Causes of the Northern War and Russia's choice of strategy
At the beginning of the XVII century, during the Time of Troubles, the Swedes seized the largest cities of Novgorod land - Ivangorod, Yam and Koporye. In the Stolbovsky world 1617, Russia lost the coast of the Gulf of Finland. As a result, the Russian state lost its access to the Baltic coast, which belonged to the Russians since ancient times. In addition, Sweden received an excellent base for further attacks on Russian lands, from the north there was a threat of a Swedish invasion. The Swedish king Gustav II Adolf (1611 — 1632), speaking in the Riksdag (Swedish parliament), said: “The Russians are dangerous neighbors ... and now this enemy cannot launch a single ship to the Baltic Sea without our permission.”
This was a negative factor not only from the point of view of the military-strategic security of Russia, but also of the development of the country's economy. Russia has only one route left for maritime trade with Europe - through the White and the Barents Sea. Arkhangelsk was the only port through which we could trade in the sea with Western Europe. Its turnover grew steadily; during navigation, up to 100 foreign ships came to Arkhangelsk. But the northern port was removed from the main economic centers of the country, and winter stopped its navigation.
In the 17th century, the Russian economy developed successfully, manufactories everywhere arose (enterprises where manual labor of hired workers or serf peasants was mainly used, and where the division of labor was widely used). So in the suburban, Upper Volga, northern counties developed iron ore mining, metal production and metalworking. Serpukhov, Tula, Pavlov, Yaroslavl, Uglich, Moscow were the major centers of metallurgy. Russian masters went to the construction of a high-performance domain. I must say that in some areas of metallurgy Russia was the European leader. For example, the height of the Swedish domain was at the end of the 17 century 5-6 meters - they produced 0,58-0,88 tons of pig iron per day. And the height of the blast furnace at the Tula plant was 8,5 m, it gave 1,6-1,9 tons of pig iron per day. According to S. G. Strumilin, in this industry, Russia was ahead of Europe by almost a century.
The most important role in the country's economy was played by Moscow. It was the largest producing, consuming and distribution center of Russia. The capital was connected by river and land routes with all regions of the country, being at the same time the largest market for domestic and foreign goods. Other cities also grew rapidly, crafts developed, the development of Siberia was going on - there appeared large centers of plow farming (Verkhotursk-Tobolsk, Tomsk-Kuznetsky, Ilimsk-Angarsk).
Choosing a strategy
Initially, Peter decided to win back to the Black Sea. This choice was determined by several reasons. First, Russia was already at war with the Ottoman Empire. Secondly, she fought not alone, she had allies - Rzeczpospolita, Austria, Venice. Thirdly, the enemy conducted the main hostilities in Europe, the Northern Pontic for him was a secondary site, and for us the only one where we could concentrate all the main shock forces.
Success was on the side of Russia, the Russians occupied a number of territories in the Dnieper region, captured the Azov, created the Azov fleet. But there was still no access to the Black Sea. It was necessary to continue the war - to seize the Kerch Strait or the entire Crimean peninsula. And for this it was necessary to strengthen the alliance with the European powers. Alone, fighting the mighty Ottoman Empire was dangerous. The governments of Western European countries in this period frantically prepared for the war for the Spanish inheritance (1701 — 1714). It was a major European conflict, which began after the death of the last Spanish king from the Habsburg dynasty, Charles II. Karl bequeathed all his possessions to Philip, Duke of Anjou - the grandson of the French king Louis XIV. As a result, a coalition of countries came out against France and Spain. The Austrian Habsburgs (the dynasty that ruled the Holy Roman Empire) hurried to make peace with Turkey in order to free up forces for the war with France. England and Holland were also opposed to the continuation of the war between Austria and the Ottoman Empire, intending to make the Hapsburg Empire the main tool in the war with France.
The British and Dutch also pushed Porto to war with Russia, they did not like Russia's efforts to access the Black Sea and create fleet in Arkhangelsk and Azov. At the Karlovitsky Congress (1698-1699), which was assembled in the town of Karlovtsy (Slavonia) to conclude peace between members of the Holy League (Austria, Venice, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russia) and Turkey, defeated in the wars of 1683-1699, the British and the Dutch persuaded the Russian delegation (headed by P. Woznitsyn) to cede the Turks. According to the Karlovitsky peace treaties, the Habsburgs received most of the territory of Hungary, Transylvania, Croatia and most of Slavonia, Venice - transferred to Morea and the islands of the archipelago, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - part of the Right-Bank Ukraine (remaining from the Turks). A truce was concluded with Russia for two years. After the negotiations were headed by E. Ukraintsev in 1699, the British and Dutch also persuaded the Turks against Russia.
In 1698, the Netherlands and England entered into an alliance with Sweden. The Swedes sought to take advantage of the conflict in Europe to finally establish their dominance in the Baltic. A natural ally of Russia in the Baltic were Rzecz Pospolita and Denmark, the long-time enemies of Sweden. November 11 The 1699 of the year in the village of Preobrazhenskoye hosted a meeting between the leadership of Russia and the Saxon Elector. August II, from May 1694, headed Saxony, from 1697, the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, for his physical strength, was nicknamed Strong (he was also called the Saxon Hercules, Iron Hand). An agreement was signed on mutual assistance in the war against Sweden.
I must say that the Saxon court conducted a double policy and from the very beginning was going to use Russia in the war against the Swedes, having received all the main fruits in their own hands. The Livonian German I. Patkul in 1698 and the beginning of 1699 drew up a draft treaty. According to it, they were going to give Russia only Karelia and Ingermanland (this historical a region located along the banks of the Neva River, bounded by the Gulf of Finland, the Narva River, Lake Peipsi in the west and Lake Ladoga with the plains adjacent to it in the east). Patkul wrote to the Saxon elector: “We need to be careful that this powerful ally doesn’t snatch the fries from under our nose, which we will stick on a spit: he must prove to him with history and geography that he should confine himself to Ingermanlandia and Karelia”. And then, with an agreement, it is necessary to “tie the hands” of Russia so that it does not seize Narva, Estonia (the historical name of the northern part of Estonia) and Livonia (Livonia, “Land of the Livs” - a historical region in the northern Baltic states, as a whole corresponds to the territory of the modern Republic of Latvia and Estonia ) In addition, Patkul insisted that Russia pledged to help Saxony with money, infantry, and labor. On August 14, 1699, the Saxon elector, in agreement with the Polish magnates, announced that Livonia would become part of Poland “as a stronghold against Sweden and Moscow.”
The treaty stipulated that Russia would enter the war only after peace was concluded with Turkey. Moscow had to concentrate the efforts of its army on the Izhora and Karelian directions, moreover, the Russian side considered it necessary to move the troops to Narva. Moscow did not bind itself at the expense of the future of the southern Baltic.
Long and difficult negotiations were going on with Denmark. As a result of a series of wars with the Swedes, the Danes lost the right to collect duty from the merchant ships of Sweden, which went through the Sunda Strait (the strait between the Danish island of Zealand and the Scandinavian Peninsula, one of the Danish Straits connecting the Baltic and North Sea). In 1697, Denmark received another blow - the Swedes put Holsteiniy under control, and it connected Denmark with the rest of Europe. Holstein duke Frederick IV married the sister of Charles XII Hedwig-Sophia. Sweden introduced the 5 Thousand Corps into Holstein, began building fortifications at the border, cutting off the Danes from Europe. The Danish government began to seek a union against a strong enemy. Back in April 1697, the embassy of P. Heins was sent to Russia with the aim of concluding a defensive alliance against Sweden. In Moscow, he was received positively, but since the king was away (he participated in the “Grand Embassy”), he had to wait for his return. The king returned in August 1698, and met with Heinseme. The negotiations dragged on, only in April 1699, the preliminary agreement was approved in Voronezh. It consisted of 11 open and 2 secret articles. The main articles said that in the event of an attack on one of the states, the other had to break the world with the aggressor and go to war within three months. It was stipulated that the assisting party could try to solve the conflict by peace for three months. Articles from 6 to 10 spoke of mutual obligations: to communicate useful information to each other, not to conclude treaties harmful to their union, to invite the King of Poland to the union, the agreement was not interrupted in case of death of one of the princes, to conclude a trade agreement later. In secret applications it was reported, since Russia and Denmark do not have a common border, they will conduct military operations on their borders. It was noted that Russia will be able to proceed to the implementation of the treaty only after the conclusion of peace with the Ottoman Empire.
After the Danish envoy found out about the conclusion of a union of Russia and Saxony (November 1699 of the year), he hastened to approve the treaty.
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