Prelude
During the 17th century, Russia was less advanced than the rest of Europe. This extended to their armed forces. Peter the Great of Russia was keen to expand his territory by conquering parts of Sweden's Baltic provinces. Russia made an alliance with Denmark-Norway and August the Strong, king of Poland-Lithuania and elector of Saxony, to wage war against Sweden, whereupon all three countries attacked Sweden from several directions.
Charles XII, assisted by the Royal Navy and the Dutch Navy, first landed in Humlebaek north of Copenhagen and forced Denmark-Norway to leave the alliance in August 1700 (until 1709). He then moved part of the Swedish army across the Baltic Sea to Estonia where it was joined by Estonian and Finnish regiments of the Swedish army.
The new Russian Tsar, Peter I, would drastically modernize Russia in the coming years, but the army with which he traveled in 1700 was still poorly drilled. Peter had employed foreign generals and officers to improve his armed forces, but they were still far from seasoned. Sweden, on the other hand, possessed a well-drilled and well-equipped army. Charles XII of Sweden had the most complete military force in northern Europe, even if it wasn't the biggest, and Peter envied its capabilities.
During November, Russian troops surrounded the Swedish city of Narva in Estonia (part of Sweden at the time), attempting to secure its surrender via siege. A Saxon-Polish army commanded by August II and Steinau was outside Riga in Swedish Livonia. The Saxon-Polish army however had gone into winter camp south of the river Daugava so Charles XII decided to deal with the more immediate Russian threat against Narva.
King Charles moved to relieve the city and push Peter's forces back into Russia.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Narva (1700)
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