The Great Northern Conflict

In 1697, the 15 years old Charles XII ascended the Swedish throne. Seeing the opportunity, the Russian Czar Peter I allied with Denmark and Poland-Saxony in 1699. However, with British and Dutch naval assistance, Charles XII landed on Zealand and promptly defeated the Danes, then moved to Estland where his badly outnumbered Swedes (1 to 5) won a crushing victory over the Russians. Instead of finishing the Russians, Charles moved against August II of Poland-Saxony and drove him out of Poland in 1704 (having the pro-Swedish Stanislaw Leszczynski elected King), then subjugating Saxony in 1706. While the Russians started the construction of St. Petersburg (1703) and rebuilt their armies, they also took parts of Estland (1704-1706). Charles then decided to march to Moscow via Ukraine where the Cossacks under Mazeppa had again risen in revolt (1708). The harsh winter and Russian raids decimated his army and he was finally beaten at the battle of Poltava in 1709. The wounded king escaped to the Ottomans. The Russians were encircled by the Ottomans on the Prut River, but Peter succeeded through bribery to obtain a safe conduct in exchange for Azov. While Charles was still exiled in Turkey, Russian, Danish, Hanoverian and even Prussian troops captured most of the Swedish provinces around the Baltic. Having emerged from Turkish internment, Charles got killed in 1718 in front of the Norwegian fortress of Frederickshald. The peace treaties that followed Sweden lost most of her Baltic empire.