Then Charles, one of the most interesting military
geniuses of that century, turned against his other enemies
and for nine years he hacked and burned his way through the
villages and cities of Poland, Saxony, Denmark and the Baltic
provinces, while Peter drilled and trained his soldiers in distant
Russia.
As a result, in the year 1709, in the battle of Poltawa, the
Moscovites destroyed the exhausted armies of Sweden. Charles
continued to be a highly picturesque figure, a wonderful hero
of romance, but in his vain attempt to have his revenge, he
ruined his own country. In the year 1718, he was accidentally
killed or assassinated (we do not know which) and when peace
was made in 1721, in the town of Nystadt, Sweden had lost all
of her former Baltic possessions except Finland. The new
Russian state, created by Peter, had become the leading power
of northern Europe. But already a new rival was on the
way. The Prussian state was taking shape.
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA
THE EXTRAORDINARY RISE OF A LITTLE
STATE IN A DREARY PART OF NORTHERN
GERMANY, CALLED PRUSSIA
THE history of Prussia is the history of a frontier district.
In the ninth century, Charlemagne had transferred the old
centre of civilisation from the Mediterranean to the wild regions
of northwestern Europe. His Frankish soldiers had pushed
the frontier of Europe further and further towards the east.
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