Half a century after the devastating "deluge", the Republic of Poland again experienced Swedish violence. Poland became the arena of the Third Northern War, culminating in the famous Battle of Poltava. The burden of these fights was not to the greatest extent borne by the Swedes or the Russians, but mainly by the mass murdered Polish peasants.
The initial streak of victories made Charles XII believe his armies were chosen by God to bring bloody vengeance on all apostates and sinners. Pastor Westerman sucked that sweet message into the ears of the field service soldiers, and his colleague explained:RUSSA is the opposite of ASSUR. Just as the Israelites had an eternal enemy in the Assyrians, the Swedes were destined to war with Russia.
Victory at Narva, one of the victories of Charles XII (painting by Gustaf Cederström, public domain).
This elevated mood, of course, had its dark side. The biblical examples of the Israelites' ruthless revenge against their enemies legitimized all crimes of the Swedish army, and the clergy directly encouraged soldiers to murder and sow fire in the name of the Almighty.
Horror at the Kremlin
The first bloody sacrifice that the Swedish army made to God took place near Fraustadt (Wschowa). In the vicinity of this town located on the western outskirts of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a battle took place on February 13, 1706 between the troops of Charles XII and the Saxon-Russian troops. The victorious Swedes graciously spared the lives of the Sasom lying at their feet, but the Russians were not so lucky.
According to Peter Englund, the author of the monograph of the Battle of Poltava, the commanding field marshal Rehnsköld ordered his subordinates to massacre the prisoners. More than 500 victims created a terrifying pile of bodies, reportedly high for three men . It was just a preview of the death march that the Swedes intended to undertake in their expedition to the east.
Communion in the Swedish camp after the Battle of Fraustadt (painting by Gustaf Cederström, public domain).
Even a ruthless ruler like Peter the Great was shocked. Foreigners began to leave Moscow, and a swift end to Russian power was foretold at European courts. During the Thirty Years' War, men capable of fighting avoided conscription at all costs, but now even miners and workers volunteered for the Swedish army , which quickly reached the dizzying size of 44,000 soldiers for this country and at that time.
Jan III Sobieski's family in the painting by Henri Gascard. Jakub Sobieski is sitting in black armor at his father's feet.
Daredevils who wanted to earn some money from the spoils of war moved to the east. Desperate peace proposals, sent out one after another, were rejected by the ambitious Charles XII with amusement and a sense of superiority. The king who had just humiliated the Saxons had big plans - wanted to dethrone Peter the Great and among the candidates to replace him on the throne he saw, among others ... Jakub Ludwik Sobieski, the son of the winner from Vienna!
The enemy at the gates, that is in Poland
As early as August 1703, Nieszawa, the first city on Polish soil, burned down. She blamed King Charles for an attack on a Swedish unit in the area. The townspeople were hanged. The Russians, of course, were not idle either. Wells were poisoned, villages were burned down just to hinder the enemy's march. The Commonwealth, although not even formally participating in the war until mid-1704, became the arena of an exceptionally brutal game between the great powers.
In 1707, a general council with the participation of Tsar Piotr was held in Żółkiew. The ruler wrote about her in his journal this way:
It was decided not to fight in Poland, because if there was any mishap it would be difficult to retreat. That is why it was decided to fight at its borders (...) and in Poland to harass the enemy during crossings, with struggles, difficulties in delivering provisions and forage.
Peter I the Great gained his nickname thanks to internal reforms and the building of Russia's superpower position in Europe, made possible by the victory over the Swedes at Poltava (portrait of Paul Delaroche).
The so-called Zhovkva plan assumed in practice making the Commonwealth a wasteland making it impossible for Swedes to march deep into Russia. These ideas were even applauded by Polish senators who opposed King Stanisław Leszczyński, who in the meantime was elevated to the throne by the Swedes.
To the bare ground
The Russians fought fire with fire. General Sheremetyev boasted about the thousands of abducted men, women and children, as well as horses and cattle. Everything that could not be taken with you was burned and killed. Roads and bridges were destroyed. There were plans to create a veritable death zone along the Russian border, devoid of both food and population.
Who knows how exactly these plans would have been realized if it hadn't been for the crazy Swedish pursuit. The Russians had time to burn only the villages on the busiest roads. However, it's hard to talk about the Scandinavians as saviors.
The young Charles XII did not mince his measures to implement his ambitious plans (portrait of an anonymous authorship, 18th century).
Charles XII said bluntly:his army must not lack anything, and the country that feeds it can suffer as much as it wants . The supplies were taken by force, and even when the peasants tried to hide them, the Swedes found their own ways to discover the valuable hiding places. The villagers were firmly convinced that witchcraft was behind it!
Torture and pacification
Finally, popular guerrillas began to act against the Swedes. The Kurpie people took their toll the most. In one of the skirmishes in the Green Forest, where the Swedes invaded in the winter of 1707, King Charles himself came close to death!
The Swedish army's march to Poltava. Map from Peter Englund's book Poltava.
However, this did not force his soldiers to reflect, but only strengthened their determination and led to bloody retaliation. Pacification actions resembled those known to us from the times of the Nazi occupation. Entire villages were slaughtered, including women and children.
All men over the age of 15 were murdered in the forests (guilty or innocent). Torture extracted information from the Kurpie people about where they hid food. Their fingers were torn off with guns, and the headbands were tightened around their heads until their eyes came out to the top. Children were whipped only to break their parents' resistance.
Quoted by Peter Englund, Nils Gyllenstiern recalled: Many people were massacred, the country was burnt and devastated, so I think that those who survived will not forget the Swedes so soon .
Game Hunters
For a long time, not only the generals, but also ordinary privates of Charles XII considered war to be an excellent means of improving their own existence. It was also a way to solve social problems. Peter Englund quotes Gustaw Bonde in this case: During the past wars, many soldiers did something useful, learned something and could support their family, instead of staying at home and starving .
Naturally, hordes of prostitutes followed the soldiers, but even these were not enough to satisfy the swollen sexual needs of the Swedish soldiers. They indulged in not only homosexual practices punished in the throat, but even zoophilia , although people caught there were faced with a triple execution:hanging, strung on a stake, and beheaded.
The Battle of Poltava is certainly one of the most important battles in the history of the world. Here in the Pierre-Denis Martin painting.
Soon, the soldiers also began to suffer from hunger. The devastated Republic was unable to give them anything but poorly developed and poor-quality grain, from which tar-black bread was baked. Morale was collapsing. Many Swedes had not seen home for years, and the endless war dragged them more and more deep into the immeasurable and terrifying East. It has been complained that the three doctors in the military are vodka, garlic and death. The hunters have become the prey.
All this was finally brought to an end by the Battle of Poltava. Swedish power has been broken so that it will never be reborn. Russia has taken its place.