The battle was part of the Great Northern War, in which the northen European countries fought for control over the eastern Baltic.
In 1700 CE Sweden temporarily defeated Russia at Narva and then turned its attention to the other members of the anti-Swedish alliance.
One by one they were defeated and in 1707 CE the Swedish king Charles XII once more looked east.
He marched into Russia with an army of 44,000 men to defeat the country, possibly hoping to capturing Moscow.
The Russians had trouble putting down the Bulavin Rebellion of Don cossacks at the same time.
Tsar Peter I adopted a scorched earth strategy to wear the Swedish out.
These took two years to march through Poland and Belarussia to the Ukraine.
Critically for the battle, Swedish reinforcements were intercepted at Lesnaya and failed to reach the king's army.
Charles decided to try to take the Russian fortress of Poltava, which was defended by 4,000 troops.
It was poorly fortified, but the Swedes lacked substantial artillery, so the siege dragged on.
In the meanwhile Peter arrived with a relief force of 42,000 men and 102 guns.
The campaign had reduced Charles' army to 20,000 men plus several thousand allied cavalry.
While scouting the battlefield, the king was shot in the foot.
He fell ill and was forced to transfer command to Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld.
The Russians crossed the river Worschla from the east and set up camp north of Poltava, with the Swedish army in between.
They began to construct temporary field fortifications.
These were still partly unfinished when the battle started.
Meanwhile Charles recovered from his illness, though his wound was not yet healed.
When he heard that further Russian 40,0000 reinforcements were on their way, he decided to attack.
The Swedes were forced to leave several thousand men to guard Poltava and their rear,
which left them with only 8,200 infantry, 7,800 cavalry and 4 guns for the battle.
They intended to launch a surprise attack before dawn, but the cavalry arrived late due to poor coordination, caused by conflicts among the generals.
The Russians got wind of the advance, so the surprise element was lost.
Charles decided to attack anyway.
In daylight, with the temperature rapidly rising, the assault began.
Initially it was successful; the Swedish forces in the center quickly took two redoubts and their cavalry on the left drove their Russian counterpart back.
However at the third redoubt the central column commanded by Roos got stuck.
It was separated from the others, surrounded and forced to surrender.
The Swedish left and right, which had bypassed the redoubts, joined up, but were unsure of the fate of their center.
Before they could make up their mind, the Russians brought out their reserves from their camp in the north.
The Swedish cavalry reformed and the infantry spread out in a thin line, still not wide enough to prevent being outflanked.
They advanced and were met with murderous fire from the Russian artillery, which first fired cannonballs, then canister and grape shot.
At close range the Russian infantry fired their muskets.
Despite their losses, the Swedes performed a bayonet charge and temporarily drove the Russians back.
Then the numerical advantage of the latter started to tell; cavalry outflanked the Swedes on both sides.
The bluecoats fought valiantly, but their left wing crumbled and the confusion spread.
Well before noon the battle was decided.
Charles gathered his remaining forces around him and withdrew to link up with his baggage train.
He escaped to Moldavia, then part of the Ottoman empire, and spent five years in exile before he managed to return to Sweden.
The Swedish army lost 6,900 men and 2,800 were taken prisoner.
The Russians counted 1,300 dead and 3,300 wounded.
General Lewenhaupt tried to retreat with the remainder of the Swedish army, but was forced to surrender one day later.
The battle of Poltava was a turning point, though the Great Northern War continued for another 11 years.
War Matrix - Battle of Poltava
Age of Reason 1620 CE - 1750 CE, Battles and sieges