The Presidential Library marking the 320th anniversary of the beginning of the Northern War: "there is hardly an event so important"

On 30 (19 according to the old style) August 1700, Peter I declared war on Sweden and moved his troops to Narva. The Great Northern War, which lasted until 1721, began. 

“In the history of the thousand-year existence of Russia, there is hardly an event so important as the struggle of Peter the Great with Charles XII, known as the Northern War. Its goal - the acquisition of the shores of the Baltic Sea - is inextricably associated with the transformation of our Fatherland; its consequence is the current greatness of Russia”, - this is how Colonel of the General Staff Alexander Kartsov assessed the significance of this large-scale historical military conflict in his manual for military educational institutions “Military-Historical Review of the Northern War” (1851), available on the Presidential Library’s portal. The 1st (1892) and 5th (1893) editions of the "Collection of Military-Historical Materials" by historians Dmitry Maslovsky and Alexander Myshlaevsky and other research and documentary publications devoted to the Northern War are also available on the institution’s website.

In addition, the library's portal features an extensive collection "Russia - Sweden", including electronic copies of unique documents, for example, "Ratification of the royal majesty, on the treatise of eternal peace, perpetrated with his imperial majesty in Neustadt" (1721).

The conquest of the outlet to the Baltic Sea was of both economic and strategic importance for Russia. Back in the 16th century, Ivan the Terrible, during the Livonian War, tried to open sea routes for Russia with Western Europe through the Baltic, but failed. Russia's attempt in the Russian-Swedish war of 1656-1658 to return the lost territories was also unsuccessful.

At the end of the 17th century, aggressively minded Sweden strengthened its army and navy and formed an alliance with Great Britain, Holland and France, securing their support in case of war.

As a result of the Great Embassy, ​​a diplomatic mission to Western Europe in 1697-1698, in the spring of 1700, the Northern Union between Russia, the Commonwealth, Denmark and Saxony was created. This allowed Peter I, after signing the 30-year Peace Treaty of Constantinople with Turkey, to enter the war with Sweden for access to the Baltic Sea. According to Alexander Kartsov, “finally, on August 18, 1700, the news of the conclusion of an armistice with Turkey for 30 years was received in Moscow, and the next day (19) a declaration of war against Sweden was announced. The hostility shown to the Emperor by the Swedish commandant of the city of Riga, the plundering by the Livonian peasants of the property of our ambassador returning from Vienna and, finally, the arrest of some Russian merchants in Stockholm - were declared the reasons for the war.

The beginning of the war was marked by major defeats of the Allied forces, which was explained by their military weakness and inconsistency of actions. Denmark was forced to conclude peace with Sweden in August 1700, and the Russian troops lost the Battle of Narva on November 30 (19) of the same year.

However, then Charles XII, who easily seized the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, found himself in a difficult situation: the occupation provoked resistance from the population, most of the Polish-Lithuanian feudal lords sided with the deposed King Augustus. Peter I, assessing the situation, energetically launched the construction of the fleet - sea rowing and sailing ships. After the victories of the troops under the command of General Boris Sheremetev over the Swedes in the winter of 1702, the Russian army began to be successful. In the spring of 1703, Peter conquered the fortress of Nyenskans, “the taken fortress was demolished, and instead of it, on May 16, 1703, a new one was laid, in the name of the Apostles Peter and Paul, closer to the mouth of the Neva, on a small island... formed by the branches of the river. The Peter and Paul Fortress was the beginning of St. Petersburg”, - says Kartsov. In 1704 Karl's attempts to seize Petersburg were repelled, Narva and Dorpat (Tartu) were taken by storm, in 1706 the Swedish-Polish troops suffered a serious defeat at Kalisz.

By 1707, Charles XII, preparing for the invasion, increased the size of his army to 95-100 thousand people. At this time, the tense internal and international situation did not favor Russia. But thanks to the skilful actions of Peter and his generals, the Russian troops won victories both on land and at sea. The peculiarity of hostilities of this period of the Northern War was described by the historian Sergei Ivanyuk in his dissertation "Small war in the strategy and tactics of the Russian army at the first stage of the Northern War (autumn 1700 - summer 1709)" (2014).

This decisive battle, which determined the further course of the Northern War, was the Battle of Poltava on July 8 (June 27), 1709, the details of which are available in On this Day section on the Presidential Library’s portal.

From 1710 to 1721, Russian troops won a number of both land and sea (the Battle of Gangut in 1714, the Battle of Grengam in 1720). At the same time, the foreign policy situation contributed to the weakening of Sweden and the deterioration of its position. By 1710, the Northern Union was renewed, in 1717 Peter I managed to conclude the Amsterdam Treaty of Alliance and Friendship between Russia, France and Prussia. Sweden found itself isolated and in 1718 agreed to peace negotiations. But the sudden death of Charles XII led to the resumption of hostilities. The brilliant victories of the Russian fleet and the successful landings of Russian troops in Sweden in 1719-1721 forced the new king of Sweden, Frederick I, to negotiate with Russia. On August 30, 1721, the Treaty of Nystad was signed in Finland, according to which Russia received Livonia, Estonia, part of Karelia and other lands from Vyborg to the border with Kurland, but returned the captured Finland to Sweden. Trade was restored between the two countries.

The treaty, under which Russia secured access to the Baltic Sea, was a major achievement of Russian diplomacy and became a worthy result of the many years of the Northern War, which made Russia one of the great powers of Europe.