Let's go back 310 years to the plains of southern Ukraine, fresh of a winter so cold birds fell frozen out of the air. Charles XII of Sweden put his kingdom on the line outside a city called Poltava.

After the collapse of the Teutonic knights, the Baltic region and Eastern Europe was in disarray. A power vacuum was left by the old order of crusading knights, but for some time no power emerged preeminent. Out of the madness and horrible violence of the 30 Years​ War emerged a Lion. Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden was one of the great commanders in history and clawed out an empire. Seemingly overnight France, England, Spain, and the Netherlands had to acknowledge a new member to their elite club. After Gustavus glorious death on the field, Sweden was set up well for the future. Large swaths of Denmark and Germany, as well as most of the Baltic region and east end of the Gulf of Finland, were under Swedish control. When Charles the 11th died the army he left behind was lithe, sinewy, and ready to be put through its paces. In the hands of a genius tactician, this army would be most formidable…