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The Great Northern War (1700 to 1721): Causes, Battles and Outcome

Northern and Eastern Europe · 1700 to 1721 · Sweden vs Russia, Denmark-Norway and Saxony-Poland · ~13 min read · Updated October 2026

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Painting of a winter scene: Swedish soldiers in blue coats and tricorn hats carry a dead king on a stretcher across a snowy rocky slope under a torn blue banner, while an old hunter, a child and a dog watch from the left and a long column of troops follows in the distance.

Gustaf Cederström, Bringing Home the Body of King Karl XII of Sweden (Karl XII:s likfärd), oil on canvas, 1884 (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, NM 1363), via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

At a glance

Dates
February 1700 (Saxon invasion of Livonia) to September 1721 (Treaty of Nystad)
Where
The Baltic provinces, Poland-Lithuania and Saxony, Russia and Ukraine, Finland, northern Germany, Denmark and Norway
Sides
Sweden (at times with Stanisław Leszczyński's Poland, Mazepa's Cossacks and the Ottoman Empire) against Russia, Denmark-Norway, Saxony with Augustus II's Poland, and from 1715 Prussia and Hanover
Key battles
Narva, Kliszów, Fraustadt, Holowczyn, Lesnaya, Poltava, Bender, Napue, Hangö
Outcome
Victory for Russia and its allies: Livonia, Estonia, Ingria and part of Karelia to Russia; the end of Sweden's age as a great power
Quick answer

What was the Great Northern War and who won?

The Great Northern War (1700 to 1721) was a struggle for the Baltic between Sweden under Charles XII and a coalition led by Russia with Denmark-Norway and Saxony-Poland. Sweden won early, at Narva in 1700, but lost the decisive Battle of Poltava in 1709. Russia won: the 1721 Treaty of Nystad gave it Sweden's eastern Baltic provinces.1

The Great Northern War was fought from 1700 to 1721 between the Swedish Empire of King Charles XII and a coalition of Russia, Denmark-Norway and Saxony-Poland, later joined by Prussia and Hanover. It began with a three-sided attack on Sweden in 1700 and ended with the Treaty of Nystad in 1721, which handed Sweden's eastern Baltic provinces to Russia and ended Sweden's age as a great power.2

Much of the war was fought on the soil of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, whose king, Augustus II, was also elector of Saxony. Our battle guides cover the Battle of Narva (1700), the Battle of Lesnaya (1708), the Battle of Poltava (1709), the kalabalik at Bender (1713) and the Battle of Napue (1714). For Poland the war was another round of a long Baltic struggle with Sweden that had already produced the Polish-Swedish War of 1600 to 1629 and the Deluge of 1655 to 1660.3

Causes of the Great Northern War

Around 1700 Sweden was the leading power of the Baltic. Its empire held Finland, the eastern Baltic provinces of Ingria, Estonia and Livonia, and lands in northern Germany such as Pomerania, and its neighbors had lost territory to it during the seventeenth century. Russia had lost Ingria, its outlet on the Gulf of Finland.4

In 1697 Charles XII came to the Swedish throne at the age of fifteen, and his neighbors saw their chance. In 1698 and 1699 Frederick IV of Denmark-Norway, Augustus II, elector of Saxony and king of Poland, and Tsar Peter I of Russia agreed on a secret alliance against Sweden. Johann Reinhold von Patkul, a Livonian noble who opposed Swedish rule in his province, helped to bring it together.5

Each ally wanted something different. Denmark-Norway hoped to recover its old standing in the Baltic and was at odds with Sweden's ally, the duchy of Holstein-Gottorp. Augustus II wanted Swedish Livonia, more land for his Wettin dynasty and stronger royal power in the Commonwealth. Peter wanted a coast on the Baltic Sea, which he saw as the key to trade with the West and to Russia's modernization.6

To Sweden the war was an unprovoked attack. Saxon troops invaded Livonia in February 1700, Danish troops moved against Holstein-Gottorp, and in the autumn Peter laid siege to Narva. Charles, Britannica notes, saw the cause of Sweden as that of the victim of a concerted attack.7

The war also ran alongside a bigger one. From 1701 the great powers of Western Europe were absorbed in the War of the Spanish Succession, and only after 1713, when that war was ending, did Britain and Hanover turn to the Baltic. The western conflict also limited Charles's freedom of action: his old partners Britain and the Dutch Republic drifted away when Sweden could not help them against France.8

Hand-colored early eighteenth-century map of the Baltic Sea and its shores: Norway and Denmark in pink, Sweden in green, Finland, Estonia, Livonia and Ingria in yellow, Russia in purple, and Poland and Lithuania in orange, with an inset chart of the Sound and a long text panel at top right.
The theater of the war as a London mapmaker saw it in 1717: Herman Moll, The Seat of War in the North, or a Map of the Baltick, with the Baltic provinces already “taken from the Swedes, since the beginning of this war” colored separately (Bibliothèque nationale de France). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Who fought in the Great Northern War

On one side stood the Swedish realm, which then included Finland, the Baltic provinces and territories in northern Germany. Against it stood a coalition whose members changed over time. Russia fought throughout. Denmark-Norway fought in 1700 and again from 1709 to 1720, which is why Danes often date the war 1709 to 1720. Saxony fought from 1700 to 1706 and again from 1709. Prussia and Hanover, whose elector George I was also king of Great Britain, declared war on Sweden in 1715.9

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a special case. Augustus II went to war as elector of Saxony, and the Commonwealth itself formally stayed neutral until 1704, although Swedish armies entered it in 1701. From 1704 it was split between the supporters of Augustus and those of the Swedish-backed king Stanisław Leszczyński, and foreign armies crossed it at will.10

Two more actors entered the war in the east. Ivan Mazepa, hetman of the Ukrainian Cossacks, sided with Charles XII in 1708, although far fewer Cossacks followed him than Charles had hoped. The Ottoman Empire, which wanted to win back Azov from Russia, gave Charles asylum after Poltava, declared war on Russia in 1710 and beat Peter on the Pruth in 1711, regaining Azov.11

Portrait of a man with dark heavy eyebrows and a long curled wig, wearing polished armor, a red ermine-lined cloak and a pale blue sash across his chest.
Augustus II the Strong, elector of Saxony and king of Poland, who went to war against Sweden in 1700 and lost his Polish crown in 1706: portrait by Louis de Silvestre (National Museum in Warsaw). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Narva and Charles XII's war in Poland, 1700 to 1706

Charles struck first at Denmark. With the support of British and Dutch warships he landed on Zealand near Copenhagen in August 1700, and Frederick IV had to leave the war by the Treaty of Travendal, which restored the prewar situation.12

He then shipped his army to Estonia. On 30 November 1700 it attacked the Russian army besieging Narva, which was more than four times its size, in a snowstorm that blew into the Russians' faces. The Russian army broke and its whole artillery train was lost. Our article on the Battle of Narva tells the story of the day.13

Charles did not follow up into Russia. In the summer of 1701 he crossed the Western Dvina near Riga and scattered Augustus's Saxon army, and he then resolved to fight Augustus until he lost the Polish crown. His aim, in Britannica's words, was to turn a divided Poland into an ally and a base for the final campaign against Russia.14

Swedish troops occupied Warsaw and Kraków, and in the summer of 1702 Charles beat Augustus's army at Kliszów. The Polish Crown troops who fought beside the Saxons, including the winged hussars, charged without success and withdrew, and the Saxons were then routed. For Polish historians the battle showed how outdated the old Polish cavalry tactics had become.15

In 1704, under Swedish protection, an assembly of nobles declared Augustus deposed and elected Stanisław Leszczyński as king. Much of the nobility rejected the election. Augustus's supporters formed the Confederation of Sandomierz and turned to Russia, and Peter backed Charles's Polish and Lithuanian opponents. The Commonwealth slid into civil war.16

The deadlock broke in 1706. The Swedish field marshal Carl Gustaf Rehnskiöld won a decisive victory over a combined Saxon and Russian army at Fraustadt (Wschowa), in western Poland. Charles then marched into Saxony, and in September 1706 Augustus signed the Treaty of Altranstädt: he gave up the Polish crown to Stanisław, left his alliance with Russia and handed over Patkul, whom the Swedes executed in 1707.17

Oval portrait of a heavy-set man with a powdered curled wig, wearing armor under an ermine-lined cloak and a blue sash.
Stanisław Leszczyński, elected king of Poland under Swedish protection in 1704: eighteenth-century portrait by an unknown painter (Museum of King Jan III's Palace at Wilanów). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Charles XII's invasion of Russia and the Battle of Poltava

While Charles fought in Poland, Peter rebuilt his army after Narva and moved onto the eastern Baltic coast. In 1703 he founded St. Petersburg near the mouth of the Neva, and by 1705 his troops held Dorpat and Narva.18

In August 1707 Charles left Saxony with a rebuilt army to invade Russia. His goal was Moscow, where he hoped to overthrow Peter. The Russians fell back, burning crops and villages in his path. Charles beat them at Holowczyn (Hołowczyn) in July 1708, but shortages stopped the march on Moscow, and in September he turned south into Ukraine.19

The turn left behind the supply column that General Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt was bringing from Riga with about 12,500 men. On 28 September 1708 (Old Style) Peter caught it at Lesnaya. Lewenhaupt lost his wagons and much of his artillery and reached Charles with about half his men. Our article on the Battle of Lesnaya covers the fight.20

The winter of 1708 to 1709 was one of the harshest in memory, and some 3,000 Swedish soldiers froze to death. Mazepa's help also fell short, because Menshikov struck at the hetman's forces before he could raise the Cossacks.21

In May 1709 Charles besieged Poltava, a small town on the Vorskla. Peter brought up his army and built a fortified camp with a line of redoubts in front of it, which forced the Swedes to attack. Charles had been shot in the foot shortly before and could not lead in person, so command passed to Field Marshal Rehnskiöld.22

On 27 June 1709 (8 July, New Style) the Swedes went forward. About 2,600 infantrymen under General Carl Gustaf Roos were caught up in fighting for the redoubts and cut off, and the rest attacked a Russian army that heavily outnumbered them. The Swedish infantry was destroyed. Estimates cited by HistoryNet and Warfare History Network put the Swedish losses at about 6,900 men plus some 2,700 prisoners, Rehnskiöld among them, against 1,345 Russians killed and 3,290 wounded.23

Three days later most of the remaining army surrendered to Menshikov at Perevolochna on the Dnieper, where there were too few boats to cross. Charles escaped with a small escort into Ottoman territory. Our article on the Battle of Poltava describes the battle in detail.24

Engraving of a vast battle seen from a hill: riders and an officer on horseback in the foreground under a large tree, and beyond them a plain filled with long lines of troops, fortified camps, redoubts and smoke, with a town on the horizon and a three-line title in Cyrillic below.
“Image of the most glorious battle between the Russian and Swedish armies near Poltava, 27 June 1709”: one of a series of four Russian prints of battles against the Swedes, etching attributed to Maurice Baquoy, dated by the museum between 1709 and 1747 (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

After Poltava: Bender, the Baltic and Norway, 1709 to 1718

Poltava revived the coalition. Augustus II returned to the Polish throne with Russian support in 1709, Stanisław left the country, and Denmark-Norway and Saxony declared war on Sweden again. In 1710 Russian forces occupied the Baltic provinces and southeastern Finland, and over the next years the allies took Sweden's possessions in northern Germany.25

Charles spent five years in the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans went to war with Russia, but once they had beaten Peter on the Pruth and regained Azov they made peace. In February 1713 Ottoman and Tatar troops attacked his camp near Bender in the clash known as the kalabalik, told in our article on the kalabalik at Bender.26

Meanwhile the war went badly for Sweden. A Swedish army raised to defend the German provinces surrendered at Tönning in Holstein in 1713. Russia conquered Finland in 1713 and 1714, and in 1714 Peter's fleet defeated the Swedish fleet off the Hangö (Hanko) peninsula, which secured Russian control of Finland. Our article on the Battle of Napue covers the fighting on land in Finland.27

Charles rode across Europe incognito and reached Stralsund in November 1714. He reorganized Sweden for a new effort, but in 1715 Prussia and Hanover also declared war, and a surprise attack on Norway in 1716 failed. In 1718 he invaded Norway again and was shot dead at the siege of Fredriksten, near Fredrikshald (Halden), on 30 November 1718 by the calendar then used in Sweden, which was December by the Gregorian calendar. Rumors that the shot came from his own side began soon afterward, and the question is still debated.28

Engraving of a naval battle among rocky islands: a large sailing warship surrounded by smoke in the center, rows of oared galleys closing in from all sides, and a three-line title in Cyrillic below.
The naval battle off Hangö (Gangut), July 1714, won by Peter's fleet: from the same series of Russian prints, dated by the museum between 1709 and 1747 (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Key commanders of the Great Northern War

Charles XII, king from 1697 to 1718, led his army in person for most of the war. Historians rate him highly as a tactician and criticize his strategy. Britannica singles out his long war in Poland and his Russian campaign of 1707 to 1709, and Dennis McCarthy in History Today calls him a brilliant and daring field commander who nonetheless lost an empire.29

Peter I was beaten at Narva but used the following years to rebuild his army on Western lines, build a Baltic navy and take the eastern Baltic coast. The Encyclopedia of Russian History calls the war a major stimulus to his reforms.30

On the Swedish side, Field Marshal Carl Gustaf Rehnskiöld won at Fraustadt and commanded at Poltava, where he was captured, and Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt led the corps beaten at Lesnaya. On the Russian side, Aleksandr Menshikov led Peter's cavalry and took the Swedish surrender after Poltava, and Field Marshal Boris Sheremetev commanded the main army and its infantry.31

Who won the Great Northern War?

Russia and its allies won. After Charles's death the Swedish throne passed to his sister Ulrika Eleonora and her husband, Frederick of Hesse-Kassel, who reigned as Frederick I and made peace with Sweden's enemies one by one.32

By the Treaties of Stockholm of 1719 and 1720, Hanover received Bremen and Verden and Prussia received Stettin (Szczecin) and part of Swedish Pomerania. By the Treaty of Frederiksborg in 1720, Denmark-Norway gave up its conquests but was left free to take over the Gottorp part of Schleswig.33

The Treaty of Nystad, signed in September 1721, ended the war between Sweden and Russia. Sweden ceded Livonia, Estonia, Ingria and part of Karelia with Vyborg to Russia, but kept most of Finland.34

The result reshaped northern Europe. Sweden lost its place as a great power, and its absolute monarchy collapsed: the Diet took power in 1719 and the half-century known as the Age of Liberty began. Russia became the leading Baltic power, with seaports, a navy and a new capital at St. Petersburg.35

Poland and Saxony in the Great Northern War

For the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth the war was a disaster it had entered only through its Saxon king. Swedish, Russian and Saxon armies and its own rival factions marched across the country for years, and the Encyclopedia of Russian History writes that the war revealed for the first time, decisively, the political and military weakness of Poland.36

Peace at home came slowly. Augustus II kept Saxon troops in the Commonwealth and sought permanent taxes to pay for them, and the nobility rose against him: in 1715 its confederations united at Tarnogród. The conflict between the king and the confederates was settled, with Russia as guarantor, by a one-day Sejm in Warsaw on 1 February 1717, known as the Silent Sejm.37

The Silent Sejm set a permanent tax for the army, whose size was capped, under Russian pressure, at 24,000 men. The Polish Ministry of Education's history lessons call the settlement the start of a Russian protectorate. Historians at a 2017 conference at the Royal Castle in Warsaw drew a more mixed picture: Michał Zwierzykowski called the Commonwealth weakened but still independent, and Wojciech Kriegseisen said the short session followed the agreed procedure rather than outside pressure.38

The war also ended the Commonwealth's long contest with Sweden for the Baltic coast, which had shaped the Polish-Swedish War of 1600 to 1629 and the Deluge. Our guides to the wars of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the military history of Poland follow the story further.39

Consequences and memory of the Great Northern War

Poltava became the symbol of the war's outcome. Britannica writes that it ended Sweden's status as a major power and marked the beginning of Russian supremacy in eastern Europe, and Denmark's national encyclopedia calls it the turning point of the war.40

Russia gained seaports and a shorter route to Western Europe, and as the leading power of Eastern Europe it became much more involved in European affairs, including those of Poland.41

In Sweden Charles XII remains one of the most debated figures in the nation's history, admired for his courage and criticized for the wars that cost Sweden its empire. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries he served as a national symbol, the mood captured in Gustaf Cederström's painting of his funeral procession at the top of this page.42

Major battles of the Great Northern War

Below, in date order, are our articles on the battles of this war.

  1. 1700
    Battle of Narva, 1700Swedish Empire vs Tsardom of Russia

    How Charles XII and a small Swedish army routed a much larger Russian force at Narva in 1700.

  2. 1708
    Battle of Lesnaya, 1708Tsardom of Russia vs Swedish Empire

    On 9 October 1708 Peter the Great caught Lewenhaupt's Swedish corps and its supply train at Lesnaya. The march, the battle, the disputed numbers and why Peter called it the mother of Poltava.

  3. 1709
    Battle of Poltava, 1709Tsardom of Russia (Peter I) vs Swedish Empire (Charles XII)

    A summer dawn in Ukraine, a starving Swedish army, and the battle that broke Charles XII and made Peter the Great master of the north.

  4. 1713
    The Skirmish at Bender, 1713Ottoman Empire vs Charles XII of Sweden

    On 1 February 1713, after years as the Sultan's guest, Charles XII of Sweden and a few dozen men fought off Ottoman troops in his house near Bender until it was set on fire.

  5. 1714
    Battle of Napue, 1714Swedish Empire (mostly Finnish troops) vs Tsardom of Russia

    In February 1714 Prince Golitsyn marched an army on skis and sledges across snowbound Finland and turned Armfelt's flank at Napue. In two hours the last Swedish army in Finland was gone, and the Great Wrath began.

Timeline of the Great Northern War

  1. 1698 to 1699
    Denmark-Norway, Saxony-Poland and Russia form a secret alliance against Sweden.43
  2. 1700
    February: Saxon troops invade Livonia; August: Charles XII lands on Zealand and Denmark-Norway makes peace at Travendal; 30 November: Battle of Narva.44
  3. 1701
    Summer: Charles crosses the Western Dvina near Riga and scatters the Saxon army.45
  4. 1702
    Summer: Swedish victory over Augustus II at Kliszów.46
  5. 1703
    Peter I founds St. Petersburg.47
  6. 1704
    Stanisław Leszczyński is elected king of Poland under Swedish protection; Augustus's supporters form the Confederation of Sandomierz.48
  7. 1706
    Swedish victory at Fraustadt (Wschowa); September: Treaty of Altranstädt, Augustus gives up the Polish crown.49
  8. 1707
    August: Charles XII leaves Saxony to invade Russia.50
  9. 1708
    July: Swedish victory at Holowczyn; September: Charles turns into Ukraine; 28 September (Old Style): Battle of Lesnaya.51
  10. 1709
    27 June (8 July, New Style): Battle of Poltava; surrender at Perevolochna; Augustus II returns to the Polish throne and Denmark-Norway rejoins the war.52
  11. 1710 to 1711
    Russia occupies the Baltic provinces; the Ottoman Empire declares war on Russia and wins on the Pruth.53
  12. 1713
    February: kalabalik at Bender; May: a Swedish army surrenders at Tönning.54
  13. 1714
    Russia completes the conquest of Finland (Napue) and wins the naval battle off Hangö; November: Charles reaches Stralsund.55
  14. 1715
    Prussia and Hanover declare war on Sweden.56
  15. 1717
    1 February: the Silent Sejm in Warsaw.57
  16. 1718
    Charles XII is killed at the siege of Fredriksten in Norway.58
  17. 1719 to 1720
    Treaties of Stockholm with Hanover and Prussia; Treaty of Frederiksborg with Denmark-Norway.59
  18. 1721
    September: Treaty of Nystad between Sweden and Russia.60

Where to read next

The war is one chapter of our guides to the wars of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the military history of Poland. For the earlier Baltic wars, see the Polish-Swedish War of 1600 to 1629 and the Deluge; for the Ottoman wars that came just before, the Great Turkish War. The Polish cavalry's story is told in the winged hussars' greatest battles.

Notes

A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.

  1. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Second Northern War”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; Encyclopedia of Russian History; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Poltava”. ↩
  2. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Second Northern War”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; Den Store Danske. ↩
  3. Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “III wojna północna”; dzieje.pl, “315. rocznica bitwy pod Kliszowem, ostatniej z udziałem husarii”; Encyclopedia of Russian History. ↩
  4. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Second Northern War”; Encyclopedia of Russian History; Jonathan W. Jordan, “Tipping Point at Poltava”. ↩
  5. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Charles XII”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; Den Store Danske; Ola Teige, Store norske leksikon; Warfare History Network, “Battle of Poltava”. ↩
  6. EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “III wojna północna”; Encyclopedia of Russian History; Jonathan W. Jordan, “Tipping Point at Poltava”; Den Store Danske. ↩
  7. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Second Northern War”; Warfare History Network, “Battle of Poltava”; Jonathan W. Jordan, “Tipping Point at Poltava”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Charles XII”. ↩
  8. EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Charles XII”; Den Store Danske. ↩
  9. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Second Northern War”; Den Store Danske; Øystein Lydik Idsø Viken, Store norske leksikon; Ola Teige, Store norske leksikon; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Charles XII”. ↩
  10. dzieje.pl, “315. rocznica bitwy pod Kliszowem, ostatniej z udziałem husarii”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “III wojna północna”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Stanisław I”. ↩
  11. Encyclopedia of Russian History; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “III wojna północna”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Charles XII”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Second Northern War”. ↩
  12. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Second Northern War”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; Den Store Danske; Jacob F. Field, “Battle of Narva”. ↩
  13. Jacob F. Field, “Battle of Narva”; Jonathan W. Jordan, “Tipping Point at Poltava”; Warfare History Network, “Battle of Poltava”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”. ↩
  14. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Charles XII”; Ola Teige, Store norske leksikon; Jonathan W. Jordan, “Tipping Point at Poltava”; Jacob F. Field, “Battle of Narva”. ↩
  15. dzieje.pl, “315. rocznica bitwy pod Kliszowem, ostatniej z udziałem husarii”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “III wojna północna”; Jonathan W. Jordan, “Tipping Point at Poltava”; Warfare History Network, “Battle of Poltava”. ↩
  16. Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “III wojna północna”; Ola Teige, Store norske leksikon; Den Store Danske; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Stanisław I”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; dzieje.pl, “W trzechsetną rocznicę Sejmu Niemego 1717-2017 - konferencja na Zamku Królewskim w Warszawie”. ↩
  17. Ola Teige, Store norske leksikon; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “III wojna północna”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Second Northern War”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”. ↩
  18. Jacob F. Field, “Battle of Narva”; Encyclopedia of Russian History; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Second Northern War summary”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; Jonathan W. Jordan, “Tipping Point at Poltava”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “III wojna północna”. ↩
  19. Jonathan W. Jordan, “Tipping Point at Poltava”; Warfare History Network, “Battle of Poltava”; Encyclopedia of Russian History; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Charles XII”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “III wojna północna”. ↩
  20. EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; Jonathan W. Jordan, “Tipping Point at Poltava”; Warfare History Network, “The Battle of Lesnaya”; Warfare History Network, “Battle of Poltava”. ↩
  21. Jonathan W. Jordan, “Tipping Point at Poltava”; Warfare History Network, “Battle of Poltava”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”. ↩
  22. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Poltava”; Jonathan W. Jordan, “Tipping Point at Poltava”; Warfare History Network, “Battle of Poltava”. ↩
  23. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Poltava”; Jonathan W. Jordan, “Tipping Point at Poltava”; Warfare History Network, “Battle of Poltava”; Encyclopedia of Russian History. ↩
  24. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Charles XII”; Encyclopedia of Russian History; Jonathan W. Jordan, “Tipping Point at Poltava”; Warfare History Network, “Battle of Poltava”. ↩
  25. Den Store Danske; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Stanisław I”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “III wojna północna”; Øystein Lydik Idsø Viken, Store norske leksikon; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; Encyclopedia of Russian History; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Second Northern War”. ↩
  26. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Charles XII”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Second Northern War”; Dennis J. McCarthy, History Today. ↩
  27. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Second Northern War”; Den Store Danske; Encyclopedia of Russian History. ↩
  28. EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Charles XII”; Den Store Danske; Øystein Lydik Idsø Viken, Store norske leksikon; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Charles XII”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “III wojna północna”. ↩
  29. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Charles XII”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Charles XII”; Dennis J. McCarthy, History Today. ↩
  30. Jacob F. Field, “Battle of Narva”; Encyclopedia of Russian History; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; Jonathan W. Jordan, “Tipping Point at Poltava”. ↩
  31. Ola Teige, Store norske leksikon; Jonathan W. Jordan, “Tipping Point at Poltava”; Warfare History Network, “Battle of Poltava”; Warfare History Network, “The Battle of Lesnaya”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Poltava”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”. ↩
  32. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Second Northern War”; Den Store Danske. ↩
  33. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Second Northern War”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; Den Store Danske. ↩
  34. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Second Northern War”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; Encyclopedia of Russian History; Den Store Danske. ↩
  35. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Second Northern War”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; Encyclopedia of Russian History; Den Store Danske; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “III wojna północna”. ↩
  36. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Stanisław I”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Polska w czasach saskich. Anarchia”; Encyclopedia of Russian History. ↩
  37. Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Polska w czasach saskich. Anarchia”; dzieje.pl, “W trzechsetną rocznicę Sejmu Niemego 1717-2017 - konferencja na Zamku Królewskim w Warszawie”. ↩
  38. dzieje.pl, “W trzechsetną rocznicę Sejmu Niemego 1717-2017 - konferencja na Zamku Królewskim w Warszawie”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Polska w czasach saskich. Anarchia”. ↩
  39. EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “III wojna północna”. ↩
  40. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Poltava”; Den Store Danske; Warfare History Network, “Battle of Poltava”. ↩
  41. Encyclopedia of Russian History; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “III wojna północna”. ↩
  42. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Charles XII”; Dennis J. McCarthy, History Today. ↩
  43. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Second Northern War summary”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; Den Store Danske. ↩
  44. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Second Northern War”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”; Jacob F. Field, “Battle of Narva”. ↩
  45. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Charles XII”; Ola Teige, Store norske leksikon. ↩
  46. Jonathan W. Jordan, “Tipping Point at Poltava”; dzieje.pl, “315. rocznica bitwy pod Kliszowem, ostatniej z udziałem husarii”. ↩
  47. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Second Northern War summary”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Great Northern War”. ↩
  48. Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “III wojna północna”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Stanisław I”; Den Store Danske. ↩
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  50. Jonathan W. Jordan, “Tipping Point at Poltava”; Warfare History Network, “Battle of Poltava”. ↩
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  52. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Poltava”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Charles XII”; Den Store Danske; Øystein Lydik Idsø Viken, Store norske leksikon. ↩
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  57. dzieje.pl, “W trzechsetną rocznicę Sejmu Niemego 1717-2017 - konferencja na Zamku Królewskim w Warszawie”; Zintegrowana Platforma Edukacyjna, “Polska w czasach saskich. Anarchia”. ↩
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Sources

Frequently asked questions

Who won the Great Northern War?

Russia and its allies won. Sweden made separate peace treaties between 1719 and 1721 and, by the Treaty of Nystad in 1721, ceded Livonia, Estonia, Ingria and part of Karelia to Russia. It kept most of Finland but lost its place as a great power, while Russia became the leading power on the Baltic.

When did the Great Northern War start and end?

It began in 1700, when Saxon troops invaded Swedish Livonia in February, Denmark-Norway moved against Holstein-Gottorp and Russia besieged Narva, and it ended with the Treaty of Nystad between Sweden and Russia in September 1721. Denmark-Norway fought in 1700 and again from 1709 to 1720, so Danes often date the war 1709 to 1720.

What caused the Great Northern War?

Sweden dominated the Baltic, and its neighbors wanted back what they had lost to it. Denmark-Norway, Augustus II of Saxony-Poland and Peter I of Russia allied in 1698 and 1699 and attacked in 1700, expecting easy gains against the young Charles XII. Peter above all wanted a Baltic coastline for trade with the West.

What was the turning point of the Great Northern War?

The Battle of Poltava on 27 June 1709 (8 July, New Style). Weakened by the loss of its supply column at Lesnaya and by a harsh winter, the Swedish army attacked Peter's fortified camp and was destroyed. Most survivors surrendered at Perevolochna three days later, and the anti-Swedish coalition revived.

Why did Charles XII invade Poland?

After beating the Russians at Narva in 1700, Charles XII turned on Augustus II, elector of Saxony and king of Poland. He wanted to dethrone Augustus and make the Commonwealth an ally and a base against Russia. He fought there for six years, had Stanisław Leszczyński elected in 1704 and forced Augustus to give up the crown in 1706.

How did the Great Northern War affect Poland?

The war was fought across the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which at first was formally neutral, and it split the nobility between Augustus II and Stanisław Leszczyński. After 1709 Augustus returned with Russian help. The Silent Sejm of 1717, guaranteed by Russia, capped the army at 24,000 men, and Russian influence over Poland grew.

How did Charles XII die?

Charles XII was shot dead in late 1718 at the siege of Fredriksten, near Fredrikshald (Halden), during his second invasion of Norway. The date is 30 November by the calendar then used in Sweden. Rumors that the shot was fired by someone on his own side began soon afterward, and historians still debate the question.

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