256 



NORTHERN WAR. 



and taken Noteburg, on the Neva (October 22), 

 which the czar then called Schlilsselburg . May 27, 

 1703, Peter laid the foundation of St Petersburg, on 

 the island Lusteiland, in the Neva. In 1704, he 

 took Dorpat and Narva ; in 1706 and 1707, he 

 gained such power in Poland, that he began to take 

 measures for the election of a new king ; and the 

 confederacy of Sandomir allied itself to him in 1707, 

 although the republic had made a treaty in 1705 with 

 Sweden. But Charles XII. returned to Poland from 

 Saxony with a formidable army of 43,000 men (Sep- 

 tember 20). He soon made himself master of the 

 principal towns, crossed the Berezina, July 10, 1708, 

 and beat the Russians under Scheremeteff, before 

 Golowtschu, July 14. From Mohilew he proceeded 

 to the Ukraine, September 15, at the invitation of 

 the Cossack hetman Mazeppa. (q. v.) In the mean 

 time his general Lowenhaupt, who was to join him 

 with fresh troops, and supplies of provisions and 

 ammunition, was entirely defeated by Peter at Liesna 

 (October 9). Menschikoff devastated the Ukraine in 

 November, and Charles was obliged to take up winter 

 quarters there, where he lost 4000 men by hunger 

 and cold. Mazeppa succeeded in making a treaty 

 for Charles XII. with the Zaporogian Cossacks 

 (March 28, 1709) ; but this very event induced the 

 king, instead of restoring his connexion with Poland 

 on the Dnieper, to lay siege to Pultawa (q. v.) 

 (April 4). Here his army, which consisted of 12,000 

 Swedes and 13,000 Cossacks and Walachians, was 

 entirely routed by the Russian army of 60,000 men, 

 which was under the command of Scheremeteff, 

 Menschikoff, and Bauer, Peter himself acting as a 

 colonel June 27 (July 8), 1709. Charles retreated 

 over the Dnieper; his general Lowenhaupt was 

 taken prisoner, with 16,000 men (July 11), at Pere- 

 volotschna. During five years Charles endeavoured 

 to excite the Porte against the czar. (See Pruth.) 

 The king of Denmark, on the other hand, renewed 

 his alliance with Augustus II. at Dresden, June 28, 

 1709. The latter declared (August 8) the peace of 

 Altranstadt invalid, and advanced towards Poland 

 with 13,000 men, where he was again received as 

 king, and renewed his alliance with the czar, at 

 Thorn (October 8), renouncing all the claims of the 

 republic of Poland on Livonia, in favour of Russia. 

 October 22, 1709, the czar also concluded an alliance 

 offensive and defensive with Denmark, at Copen- 

 hagen. A Danish army (November 12) invaded 

 Schonen, but was completely defeated by general 

 Steenbock (March 10, 1710) at Helsingborg, and 

 compelled to retreat to the ships. An army com- 

 posed of the united Saxon, Polish, and Russian forces, 

 however, invaded Swedish Pomerania (August, 1711), 

 and a Danish army conquered (in the period from 

 July to September, 1712) the Swedish duchies Bremen 

 and Verden. The Swedish general Steenbock, 

 indeed, after having beaten the king of Denmark, 

 and the Saxons under the field-marshal Flemming, at 

 Gadebusch, in Mecklenburg, December 20, advanced 

 to Holstein, and Jan. 9, 17 13, reduced Altona to ashes; 

 yet he was forced, by the united Russian, Danish, 

 and Saxon forces, in which the czar was present, to 

 withdraw to the Gottorp fortress Tonningen (Feb. 

 14), where he was compelled by famine to capitulate 

 (May 16), with 11,000 men. The duke of Gottorp 

 now lost his possessions, and the Russians took 

 Stettin, which was put provisionally in the hands of 

 the neutral king of Prussia, Sept. 30, 1713. At the 

 same time, Peter had occupied Riga (1710), Finland, 

 and Aland. Charles arrived at Stralsund Nov. 22, 

 1714, where he immediately demanded of Prussia the 

 evacuation of Stettin, and declared war when this 

 demand was not complied with. The consequence 

 was, that 20,000 Prussians, under Prince Leopold of 



Anhalt-Dfssau, joined the Danish-Saxon army, which 

 was besieging Stralsund. (The Saxons were com- 

 manded by the field-marshal count Arnim, and by 

 count Wackerbarth.) Charles XII., being thus re- 

 duced to extremities, sued for peace through tin: 

 ambassador of Louis XIV., with whom he made a 

 defensive treaty at Versailles, April 3, 1715; but the 

 allies would not consent to his proposals. He escaped 

 in a Swedish vessel in the night of December 21, upon 

 which Stralsund capitulated (Dec. 23, 1715). Wis- 

 mar, also, the last possession of Sweden in the Ger- 

 man territory, submitted to the Danes (April 19, 1716). 

 Denmark had, by the treaty of June 26, 1715, sold 

 the duchies of Bremen and Verden to the elector of 

 Hanover, who now declared war against Sweden. 

 The czar had also allied himself with Great Britain 

 against Sweden (at Greifswald, Oct. 28, 1715), and 

 with Prussia (Oct. 30). But jealousy soon separated 

 the allies. The czar would not consent to Den- 

 mark's aggrandizement ; England would not favour 

 the increasing power of Russia. The Poles also 

 confederated to effect the expulsion of the Saxon 

 troops from their country. The diet of Warsaw at 

 length resolved that the king should not retain more 

 than 1200 Saxons in Poland for his body-guard, and 

 that he should never, without consulting the diet, 

 declare an offensive war. This obliged Augustus II. 

 to take no further part in the northern war, which 

 was carried on, during 1716, in Schonen and Nor- 

 way; but the caar did not assist the Danes. Sweden 

 was, however, deprived of her oldest ally, France, 

 which secretly joined Prussia in 1716. Baron Gorta 

 (q. v.) endeavoured, in 1718, to ally Russia to Swe- 

 den, by ceding the provinces on the Baltic, so that 

 the Russian forces, combined with those of Sweden, 

 might regain the German provinces, subject Norway, 

 and execute Alberoni's plan of restoring the house of 

 Stuart to the throne of England. But on the death 

 of Charles XII. (Dec. 11, 1718), the queen of Sweden, 

 Ulrica Eleonora, influenced by the party of Horn, 

 defeated the project. She, however, concluded, 

 under the mediation of France, (a.) the peace of 

 Stockholm, 1. with the elector of Hanover, Nov. 20, 

 1719; Hanover retained Bremen and Verden, making 

 a pecuniary compensation to Sweden ; 2. with Prus- 

 sia, Feb. 1, 1720 ; Prussia, for two millions of dol- 

 lars (thaler), retained possession of Stettin, and 

 Hither Pomerania, as far as the Peene : (b.) the 

 peace of Fredericsborg with Denmark, July, 14, 1720; 

 Denmark kept half of the duchy of Sleswic, which 

 the house of Gottorp lost, and ceded all which it had 

 conquered (Wisinar, Rugen, Stralsund, &c.); Swe- 

 den gave up her immunity from duties in the Sound 

 and the Belts, and paid to Denmark 600,000 dollars 

 (thaler): (c.) with Poland a secret armistice at Stock- 

 holm (Jan. 7, 1720), which was declared a peace in 

 1729, and sanctioned by the estates on both sides ; 

 Augustus II. was acknowledged king of Poland, but 

 paid one million dollars (thaler) to Stanislaus Leczin- 

 ski. The czar, in the mean time, continued the war; 

 a Swedish squadron was defeated by the Russians 

 (August 7, 1720); the coast of West Bothnia, and, in 

 1721, that of Norrland, was barbarously devastated. 

 (The Russians burned four towns, 509 villages, and 

 379 farms). Stockholm, however, was protected by 

 a British fleet against the Russians. At last, the 

 mediation of France effected a peace, which was 

 concluded at Nystadt, in Finland, Sept. 10, 1721. 

 Sweden ceded to Russia, Livonia (for which the czar 

 gave two million dollars, thaler), Esthonia, Ingria, 

 and Carelia, part of Wiborg, besides all the islands 

 on this coast, particularly CEsel, Dagoe, and Moen. 

 For this the czar restored Finland, and promised not 

 to interfere in the domestic affairs of Sweden. Thus 

 Russia became the first power of the North, and 



