This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 Excerpt: ...from their panic, he made superhuman efforts to strengthen those places and collect fresh forces behind them. And yet, all the time, his own position was most critical. The Russian nation was secretly chafing against the newly introduced reforms; the Boyars detested a war which, to their limited vision, seemed aimless ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 Excerpt: ...from their panic, he made superhuman efforts to strengthen those places and collect fresh forces behind them. And yet, all the time, his own position was most critical. The Russian nation was secretly chafing against the newly introduced reforms; the Boyars detested a war which, to their limited vision, seemed aimless and hopeless; the appearance of a Swedish army on Russian territory would pretty certainly have been followed by a general defection if not an open rebellion. But no Swedish army appeared, and Peter, always well informed, no sooner discovered that Charles had left his Baltic provinces to take care of themselves than he resolved to attack them forthwith in his own methodical way. Even under the most favourable circumstances the Baltic provinces had a very poor chance of withstanding the whole force of the Russian Empire, and the circumstances were anything but favourable. They had been impoverished by a series of bad harvests; they had suffered from the ravages of their enemies before Narva and from the exactions of their friends after it, for the heavy burden of supporting the victorious army of Charles XII. had rested almost entirely on their shoulders and, finally, when Charles quitted them at last, he not only took away with him the pick of their troops, but strictly enjoined the Government at home to send all reinforcements to himself in Poland via Pomerania; not a regiment, not a frigate was to be wasted on his Bothnian possessions. Nor was this all. Discord and jealousy, personal and official, were presently superadded to the other troubles of the wretched Baltic provinces. The four Governor-Generals of Ingria, Esthonia, Livonia and Finland could do nothing but lay the blame of each successive and inevitable disaster at each other's door...
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Add this copy of Charles XII... to cart. $58.58, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2011 by Nabu Press.
