1708 year in the Belarus: an comparative analysis of the three biggest battles blind spots

  • Oleksandr N. Slisarenko Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, 72 Gagarina Avenue, Dnipro 49000, Ukraine
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33581/2520-6338-2019-2-31-39

Abstract

The article is devoted to one of the key moments of the Great Northern war – the campaign of the Swedish king Charles XII to Moscow. The historians of this campaign until now has not come to a consensus about what caused the sudden turn of the Swedish army to the South with a main route to Moscow. In the article on the basis of the analysis of historiographical achievements of recent years, a comparative analysis of military operations that took place on the territory of Belarus in the summer – autumn of 1708. In this period there were three major battles at the crossings of important water boundaries: when Golovchino, Maletichy and Lesnaja. All of them had different outcomes, so it is interesting to analyze in detail the features of these battles. The author believes that the Russian army managed to combine the impact on the Swedish army of different kind of troops: guards infantry, horse dragoon regiments and irregular cavalry (cossacks, kalmyks and tatars). The Russian army tried to weaken the enemy forces by creating difficulties in supply. The main motive for turning to the South of Charles XII was the loss of a military convoy, accompanied by a corps Lewenhaupt. The degree of reliability of the sources covering the events of the Great Northern war on the territory of Belarus in 1708 is analyzed. Based on the method of comparative analysis of sources, the author attempts to restore the real picture of the events. The conclusion is made about deliberate distortion of facts in the official Russian historiography in order to create a positive image of Tsar Peter I and his associates both in the international arena and within the country. The stability of this tradition for a long time is revealed.

Author Biography

Oleksandr N. Slisarenko, Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, 72 Gagarina Avenue, Dnipro 49000, Ukraine

PhD (history), docent; associate professor at the department of European and International law, faculty of law

References

  1. Gronsky AD. [The Northern war in historiography of Byelorussia between 2010–2015]. In: Efimov SV, editor. Voina i oruzhie. Novye issledovaniya i materialy. Trudy VII Mezhdunarodnoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii; 18–20 maya 2016 g.; Sankt-Peterburg, Rossiya. Chast’ 2 [War and weapons. New research and materials. Proceeding of the 7th International Scientific and Practical Conference; 2016 May 18–20; Saint Petersburg, Russia. Part 2]. Saint Petersburg: Military-Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineer and Signal Corps; 2016. p. 168–183. Russian.
  2. Velko AV. Bitva u Lesnoi [The battle adout Lesnaja]. Minsk: Belorusskaya pravoslavnaya tserkov’; 2008. 28 p. Russian.
  3. Bespalov AV. Bitvy Velikoi Severnoi voiny [Battle of the Great Northern War]. Moscow: Rejtar; 2005. 254 p. Russian.
  4. Katljrchuk A. Shvjedy w gistoryi j kul’tury belarusaw [The Sweds in history and culture of byelorassians]. Vilnus: Instytut belarusistyki; 2007. 328 p. Belarusian.
  5. Sydorenko BI. [The battle adout Lesnaja in 28 september 1708 in the light of casualties statistics Russian and Swedish army]. In: Severnaya voina 1700–1721 gg. i istoricheskie sud’by Evropy: k 300-letiyu so dnya bitvy pri Lesnoi. Materialy Mezhdunarodnoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii; 4 oktyabrya 2008 g.; Mogilev, Belarus’ [Northen war 1700–1721 and historical destiny of Europe: to the 300th anniversary of the Battle adout Lesnaja. Materials of the International Scxientific and Practical conference; 2008 October 4; Mogilev, Belarus]. Mogilev: A. Kuleshov Mogilev State University; 2008. p. 279–286. Russian.
  6. Artamonov VA. «Neskazannaya viktoriya»: srazhenie pri Lesnoi. 1708 [«Neskazannaja viktoria»: the battle adout Lesnaja. 1708]. Moscow: Tseikhgauz; 2009. 64 p. Russian.
  7. Artamonov VA. Poltavskoe srazhenie. K 300-letiyu Poltavskoi pobedy [Poltava Battle. To the 300th anniversary of the victory of Poltava]. Moscow: MPPA «BIMPA»; 2009. 704 p. Russian.
  8. Bespalov AV. [Lesson by Golovchino, 1708 July 3–4]. Voin. 2008;8:22–26. Russian.
  9. Bespalov AV. [Lesson by Golovchino, 1708 July 3–4]. Voin. 2008;9:21–23. Russian.
  10. Megorskij BV. [Battle at the Dobroe in 1708: a new sources]. In: Efimov SV, editor. Voina i oruzhie. Novye issledovaniya i materialy. Trudy VIII Mezhdunarodnoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii; 17–19 maya 2017 g.; Sankt-Peterburg, Rossiya. Chast’ 3 [War and weapons. New research and marerials. Proceeding of the 8th International Scientific and Practical Conference; 2017 May 17–19; Saint Petersburg, Russia. Part 3]. Saint Petersburg: Military-Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineer and Signal Corps; 2017. p. 202–216. Russian.
  11. Ivanuk SA. [Looting of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth during the 1705–1708 campaign]. In: Istoriya voennogo dela. Issledovaniya i istochniki [History of military art. Researches and sources] [Internet]. 2017 [cited 2017 October 22];9:222–262. Available from: http://www.milhist.info/2017/10/22/ivanyk_3. Russian.
  12. From P. Katastrofen vid Poltava. Karl XII: s ryska fättåg 1707–1709. Lund: Historska media; 2006. 424 s.
  13. Stille A. Karl XII kak strateg i taktik 1707–1709 gg. [Karl XII as a strategist and tactician 1707–1709]. Moscow: Publishing House by M. Aleksandrov; 1912. 170 p. Russian.
  14. Englund P. Poltava. Rasskaz o gibeli odnoi armii [Poltava. The story about the death of one army]. Moscow: Novoe knizhnoe obozrenie; 1995. 288 p. Russian.
  15. Kafengauz BB, editor. Pis’ma i bumagi imperatora Petra Velikogo. Tom 8, vypusk 2 [The letters and pipars of imperiater Peter the Great. Volume 8, issue 2]. Moscow: Academy of Sciences of USSR; 1951. 1178 p. Russian.
  16. Tatarnikov KV. Russkaya polevaya armiya 1700–1730. Obmundirovanie i snaryazhenie [Russian field army 1700–1730. Outfit and equipment]. Moscow: Lubimaya kniga; 2008. 234 p. Russian.
  17. Semevskii MI, editor. Arkhiv knyazya F. A. Kurakina. Tom 1. Bumagi knyazya Borisa Ivanovicha Kurakina. 1676–1727 [The archive of prince F.A. Kurakin. Volume 1. The papers of prince B. Kurakin. 1676–1727]. Saint Petersburg: Russkaya starina; 1890. 387 p. Russian.
  18. Baiov AK, editor. Trudy Imperatorskogo Russkogo Voenno-istoricheskogo Obshchestva. Tom 1. Dokumenty Severnoi voiny. Poltavskii period (iyul’ – oktyabr’ 1708 g.) [The works of imperial Military-Historian Society. Volume 1. Documents of the Northern War. Poltava period (July – October 1708)]. Saint Petersburg: Svet; 1909. 291 p. Russian.
  19. Andreev IN, editor. Pis’ma i bumagi imperatora Petra Velikogo. Tom 8, vypusk 1 [The letters and pipars of imperiater Peter the Great. Volume 8, issue 1]. Moscow: Academy of Sciences of USSR; 1948. 406 p. Russian.
  20. Dorrell NA. The dawn of the tsarisn empire: Poltava and the Russian comaigns of 1708–1709. Nottingham: Partizan Press; 2009. 108 p.
  21. Pavlenko S. [The troops of Charles XII in the north of Hetmanshin]. Siverjns’kij litopis. 2014;5:256–300. Ukrainian.
  22. Mackiv T. [How the battle of Poltava was decided?]. Ukrai’ns’kyj istoryk. 1989;4(26):17–28. Ukrainian.
  23. Tarle EV. Severnaya voina i shvedskoe nashestvie na Rossiyu [The Northern war and Swedish offence against Russia]. Moscow: Sotsekgiz; 1958. 480 p. Russian.
  24. Kolganova I, translator. [Dairy of kamerger Charls XII G. Adlerfelt about finding Swedes in the autumn 1708 in Chernigov-Sivershina]. Siverjans’kij litopis. 2014;4:95–110. Ukrainian.
  25. Pavlenko NI, Artamonov VA. 27 Iyunya 1709 g. [1709 June 27]. Moscow: Molodaya gvardiya; 1989. 270 p. Russian.
  26. Andreev IL. Na puti k Poltave [On the way to Poltava]. Moscow: Veche; 2009. 378 p. Russian.
  27. Kopysskij ZY, Meleshko VI. [The helpness of Belarusian people for Russian army during the years of the Northern war]. In: Grekov IB, editor. Poltavskaja pobeda. Iz istorii mezhdunarodnykh otnoshenii nakanune i posle Poltavy [The victory of Poltava. From the history of international relations on the eve and after Poltava]. Moscow: Academy of Sciences of USSR; 1959. p. 209–236. Russian.
Published
2019-04-16
Keywords: guards, irregular cavalry, dragoons regiments, military operation, river crossing, military baggage
How to Cite
Slisarenko O. N. 1708 year in the Belarus: an comparative analysis of the three biggest battles blind spots // Journal of the Belarusian State University. History. 2019. 2. PP. 31-39.
Issue
No 2 (2019): Journal of the Belarusian State University. History
Section
Special Topic Section

Copyright (c) 2019 Journal of the Belarusian State University. History

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

The authors who are published in this journal agree to the following:

  1. The authors retain copyright on the work and provide the journal with the right of first publication of the work on condition of license Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial. 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
  2. The authors retain the right to enter into certain contractual agreements relating to the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work (e.g. post it on the institutional repository, publication in the book), with the reference to its original publication in this journal.
  3. The authors have the right to post their work on the Internet (e.g. on the institutional store or personal website) prior to and during the review process, conducted by the journal, as this may lead to a productive discussion and a large number of references to this work. (See The Effect of Open Access.)