II.—­From Triumph to Disaster

Charles left Warsaw to complete the subjugation of Poland, leaving the new king in the capital.  Stanislaus and his court were put to sudden flight by the appearance of Augustus with 20,000 men.  Warsaw fell at once; but when Charles turned on the Saxon army, only the wonderful skill of Schulembourg saved it from destruction.  Augustus withdrew to Saxony, and began repairing the fortifications of Dresden.

By this time, wherever the Swedes appeared, they were confident of victory if they were but twenty to a hundred.  Charles had made nothing for himself out of his victories, but all his enemies were scattered—­except Peter, who had been sedulously training his people in the military arts.  On August 21, 1704, Peter captured Narva.  Now he made a new alliance with Augustus.  Seventy thousand Russians were soon ravaging Polish territory.  Within two months, Charles and Stanislaus had cut them up in detail, or driven them over the border.  Schulembourg crossed the Oder, but his battalions were shattered at Frawenstad by Reuschild.  On September 1, 1706, Charles himself was invading Saxony.

The invading troops were held under an iron discipline; no violence was permitted.  In effect, Augustus had lost both his kingdom and his electorate.  His prayers for peace were met by the demand for formal and permanent resignation of the Polish crown, repudiation of the treaties with Russia, restoration of the Sobieskies, and the surrender of Patkul, a Livonian “rebel” who was now Tsar Peter’s plenipotentiary at Dresden.  Augustus accepted, at Altranstad, the terms offered by Charles.  Patkul was broken on the wheel; Peter determined on vengeance; again the Russians overran Lithuania, but retired before Stanislaus.

In September 1707, Charles left Saxony at the head of 43,000 men, enriched with the spoils of Poland and Saxony.  Another 20,000 met him in Poland; 15,000 more were ready in Finland.  He had no doubts of his power to dethrone the Tsar.  In January 1708 he was on the march for Grodow.  Peter retreated before him, and in June was entrenched beyond the Beresina.  Driven thence by a flank movement, the Russians engaged Charles at Hollosin, where he gained one of his most brilliant victories.  Retreat and pursuit continued towards Moscow.

Charles now pushed on towards the Ukraine, where he was secretly in treaty with the governor, Mazeppa.  But when he reached the Ukraine, Mazeppa joined him not as an ally, but as a fugitive.  Meanwhile, Lewenhaupt, marching to effect a junction with him, was intercepted by Peter with thrice his force, and finally cut his way through to Charles with only 5,000 men.