Poltava · Poltava Oblast
The Battlefield of Poltava
On 8 July 1709, the army of Peter the Great crushed the Swedish forces of Charles XII outside the city of Poltava, a decisive victory that broke Sweden's status as a great European power and reshaped the balance of power in northern and eastern Europe.
Aus der Quelle
Poltava (Ukraine), where Peter the Great’s Russian army defeated King Charles XII of Sweden on 27 June 1709, marking the decisive shift of the Great Northern War.
Redaktionelle Einordnung
The Battle of Poltava was the turning point of the Great Northern War: a Russian coalition victory that scattered the Swedish army, whose survivors surrendered three days later at Perevolochna. The battlefield itself, near present-day Poltava in Ukraine, has been commemorated since the early 18th century and today forms the National Historical and Cultural Reserve Poltava Battlefield, a state-protected reserve that has held national monument status since 3 September 2009. It preserves nine major monuments across the former battlefield, including mass graves, fortifications and memorial churches, alongside a dedicated history museum.
Empfehlung
Few Great Northern War sites are as well preserved and interpreted as Poltava: the reserve's cluster of monuments and its museum let visitors trace the whole arc of the battle across the ground where it was fought.