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x The winter of 1708–1709 turned out to be one of the coldest and
harshest in memory. Charles’s army plodded forward, continuing
the campaign through the winter. After several skirmishes with the
Russians, it came to a stop on the main road from Kiev to Kharkov
at a point between the Vorskla and Psiol rivers.x The Russians were encamped nearby, outside the small town of
Poltava. Disease, combat, and the winter had whittled Charles’s
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only was food running short, but the remaining store of gunpowder
was limited and of questionable quality.x On June 17, Charles was inspecting his outposts along the Vorskla
River when he was struck in the foot by a Russian musket ball. He
was used to leading from the front in battle, personally directing
charges and rousing his men with his example, but this injury was
severe enough that he had to be carried in a litter at the Battle of
Poltava, both limiting his mobility and depriving his men of his
crucial inspiration.The Battle
x Peter entrenched his main army, about 25,000 infantry and 73
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few miles north of Poltava. To get at the camp, the Swedish army
would have to pass through a gap between two dense woods
to the southwest. Across this gap, Peter had erected a row of six
redoubts: miniature rectangular or triangular earthen forts spaced
at 150-meter intervals. He then built four more redoubts at a right
DQJOHWRWKH¿UVWVHWx Together, the redoubts formed a T and were manned by about
5,000 soldiers with 16 cannons. To attack the main Russian force,
the Swedish army had to pass these small forts, which could pour
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cavalry, about 9,000 men, in a line behind the redoubts.