WAR AND PEACE IN THE BALTIC 1560–1790 WAR IN CONTEXT Series Editor: Jeremy Black WAR AND SOCIETY IN EARLY-MODERN EUROPE, 1495–1715 Frank Tallett WAR AND PEACE IN THE BALTIC 1560–1790 Stewart P.Oakley LONDON AND NEW YORK First published 1992 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 1992 Stewart P.Oakley All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Oakley, Stewart P. War and Peace in the Baltic, 1560–1790. (War in Context Series) I. Title II. Series 947 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Oakley, Stewart P. War and Peace in the Baltic, 1560–1790/Stewart P.Oakley. p. cm.—(War in context) Includes bibliography references and index. 1. Baltic States—History. 2. Europe, Eastern—History. 3. Europe—History—17th century. 4. Europe, Eastern—History—18th century. I. Title. II. Title: War and Peace in the Baltic, 1560–1790. III. Series. DK502.7.025 1993 947.4–dc20 92–6571 ISBN 0-203-98885-X Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-415-02472-2 (Print Edition) For Karin, Robin and Tanya CONTENTS List of Maps viii Preface ix Genealogy: The House of Vasa xi Rulers of the Baltic Lands 1560–1790 xii The Baltic 1558–1790: A Chronicle xiv INTRODUCTION 1 1 SETTING THE SCENE 4 2 THE BALTIC WORLD IN THE MIDDLE OF THE 9 SIXTEENTH CENTURY 3 THE STRUGGLE FOR LIVONIA (1558–95) 24 4 THE TIME OF TROUBLES (1595–1617/21) 38 5 THE BALTIC DURING THE THIRTY YEARS WAR 50 (1618/21–48) 6 THE FIRST GREAT NORTHERN WAR (1648–67) 73 7 THE LATER SEVENTEENTH CENTURY (1667–1700) 87 8 CHARLES XII, PETER THE GREAT AND THE END 104 OF SWEDISH DOMINANCE (1700–21) 9 A NEW BALANCE (1721–51) 121 10 MID-CENTURY CRISES (1750–72) 136 11 THE AGE OF GUSTAVUS III (1772–90) 148 Epilogue: The Baltic in the Revolutionary and 158 Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815) Postlude: The Baltic in the Nineteenth and Twentieth 165 Centuries vii Notes and References 170 Bibliography 196 Index 204 MAPS Map 1 The Baltic in the middle of the sixteenth century 10 Map 2 Livonia and Estonia in the sixteenth and seventeenth 25 centuries Map 3 The southern Baltic in the seventeenth century 49 (1611–1700) Map 4 The Swedish Empire in 1661 72 Map 5 The Baltic in the Great Northern War 1700–21 105 Map 6 The Baltic in the eighteenth century 120 PREFACE The immediate origins of this book lie in an essay on the Baltic area contributed to a volume on the theme of the causes of war in early modern Europe.1 Its roots, however, lie much deeper, indeed in my earliest forays into historical research, which resulted in a doctoral dissertation on Anglo—Dutch relations with Denmark and Sweden in the later seventeenth century.2 Since then I have been tempted to stray from the discipline of diplomatic history into the rather more fashionable one of social history and forward in time into the eighteenth century. Never, however, have I wandered very far from the Baltic world, and in teaching Scandinavian history for many years in both Britain and the United States I have constantly returned with pleasure to the age when the Baltic was a centre of European attention as it had not been since the Viking Age and which it was not to be again. While my principal interest has remained the countries which make up Scandinavia in its broadest meaning, I have been made increasingly aware that these must always be seen in a broader context and in particular in that of the part of Europe adjacent to them. I trust, however, that the fact that my experience of this part of Europe is still less than that of Scandinavia itself will not be too glaringly apparent in the subsequent study. For enlivening my early interest in the diplomatic history of the Baltic as well as for launching me on my academic career I have above all to thank professor Ragnhild Hatton. To her I owe most of what I know in the field. For keeping alive my enthusiasm for the Scandinavian past I have to thank innumerable friends in Scandinavia and those of my colleagues in Britain who form the Nordic History Group. Finally to my publisher I owe thanks for