Poltava 1709: Revisiting a Turning Point in European History
November 10-11, 2009
In association with the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Alberta and the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute (HURI) will on November 10th and 11th host Poltava 1709: Revisiting a Turning Point in European History, an international conference that marks the 300th anniversary of the pivotal battle. The two-day event coincides with the passing of three centuries since Russia’s Peter I vanquished Charles XII of Sweden in one of the most decisive assaults of the Great Northern War at Poltava in Ukraine in 1709. It also commemorates the October 1709 passing of Ivan Mazepa, the Cossack Hetman whose ambition to use the battle as a means to achieve an independent Ukrainian state has made him both a national legend and an international controversy.
November 10-11, 2009
In association with the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Alberta and the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute (HURI) will on November 10th and 11th host Poltava 1709: Revisiting a Turning Point in European History, an international conference that marks the 300th anniversary of the pivotal battle. The two-day event coincides with the passing of three centuries since Russia’s Peter I vanquished Charles XII of Sweden in one of the most decisive assaults of the Great Northern War at Poltava in Ukraine in 1709. It also commemorates the October 1709 passing of Ivan Mazepa, the Cossack Hetman whose ambition to use the battle as a means to achieve an independent Ukrainian state has made him both a national legend and an international controversy.
The conference will bring together prominent scholars from Ukraine, Russia, Austria, Sweden, Canada, Germany, Scotland, Italy, and the United Sates with the intent to utilize new historiographical approaches to reassess the Battle of Poltava as a crucial military event in the geopolitical development of Europe.
Find more details at