Poltava and the Rise of Imperial Russia

Defeat of the Swedes Altered the European Balance of Power

Jan 21, 2010 Michael Streich

Charles XII's invasion of Russia was halted at Poltava June 8, 1709 when Peter the Great decisively defeated the Swedes, ultimately winning the Great Northern War.

On June 8, 1709, a vastly outnumbered Swedish army was decisively defeated by the highly drilled troops of Peter the Great at Poltava on the banks of the Vorskla River in the Ukraine. Hailed by scholars as one of the top twenty battles of importance, Russian victory prompted Tsar Peter to exclaim, “Now with God’s help the final stone has been laid in the foundation of St. Petersburg.” Poltava thrust Russia into European affairs as a dominant force, altering the balance of power as the supremacy of Sweden in Northern Europe declined.

Charles XII Invades Russia

Swedish king Charles XII, seeking to capture Moscow, divide Russia, and end the Great Northern War, advanced into the Ukraine in 1708. Over-confident and arrogant, Charles XII was not prepared for the unusually severe winter nor the lack of support from the Ukrainians. His supply train from Riga was destroyed while many soldiers succumbed to the effects of frigid weather conditions.

Reinforcements and supplies were destroyed in September 1708 at Lesnaia by Peter’s friend and general, Alexander Menshikov. With few serviceable artillery pieces and dwindling gunpowder, the Swedish army encamped in the small commercial city of Poltava. Charles XII’s only allies were 2,000 Ukrainian Cossacks under Hetman Mazepa, a far smaller number than he had anticipated.

Battle of Poltava

After Peter’s earlier defeat at Narva, the new Russian army had been reformed and was well trained. With more artillery than the Swedes, the Russians laid siege to Poltava, erecting strategic redoubts along the northern side of the city. Charles XII’s 22,000 veterans faced an army of 50-60,000 Russians. Most of the Swedes were exhausted after spending nearly two years in enemy territory. Charles had been wounded earlier and was unable to lead his troops. Additionally, the Swedes failed to deploy their artillery.

Ordering a direct attack against the Russians, Charles, carried into battle on a litter, watched his best men die, first from the unrelenting gun fire from the Russian redoubts and then from continuous cannon shots. After two hours of heavy fighting, Tsar Peter ordered a counter-attack, his army enveloping the Swedes in a semi-circle.

The Swedes turned in retreat, a disordered march down the banks of the Vorskla until they reached the Dneiper River. Only 1,500 men escaped across the river, seeking refuge in Turkish held lands. Among them were Charles XII and his ally Hetman Mazepa. Poltava decisively turned the tide of the Great Northern War. According to military historian Lynn Montross, “On that June day in 1709 a new European war power came into being as an old one declined.”

Altering the Balance of Power

Although Charles XII eventually returned to Sweden after cajoling the Turks into war with Russia, Swedish domination of Northern Europe ended. A new Russian fleet, built by Tsar Peter, supplanted Swedish naval hegemony in the Baltic. After Poltava, Peter commanded the largest military in Europe. The effects would be profound and long lasting. 19th Century Russian writer and radical Vissarion Belinsky saw Poltava as a battle “for the existence of a whole nation, for the future of the whole state.”

Soviet historian E. V. Anisimov, writing in 1989, stated that, “The Poltava victory allowed Peter to seize the initiative… [resulting in] the birth of a new empire…” Russia’s rise as a great power with expanding influence would not have happened without Poltava. As historian N. V. Riasanovsky pointed out, this dramatic change in the balance of power “came as something of a shock” to other European countries, straining relations, notably with Britain.

Sources:

• David Eggenberger, An Encyclopedia of Battles (NY: Dover Publications, 1985)
• Lindsey Hughes, Russia in the Age of Peter the Great (Yale University Press, 1998)
• David MacKenzie and Michael Curran, A History of Russia, the Soviet Union, and Beyond 4th Ed (Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1993)
• Lynn Montross, War Through the Ages 3rd Ed (NY: Harper & Row, 1960)
• Nicholas V. Riasanovsky, A History of Russia (Oxford University Press, 1969) 
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• The copyright of the article Poltava and the Rise of Imperial Russia in E European History is owned by Michael Streich. Permission to republish Poltava and the Rise of Imperial Russia in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

 

The Western Front Bias in Historical Studies

Rehabilitating Russian Contributions In Western European History

Feb 25, 2010 Michael Streich

Russia seldom receives equal treatment in the retelling of history, from the Napoleonic Wars to the Great Patriotic War and the subsequent defeat of Hitler's Germany.

Ever since the end of World War II in 1945, a Western bias has existed in the retelling of war events. Most general history texts barely mention Russia and the Eastern Front, other than to highlight, for example, the turning point battle of Stalingrad. Part of this bias is directly linked to the Cold War, which began very soon after the Potsdam Conference, and the Soviet Union was transformed into what Ronald Reagan would later call, the “Evil Empire.” Discounting the role of the Soviet Union in the victory over Hitler also had much to do with traditional views of Russia as a backward and foreign nation whose credentials as a “Western” power were scorned.

Western Historical Views of Russia

Historically, Russia was always distant and perceived as a cold, barren, and under-developed nation with pretensions to power. After Peter the Great modernized the military, Europe took greater notice but clung to the traditional beliefs that it could never be equal to the great states of the defined “West.” Even as World War I dawned, for example, the fear of the Russian “steamroller” forced the German General Staff to tinker with the Schlieffen Plan and deploy more divisions to the East. After decisive German victories, however, beginning early in the war at Tannenberg, the conventional views of Russia reemerged.

Russia and the War of 1812

After Tsar Alexander I abrogated the Treaty of Tilsit with Napoleon a prostrate Europe watched the mighty French army enter Russia. Napoleon had fought many battles in Western Europe and histories highlight Austerlitz, Jena, and Waterloo. Yet it was at Borodino, not far from Moscow, that the bloodiest battle of the Napoleonic Wars took place. The Russians denied the French invaders supplies, burning their fields. Eventually, Napoleon, badly beaten, returned to Europe proper. Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, according to historians, probably led to and hastened his downfall, yet this singular fact has become part of the Western Front bias.

The Soviet Union and the Great Patriotic War

Josef Stalin once said that “one death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic.” After World War II, Soviet Russia, based on a 1959 census, reported a population deficiency of twenty million Russians. While it is estimated that six million Russians died at the hands of Stalin and his policies, the fact remains that Soviet Russia lost more people than any other belligerent nation.

Some of the most decisive battles of the war were fought in Russia. Stalingrad in 1942 has long been considered the turning point of the war, forcing German retreat. The largest tank battle ever fought took place at Kursk. At Leningrad, a thousand-day siege failed to conquer the city, even as the inhabitants were starving to death; one million died defending their city.

The Red Army “liberated” most of what would be referred to as “Eastern Europe.” Notwithstanding the horrors of Omaha Beach, the Battle of the Bulge, and Patton’s drive north through Italy, the Soviet Union did more to hasten the defeat of Hitler than the western allies. Yet all of this has become part of the Western Front bias, the indifferent retelling of events that favored the West in defeating a common enemy.

Selective Statistics Favor the Writers of History

Mark Twain wrote that there are, “Lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Russia has always suffered from the bias of statistics, numbers and charts that manipulated the role of Western Powers in their favor. This has not changed. The 21st Century view of Russia remains unchanged from a traditional perception that excludes Russia as a European power. Both the Tsars and the Soviet leaders may have known this as they sought to build up their nation, on occasion over-compensating for the stigma of backwardness.

References:

• Walter Kirchner, History of Russia, 4th Ed (Barnes & Noble, 1966)
• John Lawrence, A History of Russia (New American Library, 1969)
• David MacKenzie and Michael W. Curran, A History of Russia and the Soviet Union and Beyond, 4th Ed (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1993)
• Nicholas W. Riasanovsky, A History of Russia, 2nd Ed (Oxford University Press, 1969)

The copyright of the article The Western Front Bias in Historical Studies in E European History is owned by Michael Streich. Permission to republish The Western Front Bias in Historical Studies in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

 The St. Louis and U.S. Policy Failures

German Jews Denied Entrance to America in 1939

© Michael Streich

 Aug 21, 2009

Allowing 937 Jews to leave Germany in May 1939 served Nazi propaganda goals, particularly when the the United States rejected asylum after Cuba refused their entry visas.

In May 1939, the S.S. St. Louis sailed out of Hamburg, Germany bound for Havana with 937 Jewish men, women, and children. It was only seven months since Kristallnacht had wrecked a bloody havoc on the Jews in the German Reich and only five months from the outbreak of World War II. The plight of these Jews would become intimately entangled with insensitive American immigration quotas, President Franklin Roosevelt’s political expediency, and deeply rooted Anti-Semitism in the United States.

Nazi Propaganda and the St. Louis

The passengers on the St. Louis were a varied group. They represented young and old, professional and worker. Some had been in concentration camps. Both Dachau and Buchenwald camps were in full operation, a fact known to most foreign governments including the United States. Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda, used the sailing of the St. Louis to strengthen the ideological posture of Germany toward the Jews to appeal to world public opinion.

On the one hand, Germany was demonstrating compassion by allowing these Jews to leave, albeit at a steep price. Those with property forfeited everything to the Reich. This aspect of the Nazi procedures was not for public opinion. Although issued exit visa, the passenger’s entry documents into Cuba would not be honored. The passengers did not know this.

Dr. Goebbels, Reichsmarschal Goering, and Hitler knew that, inevitably, the St. Louis would be turned away, proving to the world that nobody wanted the Jews. Most European nations had already stopped the flow of refugees crossing their borders. Britain not only curtailed Jews from entering Britain, but severely limited the number of Jews migrating to Palestine, a viable and logical destination coming out of late 19th-Century Zionist efforts.

The St Louis and United States’ Reaction

When the ship entered Havana it was not permitted to dock. As the hours went by, panic began to fill the passengers. Once the official decision was announced that the St. Louis would have to return to Germany, pandemonium ensued. Some passengers jumped overboard; some committed suicide. Captain Gustav Schroeder, not a member of the Nazi Party, deeply empathized with his passengers.

Schroeder sailed for Miami as Jewish organizations in America and Europe drafted frantic appeals to various governments. According to survivor accounts, passengers could see the lights of Miami. But the St. Louis was met by the U.S. Coast Guard, warning it away from the American coast. Reluctantly, Schroeder returned to Europe.

Researcher Lyric W. Wink, in a December 7, 2003 Parade cover story, details the arduous search for the 937 passengers. The research demonstrates that a number of the passengers eventually made it to the United States during and after the war years.

President Roosevelt was keenly mindful that the majority of Americans opposed any changes in the immigration quota system, particularly since unemployment was still high. This applied even more to European Jews. Anti-Semitism, fed by such luminaries as the radio-priest, Father Charles Coughlin, was rampant. Even German-American enclaves, like New York’s “Yorkville” along East 86th Street, identified with Nazism and had no sympathy for Jews.

Return to Europe of the St. Louis

Captain Schroeder threatened to scuttle his ship off the coast of England, forcing, under international law, Britain to take in the refugees. Negotiations hastily led to Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium agreeing to take a portion of the refugees. This represented a short reprieve to many of the Jews that would be caught up in the Nazi web after the 1940 Blitzkrieg occupation of much of Western Europe.

The United Stares must take significant blame for the tragedy of the St. Louis. Artifacts from the ship’s voyage can be seen at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, along with other exhibits such as the Evian Conference of 1938. The St. Louis affair should provide a template for the future.

Sources:

• Robert H. Abzug, America Views the Holocaust 1933-1945: A Brief Documentary History (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1999)
• Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan Witts, Voyage of the Damned (Stein and Day, 1974)
• Lyric Wallwork Winik, “The Hunt For Survivors of a Doomed Ship,” Parade, December 7, 2003

The copyright of the article The St. Louis and U.S. Policy Failures in Modern US History is owned by Michael Streich. Permission to republish The St. Louis and U.S. Policy Failures in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

St. Louis in Havana

 The Nullification Crisis of 1832

Idealogical Differences over Constitutional Interpretation

© Michael Streich

 Aug 30, 2009

The Nullification Crisis resulted from federal passage of two protective tariffs, prompting men like John C. Calhoun to assert state sovereignty over federal law.

The concept of nullification is most keenly demonstrated by the tariff controversy in South Carolina during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. Nullification, however, had surfaced earlier in 1798 when Thomas Jefferson attacked the Federalist Alien and Sedition Acts with the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. The nature of the nullification debate rested on the interpretation of the Constitution and its relationship to the states. The 1832 crisis was based on two unpopular protective tariffs. Under the ideological leadership of John C. Calhoun, South Carolina nullified the federal acts and threatened to secede if coerced in any way by the central government.

The Coming of the Nullification Crisis

Prior to the crisis emanating out of South Carolina, Georgia had struggled with the federal government as well over Indian policy. Despite pro-Indian rulings by John Marshall, Georgia ignored the government and evicted the Cherokee. It should be noted that President Jackson, unlike his stance over nullification, supported Georgia and sent troops to enforce the relocation of the Native Americans to Oklahoma.

Some scholars point out that Georgia’s success in opposing the federal government might have emboldened South Carolina’s resolve in passing the November 1832 Ordinance of Nullification. It is also true, however, that Southern states did not benefit from protective tariffs. The 1820s had brought a period of economic decline as well as population growth to the region.

As larger plantations flourished with the over-production of cotton in states like Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama, the price of cotton fell. Thus, the 1828 “Tariff of Abominations” and the July 1832 tariff were seen as a direct threat to Southern prosperity. Finally, although Calhoun had supported Henry Clay’s “American System,” the South received scant benefit from federal expenditures.

The Ideological Foundation of Nullification

During the January 1830 Webster-Hayne debate, Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster refuted South Carolina Senator Hayne’s argument that the central government was a mere collection of sovereign states that had been responsible for the creation of the Constitution. Webster argued that the Constitution derived not from the states but from the people. It was the supreme law of the land.

As Chief Justice John Marshall had pointed out in numerous cases involving national supremacy, sovereignty was not concurrent, neither was the Constitution a mere “compact” among the various states. The Founding Fathers had established a working government that recognized limited states’ rights but not at the expense of national supremacy.

Andrew Jackson Responds to Nullification

In his December 10th Proclamation to the People of South Carolina, Jackson made it clear that force would be employed to stop the actions of the South Carolina nullifiers. According to Jackson, disunity was tantamount to treason. The proclamation was followed by a January 1833 request from Congress giving him the authority to end the crisis.

Congress responded with the Force Bill, authorizing a military response, yet also began the process of rewriting the tariff so that protectionism would gradually be eliminated. As historian Page Smith wrote, it was a carrot and stick approach and it worked.

South Carolina was isolated. No other Southern state offered more than token, verbal support and then only from a minority of nullifiers. South Carolina felt compelled to reverse its stance while Andrew Jackson recounted his response in a letter to a friend who was serving as US Minister to Imperial Russia. That man was James Buchanan who, in 1860, would face a similar crisis.

Sources:

• Alfred H. Kelly and Winfred A. Harbison, The American Constitution: Its Origins and Development 5th Ed., (New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 1976)
• Stephen B. Oates, The Approaching Fury: Voices of the Storm, 1820-1861 (Harper/Collins, 1997)
• Page Smith, The Nation Comes of Age: A People’s History of the Ante-Bellum Years Vol. 4 (McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1981)

The copyright of the article The Nullification Crisis of 1832 in American History is owned by Michael Streich. Permission to republish The Nullification Crisis of 1832 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

John C. Calhoun in 1822

 Witches in Ancient History

Circe and the Witch of Endor are Colorful Examples of Witchcraft

© Michael Streich

 Jun 22, 2009

Women empowered with supernatural abilities can be found in all ancient cultures, often serving a positive and a negative purpose in everyday life and the quest to know.

Witchcraft and the many variations denoted by that general term can be traced back to the Ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians, especially the Babylonians. Those who practiced magic (the term “witch” is an Old English derivation), divination, and the performance of supernatural acts served both a positive and a negative purpose. Within the Judeo-Christian framework, however, there is no such dichotomy: witchcraft ran counter to religion and later became identified with the works of the devil or Satan. In the ancient world, two women stand out as the iconic witches the western tradition has come to accept as examples of the dark side.

The Witch of Endor

In Exodus 22:18 Hebrew law declares, “thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,” (or “sorceress”) while Deuteronomy 18:10 states “There shall not be found among you anyone…who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft…or a sorcerer…” Such passages were used in the late 15th Century Malleus Maleficarum to justify the witch hunts of the late Middle Ages. Yet in I Samuel 28 King Saul visited the most famous necromancer (from the Hebrew terminology) of the Old Testament: the witch of Endor.

The witch practiced divination and could call the dead back. One modern translation refers to her as a “medium.” From the account in I Samuel several facts can immediately be determined. King Saul came at night, in disguise. The work of a witch was best concluded in the dark. The woman thought that a trap had been set: mediums and “spiritists” had been persecuted for practicing their arts.

Saul asked the medium to bring up the prophet Samuel. When Samuel appeared, however, he declared that Saul would lose his kingdom because God was now his adversary. The fact that Saul used divination to request help in preserving his kingdom demonstrated the strong antipathy toward such arts since he felt he could no longer call upon God and was going against his own edicts to eradicate such practices.

Circe and Odysseus

Although Greek mythology and lore contains the accounts of many witches, Circe, in Homer’s Odyssey, may be the most colorful and remembered. Odysseus landed on her island during his long trek home following the Trojan War. It is here that he encountered the beguiling woman who had transformed several of his crew into pigs.

The passages are full of magic and aspects of witchcraft. Circe used potions and a magic wand. She cast spells. Her magical ointments (sometimes referred to as magical rejuvenation) retransformed the pigs back to men. Circe can make herself invisible. Odysseus overcame her power with a magical root, given to him by the god Hermes. Although the passages do not say exactly how the root was used, it rendered Circe’s potion useless.

This magical root, called molu, may have been garlic, according to some interpretations. Garlic is one of the oldest spices in the ancient world, often equated with warding off evil, perhaps because of its curative powers. Little wonder garlic came to be identified as a defense against vampires in later centuries.

The outcome in the Odyssey was positive. Circe, after swearing an oath not to attempt any more magical arts against Odysseus, slept with him and fed his entire crew. She shared the secrets of necromancy, which would help Odysseus in subsequent adventures.

Abundance of Witchcraft in the Ancient World

Scholars have determined that the terms used in the ancient world to denote “witch” and “witchcraft” were both feminine and masculine. During the formation of the early Christian Church, Simon Magus was considered a witch or “wizard.” Yet, as in the time of the 16th and 17th Century Witch Craze, witchcraft was more often associated with females. Circe and the Witch of Endor are but two colorful examples of the phenomenon.

Sources:

• T. Witton Davies, “Witchcraft,” International Standard Bible Encyclopedia Volume V (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 1939)
• Daniel Ogden, Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds (Oxford University Press, 2002)
• New American Standard Bible, 1973

The copyright of the article Witches in Ancient History in Ancient History is owned by Michael Streich. Permission to republish Witches in Ancient History in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Circe: Painting by J.W. Waterhouse 1891

 

Mt. Sinai in Ancient Near East History

Environmental Features Enhanced the Notion of the Home of Deity

Jun 24, 2009 Michael Streich

Throughout Ancient History, certain mountain tops came to be associated with the gods whether in Greece or Japan. For Some Near Eastern people, Sinai was such a place.

Throughout the ancient world, mountains played important roles in the religious experiences of peoples and their culture. Sacred mountains were the homes of gods, such as Mt. Olympus in Greece, or the repository of knowledge as in the case of Mt. Parnassus, also in Greece. In the ancient Near East, few sacred mountain tops rivaled Mt. Sinai, referred to as the mountain of fire and associated with the Old Testament law-giver Moses.

Prominence of Mount Sinai

Although not the tallest peak in the region, Mt. Sinai, at 7,370 feet, is considerably higher than the surrounding mountains, most of which rise to 4,000 feet. Mt. Sinai, also referred to as Mt. Horeb (although some scholars claim the two names denote different locations), features, in part, red granite rock which, when hit by the sun, looks like fire. The name “Sinai” is derived from the term “to shine.”

At certain times of the year, the mountain is alive with thunderstorms that, in ancient times, caused awe among the peoples below. Little wonder Sinai was considered the home of God. In Exodus 24:18, the writer states that, “Moses entered the midst of the cloud as he went up to the mountain…” This was the same mountain where, years earlier, Moses had experienced the “burning bush” in which Yahweh recruited him to go back to Egypt and bring out Israel to the “promised land.”

Scholars note that the rugged and stormy conditions associated with Mt. Sinai complemented the Hebrew view of God. Professor of Near East Studies Donald Redford comments that the Hebrew God “displays atmospheric and chthonic traits, being intimately associated with the wind, earthquake, fire and thunder.” (379)

Mt. Sinai is difficult to climb; the sides of the mountain feature sharp precipices. Not only did this discourage interested parties from attempting a climb to the summit, but it denoted special recognition to those who did - like Moses. Undoubtedly, these men were true conduits through which deity spoke.

Israel at Mount Sinai

According to Old Testament tradition, uncorroborated by substantive historical evidence, the Exodus Hebrews spent nearly a year encamped in the valley below the mountain. Four streams in the immediate vicinity would have provided the necessary water for such a mass of people.

Twice Moses ascended the mountain, staying at the top for forty days and nights each time. After the first sojourn, he returned with the Ten Commandments only to find that the people were in revolt. In anger, he smashed the tablets upon which the law had been written, “by the finger of God,” according to Old Testament writers. Following another forty-day period, Moses returned and presented the base of Hebrew law. In addition, he enunciated a “covenant,” so much a part of Old Testament tradition, made between God and his chosen people.

In essence, the Mosaic Law, which would fill many chapters of the Pentateuch, was in many cases nothing radically different from other Near East law codes.

The Symbol of Mt.Sinai for the Early Church

In the 4th and 5th centuries, as men and women became disillusioned with the lukewarm nature of official Christendom, many took to the deserts, especially in the Sinai, to pursue the ascetic lives of hermits. The imposing Mt. Sinai again reached out to these spiritually hungry Christians.

In AD 537, the Byzantine Emperor Justinian built a monastery at the base of the mountain which still stands today. As long as deity is associated with nature, particularly the “high places” of the world, Mt. Sinai will play a prominent role in religious experience.

Sources:

• Colonel Claude R. Conder, LL.D., “Sinai,” The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1939)
• Michael Grant, The History of Ancient Israel (History Book Club/Orion Publishing Group, 2002)
• Donald B. Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times (Princeton University Press, 1992)