Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the siege of Poltava in 1709 by the Ukrainian-Swedish army. To date, in the scientific literature remain incorrect interpretations, and the direct falsification of sources, which is a consequence of the politicized approach in the coverage of the circumstances of the defense of Poltava. However, the final of this war was quite unexpected: the Moscow state, which in the early years of this war, played the role of the secondary ally of the Commonwealth, was the winner. The main purpose of the article was to identify these misinterpretations and establish the real picture of the siege of Poltava. To this end, the author undertook a re-analysis of the sources on the basis of comparative methods and attracted new archival documents. The author of the publication found a significant overestimation of the number of local residents who took part in the defense of the city, where the main role belongs to a strong Moscow garrison. According to the author, the main purpose of the siege of Poltava was not the capture of the city, and the involvement of the army of Tsar Peter in the General battle. This circumstance determined the relatively cautious conduct of the siege of Poltava by the Ukrainian-Swedish army, where the main participants were contingents of Zaporizhzhya Cossacks. In fact, there was a blockade, not the siege of the city. The author claims that on the eve of the General battle there was no General assault of Poltava. Only the victory in the General battle gave a chance to king Charles XII and his ally Hetman I. Mazepa to successfully complete the Northern war.