Siege and assault on the Northern War of 1700-1721. Megorsky B.V.

to the 300th anniversary of the Great Northern War!

“Through the capture of this city of St. Petersburg the final security received”-this is how Peter the Great commented on the capture of Vyborg by the Russian troops in 1710. All over the past 21 years The war of Russia and Sweden are about seventy siege operations, because the seizure and defense of fortresses made up a significant part of the military affairs of the early XVIII century. The book of Boris Megorsky is devoted to this typical one for his time, but not known today by the fighting of the era of Peter I.

When describing the siege war, the author draws attention to the issues of everyday life, routine tasks, military traditions and customs, behavior in the combat situation. An important place in a book written on a large massif of published and archival sources, both domestic and foreign, is given to the civilian population involved in the war, it is described about the tactics of scorched land, the evacuation and burning of cities. An unwritten laws and customs of war regarding the surrender of cities, negotiations, compliance with agreements, the rights of mining or practice of personal captivity give a vivid characteristic of the era. Going beyond the fortified war, the book also tells about the assaults or protection of small and field fortifications. Along with large sieges and field battles, they constituted a significant share in the experience of the army participating in the Northern War of 1700-1721