The surrender at Perevolochna was the capitulation of almost the entire Swedish army on 30 June 1709 ( O.S.) / 1 July 1709 (

Swedish calendar The Swedish calendar () or Swedish style () was a calendar in use in Sweden and its possessions from 1 March 1700 until 30 February 1712. It was one day ahead of the Julian calendar and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar. Easter was calculat ...

) / 11 July 1709 ( N.S.). It signified the virtual annihilation of the once formidable Swedish army after the defeat at Battle of Poltava, and paved the way for the eventual Russian victory in the

Great Northern War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

. After the Battle of Poltava,

Charles XII Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII () or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.), was King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of ...

escaped to

Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...

, a vassal state of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

Background

Leaving Pushkaryovka around 7 PM on the 28th, the same day as their defeat, the remnants of the Swedish army head south following the west bank of the river Vorskla to the river

Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

, reaching Stari Sanzhary 20 km to the south where the baggage wagons stopped until dawn while the artillery, treasure-wagons and troops continue on to Novi Sanzhary.Englund, P., 1992, The Battle that Shook Europe, London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., The artillery reached Novi Sanzhary after midnight, Charles XII at 1:30 AM, and the troops at dawn. The

Tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

sent Prince Golitzin's Semyonovskiy Regiment and Christian Felix Bauer's ten regiments of

dragoons Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat wi ...

in pursuit. The march resumed by 7 AM on the 29th, heading for Bjeliki, and Major-General Meijerfeldt is sent back to negotiate with the Tsar. The convoy linked up with Lt. Col. Silfverhielm's 500 men at Kobeliaky in the late afternoon. On 30 June, the convoy reached Tashtayka on the Dnieper where Axel Gyllenkrok had been sent earlier to prepare a crossing. However, Gyllenkrok wanted Charles to stop at Kishenka, and decide if they should cross the Vorskla at the ford and head into the

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

, or head further south and attempt a crossing of the Dnieper into Turkey. Now the Swedes found the Dnieper river broad and swift, with few materials with which to build boats or a bridge. Ivan Mazepa and his men along with Silfverhielm's men crossed on the few boats available. Efforts to swim across ended in drowning for men and horse alike. The Swedish command convinced Charles to save himself by crossing the Dnieper and heading for Ochakov, while the army, led by Lewenhaupt, would cross the Vorskla into the Crimea. About 3,000 crossed that day and night with the king, mostly officers and members of the royal household.

Surrender

The dawn of the next morning brought news that a Russian corps of infantry, cavalry and artillery was deployed in a crescent shape, ready for battle, on the plateau above the river, about 9,000 men under the command of General Menshikov. The Cossacks, allied with the Russians, swept down to plunder the Swedish wagons. The Russian army advanced and blocked the road to Kishenka and a Swedish escape. The Swedish army now faced the sandhills and the Russian army on the plateau. Lewenhaupt did not want to fight the Russians, instead sending the Prussian military attache to start truce negotiations. After conferences and voting among the higher officers, the Swedish army of 12,000Tucker, S.C., 2010, A Global Chronology of Conflict, Vol. Two, Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, LLC, to 20,000 capitulated. The king departed the southern river bank at 9:45 AM while the announcement of surrender was made at 11 AM. The Russians executed the Cossacks allied with the Swedes, who were unable to escape across the Dnieper.Frost, R.I., 2000, The Northern Wars, 1558-1721, Harlow: Pearson Education Limited,

Effect on the war

The surrender was a contributing cause to the Russian victory in the

. The Swedish continental army had ceased to exist, leaving the remaining defenses of the

Swedish Empire The Swedish Empire or the Great Power era () was the period in Swedish history spanning much of the 17th and early 18th centuries during which Sweden became a European great power that exercised territorial control over much of the Baltic regi ...

hopelessly outnumbered. Strategically, Russia now had taken the offensive, while Sweden would be hard pressed to muster a new army to defend itself. General Lewenhaupt was imprisoned and died in Russian captivity in 1719. King Charles did nothing to have him released, but fled to

Bendery Bender (, ) or Bendery (, ; ), also known as Tighina ( mo-Cyrl, Тигина, links=no), is a city within the internationally recognized borders of Moldova under ''de facto'' control of the unrecognized Transnistria, Pridnestrovian Moldavian Rep ...

in what was then the

Notelist

References

Bibliography

* * {{Owl Perevolochna 1709 in Europe Perevolochna 1709 in Russia 1709 in military history History of Poltava Oblast