In the Great Northern War (1700–1721), a coalition led by Russia successfully contested the supremacy of Sweden in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance were Peter I of Russia, Frederick IV of Denmark–Norway and Augustus II the Strong of Saxony-Poland-Lithuania. Frederick IV and Augustus II were defeated by Sweden, under Charles XII, and forced out of the alliance in 1700 and 1706, respectively, but rejoined it in 1709 after the defeat of Charles XII at the Battle of Poltava. George I of Great Britain and the Electorate of Hanover joined the coalition in 1714 for Hanover and in 1717 for Britain, and Frederick William I of Brandenburg-Prussia joined it in 1715.
Charles XII led the Swedish Army. Swedish allies included Holstein-Gottorp, several Polish magnates under Stanisław I Leszczyński (1704–1710) and Cossacks under the Ukrainian Hetman Ivan Mazepa (1708–1710). The Ottoman Empire temporarily hosted Charles XII of Sweden and intervened against Peter I.
The war began when Denmark–Norway, Saxony and Russia, sensing an opportunity as Sweden was ruled by the young Charles XII, formed a coalition against Sweden. Denmark invaded Sweden's ally Holstein-Gottorp, while Saxony and Russia declared war on the Swedish Empire and attacked Swedish Livonia and Swedish Ingria, respectively. Sweden parried the Danes at Travendal (August 1700) and the Russians at Narva (November 1700), and in a counter-offensive pushed Augustus II's forces through the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to Saxony, dethroning Augustus on the way (September 1706) and forcing him to acknowledge defeat in the Treaty of Altranstädt (October 1706). The treaty also secured the extradition and execution of Johann Reinhold Patkul, architect of the alliance seven years earlier. Meanwhile, the forces of Peter I had recovered from defeat at Narva and gained ground in Sweden's Baltic provinces, where they cemented Russian access to the Baltic Sea by founding Saint Petersburg in 1703. Charles XII moved from Saxony into Russia to confront Peter, but the campaign ended in 1709 with the destruction of the main Swedish army at the decisive Battle of Poltava (in present-day Ukraine) and Charles' exile in the Ottoman town of Bender. The Ottoman Empire defeated the Russian–Moldavian army in the Pruth River Campaign, but that peace treaty was in the end without great consequence to Russia's position.
After Poltava, the anti-Swedish coalition revived and subsequently Hanover and Prussia joined it. The remaining Swedish forces in plague-stricken areas south and east of the Baltic Sea were evicted, with the last city, Tallinn, falling in the autumn of 1710. By 1714, Russia had occupied Finland.
On 18 October 1709, Sweden received Denmark-Norway’s declaration of war, presented as a response to the alleged maltreatment of Danes by Sweden in Scania. Swedish victory at Helsingborg amounted to only a brief respite before ultimate defeat in the west.
From June 1716, Denmark and Russia prepared a joint invasion of Sweden proper, which the Tsar envisioned as dealing the Swedish king a decisive blow. Earlier that year, Charles XII had invaded south-eastern Norway, but a string of successive defeats, together with the systematic disruption of Swedish logistics by the Norwegians, had forced him back towards the border. In June and July, a renewed offensive against Fredrikshald, or Halden, was frustrated by the combined efforts of the town's garrison and inhabitants. The campaign was finally abandoned after Tordenskjold, the Norwegian naval hero, captured almost the entire Swedish supply and transport fleet at Dynekilen, forcing Charles XII to finally retreat across the border. In the meantime, a Danish-Russian invasion force was assembling across the strait. Severe delays, however, pushed the operation into autumn and, together with growing distrust and strategic divergence between the allied monarchs, ultimately led to its cancellation.
In 1718, Sweden launched a second and even larger campaign against Norway. Charles XII was ultimately killed in the trenches before Fredriksten, while a second Swedish field army was forced onto the Carolean Death March during its retreat from Trøndelag, losing most of its men. The failure of the Norwegian campaign constituted a severe strategic defeat for Sweden and effectively brought its offensive war to an end.
The war ended with the defeat of Sweden, leaving Russia as the new dominant power in the Baltic region and as a new major force in European politics. The Western powers, Great Britain and France, became caught up in the separate War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), which broke out over the Bourbon Philip of Anjou's succession to the Spanish throne and a possible joining of France and Spain. The formal conclusion of the Great Northern War came with the Swedish-Hanoverian and Swedish-Prussian Treaties of Stockholm (1719), the Dano-Swedish Treaty of Frederiksborg (1720), and the Russo-Swedish Treaty of Nystad (1721). By these treaties Sweden ceded its exemption from the Sound Dues and lost the Baltic provinces and the southern part of Swedish Pomerania. The peace treaties also ended its alliance with Holstein-Gottorp. Hanover gained Bremen-Verden, Brandenburg-Prussia incorporated the Oder estuary (Stettin Lagoons), Russia secured the Baltic Provinces, and Denmark strengthened its position in Schleswig-Holstein. In Sweden, the absolute monarchy had come to an end with the death of Charles XII, and Sweden's Age of Liberty began.
Background
Between 1560 and 1658, Sweden created a Baltic empire centred on the Gulf of Finland and comprising the provinces of Karelia, Ingria, Estonia, and Livonia. During the Thirty Years' War, Sweden gained tracts in Germany as well, including Western Pomerania, Wismar, and the duchies of Bremen and Verden. During the same period, Sweden conquered Danish and Norwegian provinces north of the Sound (1645; 1658). These victories may be ascribed to a well-trained army, which, despite its comparatively small size, was far more professional than most continental armies, and also to a modernization of administration (both civilian and military) in the course of the 17th century, which enabled the monarchy to harness the resources of the country and its empire effectively. Fighting in the field, the Swedish Army (which during the Thirty Years' War contained more German and Scottish mercenaries than ethnic Swedes, but was administered by the Swedish Crown) was able, in particular, to make quick, sustained marches across large tracts of land and to maintain a high rate of small arms fire due to proficient military drill.
However, the Swedish state ultimately proved unable to support and maintain its army in a prolonged war. Campaigns on the continent had been proposed on the basis that the army would be financially self-supporting through plunder and taxation of newly gained land, a concept shared by most major powers of the period. The cost of the warfare proved to be much higher than the occupied countries could fund, and Sweden's coffers and resources in manpower were eventually drained in the course of a long war.
The foreign interventions in Russia during the Time of Troubles resulted in Swedish gains in the Treaty of Stolbovo (1617). The treaty deprived Russia of direct access to the Baltic Sea. Russian fortunes began to reverse in the final years of the 17th century, notably with the rise to power of Peter the Great, who looked to address the earlier losses and re-establish a Baltic presence. In the late 1690s, the adventurer Johann Patkul managed to ally Russia with Denmark and Saxony by the secret Treaty of Preobrazhenskoye, and in 1700 the three powers attacked.
Sweden and allies
Charles XII of Sweden succeeded Charles XI of Sweden in 1697, aged 14. From his predecessor, he took over the Swedish Empire as an absolute monarch. Charles XI had tried to keep the empire out of wars, and concentrated on inner reforms such as reduction and allotment, which had strengthened the monarch's status and the empire's military abilities. Charles XII refrained from all kinds of luxury and alcohol and usage of the French language, since he considered these things decadent and superfluous. He preferred the life of an ordinary soldier on horseback, not that of contemporary baroque courts. He determinedly pursued his goal of dethroning his adversaries, whom he considered unworthy of their thrones due to broken promises, thereby refusing to take several chances to make peace. During the war, the most important Swedish commanders besides Charles XII were his close friend Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld, also Magnus Stenbock and Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt.
Charles Frederick, son of Frederick IV, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (a cousin of Charles XII) and Hedvig Sophia, daughter of Charles XI of Sweden, had been the Swedish heir since 1702. He claimed the throne upon Charles XII's death in 1718, but was supplanted by Ulrike Eleonora. Charles Frederick was married to a daughter of Peter I, Anna Petrovna.
Ivan Mazepa was a Ukrainian Cossack hetman who fought for Russia but defected to Charles XII in 1708. Mazepa died in 1709 in Ottoman exile.
Army size
Sweden's army peaked in 1707–1708 with an effective strength of about 100,000 men, and a nominal size of between 110,000 and 115,000 men. It fielded about 65,000 men at the outbreak of the war, and 40,000 in 1716. Charles XII mustered 60,000 to 70,000 men for the Norwegian campaign of 1718, which was reduced to 45,000 towards the end of the war. In early 1700, the Swedish Navy consisted of 39 battleships (ships of the line) of 48,000 tonnes, eight major and six minor cruising warships and one bomb vessel (4,500 tonnes). The battleship-fleet peaked in 1705–1709, with 43 ships (56,000 tonnes); as peace was concluded in 1721, only 23 battleships (32,000 tonnes) remained, several of which were unrepairable or nearing the end of their service life.
Holstein-Gottorp had an army of about 2,695 when the Danes attacked in 1700 and laid siege to Tönning. At the second siege in 1713–1714, the garrison had 1,600 men with the rest fighting in the War of the Spanish Succession; these would later enter Swedish service as Holstein was occupied by the Danes.
By 1707, at the eve of the Russian campaign, the pro-Leszczyński followers in Poland had swollen to 20,000 men from a core of 6,000. In addition, there were 4,000 to 5,000 troops of Sapieha's army and 12,040 of the Lithuanian Crown Army, now loyal to Stanisław I.
Modern estimates puts the army Mazepa brought with him to Charles XII in 1708 at 2,000 to 4,000 Cossacks, in addition to some 5,000 left behind at Baturyn who were subsequently all killed or captured in the Sack of Baturyn. It peaked at 6,000 to 12,000 men the following year when 4,000 to 8,000 Zaporozhian Cossacks joined the Swedes and Ukrainian Cossacks on 10 May – at least 11,000 had thus switched sides in total.
Anti-Swedish coalition
Peter the Great became Tsar in 1682 upon the death of his elder brother Feodor but did not become the actual ruler until 1689. He commenced reforming the country, turning the Russian tsardom into a modernized empire relying on trade and on a strong, professional army and navy. He greatly expanded the size of Russia during his reign while providing access to the Baltic, Black, and Caspian seas. Beside Peter, the principal Russian commanders were Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov and Boris Sheremetev.
Augustus II the Strong, elector of Saxony and another cousin of Charles XII, gained the Polish crown after the death of King John III Sobieski in 1696. His ambitions to transform the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth into an absolute monarchy were not realized due to the zealous nature of the Polish nobility and the previously initiated laws that decreased the power of the monarch. His meeting with Peter the Great in Rawa Ruska in September 1698, where the plans to attack Sweden were made, became legendary for its decadence.
Frederick IV of Denmark–Norway, another cousin of Charles XII, succeeded Christian V in 1699 and continued his anti-Swedish policies. After the setbacks of 1700, he focused on transforming his state, an absolute monarchy, in a manner similar to Charles XI of Sweden. He did not achieve his main goal: to regain the former eastern Danish provinces lost to Sweden in the course of the 17th century. He was not able to keep northern Swedish Pomerania, Danish from 1712 to 1715. He did put an end to the Swedish threat south of Denmark. He ended Sweden's exemption from the Sound Dues (transit taxes/tariffs on cargo moved between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea).
Frederick William I entered the war as elector of Brandenburg and king in Prussia—the royal title had been secured in 1701. He was determined to gain the Oder estuary with its access to the Baltic Sea for the Brandenburgian core areas, which had been a state goal for centuries.
George I of the House of Hanover, elector of Hanover and, since 1714, king of Great Britain and of Ireland, took the opportunity to connect his landlocked German electorate to the North Sea.
Coalition armies
Russia's army had 120,000 men in the late 1600s, not including Cossacks and Kalmucks. It quickly grew to between 168,000 and 200,000 effective troops in the early years of 1702 to 1705. Russia had 200,000 men under arms in 1707, and the army remained at between 164,000 (1711) and 200,000 (1719) for the rest of the war. Other sources mention 220,000 troops by 1710, without specifying if the number includes Cossacks and Kalmucks. By the time of Peter I's death in 1725, there were 210,000 regular troops in the army. Between 1710 and 1712, the Russian Navy launched their first five battleships on the Baltic Sea from Saint Petersburg, with 17 more being launched by 1721. In addition, seven more were built in Arkhangelsk, while 16 were purchased and three built by other nations. By 1721, the Baltic Fleet had grown to 37 battleships, nine frigates and two bomb vessels, totalling 55,000 tonnes, not counting an estimated 50 major galleys and 120 small oared craft.
Estimates has the number of Cossacks fighting for Russia at between 30,000 and 50,000, and the Kalmucks at 15,000. Other sources puts the Cossacks and Kalmucks at 40,000 to 45,000, up to 100,000, and even 150,000 to 200,000 men.
For the most part, the Saxon Army had a nominal strength of 30,000 regular troops. However, only a limited effective strength could be achieved due to severe losses; the army had 18,000 men in 1700 and, including the losses sustained at the Battle of Kliszów, 25,000 in August 1702. By 1717, it had reached an effective strength of 29,900 men. There were also an unknown number of militia to provide or reinforce garrisons; in 1706, at the time of Swedish invasion of Saxony, they reportedly counted 5,000 men. After the introduction of a new system in 1709, there were eight militia regiments.
According to the military regulations of 1699, the Danish and Norwegian armies counted 23,021 and 12,848 men, respectively, while a subsequent muster recalled 13,660 for the latter. The Danish Army had about 38,900 mercenaries, provincial and militia troops as hostilities were renewed in 1709, excluding the contingents leased to the maritime powers in the War of the Spanish Succession, while the Norwegian Army had 17,500 men. As the contingents returned ahead of the Pomeranian campaign of 1715, the Danish Army was reorganised into a near-effective force of about 35,000. The Norwegians had 24,379 men at New Year's Eve 1715–1716, including three regiments temporarily transferred to the Danish Army. In early 1700, the Danish Navy consisted of 32 battleships and 26 cruising warships of 42,000 and 7,000 tonnes, respectively, as well as six bomb vessels, six blockships and seven galleys. Denmark's battleship-fleet peaked ahead of its second intervention of 1709, with 41 ships (58,000 tonnes). In 1721, 25 battleships (38,000 tonnes) remained.
In 1702, as the Swedes invaded Poland with 21,000 men, the Polish and Lithuanian Crown armies had 13,000 to 18,140 men, and 4,000 to 7,400 men, respectively. In 1703, the Polish Sejm agreed to raise the Polish and Lithuanian armies to 36,000 and 12,000 men, respectively. In total, 90,000 Poles and Lithuanians fought at the height of the Polish civil war which started in 1704; 70,000 of which would oppose the Swedes and their Polish puppet-king, Stanisław I, or about three quarters of a total of 100,000 combatants.
In 1715, the year Prussia entered the war against Sweden, the standing Prussian Army counted 45,688 men. It had increased to 56,575 men in 1720, the year Prussia left the war. The Hanoverian Army had about 20,000 men at its entry into the Great Northern War in 1715.
1700: Denmark, Riga and Narva
Frederik IV of Denmark–Norway directed his first attack against Holstein-Gottorp, a Swedish client state and long-time rival of Denmark; Sweden, along with the Maritime Powers of England and the Dutch Republic, were guarantors of its sovereignty by the Convention of Altona in 1689, which ended a previous conflict between the two. Hanover (Lüneburg), another ally of Holstein-Gottorp, would also assemble a relief-force. In March 1700, a Danish army laid siege to Tönning. Simultaneously, Augustus II's forces advanced through Swedish Livonia, captured Dünamünde and laid siege to Riga.