Charles XII., from his triumphant invasion of Saxony, marched with an army of forty-five thousand men through Poland, which was utterly desolated by war, and crossing the frontiers of Russia, directed his march to Moscow.  Driving all opposition before him, he arrived upon the banks of the Dnieper, and without much difficulty effected the passage of the stream.  Peter himself, with Menzikoff, now hastened to the theater of conflict, and summoned his mightiest energies to repel the foe.  Battle after battle ensued with varying results.  But the situation of the Swedish conqueror was fast growing desperate.  He was far from home.  His regiments were daily diminishing beneath the terrible storms of war, while recruits were pouring in, from all directions, to swell the ranks of the tzar.  It was the month of December.  The villages had been all burned and the country turned into a desert.  The cold was so intense that on one particular march two thousand men dropped down dead in their ranks.  The wintry storms soon became so severe that both parties were compelled to remain for some time in inaction.  Every poor peasant, within fifty miles, was robbed by detachments of starving soldiers.

The moment the weather permitted, both armies were again in action.  Charles XII. had taken a circuitous route towards Moscow, through the Ukraine, hoping to rouse the people of this region to join his standards.  This plan, however, proved an utter failure.  About the middle of June the two armies, led by their respective sovereigns, met at Pultowa, upon the Worskla, near its point of junction with the Dnieper, about four hundred miles south of Moscow.  Several days were passed in maneuvering and skirmishing in preparation for a decisive struggle.  It was evident to all Europe that the great battle to ensue would decide the fate of Russia, Poland and Sweden.  Thirty thousand war-worn veterans were marshaled under the banners of Charles XII.  The tzar led sixty thousand troops into the conflict.  Fully aware of the superiority of the Swedish troops, he awaited the attack of his formidable foe behind his redoubts.  In one of the skirmishes, two days before the great battle, a bullet struck Charles XII., shattering the bone of his heel.  It was an exceedingly painful wound, which was followed by an equally painful operation.  Though the indomitable warrior was suffering severely, he caused himself to be borne in a litter to the head of his troops, and led the charge.  The attack upon the intrenchments was made with all the characteristic impetuosity of these demoniac fighters.  Notwithstanding the storm of grape shot which was hurled into their faces, covering the ground with the mangled and the dead, two of the redoubts were taken, and shouts of victory ran along the lines of the Swedes.