[6] After the Battle of Poltava on 27 June 1709 and the surrender of most of the Swedish army at Perevolochna three days later, Charles XII of Sweden fled together with about 1,500 Caroleans and about the same number of Cossacks to the Ottoman Empire, where they spent about 5 years.

The high cost of maintaining the Swedes was also something that the Grand Viziers – who were more hostile to Charles XII – did not fail to point out when they tried to persuade the Swedish king to leave.

[7] The event itself took place at the village of Varnitsa on the eastern bank of the Dniester, about 4 kilometres north of the town of Bender, where the king had moved with his entourage in July 1711.

During parts of the fighting, Charles was also actively sniping with a carbine against the assaulting enemy from a window in his sleeping quarters, positioned in the building where the Swedes had taken up their defense.

The fighting lasted for over seven hours and the Ottomans eventually used both artillery and fire arrows when the initial assaults were beaten back; the latter method proved to be more effective.