The Northern War from 1700 to 1721 was a war between Russia and Sweden for the control of the Baltic Sea and its coastal areas.
Sweden has long dominated the Baltic Sea. By the end of the 17th century, territorial disputes with neighboring countries such as Denmark, Poland, and Russia intensified. In 1699, Russian Tsar Peter I, the Danish King, and the Polish Saxon August II signed a treaty on war against Sweden (the "Northern Alliance"). Russia promised to start military operations after signing a treaty with Türkiye. King Charles XII of Sweden adopted a strategic approach to overcome the disadvantages of anti-Swedish countries being in different beds and being incoordinated with each other.
In the early days of the war, Peter I's strategic policy was to seize the Baltic Sea outlet, and the first target of the planned attack was the Swedish fortress Narva. On September 2, 1700, Peter I led his troops from Moscow to Narva. The Russian army gathered outside Narva and built parallel trenches. At the same time, August II marched into Livonia and besieged Riga. Just as the Russian army began to besiege Narva, August II lifted the siege of Riga, allowing Charles XII to lead 8,000 troops to aid Narva.
On November 30, Charles XII suddenly appeared in the Narva area, completely surprising the Russian army. Comparing the strength and firepower of both sides, the Russian army had an advantage. However, the Russian army did not dare to rush to the battle and held back its troops for a long time. At around 14:00, the Swedish army took the lead in attacking and the two sides fought. The Russian army officers were the first to surrender. The Russian army suffered a disastrous defeat and retreated to Novgorod. After Narva's defeat, Peter I learned lessons from it and stepped up efforts to establish a regular army and navy, develop military industry, and prepare for another war. Charles XII believed that the Russian army was unable to fight anymore, so he led his army into Poland in 1701.
In 1701, when the Swedish army moved to Poland, Peter I launched another attack on the Baltic coast. In 1702, the Russian army successively captured Nottburg, Luenshanz, Youngburg and Kopole. Large-scale construction was carried out on the Neva River and the new capital St. Petersburg was established. In 1704, the Russian army captured Dorpat, Narva and Ivangorid.
In 1705, a Russian army entered Poland. In 1706, the Swedish army occupied Saxony. August II was defeated and sued for peace, and was forced to give up the Polish throne. After that, Russia and Sweden failed to reach a peace agreement, and the two sides prepared to fight again.
In January 1707, the basic spirit of Peter I’s battle plan was: the Russian army would implement a strategic retreat from Poland to the Russian mainland, lure the enemy deep into the country, and continue to harass, consume and exhaust the enemy with small battles. Depending on the situation, A decisive battle took place in Russia. Charles XII's battle plan was to concentrate the main force to attack along the Smolensk-Moscow direction, striving to engage in a decisive battle with the Russian army in the Russian border area and annihilate it in one fell swoop.
In the autumn of 1707, Charles XII set out from Saxony to conquer Russia, and the Russian troops in Poland quickly withdrew to their homeland. In early 1708, the Swedish army occupied Grodno, forced a crossing of the Berezina River in June, and annihilated a section of the Russian army near Golovchin in July. The garrison of the Russian border city Mogilev surrendered. Peter I implemented a fortification and clearing of fields on the Swedish army's march, which caused great difficulties to the Swedish army, causing it to abandon the attack on Smolensk and turn to Ukraine to wait for reinforcements and hope for the cooperation of the anti-Russian Cossack commander Mazepa. On October 9, 1708, Peter I annihilated the Swedish reinforcements in the village of Lesnaya, and then attacked Mazepa's base Baturin. After entering winter, the weather was extremely cold, and the Swedish army suffered a large reduction in personnel and was forced to move south in the following spring. After the Swedish army entered Ukraine, they dispersed to spend the winter in Romny, Kadjachi, Priluki and Lochvita.
The Russian army is stationed in Chernigov, Kiev, Pereyaslav and Poltava, forming an encirclement situation against the Swedish army from the north, west and south, and continues to engage in small battles. Harass the enemy.
In the spring of 1709, Charles XII decided to attack Moscow via Kharkov and Belgorod. To this end, he arrived at the strategically important city of Poltava at the end of April. On May 11, the Swedish army began to besiege Poltava, which lasted for more than two months but was never defeated. On July 6, Peter I led the main force of the Russian army to the north of Yakovce village, 5 kilometers away from Poltava, occupied the position, and decided to fight the Swiss army.
At 2 a.m. on July 8, 32,000 Swiss troops and 42,000 Russian troops started a fierce battle.
The Swedish army set up a battle formation and began to attack. The Russian army first responded with cavalry. At 3 o'clock, the two sides started a fierce battle at the forward position. The Russian army relied on fortifications to contain and kill the enemy, buying time for the main force of the Russian army to attack. At 4 o'clock, the main force of the Russian army was ready to attack. The Swedish army's attack was blocked. One unit fled towards the Poltava Forest and was chased and annihilated by the Russian troops. The other unit withdrew to the forest area on the right front of the Russian army's position. At 9 o'clock, after a brief battle after redeployment, the two sides immediately engaged in hand-to-hand combat. The right wing of the Swedish army once broke through the middle of the Russian army, and the Russian army launched a powerful counterattack to block the gap. The Russian cavalry outflanked the two wings of the Swedish army, posing a threat to its rear; the Swedish army wavered and changed from retreat to rout. At 11 o'clock, the Swedish army suffered nearly 10,000 casualties and thousands were captured. On July 11, the remnants of the Swedish army, about 16,000 people, surrendered without a fight in Perevolochna. Charles XII fled into Turkey with Mazepa and a few followers.
The Battle of Poltava was a turning point in the Northern War. After that, Denmark and Saxony restored their alliance with Tsarist Russia, August II returned to the throne of Poland, and Prussia and Hanover also joined the Northern Alliance.
In 1710, the Russian army took advantage of the victory and captured important places such as Riga, Reval, Vyborg, Kerksgorm and Nissel Island along the Baltic Sea coast.
After the Battle of Poltava, relations between Russia and Turkey became tense again. Charles XII, who fled to Turkey, encouraged the Turkish government to declare war on Russia. In view of the tightness on the southern front, Peter I decided to stop the offensive in the direction of the Baltic Sea, and transferred the main force to the southern front, planning to launch an assault on Turkey from the Balkans. In the summer of 1711, Peter I personally led the main force of the Russian army, more than 40,000 men, to advance alone toward the lower reaches of the Danube River. Turkey dispatched 100,000 troops, with the cooperation of the Crimean Army, to surround the Russian army on the banks of the Jinlut River. On July 20, the two sides fought fiercely, and the Russian army ran out of ammunition and food. Peter I was forced to sue for peace. Eventually Peter I reached an armistice agreement with Türkiye at the cost of returning Azov and its surrounding areas. After the end of the war with Turkey, the Russian army resumed its attack on Sweden.
In 1713, the Russian army, with the cooperation of the fleet, landed between Vyborg and Helsinki on the coast of the Gulf of Finland, conquering many cities in Finland. In the summer of 1714, the Russian navy launched a naval battle with the Swedish fleet near Cape Hanko at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland. On August 7, the Russian navy defeated the Swedish fleet after two hours of fierce battle.
After the Battle of Cape Hanko, the Russian fleet occupied the Aran Islands, the sea springboard between Finland and Sweden, and relied on this to land on the Swedish mainland. At this time, the Allies were worried about the expansion of Russia's power in the Baltic Sea, so they disrupted Russia's plan to land in southern Sweden. In addition, Britain began to exert pressure, and all Russia's allies successively negotiated peace with Sweden. In 1718, Russia and Sweden also began to negotiate peace, but Charles XII was shot and killed on the Navit front, and the new Queen of Sweden refused to negotiate under the influence of Britain. Negotiations were interrupted and fighting resumed.
In 1720, the Russian navy defeated the Swedish fleet near Graham Island and landed on the Swedish coast many times, approaching the capital Stockholm. In the summer of 1721, the Russian navy defeated the Swedish fleet again. In September, Sweden was unable to fight anymore. Russia and Sweden signed a peace treaty in Nishstad, Finland, ending the war. Russia captured part of Karelia and large tracts of land such as Ingermanland, Estland, and Livland. At the same time, the Russian army withdrew from the rest of Finland and returned the Aran Islands to Sweden. From then on, the Russians had free access to the Baltic Sea. After the war, the Russian Privy Council honored Peter I with the title "The Great", and Tsarist Russia was officially called the "Russian Empire", becoming one of the great powers in Europe.
Although the Northern War was a multinational war, Tsar Peter I was both one of the protagonists and the greatest victor. Marx called this war "Peter the Great's War."
Peter I regarded war as the main means of aggression and expansion. He believed that military means must be used to open up the Baltic Sea outlet and move further westward and southward.
At the same time, he attached great importance to the close cooperation between diplomatic and military struggles. Whether before the war or during the war, he tried his best to piece together a military alliance and strive to isolate the enemy as much as possible; using military support as a backing, he forced the enemy to accept Russia's armistice conditions. Facing the two major enemies in the north and south (Türkiye and Sweden), they tried their best to avoid fighting on two fronts. He is good at observing changes in the situation and implementing strategic changes based on new conditions. In terms of war guidance, Peter I advocated an offensive strategy and emphasized taking the initiative to attack the enemy's territory. When a powerful enemy invades, he can retreat in large strides and play the role of strategic defense in order to fight out in the end. He attaches great importance to the decisive role of battles, but does not use it lightly. He only takes action when he is sure, and is accustomed to winning with small attacks. In building the army and navy, Peter I paid attention to learning from the experience of advanced Western countries, and at the same time attached great importance to combining the specific conditions of Russia and paying attention to practical results. Peter I's thoughts and practices on combat and army building had a profound impact on the development of the Russian military.
Sweden's war potential is not as strong as Russia's. Sweden's hegemonic policy has attracted opposition from the countries along the Baltic Sea and made too many enemies. In addition, after the Battle of Poltava, the Swedish army stayed far away from the rear and penetrated deep into the enemy's hinterland alone. They made the big mistake of blind action and rash advance, which resulted in the entire army being annihilated.