Reno
The Studio Ghibli Fanatic
My second history article ever written. My first one was a tad short, so this time I made one properly in lenght.
The Great Northern War
In Short
The Great Northern War was fough from 1700 till 1721, between Sweden and Holstein against the alliance of Denmark-Norway, Saxony, Poland-Lithuania and Russia and at a later date (1715) Prussia and Hanover. The war ended in the peace of Nystad (Uudenkaupungin Rauha) in 1721. It marked the end of Sweden as a great power and Russia as a new great power.
Before The War
The few moves of diplomacy that Sweden made during the reign of Charles XI aimed mostly at at he political isolation of Denmark. It is no suprise that Denmark, right after the death of Charles XI in 1697 and the coronation of his son Charles XII as king, began to seek cooperation with Russia, Poland and Saxony against Sweden. In september 1699 they made a deal for an attack to begin against Sweden in January or February of 1700. The deal was also being negotiated by a traitorous Livonian nobleman by the name of Johan Reinhold Patkul, who for personal reasons was bitter towards Sweden. Patkul was, as it turned out, later turned over to the Swedes by Poland and he was executed in 1707 for treason. Before long Sweden found out about the plans against it and tried to stop the war from happening, by negotiating with Tsar Peter I (Peter The Great) of Russia to no avail. Sweden was all alone, because it's allies England, Holland and Holstein were of no help to Sweden in land fighting.
The War Begins & The Early War (1700-1701)
In the february of 1700 Sweden was attacked from two sides, Poland attacked into Livonia and Denmark attacked Sweden's ally Holstein. The Great Northern War had begun. Swedish-Finnish forces halted the Polish advance into Livonia, and Sweden's fleet assisted by the fleets of England and Holland managed to force Denmark into a temporary truce. In september 1700 Tsar Peter's Russia declared war on Sweden and invaded Ingria, which Sweden had held since the peace of Stolbova in 1617. Charles XII had already made the decision of taking the Swedish army into Poland, with him as the commander of the campaign. But before that he faced the Russians at Narva and beated them in the battle fought there on 20.11.1700. At this point Sweden held the upper hand in the war, it had the chance to force it's enemies to negotiate or get strong allies on it's side. But stubbornly Charles XII refused to negotiate. In this way Sweden isolated itself. Instead of negotiating or defending Charles chose to attack.
The War In Poland (1701-1706)
After the victory at Narva the road to Russia was open. As Tsar Peter lacked the troops, for the time being, to put against Charles. But to everyones suprise Charles, obviously underestimating the Russian army, attacked Poland in 1701 to dethrone August II of Poland. But there were other reasons for the attack. Maybe Charles was aiming to take away the risk of being attacked from the rear, once he attacked Russia. Getting access to Poland's resources also played a part in Charles' decision. He needed a secure supply rout aswell. Charles fought in Poland for five years mostly in the area between Warsaw and Cracow, achieving great victories, until August II bended to peace with Sweden and abdictated in favour of a Swedish puppet king in 1706. Now it was Russia's turn.
Tsar Peter's Campaigns In The Baltic And Ingria And Charles' Plan (1701-1703)
After the battle at Narva Tsar Peter got six years of peace from Charles, during which time he reformed the Russian governance and economy, also he raised a new army. Already in the summer of 1701 Peter had an army of 70 000 men at his disposal. He then conquered Estonia, most of Livonia and in 1703 all of Ingria. In the spring of 1703 Peter ordered the construction of a fortification, along the river Neva, and inside it's walls the construction of a new city, St Petersburg, which became the capital of Russia in 1712. Although Charles could have moved his army from Poland, defended his Baltic provinces and attacked St Petersburg, he chose to remain loyal to his style of warfare and took Moscow as his target. His choice is easy to critisize from a modern standpoint, but, in fact, the attack had a good chance of succeeding, because the Russian army was still not too overwhelming when compared to the Swedish army. Also Russia was weakened by a series of rebellions, for example. The Ukrainian Cossacks had rebelled, and Sweden could've gotten The Ottoman Empire on it's side against Russia.
Charles' Attack Against Russia (1708-1709)
Charles XII invaded Russia proper in 1708 with the force of 32 000 soldiers, most of those soldiers had been fighting with Charles since his campaigns in Poland. From Riga an army of 13 000 men commanded by General A. L. Lewenhaupt began it's offensive in accordance with Charles' plan. Lewenhaupt's army was due to join with Charles' army, but only 7 000 men managed to actually join up with the main army. From Finland the army there, commanded by Georg Lybecker, totaling 11 000 men attacked towards St Petersburg intending to tie some of Tsar Peter's forces there, but the taking over of the fort that shielded St Petersburg failed due to lack of siege weaponry. Charles' army didn't receive the help he needed from the Cossacks. But the biggest difficulty proved to be the exceptionally harsh winter of 1708-09 against which the Swedish army had not prepared. The Russians took the scorched earth tactic into usage and thus made the supply situation for the Swedish army even worse. By the spring of 1709 Charles' army had shrunk to 23 000 men. Tsar Peter's and King Charles' armies finally met in the battle of Poltava in Ukraine in the summer of 1709. Now even skillful tactics helped Charles' army against Peter's army, which was twice as large as the Swedish army that was against him. The battle was a total defeat for Sweden and finally the main army force lead by Lewenhaupt had to surrender. The wounded Charles found a place of refuge in Turkey, where he spent over the next five years trying to convince the Ottoman Sultan to join the war on his side. Charles returned to Sweden in 1715.
War In The Baltic And Finland (1710-1716)
After the Swedish defeat at Poltava, the main focus of the fighting shifted into the fronts in Finland and the Baltic. Poland rebelled, and Denmark attacked Southern-Sweden, where Sweden however managed to defeat the Danish army in the battle of Helsingborg in 1710. Tsar Peter offered a peace deal to Sweden after Poltava, but it was flat out refused by Sweden. With it's inept foreign policy, Sweden had lost the support of it's allies England and Holland. Russia conquered all of Estonia and Livonia. After that Tsar Peter turned his attention to Finland and invaded Viipuri (Vyborg) and the Käkisalmi county (Kexholm) in Southeastern-Finland. A full scale invasion was delayed, because Charles XII was still trying to convince the Ottoman Sultan to go to war against Russia, which forced Peter to keep a large force guarding the Russian-Turkish border. This and Peter's indecisiveness gave Sweden a few more years to organize the defence of Finland. However, not much could be done in the country as it was hit by famine and war weariness. The Russian attack began in early september 1712 under the leadership of admiral Feodor Apraksin from Viipuri (Vyborg) to Kymijoki. The real invasion was started in the spring of 1713 with a naval landing to Helsinki (Helsingfors). The Russian invasion force of 25 000 men was faced by a Finnish army of 9 000 men near the city of Porvoo (Borgå). By the summer of the same year the Russian army began it's offensive towards Turku (Åbo) and the north. Even though actual fighting in Finland mostly ended in 1714, the last place of resistance, the castle of Kajaani (Kajanaborg) surrendered finally during the winter months of 1716. At the time of it's surrender, the castle was full of refugees and civilians. The Russian commander who sieged the castle ordered it to be destroyed afterwards.
Sweden Without Charles And The Beginning Of The Peace Negotiations (1710-1718)
No Swedish king ever before had been so long away from their kingdom as Charles did, while he was away fighting in Poland and Russia and convincing the Sultan of the Ottomans, from 1700 to 1715. Charles however kept Sweden under his and his trustees' control. Only, in 1710, after the defeat at Poltava, did the nobles take matters into their own hands. Sweden's economy had been badly strained by the war. A letter demanding peace was sent to the king in Turkey. When the general situation worsened, as Russia invaded Finland, in 1713-1714 the nobles under the leadership of Arvid Horn took complete control of the country and attempted to settle a suitable peace with Russia. The news of this forced Charles into returning home and he finally arrived there in december 1715. Back in Sweden he deposed the nobles out of power and took control once again, suprisingly easily considering everything that had happened. On his way home Charles had hired a Holsteinian nobleman Georg Heinrich Von Görtz as his advisor. Von Görtz received large power over Sweden's economy, foreign policy and army management. He succeeded in signing a temporary truce with Russia in 1718, so that Charles XII could continue his War Against Denmark.
Charles' Last Campaign, Norway (1718)
While peace negotiations were ongoing in Turku (Åbo), Finland, Charles was free to attempt to fore Denmark into peace. He was going to invade Norway. The Swedish army on the border of Norway, totalling 20 000 men, lead by Charles began it's attack in september 1718. At the same time a force of 8 000 men commanded by General Armfelt began it's attack toward Trondheim. The attack failed, of the 8 000 men who attacked only 1 500 survived. Armfelt would have probably stopped the attack sooner had he known, what had happened during the siege of Freidrikstein. There on the 30.11.1718 as the Charles was commanding, the young monarch was killed by a single shot to the head. That meant the end of the campaign and the war.
The War's End And It's Effects (1719-1721)
The nobles of Sweden, lead by Arvi Horn, elected Charles' sister Ulrika Eleonora as the Queen of Sweden in early 1719. She however gave here rulership to her husband the prince of Hessen Fredrik I only after a year of her rule. A new form of government was declared and ratified in 21.2.1719. The time of Absolute Monarchy was over. Von Görtz, who had acted as Charles XII's loyal advisor, was defeated nd sentenced to death. First Sweden made peace, in 1720, with Hannover, Denmark and Prussia. To Prussia it gave most of Swedish ruled Pommern and to Hannover the area of Bremen-Verden but to Denmark it gave nothing. The peace with Tsar Peter's Russia was made in Nystad (Uusikaupunki) on the 30.8.1721. Sweden gave seceded all of Southeast-Finland, Ingria, Estonia and Livonia to Russia. Sweden lost it's political position as a great power and it's economically important Baltian holdings. Russia on the other hand became a great power, not only was it a great power because of it's size but it had under Tsar Peter I managed to reform itself into the powerhouse of Eastern Europe.
The territory of Sweden before and after the war, the green color is the area lost by Sweden.
The Great Northern War
In Short
The Great Northern War was fough from 1700 till 1721, between Sweden and Holstein against the alliance of Denmark-Norway, Saxony, Poland-Lithuania and Russia and at a later date (1715) Prussia and Hanover. The war ended in the peace of Nystad (Uudenkaupungin Rauha) in 1721. It marked the end of Sweden as a great power and Russia as a new great power.
Before The War
The few moves of diplomacy that Sweden made during the reign of Charles XI aimed mostly at at he political isolation of Denmark. It is no suprise that Denmark, right after the death of Charles XI in 1697 and the coronation of his son Charles XII as king, began to seek cooperation with Russia, Poland and Saxony against Sweden. In september 1699 they made a deal for an attack to begin against Sweden in January or February of 1700. The deal was also being negotiated by a traitorous Livonian nobleman by the name of Johan Reinhold Patkul, who for personal reasons was bitter towards Sweden. Patkul was, as it turned out, later turned over to the Swedes by Poland and he was executed in 1707 for treason. Before long Sweden found out about the plans against it and tried to stop the war from happening, by negotiating with Tsar Peter I (Peter The Great) of Russia to no avail. Sweden was all alone, because it's allies England, Holland and Holstein were of no help to Sweden in land fighting.
The War Begins & The Early War (1700-1701)
In the february of 1700 Sweden was attacked from two sides, Poland attacked into Livonia and Denmark attacked Sweden's ally Holstein. The Great Northern War had begun. Swedish-Finnish forces halted the Polish advance into Livonia, and Sweden's fleet assisted by the fleets of England and Holland managed to force Denmark into a temporary truce. In september 1700 Tsar Peter's Russia declared war on Sweden and invaded Ingria, which Sweden had held since the peace of Stolbova in 1617. Charles XII had already made the decision of taking the Swedish army into Poland, with him as the commander of the campaign. But before that he faced the Russians at Narva and beated them in the battle fought there on 20.11.1700. At this point Sweden held the upper hand in the war, it had the chance to force it's enemies to negotiate or get strong allies on it's side. But stubbornly Charles XII refused to negotiate. In this way Sweden isolated itself. Instead of negotiating or defending Charles chose to attack.
The War In Poland (1701-1706)
After the victory at Narva the road to Russia was open. As Tsar Peter lacked the troops, for the time being, to put against Charles. But to everyones suprise Charles, obviously underestimating the Russian army, attacked Poland in 1701 to dethrone August II of Poland. But there were other reasons for the attack. Maybe Charles was aiming to take away the risk of being attacked from the rear, once he attacked Russia. Getting access to Poland's resources also played a part in Charles' decision. He needed a secure supply rout aswell. Charles fought in Poland for five years mostly in the area between Warsaw and Cracow, achieving great victories, until August II bended to peace with Sweden and abdictated in favour of a Swedish puppet king in 1706. Now it was Russia's turn.
Tsar Peter's Campaigns In The Baltic And Ingria And Charles' Plan (1701-1703)
After the battle at Narva Tsar Peter got six years of peace from Charles, during which time he reformed the Russian governance and economy, also he raised a new army. Already in the summer of 1701 Peter had an army of 70 000 men at his disposal. He then conquered Estonia, most of Livonia and in 1703 all of Ingria. In the spring of 1703 Peter ordered the construction of a fortification, along the river Neva, and inside it's walls the construction of a new city, St Petersburg, which became the capital of Russia in 1712. Although Charles could have moved his army from Poland, defended his Baltic provinces and attacked St Petersburg, he chose to remain loyal to his style of warfare and took Moscow as his target. His choice is easy to critisize from a modern standpoint, but, in fact, the attack had a good chance of succeeding, because the Russian army was still not too overwhelming when compared to the Swedish army. Also Russia was weakened by a series of rebellions, for example. The Ukrainian Cossacks had rebelled, and Sweden could've gotten The Ottoman Empire on it's side against Russia.
Charles' Attack Against Russia (1708-1709)
Charles XII invaded Russia proper in 1708 with the force of 32 000 soldiers, most of those soldiers had been fighting with Charles since his campaigns in Poland. From Riga an army of 13 000 men commanded by General A. L. Lewenhaupt began it's offensive in accordance with Charles' plan. Lewenhaupt's army was due to join with Charles' army, but only 7 000 men managed to actually join up with the main army. From Finland the army there, commanded by Georg Lybecker, totaling 11 000 men attacked towards St Petersburg intending to tie some of Tsar Peter's forces there, but the taking over of the fort that shielded St Petersburg failed due to lack of siege weaponry. Charles' army didn't receive the help he needed from the Cossacks. But the biggest difficulty proved to be the exceptionally harsh winter of 1708-09 against which the Swedish army had not prepared. The Russians took the scorched earth tactic into usage and thus made the supply situation for the Swedish army even worse. By the spring of 1709 Charles' army had shrunk to 23 000 men. Tsar Peter's and King Charles' armies finally met in the battle of Poltava in Ukraine in the summer of 1709. Now even skillful tactics helped Charles' army against Peter's army, which was twice as large as the Swedish army that was against him. The battle was a total defeat for Sweden and finally the main army force lead by Lewenhaupt had to surrender. The wounded Charles found a place of refuge in Turkey, where he spent over the next five years trying to convince the Ottoman Sultan to join the war on his side. Charles returned to Sweden in 1715.
War In The Baltic And Finland (1710-1716)
After the Swedish defeat at Poltava, the main focus of the fighting shifted into the fronts in Finland and the Baltic. Poland rebelled, and Denmark attacked Southern-Sweden, where Sweden however managed to defeat the Danish army in the battle of Helsingborg in 1710. Tsar Peter offered a peace deal to Sweden after Poltava, but it was flat out refused by Sweden. With it's inept foreign policy, Sweden had lost the support of it's allies England and Holland. Russia conquered all of Estonia and Livonia. After that Tsar Peter turned his attention to Finland and invaded Viipuri (Vyborg) and the Käkisalmi county (Kexholm) in Southeastern-Finland. A full scale invasion was delayed, because Charles XII was still trying to convince the Ottoman Sultan to go to war against Russia, which forced Peter to keep a large force guarding the Russian-Turkish border. This and Peter's indecisiveness gave Sweden a few more years to organize the defence of Finland. However, not much could be done in the country as it was hit by famine and war weariness. The Russian attack began in early september 1712 under the leadership of admiral Feodor Apraksin from Viipuri (Vyborg) to Kymijoki. The real invasion was started in the spring of 1713 with a naval landing to Helsinki (Helsingfors). The Russian invasion force of 25 000 men was faced by a Finnish army of 9 000 men near the city of Porvoo (Borgå). By the summer of the same year the Russian army began it's offensive towards Turku (Åbo) and the north. Even though actual fighting in Finland mostly ended in 1714, the last place of resistance, the castle of Kajaani (Kajanaborg) surrendered finally during the winter months of 1716. At the time of it's surrender, the castle was full of refugees and civilians. The Russian commander who sieged the castle ordered it to be destroyed afterwards.
Sweden Without Charles And The Beginning Of The Peace Negotiations (1710-1718)
No Swedish king ever before had been so long away from their kingdom as Charles did, while he was away fighting in Poland and Russia and convincing the Sultan of the Ottomans, from 1700 to 1715. Charles however kept Sweden under his and his trustees' control. Only, in 1710, after the defeat at Poltava, did the nobles take matters into their own hands. Sweden's economy had been badly strained by the war. A letter demanding peace was sent to the king in Turkey. When the general situation worsened, as Russia invaded Finland, in 1713-1714 the nobles under the leadership of Arvid Horn took complete control of the country and attempted to settle a suitable peace with Russia. The news of this forced Charles into returning home and he finally arrived there in december 1715. Back in Sweden he deposed the nobles out of power and took control once again, suprisingly easily considering everything that had happened. On his way home Charles had hired a Holsteinian nobleman Georg Heinrich Von Görtz as his advisor. Von Görtz received large power over Sweden's economy, foreign policy and army management. He succeeded in signing a temporary truce with Russia in 1718, so that Charles XII could continue his War Against Denmark.
Charles' Last Campaign, Norway (1718)
While peace negotiations were ongoing in Turku (Åbo), Finland, Charles was free to attempt to fore Denmark into peace. He was going to invade Norway. The Swedish army on the border of Norway, totalling 20 000 men, lead by Charles began it's attack in september 1718. At the same time a force of 8 000 men commanded by General Armfelt began it's attack toward Trondheim. The attack failed, of the 8 000 men who attacked only 1 500 survived. Armfelt would have probably stopped the attack sooner had he known, what had happened during the siege of Freidrikstein. There on the 30.11.1718 as the Charles was commanding, the young monarch was killed by a single shot to the head. That meant the end of the campaign and the war.
The War's End And It's Effects (1719-1721)
The nobles of Sweden, lead by Arvi Horn, elected Charles' sister Ulrika Eleonora as the Queen of Sweden in early 1719. She however gave here rulership to her husband the prince of Hessen Fredrik I only after a year of her rule. A new form of government was declared and ratified in 21.2.1719. The time of Absolute Monarchy was over. Von Görtz, who had acted as Charles XII's loyal advisor, was defeated nd sentenced to death. First Sweden made peace, in 1720, with Hannover, Denmark and Prussia. To Prussia it gave most of Swedish ruled Pommern and to Hannover the area of Bremen-Verden but to Denmark it gave nothing. The peace with Tsar Peter's Russia was made in Nystad (Uusikaupunki) on the 30.8.1721. Sweden gave seceded all of Southeast-Finland, Ingria, Estonia and Livonia to Russia. Sweden lost it's political position as a great power and it's economically important Baltian holdings. Russia on the other hand became a great power, not only was it a great power because of it's size but it had under Tsar Peter I managed to reform itself into the powerhouse of Eastern Europe.
The territory of Sweden before and after the war, the green color is the area lost by Sweden.
) though the results weren't that good from a Danish point of view 
