Great Frost of 1709
Europe's harshest winter in 500 years weakens Sweden for Poltava
The winter of 1708–09 was Europe's coldest in 500 years: Venice's canals and North Sea coasts froze, and famine struck France. Charles XII's army lost thousands of men to frost in Ukraine and arrived weakened at the Battle of Poltava.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 18th century
Did you know
The brutal winter of 1709, the 'Great Frost', struck all of Europe and wore down Charles XII's Swedish army before Poltava.
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1703 Founding of Saint Petersburg — 6 years earlier
- 1709 Battle of Poltava — same year
- 1721 Proclamation of the Russian Empire — 12 years later
Alive at the time
- Louis XIV (aged 71)
- Isaac Newton (aged 66)
- Kangxi Emperor (aged 55)
- Peter the Great (aged 37)
- Johann Sebastian Bach (aged 24)
- Voltaire (aged 15)
- Benjamin Franklin (aged 3)
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (aged 63)
- Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (aged 63)
- Queen Anne (aged 44)