Nordic Wars

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The Northern Wars were several military conflicts between changing states for supremacy in the Baltic Sea region ( Dominium maris Baltici ). They lasted from 1554 to 1721. Due to the different national historiography of the participating states, no uniform nomenclature could be established, so that the number of conflicts, which is known as the Northern War , varies greatly.

nomenclature

In general, the Nordic Wars are now understood to mean the entirety of the military conflicts in the Baltic and Baltic Sea regions between 1554 and 1721. In detail these are:

Expansion of Sweden 1560–1660

A different nomenclature developed in the various historiographical traditions of the various participating states. So it came about that three different conflicts were called the First Northern War . German, Russian, Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon historians traditionally understand this to mean the war from 1655 to 1660. For other Swedish historians, the Swedish-Muscovite War 1554–1557 was the First Northern War , while some Russian historians refer to the Polish-Muscovite War 1654– 67 apply. In the tradition of Polish historiography, three main conflicts were summarized as the Nordic Wars : the conflict between Poland-Lithuania and Moscow from 1562 to 1570, the war from 1655 to 1660 and the Great Northern War from 1700 to 1721. Especially under the influence of the historian Klaus Zernack is increasingly adapting German historiography to this nomenclature, but with the difference that the concept of the First Northern War is applied to the entire period from 1558 to 1583. A special feature is the conflict between the Kingdom of Sweden, the Kingdom of Denmark and the Electorate of Brandenburg in the years from 1674 to 1679. In Danish and Swedish historiography, the conflict becomes completely independent as the Scandinavian War , in the German one as the Brandenburg-Swedish War treated. The term Northern War was also used to summarize this dispute .

background

When Sweden left the Kalmar Union and Gustav Eriksson was elected King of Sweden, Denmark's supremacy in Scandinavia ended . The struggle for the “Dominium maris baltici” began, for supremacy in the Baltic Sea region .

The Reformation led to profound changes in the Scandinavian countries. After the secularization of the Teutonic Order on the advice of Martin Luther , a power vacuum arose, which now called Sweden, Denmark, Poland and Russia onto the scene, who urged to fill this vacuum. The power of the crown was strengthened by the expropriation of church property and the economic boom. The expansion efforts increased. Dutch merchants pushed into the Baltic Sea from the west and tried to drive back the influence of the Hanseatic cities , while in the east Russia fought for access to the Baltic Sea from 1558.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robert I. Frost: The Northern Wars - War, State and Society in Northeastern Europe, 1558-1721 , London / New York 2000, pp. 12f
  2. ↑ Unless otherwise stated, the presentation follows: Robert I. Frost: The Northern Wars - War, State and Society in Northeastern Europe, 1558–1721 , London / New York 2000, p. 13
  3. ↑ E.g. Arvo Viljanti : Gustav Vasas ryska krig 1554-1557 , Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm 1957.
  4. ↑ See: Klaus Zernack: Northeast Europe - Sketches and Contributions to a History of the Baltic Sea Countries , p. 159 u. 208; ders .: Poland and Russia - Two Paths in European History , Berlin 1994, p. 166 u. 178
  5. ↑ Max Braubach: From the Peace of Westphalia to the French Revolution , Munich 1974, p. 54 (= Gebhardt - Handbook of German History , Vol. 10)

literature

  • Robert I. Frost: The Northern Wars - War, State and Society in Northeastern Europe, 1558-1721 , Longman Publishings, London / New York 2000, ISBN 0-582-06429-5
  • Klaus Zernack: The Age of the Northern Wars as an early modern historical epoch , in: Journal for historical research , No. 1 (1974), pp. 54–79.

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