, like he did with our friend Stanisaw Woleszczynski in Poland.
- [33:56]
William Googe
He might have gone for Sofia, Peter's sister.
- [33:58]
Dominic Sandbrook
He might have brought Sophia back. Exactly. Possibly after he had gone, there would have been a rising against Sophia or whoever it might be. There might have been civil war. It might have been Peter's camp against Sophia's. Who knows?
- [34:10]
William Googe
And there are all kinds of predators lurking on the borders, aren't there, who might have kind of gobbled up bits. The. The Cossacks might have declared independence.
- [34:18]
Dominic Sandbrook
Right. The Ottomans, the Poles and so on and so forth. Certainly Russia would have lost the Baltic and probably would have lost Ukraine.
- [34:24]
William Googe
And I suppose also it would have severely damaged Peter's policy of Westernization.
- [34:30]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yeah, that which would have been blamed. Right. We lost our soul and we lost the war. Yeah, absolutely. And I think what it would also have done is it would have left Sweden as the paramount power, probably in the Baltic. So Sweden could. Would conceivably have kept Estonia, Latvia, the provinces of Livonia, as they were called, which, you know, when you get to the Napoleonic wars and the Swedes are a much bigger player and the Russians aren't. You know, maybe things would have changed in between those. Those two points. But. But I think history would look. Would look very different. Absolutely. And Peter knows that I think, because that's why Poltava is so important to him. And he celebrated the anniversary of the battle every year for the rest of his life.
- [35:14]
William Googe
And he. He lets everyone in Europe know, doesn't he? He. He sends kind of letters to everyone. Um, and his swiftest career, interestingly, goes to the Duke of Marlborough. So, you know Charles XII's only rival for the title of best commander in Europe.
- [35:30]
Dominic Sandbrook
Exactly. So Peter held a formal triumph at the end of the year in St. Petersburg. And as always, I mean, this is your point, Tom, about the Westernizing imperative. It's based on the Roman model. The troops march in beneath classical arches. They drag all the Swedish battle flags to the dirt. They make the Swedish officers march. As in all such events with Peter, there's this weird element of play acting and role play. He marches as an ordinary officer, and it's his friend Fedor Romadanovsky who presides over the triumph as the kind of mock czar.
- [36:05]
William Googe
And what happens to the Swedes, to the prisoners?
- [36:07]
Dominic Sandbrook
Well, this is such an interesting side note, actually. The generals were very courteously treated, so they were often exchanged for Russian prisoners, or they were sent home as messengers with peace offers from Peter, which, of course, the Swedes completely ignored, as is their want. Some more junior officers actually chose to join the Russian army. This was not unusual. They were not expected to fight their own country, but they would be sent to fight the Kazakhs or the Tatars or something. The rest of the junior officers were sent to Siberia and they basically settled down and they became teachers, goldsmiths, tailors. You know, they brought trades with them, their previous trades.
- [36:48]
William Googe
Well, they kind of merged into the. The vastness of the Russian population. Did they?
- [36:52]
Dominic Sandbrook
They did. But if you were a common soldier, it wasn't a great fate, actually. They. A lot of them were sent to the mines in the Urals or they were sent to work in the dockyards of St. Petersburg. A lot of them probably died eventually because those are grim fates. So when peace finally came in 1721, out of the 40,000 men who had marched into Ukraine with Charles XII, only about 5,000 ever went home. So that kind of tells its own story. Now, you mentioned about Peter writing to everybody. He becomes now an extraordinary European celebrity. So the British, who had previously thought, you know, Charles XII is the great man of the age, now have to hastily recalibrate. The Duke of Marlborough actually wrote to his ally, Lord Godolphin. He said, what a melancholy reflection it is that after Constant success for 10 years, Charles XII should in two hours mismanagement and ill success ruin himself and his country. And all these people who've previously been.
- [37:48]
William Googe
Charles XII fans suddenly becoming Peter Stans.
- [37:52]
Dominic Sandbrook
Peter Stan. So the most shameless example is, is the philosopher Leibniz, who had previously said he loved the Swedes so much that he wanted to see their empire stretch all the way to Mongolia. And now Leibniz said, oh, Peter's victory was, was for the good of the human race. Here's a man whom God has destined for great work. And he wrote to Peter and said, would you like me to design the medal for you to celebrate your victory?
- [38:17]
William Googe
Shameless.
- [38:18]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yeah, it is shameless. It's very kind of tech billionaire after November 2024, isn't it?
- [38:24]
William Googe
Invited to Peter's inauguration, sit in the front row.
- [38:27]
Dominic Sandbrook
And everybody now wants to ally with Russia. So the Danes re enter the war. They invade southern Sweden. Augustus, the strong fox tossing friend, he cancels his abdication as king of Poland. He invades Poland from Saxony and he reclaims his throne from the puppet Stanisaw Leszczynski, who now leaves this story sadly, so I won't get the chance to say his name.
- [38:51]
William Googe
So he tosses foxes, but he is himself a jackal.
- [38:54]
Dominic Sandbrook
He is a jackal. There's a very funny scene when Augustus and Peter meet for the first time after this in a place called Torun, which we talked about in our episode about the wonders of Poland, famous for its gingerbread. They meet in Turun and Peter said to Augustus, oh, how are you doing? You know, good to see you again. By the way, where's that ceremonial sword that I gave you? And Augustus is very embarrassed. I love that sword, but actually I've left it behind in Dresden. And Peter says, what a shame. But as luck would have it, I've got another one for you. And he reaches for this sword and he hands it to Augustus and it is the original sword which the Russians had found in Charles XII's baggage in Poltova.
- [39:33]
William Googe
So red faces all round.
- [39:35]
Dominic Sandbrook
Red faces all round. And from this point onwards, Augustus, who previously had been Peter's equal, or perhaps had even seen himself as Peter's senior figure, is very obviously a Russian client. And actually Poland from this point onwards is little more in some ways than a Russian protectorate. So all the Baltic conquests which had been earmarked for Poland, Russia takes them. And in the long run, of course, Poland will end up being partitioned.
- [39:59]
William Googe
And so this is for the first time that the shadow of Russian power is spreading across Eastern Europe.
- [40:05]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yes, exactly, exactly. Now, what about Charles, you see, because we left him riding into the Ottoman Empire. What's happened to him? Well, as soon as word reaches Constantinople, Charles XII has crossed the River Bug and is in the the Balkans. The Sultan Ahmed iii, he's a very amiable person. He loves a bit of poetry and painting and flowers. He's your kind of bubbling fountain.
- [40:33]
William Googe
Yeah.
- [40:34]
Dominic Sandbrook
And sherbet. Yeah, sherbet. Kind of school of Ottoman sultan. And he says, well, you know, Islam tells us we should be very generous when we welcome refugees. And he says, we'll put Charles and his men up. We'll build a refugee camp for them on the River Dniester, which is near the splendidly named town of Bender, in. In Moldova, in modern day Moldova. So Charles, I mean, his wound is slowly getting better. He's very downcast. He's not as downcast as Ivan Mazepa, who's come with him. He dies effectively of a broken heart, I think, just depression. So Charles is in Bender, in his camp, and everybody thinks, well, he'll be there for, you know, weeks, a few months.
- [41:19]
William Googe
But I suppose the issue is, how does he get back?
- [41:21]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yeah. So the obvious way home really, is by sea because Peter and Augustus block him on land. Louis XIV of France offers him a ship. He could turn to the English or the Dutch. They could off. They also talk about offering him ships, but with all of these things, the price would be. Sweden must join that particular side in the War of the Spanish Succession, which is raging. Yeah. Which is now raging. And Charles doesn't want to do that because he's already fighting the Great Northern War. He doesn't want to fight two wars. And actually, Charles thinks to himself, well, maybe this isn't such a bad thing. Charles is so madly optimistic. I admire this about Charles, this sort of India rubber, you know, he'll always bounce back. So he says, maybe this is all for the best. You know, I can talk to the Ottomans, persuade them to enter the war, and it'll work out okay. So he doesn't stay for a few weeks, and he doesn't stay for a few months. He actually stays in Bender for three years, which is demented. Now, as it happens, the Ottomans do actually end up at war with Russia because Peter keeps saying, will you please expel the Swedes? I can't tolerate the fact that you're having this kind of Swedish king living in a camp just inside your border. And eventually he sent an ultimatum in 1710, and the sultan said, well, no, we're not having this. And he declared war on Russia. Peter drew Up a very ambitious plan to march into what are now the part of Romania, the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which are Ottoman vassals. And he said, I will liberate the Orthodox peoples of the Balkans.
- [42:52]
William Googe
He also kind of aspired to retake Constantinople in his wildest dreams.
- [42:58]
Dominic Sandbrook
I don't think that was ever.
- [43:00]
William Googe
No, but it's part of his image, isn't it? So that it's rather similar to the bullet hitting the cross of Constantine and bouncing off. Wasn't that there was a parade before he leaves for the war against the Ottomans, where his guards have red banners with the cross that Constantine saw in his vision and it says, by this sign you will conquer, which is, you know, what Constantine had seen. So he's obviously making play with this idea. You know, I mean, this is the third Rome, let's get the second Rome back. I am the heir of Constantine.
- [43:30]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yeah, he is dead. Right. And I think this is in the long run enormously significant because this is really the first time in history that the Russians claim themselves to be the champions of all Orthodox Slavs, and particularly Balkan Orthodox Slavs, because effectively Russia is.
- [43:48]
William Googe
The only independent Orthodox power, isn't it? And it's now a superpower. So obviously that for Orthodox Christians this is quite a significant development.
- [43:57]
Dominic Sandbrook
It is absolutely. It is. And although it doesn't go well at all, in fact it goes disastrously wrong for Peter. It will have, I think, huge consequences. Because if you think back to the series we did about the road to the First World War, the origins of the First World War, this idea of Russia as the protector of the Slavs, even though they're hundreds of miles away and protector of Orthodox Christians in the Balkan Peninsula, and that Russia has this kind of tenuous claim to Constantinople, this would be enormously significant in the build up to 1914. Anyway, the expedition at the time goes horribly wrong. Peter ends up being cornered by this massive Ottoman army. Fortunately, the Grand Vizier, who's called Baltaci Mehmet Pasha, is a kind of quite elderly figure and he doesn't really fancy an all out war and he basically lets Peter go with minimal concessions. Peter has to give up Azov, which had meant so much to him.
- [44:51]
William Googe
That's in the north of Crimea.
- [44:53]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yes, exactly. Has to give that up and scrap his southern fleet and scrap all his ambitions in the Black Sea. But that's pretty much about it. And Peter is quite relieved about that. Now when Charles hears that Peter's been allowed to get away, he must be livid. Well, he disgraced himself. He rode to the Grand Vizier's company, burst into his tent in muddy boots, which the. The Turks regarded as a dreadful social faux pas. And Charles said, what are you doing? You know, you're mad to let Peter go. The Turks, by this point, I mean, Charles has been hanging around for a lot longer than they expected and they're actually sick of him, so they just ignore him. We'll come back to the growing rift between Charles and the Turks. So Peter has to give up on the Black Sea and he devotes himself to the campaign in Europe. Now, the crazy thing is the Swedes, you would think, are now out of the war. You'd be quite wrong. The Swedes have lost most of their empire. Ingria, Finland, Riga, Tallinn, the Baltic. Sweden was ravaged by famine after that terrible winter of 1708-9. Then there was a plague. Sweden has lost, unbelievably, about a third of its population during this time.
- [46:04]
William Googe
God, that's a ma. Oh, dear.
- [46:06]
Dominic Sandbrook
Everybody else has piled in against them. It really is like a kind of computer strategy game which has gone horribly wrong for the player because they are now facing a coalition of Russia, Saxony, Poland, Denmark, Hanover and Prussia are about to join in. And Charles sends a message from his camp at Bender and he says, perfect. The odds are in our favour. I will not concede a single scrap of Swedish ground. No way. And actually, the Swedes fight very doggedly. So the war now moves to kind of northern Germany, Bremen and Pomerania and stuff. And Peter piles in against the Swedes there, which is great for him because he loves going to the West.
- [46:44]
William Googe
He visits a spa.
- [46:46]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yeah. Oh, he does go to a spa. Yeah.
- [46:47]
William Googe
So we. We haven't had a. We haven't had a German spa yet. But Peter goes to one because he's. He's had a violent colic.
- [46:55]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yeah.
- [46:55]
William Googe
And so he goes to. He goes to the spa in Carlsbad and he drinks the waters and he's hanging out with all those, you know, enormous Germans with mustaches and things.
- [47:05]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yeah.
- [47:06]
William Googe
And apparently he had been suffering, according to the British ambassador who'd been accompanying him, a violent looseness.
- [47:13]
Dominic Sandbrook
Oh, no. Would a German spa clear that?
- [47:15]
William Googe
I think it would give you constipation, wouldn't it?
- [47:16]
Tom Holland
Right.
- [47:17]
Dominic Sandbrook
Sulfur, I guess.
- [47:18]
William Googe
I don't know. I've never been to a German spa, but.
- [47:20]
Dominic Sandbrook
Well, in the final episode, we'll find some very peculiar goings on with Peter and mineral water. So that's something to look forward to. Tell you what he also does in the sightseeing. Do you See this? He goes to Wittenberg to commune with Martin Luther. So he. He went to Luther's grave. Did you go to Luther's grave?
- [47:37]
William Googe
Yes, we did. We went to Luther's grave. But unlike Peter the Great, we didn't manage to get into Luther's house.
- [47:43]
Dominic Sandbrook
Right.
- [47:43]
William Googe
Because it was shut for renovations.
- [47:46]
Dominic Sandbrook
So when Peter goes to Luther's house, the curator showed him an ink spot on the wall. And the curator said, this is where Martin Luther saw the devil. And he threw an ink pot at him. And Peter was. He did not behave appropriately. He behaved scornfully. He said, did such a wise man really believe that the devil could be seen? And the curator said, would you like to sign the wall next to the ink spot? You know, Peter the Great was here. Very impressive. Like a visitor's book. And Peter wrote, next to the ink spot. This ink spot is quite fresh. So the story obviously is not true.
- [48:22]
William Googe
That's very graceless.
- [48:23]
Dominic Sandbrook
I thought Luther saw the devil when he was shut up in a castle.
- [48:27]
William Googe
In his tower.
- [48:28]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yeah, In a tower. So this is obviously a.
- [48:30]
William Googe
It's just made up.
- [48:31]
Dominic Sandbrook
It's just a tourist trap.
- [48:32]
William Googe
Well, Peter's right. I mean, he's right to be skeptical, but I still think it's a bit inconsiderate of his host.
- [48:38]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yeah. But he's consistently behaving considerably. Think about John Evelyn's garden.
- [48:41]
William Googe
Yeah. And. And with his own son, as we will see in the next episode.
- [48:45]
Dominic Sandbrook
So Peter's off signing ink spots. Charles is in Moldova. The Ottomans are absolutely sick to death of Charles. Now, he's turned this temporary camp into a permanent Swedish base. He's built a brick compound. He's got a chancery. He's got officers quarters, a stables. The Turks are like, what? This is bonkers. And this mad story reaches a climax in January 1713, when the Sultan and his vassal, the Khan of Crimea, cook up a scheme to kidnap Charles from his camp and get him out of their country.
- [49:19]
William Googe
What, just bung him on a ship?
- [49:20]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yeah, take him to Poland. They're gonna take him over the Polish border and just dump him. They're sick of him. The Swedes get wind of this and prepare for a siege. And crazily, it ends up in a massive battle with 12,000 Tatars and Ottoman janissaries attacking this Swedish camp.
- [49:37]
William Googe
How many Swedes are there? About kind of 60 or something.
- [49:39]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yeah, there's like a few hundred, I think. Charles is cornered in his own house under fire from Turkish artillery. The Turks burst in and start looting all his possessions. Charles charges at them he's got his foot back now, which is great. He sort of runs them through the sword or this kind of thing. The Janissaries set his house on fire. Charles then starts necking loads of brandy, which is the first alcohol he's touched.
- [50:00]
William Googe
Yeah, he doesn't normally do that, does he?
- [50:02]
Dominic Sandbrook
No. He's just so excited at the thought of a battle. I think he's just been, because he loves battles, happy. I would think he's happy. He leads his men in a breakout of the camp. They end up being surrounded by Turks, like thousands of Turks. There's a lovely description of this in Robert K Mass's book on Peter the Great. He says Charles was bleeding from nose, cheek, ear and hand. His eyebrows had been singed off his face and clothes were black with gunpowder and reeking with smoke and his coat was torn into strips. But he had his usual air of calm, almost amused, Unconcern.
- [50:34]
William Googe
Well, he's happy again, isn't he? He's back in his element.
- [50:36]
Dominic Sandbrook
And after all this, the Sultan is very embarrassed and says to Charles, well, I'm so. I'm so sorry things got out of hand. I promise you it won't happen again. And here's an amazing thing about this. I love this detail. This incident was called by the Turks the Kalabaluk. It comes from a Turkish word meaning a crowd. And the term Kalabaluk passed into Swedish and Finnish, where to this day it means a ruckus or chaos. Because of this bizarre incident, Sir Charles hangs around Turkey for another 18 months, and then finally the Sultan agrees a deal with the Habsburg Emperor that will allow him to travel overland through the Austrian Empire and through Germany without being intercepted.
- [51:18]
William Googe
And does some Charles go at a leisurely pace?
- [51:21]
Dominic Sandbrook
No. Charles behaves exactly as you'd expect. So he's got a big group of men of Swedes who are riding. He insists on riding ahead of them with just one man. And he insists, just for the sort.
- [51:31]
William Googe
Of the larks.
- [51:34]
Dominic Sandbrook
Of going in disguise with a dark wig and a fake moustache and a fake passport in the name of Captain Peter Frisk.
- [51:41]
William Googe
It's kind of interesting, isn't it, that he, in so many ways is a mirror image of Peter, because that's exactly what Peter would have done. You know, the disguise, the travels, the kind of adopting a junior rank.
- [51:52]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yeah, it's bonkers. And what is even more bonkers is so he doesn't go to Sweden, he makes straight for this city called Stralsund, which is one of the remaining Swedish footholds in Northern Germany under siege. He arrives late at night in November 1714. Banging on the door. The guard opens up, oh, my God, it's the King. I can't believe it. Charles has. Has ridden for 1296 miles at a pace of more than 100 miles a day. Very impressively, he's not taken his clothes or his boots off once during this. During this trip.
- [52:25]
William Googe
Presumably by this point his foot is no longer super rating. So his sock wouldn't be caked with pus and blood?
- [52:31]
Dominic Sandbrook
No, I don't think so.
- [52:32]
William Googe
It's a splinter.
- [52:34]
Dominic Sandbrook
And they say to him, oh, my God, your Majesty, unbelievable that you're back after so long. Would you like to go to Stockholm? He says, no, I've come here to take part in the siege. Were you mad? So it's yet another doomed cause, because the city is clearly going to fall. He stays there for 11 months and literally sort of hours before it falls, he is finally persuaded to leave.
- [52:54]
William Googe
And for the same reason that he doesn't want to be taken captive.
- [52:56]
Dominic Sandbrook
He doesn't want to be taken captive. And so on Christmas Eve 1715, he sets foot on Swedish soil for the first time in 15 years. And he finds Sweden in an absolutely ravaged condition. So the Russians have been raiding it incessantly. Its farms have all been destroyed. What men are left are hiding in the woods to avoid being conscripted. They've lost control of Finland. And actually I fell down a massive rabbit hole reading about this, so I ended up reading academic articles about the Finnish demography in the early 18th century. This is a period of Finnish history known as the Great Wrath. I mean, who knew?
- [53:33]
William Googe
Well, the Swedes have kind of lost control, not just of Finland, but also of the Gulf of Finland, haven't they? Because they have ships of the line, but the Russians have galleys. And so there's a kind of mad civilization 4 type battle where, amazingly, the galleys win the battle of Hanku. And so as a result of that, there's no opportunity for the Swedes to maintain their control of Finland.
- [53:55]
Dominic Sandbrook
And actually Finland is ravaged by famine and by plague, but also the Russians, I think it's fair to say, behave very badly in Finland. So they flog thousands of people in public. They. There's a lot of rape, there's a lot of murder. They. They, I think rather distastefully, they bake Finns in ovens, which I think is.
- [54:14]
William Googe
Kind of fairy tale.
- [54:15]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yeah, they enslave tens of thousands of women and children, sell them to the Crimeans, take them down to the Crimea. And some Finnish historians. This is the rabbit hole down which I fell. Think this Finnish population fell by half during this period. Now, you would think, confronted with this on his return to Sweden, Charles might say, maybe now is the time to end this war. But no, he says, now is the time, you know, now is the time to invest. The stocks will only rise. So he gets a new chief minister called Baron von Goetz. I mentioned him only because I was pleased to see that he has an artificial eye, which is exactly as you would expect from a chief minister at this stage in the war. He says, massive new taxes. Let's. Let's go back to the old strategy. We'll knock our enemies out one at a time. Denmark first, then we'll do a Hanover, then we'll do a Prussia, and then we'll build up to invading Russia again. Brilliant.
- [55:07]
William Googe
So there's a kind of Frederick the Great approach, because Frederick the Great, who I guess in the next generation will be the great military commander. Yeah, I mean, he. He similarly faces the seeming ruin of his hopes and does actually emerge triumphant. So maybe it's not completely mad of Charles xii. I don't know.
- [55:26]
Dominic Sandbrook
I mean, some of his ministers said to him, how long do you think this will take, your majesty? I mean, really, we've been fighting for so long. And he said, I think maybe 40 years should do it. I mean, you don't want to hear that. So he says, well, we'll start against the Danes and we'll start in Norway. So October 1718, he marches on Christiana, which is now Oslo, and in his way, there's a fortress called Frederiksten. And he, as always very Nelsonian, he puts himself in the thick of the action, I think partly because he knows there is no other Swedish army. He has to inspire his men because it's this or nothing. So he's constantly putting himself in harm's way. And on the evening of the 30th of November, he's in the trenches outside Frederiksten, and the Norwegians are firing kind of firebombs from their cannons which light up the sky. And then their snipers, their sharpshooters, can fire down at the Swedish sappers. About 9:30 that night, Charles climbs up the parapet of a trench, and some of his aides say, oh, be careful, your majesty. You know, watch it come. Come down. And he ignores them completely. And he is leaning on the top of the trench. He's kind of got his head on his hand looking out when they hear a sound, as one of them puts it, as If a stone had been thrown by great force into some mud, and Charles's hand falls away from his head and he's completely still, just looking out at this fortress. And then one of the officers says, lord Jesus, the King has been shot. And he has. He's been hit by a Norwegian musket ball in the temple, which killed him instantly. And that was the end of him.
- [56:56]
William Googe
So, I mean, he goes the way he would have wanted to go, I guess.
- [56:58]
Dominic Sandbrook
Exactly. Just in an instant, that's it. The Swedes abandoned the campaign and they, for the first time in 18 years, Charles returned to Stockholm, albeit in an embalmed condition. And the news spreads across Europe. This extraordinary meteor of the age is dead. Peter was in St Petersburg when the message arrived and with a group of officers, and the story goes that he was visibly moved and tears sprang to his eyes and he said, my dear Charles, how much I pity you. Does sound like Peter could have done it. It's a bit. Do you think it's a bit Julius Caesar and the head of Pompey?
- [57:35]
William Googe
I mean, I guess it's the winner's prerogative, isn't it? The winner does take it all, including the right to. To do some performative weeping.
- [57:43]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yeah, do some performative weeping. And he. There was also a lot of performative mourning. So he ordered the Russian court into a week of mourning for his great rival. Even now, crazily, the war didn't end for another three years.
- [57:55]
William Googe
What?
- [57:56]
Dominic Sandbrook
And, yeah, the Swedes fought on for another three years and madly, madly, Britain joined the war on Sweden's side. George I piled in.
- [58:06]
William Googe
Why?
- [58:06]
Dominic Sandbrook
Because he was worried about the balance of power in the Baltic. As Elector of Hanover, the Baltic mattered to him and he was worried that the Russians were too powerful. And here's the maddest thing. You know what actually ended the Great Northern War? It wasn't the death of Charles xii, it was the South Sea Bubble.
- [58:21]
William Googe
How so?
- [58:22]
Dominic Sandbrook
It was the stock market crash in Britain that brought Sir Robert Walpole to power as the first Prime Minister. And Walpole, his whole policy was based on no, you know, foreign wars, sort of peace and prosperity. At home are polite and commercial people. Let's make loads of money.
- [58:40]
William Googe
He sold out a British ally who's been fighting against Russia. Well, is that what I'm saying?
- [58:46]
Dominic Sandbrook
That kind of is what I'm saying.
- [58:47]
William Googe
To make Britain great again?
- [58:48]
Dominic Sandbrook
Yeah, exactly. So he basically says to the Swedes, look, I'm not going to fund this war. You're clearly going to lose. It's mad. So the New Swedish king, who was called Frederick, decided he would settle. And in September 1721, at Nystad in Finland, his envoy signed a treaty that basically dismantled the Swedish Empire, gave it all away to Russia, pretty much in the Baltic.
- [59:10]
William Googe
But the Sweden itself retains its integrity. Does it?
- [59:16]
Dominic Sandbrook
Sweden itself maintained its integrity. Exactly. But Karelia, Estonia, Latvia, Ingria, they all went to Russia, and its footholds in Germany were all lost as well. So we'll end with Peter. The news of this treaty, I mean, the Great Northern War, which really did live up to its billing. I mean, it's gone on for, what, more than 20 years. Huge celebrations in St Petersburg, free wine and beer and fireworks and masked balls. And at the end of October. So a month later, Peter went to the Senate, which was a new institution that he had set up in St Petersburg, and he said, I will cancel all unpaid taxes to celebrate the war. And the Senate and the Holy Synod said to him, wonderful, you, Majesty. And in return, we'd like to offer you a new title, Peter the Great, Father of the Fatherland and Emperor of all Russia. So, in Latin, which would appeal to you, Tom? Pater, Patriae, imperator, say very.
- [60:11]
William Googe
Augustus.
- [60:12]
Dominic Sandbrook
Augustus, exactly. Father of his country and Emperor, not just Caesar, but Augustus.
- [60:17]
William Googe
So he's not just Constantine, he's now Augustus.
- [60:20]
Dominic Sandbrook
Exactly. And he agrees. And there are huge shouts from the crowd. Vivat, vivat. Long live the Emperor. And then Peter gave a speech which again reminds us of this kind of Roman heritage. He said, by our deeds in war, we have emerged from darkness into the light of the world. And now those whom we did not know in the light respect us. I want our whole nation to recognize the direct hand of God in our favour during the last war. And in the conclusion of this peace, it becomes us to thank God with all our might. But while hoping for peace, we must always remember the fate of the Greek monarchy, meaning the Eastern Roman Empire, the Empire of Constantinople, and we must never grow weak in force of arms. And those are words that I suspect would resonate in the Kremlin today, and.
- [61:09]
William Googe
Probably do resonate in the Kremlin today. But, Dominic, that's not the end of the story, is it? Because obviously, if Peter is pledging Russia to eternal strength, he's not going to be around forever. And so he needs an heir who he can be confident will display the same strength, the same interest in forts and ships and military matters that Peter has always displayed, and whether his son Alexei is qualified to play that part. And if he's not, what Peter is going to do about it will be the themes of our final episode in the series. So lots of stuff. Father, son relationships still to come. If you want to hear it immediately and you're not a member of the Rest Is History club, you know what you've got to do. The rest is history.com Alternatively, just sit it out. Wait. Episode 6 will be with you on Thursday. Thank you Dominic. Brilliant stuff. And thank you everyone for listening. Bye bye.
- [62:10]
Dominic Sandbrook
Bye bye.
- [62:22]
William Googe
This episode is brought to you by Disney's Lilo and Stitch, only in theaters this Friday. A reimagining of Disney's animated classic Lilo and Stitch is the wildly funny and touching story of a lonely Hawaiian girl, Lilo, and the fugitive alien Stitch, who helps to mend her broken family. Lilo and Stitch crashes into theaters this Friday. Rated pg. Get tickets now.
- [62:52]
Dominic Sandbrook
Hi everybody. You're still here right at the end of the episode. I'm very impressed by your commitment. But listen, I have a question for you. I want to ask you something in confidence. Do you sometimes listen to the adverts on these episodes and do you sometimes think, do you know what I wish that the listeners to this podcast, I wish they were listening to an advert about my brand rather than the other stuff that Tom and Dominic are promoting on here. If you have thought that, there is of course only one way to find out what that would be like, you can disrupt the procession of adverts. You could be the next HSBC premier or the many other tremendous companies that have advertised on the Rest Is History. And you could put your brand in front of millions of like minded listeners by advertising on the Rest is History and indeed the other shows on the Gohanger Network. Now you may be thinking, I don't know what the Gohanger Network is. Gohanger are the company behind this very show. And if you are in the market to increase the value of your brand, Gohanger would love to hear from you. You can register your interest or indeed your company's interest by going to goalhanger.com right now. And that is goal. G O A L Hanger H A N G E R Do Com.