Great Northern War: Russia was fighting Sweden during the Great Northern War. In 1700 Saxony, Denmark and Russia attacked Sweden. Sweden invaded Russia in 1709 which was not a good idea. The Russian Army retreated so the Swedish Army had to chase them. When a very cold winter came, half of the Swedish soldiers died in the cold. Eventually the Swedish army caught up to the Russian army and they had a battle, called the battle of Poltava. Russia won the battle but most of the Swedish soldiers, including their king, Charles XII of Sweden escaped and went to the Ottoman Empire. Peter didn't like this so he declared war on the Ottoman Empire but he lost and had to give the town of Azov back to the Ottomans.