Battle of Poltava - very nice video!

[Cyclops]

Hard to make a decent historical film. I want to see a "Life of Cyrus" made in Old Persian. Still at least they're giving it a go.

...
For what ever reasons the Swedish Army had a disdain for artillery which in the end cost them their empire.

The order of battle was:

Russia: 30,000 Infantry, 9,ooo Cavalry, 3,000 Cossacks, and more than 100 cannon.

Swedes: aprox. 9,500 Infantry, nearly 13,000 Cavalry, 5,000 Cossacks, and 32 cannon....

I think the Swedes maybe de-emphasised artillery as slow and went for aggressive mobility?

I think their Russian and Polish enemies had proved susceptible to the Swedes superior discipline and aggression earlier in the Northern war (and for a while before that too).

I hadn't realised there was 13,000 Swedish cav at the battle, I had thought it was about 1200.

Peter took stock of his foe: Charles was a better soldier, with better troops and better mobility but fewer numbers and fewer guns.

Peter sensibly gave him a maze of hard targets to attack (something Charles would find hard to resist), where mobility wasn't an issue and the Swedes would be exposed to prolonged artillery fire.

I think Peter deserves credit for a sensible strategy maximising his strengths (which were few) in the face of a reputedly invincible foe.

[Fisherking]

Hard to make a decent historical film. I want to see a "Life of Cyrus" made in Old Persian. Still at least they're giving it a go.



I think the Swedes maybe de-emphasised artillery as slow and went for aggressive mobility?

I think their Russian and Polish enemies had proved susceptible to the Swedes superior discipline and aggression earlier in the Northern war (and for a while before that too).

I hadn't realised there was 13,000 Swedish cav at the battle, I had thought it was about 1200.

Peter took stock of his foe: Charles was a better soldier, with better troops and better mobility but fewer numbers and fewer guns.

Peter sensibly gave him a maze of hard targets to attack (something Charles would find hard to resist), where mobility wasn't an issue and the Swedes would be exposed to prolonged artillery fire.

I think Peter deserves credit for a sensible strategy maximising his strengths (which were few) in the face of a reputedly invincible foe.

I thought that too. My source could have had that extra 0 as a type-O.

All you said is quite true.