The modern world, from Charlemagne to the present time; with a preliminary survey of ancient times . litarygenius, and for a long timehe was victorious againstthis overwhelming coali-tion. But he wore outhis resources in winningvictories that did not de-stroy his huge in the struggle hedefeated Peter the Greatat Narva, with an armynot more than an eighth as large as the Russian force ; but whileCharles was busied in Poland and Germany, Russia recoveredherself, and in 1709 Peter crushed Charles at Pultava. As Peter had foretold, the Swedes had taught him how to beatthem. Swede
The modern world, from Charlemagne to the present time; with a preliminary survey of ancient times . litarygenius, and for a long timehe was victorious againstthis overwhelming coali-tion. But he wore outhis resources in winningvictories that did not de-stroy his huge in the struggle hedefeated Peter the Greatat Narva, with an armynot more than an eighth as large as the Russian force ; but whileCharles was busied in Poland and Germany, Russia recoveredherself, and in 1709 Peter crushed Charles at Pultava. As Peter had foretold, the Swedes had taught him how to beatthem. Sweden never recovered her military supremacy. Russiasecured the Swedish provinces on the east coast of the Balticas far north as the Gulf of Finland. These districts had beencolonized, three centuries before, by the Teutonic Knights(§ 240, § 321), and German civilization was strongly implantedthere. Thus the acquisition not only gave Russia a door intoEurope, but actually brought part of Europe inside Russia. Itwas in this new territory that Peter founded St. Petersburg,recently renamed Peter the Great. 492 THE RISE OF RUSSIA [§491 491. The next important acquisition of territor)y was under theEmpress Elizabeth, daughter of Peter, who seized most of Fin-land from Sweden. Tow^ard the close of the century, underCatherine II, Russia made great progress along the Black Seaand on the west at the expense of Poland (§ 506). This lastchange can be understood only in connection with the rise ofPrussia.
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