Qualla: Battle of Pälkäne https://qualla.com/battle-of-palkane en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:35 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/u/d/c/k/battle-of-palkane-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Pälkäne https://qualla.com/battle-of-palkane Battle of Pälkäne: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-palkane/ Photo credit «ВЭС». (СПб; 1914 год)., Public domain. Carl Gustaf Armfeldt thought he had picked the perfect ground. Between the lakes Pälkänevesi and Mallasvesi, in the parish of Pälkäne, the land narrows to an isthmus less than a kilometer wide, with the two lakes joined by the swift channel of the river Kostianvirta. He had pulled his Finnish infantry back behind the river, his weak cavalry on the wings, and waited. Any frontal attack would have to cross the channel under fire. Behind him lay Tampere, the next defensible town. He had inherited a desperate situation only weeks earlier from a discredited predecessor; this position was the strongest geography available to him. On the morning of 6 October 1713, in the dark before dawn, the Russian Major General Mikhail Galitzine put his troops into boats and crossed the lake.

Read more: Battle of Pälkäne on Qualla

Image: «ВЭС». (СПб; 1914 год). | Public domain

]]> Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/d/c/k/battle-of-palkane-wp/udck-battle-of-p-lk-ne-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Pälkäne: After Poltava https://qualla.com/battle-of-palkane/ Photo credit «ВЭС». (СПб; 1914 год)., Public domain. The Battle of Pälkäne was a small battle in a vast catastrophe. Four years earlier, in July 1709, Charles XII of Sweden had marched his veteran army deep into Ukraine and lost it utterly at Poltava. The Swedish empire that had dominated the Baltic for a century never recovered. C...

Read more: Battle of Pälkäne on Qualla

Image: «ВЭС». (СПб; 1914 год). | Public domain

]]> Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/d/c/k/battle-of-palkane-wp/udck-battle-of-p-lk-ne-after-poltava.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Pälkäne: The general who lost his cavalry https://qualla.com/battle-of-palkane/ Photo credit «ВЭС». (СПб; 1914 год)., Public domain. The Swedish army defending Finland was composed almost entirely of Finnish soldiers — Finland had been a Swedish province for five centuries — and was commanded by an unpopular and unsuccessful general named Georg Henrik Lybecker. His earlier campaign against Saint Petersburg in ...

Read more: Battle of Pälkäne on Qualla

Image: «ВЭС». (СПб; 1914 год). | Public domain

]]> Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/d/c/k/battle-of-palkane-wp/udck-battle-of-p-lk-ne-the-general-who-lost-his-cavalry.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Pälkäne: The amphibious flank https://qualla.com/battle-of-palkane/ Photo credit «ВЭС». (СПб; 1914 год)., Public domain. Apraksin understood the position at Pälkäne perfectly. A frontal attack across the Kostianvirta channel against entrenched Finnish infantry would be expensive and might fail. So he applied the same formula that had worked through the Finnish campaign: pin the defenders in front, ...

Read more: Battle of Pälkäne on Qualla

Image: «ВЭС». (СПб; 1914 год). | Public domain

]]> Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/d/c/k/battle-of-palkane-wp/udck-battle-of-p-lk-ne-the-amphibious-flank.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Pälkäne: The eastern infantry refused to leave https://qualla.com/battle-of-palkane/ Photo credit «ВЭС». (СПб; 1914 год)., Public domain. Meanwhile, in the east, Apraksin's frontal assault was failing. The Russians tried to cross the Kostianvirta on improvised rafts in three groups, with artillery support. The Finnish infantry along the bank fought them off in attack after attack. At one point Russian cavalry actua...

Read more: Battle of Pälkäne on Qualla

Image: «ВЭС». (СПб; 1914 год). | Public domain

]]> Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/d/c/k/battle-of-palkane-wp/udck-battle-of-p-lk-ne-the-eastern-infantry-refused-to-leave.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of Pälkäne: The next winter, in the snow https://qualla.com/battle-of-palkane/ Photo credit «ВЭС». (СПб; 1914 год)., Public domain. The Russians took Tampere. They wintered in southern Finland. In February 1714, in deep snow at Storkyro, Armfeldt and Galitzine met again — and this time the Finnish army was destroyed, with thousands killed in a battle so brutal it broke organized Swedish resistance in Finland ...

Read more: Battle of Pälkäne on Qualla

Image: «ВЭС». (СПб; 1914 год). | Public domain

]]> Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/d/c/k/battle-of-palkane-wp/udck-battle-of-p-lk-ne-the-next-winter-in-the-snow.mp3 0:06 6 full