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Schematic plan · Great Northern War

Battle of Poltava

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A schematic plan, generated from the statistics of the CAA Database of Battles: the armies' size and width, the hours of fighting, the plan of attack and the outcome are as recorded; the ground and the positions are not.
Rolling, Mixed groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveHorseHorseHorseHorseCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGuns01 km2 kmN

Sweden (Sw Army, 21,500 men under Charles XII) attacked Russia (Russ Army, 80,000 men under Peter the Great) in Russia. The CAA Database of Battles records 12 hours of fighting on a front of 1.2 km, a frontal attack against prepared defense, and that Russia held. Losses: Sweden 9,600 (45%), Russia 1,300 (2%).

This plan is generated from those figures. It shows the shape of the battle the database describes: the size and width of the armies, the plan of attack and the outcome. It does not show where the units actually stood.

The armies

Sweden

Charles XII

UnitArmMen
Sweden left wingInfantry3,106
Sweden centreInfantry4,141
Sweden right wingInfantry3,106
Sweden reserveInfantry2,588
Sweden cavalry of the leftCavalry4,250
Sweden cavalry of the rightCavalry4,250
Sweden artillery (4 guns)Artillery60
Charles XIICommander—
In this plan21,501

Russia

Peter the Great

UnitArmMen
Russia left wingInfantry16,800
Russia centreInfantry22,400
Russia right wingInfantry16,800
Russia reserveInfantry14,000
Russia cavalry of the leftCavalry4,250
Russia cavalry of the rightCavalry4,250
Russia artillery (100 guns)Artillery1,500
Peter the GreatCommander—
In this plan80,000

What the sources report

SwedenRussia
Strength, this plan21,50080,000
Losses, this plan9,6001,300

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 49, “Poltava”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
12 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
1.2 km (attacker), 3.2 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Swedenattacker21,5009,6008,5004Frontal attack; Penetration; Repulse; Withdrew with heavy losses
Russiadefender80,0001,3008,500100Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Breakthrough; Pursued

Attacker’s advantages training +1 · initiative +1 · combat effectiveness +1

CDB90 (US Army Concepts Analysis Agency, 1990), tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold; data under ODC-BY 1.0.

Notes

On this reconstruction

Generated automatically from the statistics in CDB90. Frontages, depths, distances, the order of events and the terrain are schematic: they follow the recorded strengths, front widths, hours of fighting, tactical plan and outcome, not maps or accounts of the battle. The sources give no hours; the timing is conjectural.

Sources

Facts gathered from Wikidata (CC0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (licence per file); the plan and its text are timeastra’s own.