[WesternCulture]

Two military geniuses with a united people behind them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwKYqSyoopw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24gQKRF9aJ0

[Sherman Logan]

Charles XII who inflicted so much havoc on Russian soil that backward Russia still is a second rate European power?

Chuck XII was a military tactical genius. Strategically and politically he was an idiot.

A lot of things explain Russian backwardness better than his attacks, which affected relatively small areas of the Russian homeland.