Foreign Relations
The big example of Russian foreign relations is the Great Northern War between, among others, Russia and Sweden. This war occurred from 1700 to 1721 and ended with a Russian victory over Sweden and the expansion of Russian borders to the Baltic Sea. Included in the territory added was the land which St.Petersburg is now on. The Great Northern war was started by Denmark and Poland-Saxony in an attempt to try and recover territory previously lost to Sweden. Near the beginning of the war they offered an alliance to Peter the Great and he accepted and began fighting in the war in an attempt to recapture Ingria, a small territory at the eastern coast of Finland that Russia had lost to Sweden in 1618. Russia attempted to capture the Swedish harbor Narva and were defeated on November 30th 1700. This defeat was a major blow to Russia because more than half of the Russian army was killed. In 1706 Augustus the second was unseated from power in Poland and Stanislaw Lezczynski was put in his place as a Swedish puppet king of Poland in 1706. Eventually the Ukraine Cossacks joined the Swedish side of the war. In 1708 the Swedish were forced into Ukraine by the Russian army, and on October 9th 1708 Peter the Great defeated a Swedish relief column, effectively cutting off food and equipment to the Swedish in Ukraine.
The battle of Poltava is generally considered the turning point of the war. Russia beat the Swedish army and the Swedish tried to escape across a river. Their attempt failed because there weren’t enough boats to carry all the soldiers across the river.In 1710 Peter the Great was able to secure the area that now holds St.Petersberg, but in 1711 there was an outbreak in fighting between the Russians and the Turks. This outbreak occupied the Russian army until sometime in 1712 and for this time Russia was essentially out of the war. In 1712 Russia was able to turn back to the war and was allied with Poland-Saxony, Denmark and Prussia. By 1714 Bremen, Stralsund, and Stettin had fallen and in 1721 the war ended with the treaty of Nystad. This treaty gave Russia the territories of southeast Finland, Ingria, Estonia, and Livonia.
The battle of Poltava is generally considered the turning point of the war. Russia beat the Swedish army and the Swedish tried to escape across a river. Their attempt failed because there weren’t enough boats to carry all the soldiers across the river.In 1710 Peter the Great was able to secure the area that now holds St.Petersberg, but in 1711 there was an outbreak in fighting between the Russians and the Turks. This outbreak occupied the Russian army until sometime in 1712 and for this time Russia was essentially out of the war. In 1712 Russia was able to turn back to the war and was allied with Poland-Saxony, Denmark and Prussia. By 1714 Bremen, Stralsund, and Stettin had fallen and in 1721 the war ended with the treaty of Nystad. This treaty gave Russia the territories of southeast Finland, Ingria, Estonia, and Livonia.