RUSSIA. 
attacking them by surprise. For these reasons the king-resol¬ 
ved to pass the Ukraine, where Mazeppa, a Polish gentleman, 
was general and chief of the nation. Mazeppa having been 
affronted by the tzar, readily entered into a treaty with 
Charles, whom he promised to assist with 30,000 men, great 
quantities of provisions and ammunition, and with all his 
treasures, which were immense. The Swedish army advan¬ 
ced towards the river Disna, only to encounter the greatest 
difficulties; a forest above forty leagues in extent, filled with 
rocks, mountains, and marshes. To complete their mis¬ 
fortunes, they were led 30 leagues out of the right way; all 
the artillery was sunk in bogs and marshes; the provision 
of the soldiers, which consisted of biscuit, was exhaust¬ 
ed ; and the whole army spent and emaciated when they 
arrived at the Disna. Here they expected to have met Ma¬ 
zeppa with his reinforcement; but instead of that, they 
perceived the opposite banks of the river covered with a 
hostile army, and the passage itself almost impracticable. 
Charles, however, was still undaunted; he let his soldiers by 
ropes down the steep banks , they crossed the river either by 
swimming, or on rafts hastily put together; drove the Russians 
from their post, and continued their march. Mazeppa soon 
after appeared, having with him about 6000 men, the bro¬ 
ken remains of the army he had promised. The Russians 
had got intelligence of his designs, defeated and dispersed his 
adherents, laid his town in ashes, and taken all the provi¬ 
sions collected for the Swedish army. However, he still 
hoped to be useful by his intelligence in an unknown country; 
and the Kozaks, out of revenge, crowded daily to the camp 
with provisions. 
Greater misfortunes still awaited the Swedes. When 
Charles entered the Ukraine, he had sent orders to General 
Levvenhaupt to meet him with 15000 men, 6000 of whom 
were Swedes, and a large convoy of provisions. Against 
this detachment Peter now bent his whole force, and marched 
against it with an army of 65,000 men. Levvenhaupt had 
received intelligence that the Russian army consisted of only 
24,000, a force to which he thought 6000 Swedes superior, 
and therefore disdained to entrench himself. A furious con¬ 
test ensued, in which the Russians were defeated with the loss 
of 15,000 men. Now, however, affairs began to take another 
turn. The Swedes elated with victory, prosecuted their 
march into the interior; but from the ignorance or treachery 
of their guides, were led into a marshy country, where the 
roads were made impassable by felled trees and deep ditches. 
Here they were attacked by the tzar with his whole army. 
Lewenhaupt had sent a detachment to dispute the pas¬ 
sage with a body of Russians of a morass; but finding it 
likely to be overpowered, he marched to support it with 
all his infantry. Another desperate battle ensued: the Rus¬ 
sians were once more thrown into disorder, and were just on 
the point of being totally defeated, when Peter gave orders to 
the Kozaks and Kalmuksto fire upon all that fled; “ Even 
kill me said he, if I should be so cowardly as to turn my 
back.” The battle was now renewed with great vigour; but 
the day would have been lost, had not General Bauer arrived 
with a strong reinforcement of fresh Russian troops. The en¬ 
gagement was once more renewed, and continued without 
intermission til! night. The Swedes then took possession of 
an advantageous post, but were next morning attacked by the 
Russians. Lewenhaupt had fonned a sort of rampart with 
his waggons, but was obliged to set fire to them to prevent 
their falling into the hands of the-Russians, while he retreated 
under cover of the smoke. The tzar’s troops however, arrived 
in time to save 500 of these waggons, filled with provisions, 
destined for the distressed Swedes. A strong detachment 
was sent to pursue Lewenhaupt; but so terrible did he now 
appear, that the Russian general offered him an honourable 
capitulation. This was rejected with disdain and a fresh 
engagement took place, in which the Swedes, now reduced 
to 4000, again defeated their enemies, and killed 5000 on 
the spot. After this, Lewenhaupt was allowed to pursue his 
retreat without molestation, though deprived . of all his 
cannon and provisions. Prince Menzikof was indeed 
detached with'a body of forces to harass him on his march ; 
471 
but the Swedes were now so formidable, even in their dis¬ 
tress, that Menzikoff dared not attack them,'so that Lewen¬ 
haupt with his 4000 men arrived safe in the camp of 
Charles, after having destroyed nearly 30,000 of the 
Russians. 
This may be said to have been the last successful effort of 
Swedish valour against the troops of Peter. The difficulties 
which Charles’s army had now to undergo, exceed what 
human nature could support; yet still they hoped by con¬ 
stancy and courage to subdue them. In the severest winter 
known for a long time, even in Russia, they make long 
marches, clothed like savages in the skins of wild beasts. 
All the draught horses perished ; thousands of soldiers dropt 
down dead through cold and hunger; and by the month of 
February 1709, the whole army was reduced to 18,000! 
Amidst numberless difficulties these penetrated to Pultava, a 
town on the eastern frontier of the Ukraine, where the tzar 
had laid up magazines, and of these Charles resolved to 
obtain possession. Mazeppa advised the king to invest the 
place in consequence of his having corresponded with some of 
the inhabitants, by whose means he hoped it would be sur¬ 
rendered. However he was deceived; the beseiged made an 
obstinate defence, the Swedes were repulsed in every assault, 
and 8000 of them were defeated, and almost entirely cut off, 
in an engagement with a party of Russians. To complete 
his misfortunes, Charles received a shot in his heel from a 
carbine, which shattered the bone. For six hours after, he 
continued calmly on horseback, giving orders, till he fainted 
with the loss of blood; after which he was carried into his 
tent. 
For some days the tzar, with an army of 70,000 men, had 
lain at a small distance, harrassing the Swedish camp, and 
cutting off the convoys of provision; but now intelligence 
was received, that he was advancing as if with a design of 
attacking the lines. In this situation, Charles, wounded, 
distressed, and almost surrounded by enemies, is said to have 
for the first time assembled a grand council of war, the result 
of which was, that it became expedient to march out and 
attack the Russians. Voltaire, however, totally denies that 
the king relaxed one jot of his wonted obstinancy and arbi¬ 
trary temper: but that, on the 7th of July, he sent for General 
Renschild, and told him, without any emotion, to prepare 
for attacking the enemy next morning. 
The 8th of July, 1709, is remarkable for the battle which 
decided the fate of Sweden. Charles having left 8000 men. 
in the camp to defend the works and repel the sallies of the 
besieged, began to march against his enemies by break of 
day with the rest of the army, consisting of 26,000 men, of 
whom 18,000 were Kozaks. The Russians were drawn up 
in two lines behind their entrenchments, the horse in front, 
and the foot in the rear, with chasms to suffer the horse to 
fall back in case of necessity. General Slippenbach was dis¬ 
patched to attack the cavalry, which he did with such impe¬ 
tuosity that they were broken in an instant. They, however, 
rallied behind the infantry, and returned to the charge with 
so much vigour, that the Swedes were disordered in their 
turn, and Slippenbach made prisoner. Charles was now 
carried in his litter to the scene of confusion. His troops 
re-animated by the presence of their leader, returned to the 
charge, and the battle became doubtful, when a blunder of 
General Creuk, who had been dispatched by Charles to take 
the Russians in flank, and a successful manoeuvre of 
Prince Menzikoff, decided the fortune of the day in favour of 
the Russians. Creuk’s detachment was defeated, and Men¬ 
zikoff, who had been sent by Peter with a strong body to 
post himself between the Swedes and Pultava, so as to cut off 
the communication of the enemy with their camp, and fall 
upon their rear, executed his orders with so much success, as 
to cut off a corps de reserve of 3000 men. Charles had 
ranged his remaining troops in two lines, with the infantry in 
the centre, and the horse on the two wings. They had 
already twice rallied, and were now again attacked on all sides 
with the utmost fury. Charles in his litter, with a drawn 
sword in one hand, and a pistol in the other, seemed to be 
every where present; but new misfortunes awaited him. A 
cannon 
