The Great Northern War reaches its climax in 1709 as Charles XII's gambit into the Ukraine comes to head at Poltava and will largely decide the war's outcome. Meanwhile the civil war in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth rages on and much of the nobility is on the fence about which side to support. Everyone is holding their breath waiting to see the results of the Swedish campaign before solidifying their stance on the war.

After the disaster of the Grodno campaign, revolts and dissent are brewing, and with Augustus now being officially out of the war, Peter decides to pull back the majority of the Russian troops out of the Commonwealth to prepare for the Swedish invasion. Meanwhile Wladyslaw Leszczynski starts to lose lose his grip on the Commonwealth as an emboldened Charles makes the fateful decision to march East towards Ukraine.

The year is now 1704, The Great Northern War has been raging for 4 years and Charles XII of Sweden has successfully knocked out Denmark from the war and won stunning victories against the coalition forces. Now, Charles will install his own choice candidate for the Commonwealth throne as the Commonwealth falls into a violent civil war. Meanwhile, over the next two years Sweden will achieve even more decisive victories in what will be known as the Grodno Campaign. By 1708 Charles will have successfully dethroned Augustus from the Commonwealth throne and knock out Saxony from the war. Sweden now stands from a strong position as Charles is finally able to plan out an offensive into Russia and hopefully end the war.