Charles XII did not recognize the Hague Treaty on non-aggression by Swedish and Danish forces in northern Germany, and therefore the Danish and Polish kings attacked Holstein and Pomerania. Their uncoordinated actions were not successful either in 1711 or 1712.
At the end of 1712, Peter 1 was again able to take part in the war (Menshikov remained in Kyiv until 1713, observing the Turks).
Wanting to win without the Russians, the allies attacked Stenbock's Swedish army at Gadebusch on October 9, but were completely defeated.
Peter arrived in time and took command of the united Russian-Danish-Saxon forces (46 thousand people) and on February 12, 1712, at Friedrichstadt, he defeated the 16 thousand-strong army of Stenbock, who, after being driven into the Tenengen fortress, surrendered.
No longer able to defend their possessions in Germany due to the lack of troops, the Swedes concluded the so-called sequestration treaty, according to which they transferred them to Prussia.
Only the commandant of Szczecin refused to recognize this treaty and surrendered his fortress only after a two-month siege in the summer of 1713.
The garrison of Szczecin consisted of four thousand two hundred people. A third of them were killed, 2800 soldiers of the garrison surrendered.
In more than two months of the siege from July 11 to September 21, the Russians lost 184 people killed and 365 wounded.
Having eliminated Stenbock's army and rescued his allies, Peter moved military operations to Finland in the fall of 1713. On July 14, 1714, a naval victory was won at Gangut. At the end of 1714, Charles XII suddenly appeared in Stralsund in Swedish Pomerania, and refused to recognize the sequestration treaty.
He demanded from the Prussian king the Swedish lands handed over to him, so to speak, “on receipt,” and, not having the habit of counting his enemies, he declared war on this ruler as well.
However, the disparity of power was too great. The Swedes lost their last possessions in Germany - Stralsund and Wismar in the winter of 1714 - 1715.
England also joined the allies (the British king was at that time the Elector of Hanover and was counting on expanding his possessions at the expense of Sweden).
Over 35 thousand Russian troops gathered in Denmark. Peter I commanded the fleet of four powers in the Baltic Sea. The Allies decided to land in Sweden, but disagreements and discord arose among them.
In 1717, Peter withdrew all his troops from Denmark and Germany. The king proposed an alliance to the Swedish king. Russia was to receive from Sweden the Baltic provinces and the southern part of Finland, in return for which the Russian army, uniting with the Swedish, was to help Charles XII regain possessions in Germany and Norway.
In the midst of Russian-Swedish negotiations, Karl, who had already agreed to an alliance with Russia, was killed in Norway. Karl's sister and heir Ulrika Eleonora broke off the negotiations. Having concluded peace with all allies in 1719 and enlisting the support of England, she decided to continue the fight against Russia.
Thus, having begun on land, the Northern War ended at sea...
Wanting to insist on his terms, Peter I deployed a strong fleet, not paying any attention to the English fleet sent to help Sweden.
Peter in 1719 - 1720 devastated the entire eastern coast of Sweden with landings, bringing the war to Swedish borders. On June 27, 1720, on the 11th anniversary of Poltava, Golitsyn defeated the Swedish fleet at Grenhamn. This was the last battle of the twenty years' war.
It would seem that the answer to this question is absolutely clear. Any more or less educated European will name the date - September 1, 1939 - the day of Hitler's Germany's attack on Poland. And those who are more prepared will explain: more precisely, the world war began two days later - on September 3, when Great Britain and France, as well as Australia, New Zealand and India declared war on Germany.
True, they did not immediately participate in hostilities, waging a so-called strange wait-and-see war. For Western Europe, the real war began only in the spring of 1940, when German troops invaded Denmark and Norway on April 9, and from May 10 the Wehrmacht launched an offensive in France, Belgium and Holland.
Let us recall that at this time the largest powers in the world - the USA and the USSR - remained outside the war. For this reason alone, doubts arise about the complete validity of the start date of the planetary massacre established by Western European historiography.
Therefore, I think, by and large, we can assume that it would be more correct to consider the starting point of the Second World War as the date of the involvement of the Soviet Union in hostilities - June 22, 1941. Well, we heard from the Americans that the war acquired a truly global character only after the treacherous Japanese attack on the Pacific naval base at Pearl Harbor and Washington’s declaration of war on militaristic Japan, Nazi Germany and fascist Italy in December 1941.
However, the most persistent and, let's say, from their point of view, convincing defense of the illegality of the countdown of the world war adopted in Europe from September 1, 1939, is by Chinese scientists and political figures. I have encountered this many times at international conferences and symposiums, where Chinese participants invariably defend their country’s official position that the beginning of the Second World War should be considered the date of the outbreak of a full-scale war by militaristic Japan in China - July 7, 1937. There are also historians in the Celestial Empire who believe that this date should be September 18, 1931 - the beginning of the Japanese invasion of the North-Eastern provinces of China, then called Manchuria.
One way or another, it turns out that this year the PRC will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the start of not only Japanese aggression against China, but also the Second World War.
Among the first in our country to seriously pay attention to such a periodization of the history of the Second World War were the authors of the collective monograph prepared by the Historical Perspective Foundation, “Score of the Second World War. Thunderstorm in the East" (Auth.-compiled by A.A. Koshkin. M., Veche, 2010).
In the preface, the head of the Foundation, Doctor of Historical Sciences N.A. Narochnitskaya notes:
“According to the ideas established in historical science and in the public consciousness, the Second World War began in Europe with the attack on Poland on September 1, 1939, after which Great Britain was the first of the future victorious powers to declare war on the Nazi Reich. However, this event was preceded by large-scale military clashes in other parts of the world, which are unreasonably considered by Eurocentric historiography as peripheral and therefore secondary.
By September 1, 1939, a truly world war was already in full swing in Asia. China, fighting Japanese aggression since the mid-1930s, has already lost twenty million lives. In Asia and Europe, the Axis countries - Germany, Italy and Japan - had been issuing ultimatums, sending in troops and redrawing borders for several years. Hitler, with the connivance of Western democracies, captured Austria and Czechoslovakia, Italy occupied Albania and fought a war in North Africa, where 200 thousand Abyssinians died.
Since the end of World War II is considered the surrender of Japan, the war in Asia is recognized as part of World War II, but the question of its beginning requires a more reasonable definition. The traditional periodization of the Second World War needs to be rethought. In terms of the scale of the redivision of the world and military operations, in terms of the scale of victims of aggression, the Second World War began precisely in Asia long before Germany’s attack on Poland, long before the Western powers entered the world war.”
Chinese scientists were also given the floor in the collective monograph. Historians Luan Jinghe and Xu Zhimin note:
“According to one generally accepted point of view, the Second World War, which lasted six years, began on September 1, 1939, with the German attack on Poland. Meanwhile, there is another view on the starting point of this war, in which more than 60 states and regions participated at different times and which disrupted the lives of over 2 billion people around the world. The total number of mobilized people on both sides was more than 100 million people, the death toll was more than 50 million. The direct costs of the war amounted to US$1.352 trillion, with financial losses reaching US$4 trillion. We present these figures to once again indicate the scale of the enormous disasters that the Second World War brought to humanity in the twentieth century.
There is no doubt that the formation of the Western Front not only meant an expansion in the scope of hostilities, it also played a decisive role in the course of the war.
However, an equally important contribution to the victory in World War II was made on the Eastern Front, where the eight-year war of the Chinese people against the Japanese invaders took place. This resistance became an important part of the world war.
An in-depth study of the history of the Chinese people's war against the Japanese invaders and understanding of its significance will help create a more complete picture of World War II.
This is precisely what the proposed article is devoted to, which argues that the true date of the start of World War II should be considered not September 1, 1939, but July 7, 1937 - the day when Japan launched a full-scale war against China.
If we accept this point of view and do not strive to artificially separate the Western and Eastern fronts, there is all the more reason to call the anti-fascist war... the Great World War.”
The author of the article in the collective monograph, a prominent Russian sinologist and full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences V.S., also agrees with the opinion of his Chinese colleagues. Myasnikov, who does a lot to restore historical justice, to properly assess the contribution of the Chinese people to the victory over the so-called “Axis countries” - Germany, Japan and Italy - who were striving for the enslavement of peoples and world domination. An authoritative scientist writes:
“As for the beginning of the Second World War, there are two main versions: European and Chinese... Chinese historiography has long been arguing that it is time to move away from Eurocentrism (which is essentially similar to negritude) in assessing this event and admit that the beginning of this war is falling on July 7, 1937 and is associated with Japan's open aggression against China. Let me remind you that the territory of China is 9.6 million square meters. km, that is, approximately equal to the territory of Europe. By the time the war began in Europe, most of China, where its largest cities and economic centers were located - Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, Guangzhou, was occupied by the Japanese. Almost the entire railway network of the country fell into the hands of the invaders, and its sea coast was blocked. Chongqing became the capital of China during the war.
It should be taken into account that China lost 35 million people in the war of resistance against Japan. The European public is not sufficiently aware of the heinous crimes of the Japanese military.
Thus, on December 13, 1937, Japanese troops captured the then capital of China, Nanjing, and committed mass extermination of civilians and plunder of the city. The victims of this crime were 300 thousand people. These and other crimes were condemned by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East at the Tokyo Trial (1946 - 1948).
But, finally, objective approaches to this problem began to appear in our historiography... The collective work provides a detailed picture of military and diplomatic moves, which fully confirms the need and validity of revising the outdated Eurocentric point of view.”
For our part, I would like to note that the proposed revision will cause resistance from pro-government historians of Japan, who not only do not recognize the aggressive nature of their country’s actions in China and the number of victims in the war, but also do not consider the eight-year destruction of the Chinese population and the comprehensive plunder of China to be a war. They persistently call the Sino-Japanese War an “incident” that allegedly arose through the fault of China, despite the absurdity of such a name for military and punitive actions, during which tens of millions of people were killed. They do not recognize Japan’s aggression in China as part of the Second World War, claiming that they participated in the world conflict, opposing only the United States and Great Britain.
In conclusion, it should be recognized that our country has always objectively and comprehensively assessed the contribution of the Chinese people to the victory of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition in World War II.
High assessments of the heroism and self-sacrifice of Chinese soldiers in this war are given in modern Russia, both by historians and by the leaders of the Russian Federation. Such assessments are duly contained in the 12-volume work of prominent Russian historians, “The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945,” released by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory. Therefore, there is reason to expect that our scientists and politicians, during the events planned for the upcoming 80th anniversary of the start of the Sino-Japanese War, will treat with understanding and solidarity the position of the Chinese comrades, who consider the events that occurred in July 1937 to be the starting point of what then fell on almost the entire a world of unprecedented planetary tragedy.
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The Great Northern War, also called the Twenty Years' War, was fought between the Northern European Union and the Swedish Empire. The anti-Swedish coalition included Russia, led by Peter 1, the Danish-Norwegian kingdom, which at that time was headed by Christian 5, Moldavia, Prussia, and Saxony. On the side of the Swedes stood Great Britain, the Crimean Khanate, the Ottoman Empire, and Hanover.
The Saxon Elector Augustus dragged the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth into the war along with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which at that time was experiencing a Civil War.
The reasons for the outbreak of the Northern War lie in the struggle for power over the Baltic lands - it was extremely important for Russia to gain access to the Baltic Sea in order to be able to expand its trade routes. Another reason for the war was the deep resentment of Peter 1, which he explained by the cold reception of his person by the Swedes in Riga in 1697. The result was the confiscation of all Swedish products available on the territory of Moscow in favor of the state, and the Swedish envoy was taken under arrest.
Saxony set the goal of returning Livonia; Denmark, like Russia, wanted to have control of the Baltic Sea.
Progress of the war
The troops of Saxony were the first to attack and besieged Riga, but this did not produce any result, since they did not receive the expected support from the city aristocracy. Further, the Danish army tried to enter from the south, but this also ended in failure, since the Swedes approached Copenhagen, for which its inhabitants were completely unprepared. As a result, Denmark capitulated and then signed a peace treaty with Sweden.
The further course of the war was marked by the actions of Russia, which alone took the warpath with Sweden. This happened because Saxony lifted the siege of Riga immediately after learning of the retreat of the Danish army. Russian troops set the goal of conquering Ingria (present-day Leningrad region). To do this, they launched an attack on the Narva fortress, which was unsuccessful due to Russia’s weak combat equipment.
After these events, Peter 1 decided to strengthen Moscow, Novgorod and Pskov, expecting an attack from Sweden. However, King Charles 12 sent his army to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Saxony. Taking advantage of the situation, Russia repeated its attack on Sweden. December 1701 brought Peter his first victory, and after October 1702 he already began the construction of St. Petersburg. In 1704, a repeated and already successful siege of Narva took place.
At this time, the Swedish army does not react to Russia's actions and takes steps to move the battle to Poland, capturing some of its cities. This became the reason for the approval of Stanislav Leszczynski as the ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, with which she categorically disagreed, and therefore became an ally of Russia.
In 1706, the Swedes defeated Saxony. In this regard, Russia was forced to retreat all the way to Kyiv, and then to Minsk, because Karl went against Peter 1. Then the Swedes won the last victory in the Northern War - in Golovchin. After these events, the Russian Tsar gave the order to destroy by fire all the settlements around the Swedish troops, in order to deprive them of provisions. This brought success and in September 1708 the Swedish king attacked Russia through Ukraine, where the famous battle of Poltava took place the following year. Here the Swedes were helped by Hetman Ivan Mazepa, who supplemented Charles’s army with five thousand Cossacks. But this did not bring victory to Sweden, since its numerical strength was clearly inferior to Russia in a ratio of 1:2. Also, by that time, Charles’s troops had suffered very significant losses in ammunition. All this led to the retreat of Sweden and its complete defeat.
Results of the war
Charles 12 himself did not see the end of the war; he died in 1718. His successors subsequently concluded the Peace of Nystadt in 1721, and Sweden lost its position on the world stage.
The results of the war for Russia turned out to be the most rosy. Peter 1 received the desired access to the Baltic Sea. Also, as a result of the Northern War, Russia conquered part of the lands (Karelia, Ingria, etc.). The victorious king himself was proclaimed emperor. The reasons for Russia's victory in the Northern War lie in the competent policy of Peter I, its alliance with other states and the miscalculations of the Swedish ruler.
The enormous efforts of Peter I to reform the army were not in vain. In 1701, Russian troops under the command of boyar B.P. Sheremetev won a battle with the Swedes near the city of Dorpat (now Tartu, the former Russian city of Yuryev), and in 1702 they captured the Marienburg fortress.
Siege of Noteburg (1702)
In the fall of 1702, using sloops (there was no fleet yet), they besieged the Swedish fortress of Noteburg at the source of the Neva. Previously on this island There was a Russian fortress called Oreshek. Russian troops took the fortress by storm. On this occasion, Peter I put it this way: “This nut was extremely cruel, but, thank God, it was happily chewed.”
Peter I renamed this fortress Shlisselburg - which meant “key city”. The sources of the Neva were in the hands of the Russians. In this way, the “key” to the Baltic Sea was obtained. But it was also necessary to establish itself on the banks of the Neva.
Founding of St. Petersburg (1703)
On May 1, 1703, Russian troops under the leadership of Field Marshal B.P. Sheremetev captured the Nyenschanz fortress. She was in the middle reaches rivers Neva, at the confluence of the Okhta River.
Peter I considered that this fortress was far from the mouth of the Neva, and therefore inconvenient. A new place was found where the fortress was founded. This marked the beginning of the founding of the city of St. Petersburg (the city of St. Peter, who, according to legend, owned the keys to heaven).
On the other bank of the Neva, opposite the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Admiralty Shipyard appeared. It was intended for the construction of ships, but if necessary, it could also serve as a fortress.
Thus, the entire Neva and access to the Baltic Sea were in the hands of the Russian kingdom. But this was much less than what Russia owned before the loss Ivan the Terrible Livonian War.
Siege of Dorpat and Narva (1704)
In 1704, Russian troops captured strong Swedish fortresses - Dorpat and Narva. The siege of Dorpat was led by Field Marshal B.P. Sheremetev, and Narva by Peter I himself. A big celebration was held in Moscow in honor of the victory.
Poland in the Northern War
Peter I's ally, King Augustus of Poland, suffered defeat after defeat from the Swedes. The Polish nobility (gentry) was dissatisfied with him. Peter decided to support Augustus. Russian troops entered Grodno. However, this did not help.
The king was forced to abdicate power, enter into an alliance with Sweden and leave the Northern Alliance. Russia was left alone in the fight against Sweden.
In Grodno, the Russians found themselves in a difficult situation. They were besieged by the Swedes. But winter began, the Swedes did not attack, but settled nearby in warm apartments. The Russian army took advantage of this. She left the city, destroying the bridge across the river behind her. The beginning of the ice drift delayed the crossing of the Swedes for two weeks. The Russian army retreated to Kyiv. Charles XII began to pursue her and in the spring of 1708 invaded Russia. He had two options: to go through Smolensk to Moscow or to move to Ukraine. The road to Moscow was blocked by the strong army of B.P. Sheremetev.
In Ukraine, among some segments of the population there was growing dissatisfaction with the fact that it was part of Russia. The Hetman of Ukraine - Ma-zepa - promised Charles XII military support for the Zaporozhye army, feed for livestock, food and accommodation for his army. Charles XII went to Ukraine.
Russia found itself in a difficult situation. The Cossacks rebelled on the Don, and there were unrest in Bashkiria. General Levenhaupt hurried from the Baltic states to Karl. Another commander was coming from Finland, who was ordered to capture St. Petersburg and Novgorod.
Battle of Lesnaya
On September 28, 1708, Russian troops met Levengaupt’s detachment near the village of Lesnaya. The Swedes were defeated in the battle. Artillery, ammunition and food ended up in Russian hands. Later, Peter I called the Battle of Lesnaya “the mother of the Poltava battle.”
Poltava battle
Prut campaign (1711)
In 1710-1711 Russia waged war against Turkey in the Danube principalities. The Russian army crossed the Prut River and was surrounded by Turkish troops who had numerical superiority. This threatened the defeat of the Russian army and the capture of Peter I. The Tsar was in confusion. Negotiations began. Peace was achieved at a very high cost. Russia lost Azov. The Russian fleet did not have the right to sail in the Sea of Azov. Some of the ships were destroyed, some were given to Turkey.
Battle of Gangut
After the Prut campaign, the war again moved to the shores of the Baltic. In 1714, at Cape Gangut, the young Russian navy won a naval battle against the Swedes. Material from the site
Cape Gangut was the tip of the peninsula. The Swedes brought up their fleet and had no doubt about victory. However, Peter I outwitted the enemy. He gave the order to drag the ships to the other side of the peninsula. The trick was a success. The Swedes divided their squadron. Some went to the opposite bank peninsula to meet Russian ships there when they launch. At this moment wind poem. The sea became calm. Peter I immediately took advantage of this “gift of nature”. He canceled the order on portage and ordered the ships to sail by sea. Swedish ships were sailing and could only move if there was wind. The Russians had rowing ships - galleys that rode oars. They were not afraid of the calm. The powerful Swedish warships, ready for battle, stood motionless with drooping sails. Having formed a crescent formation, the Russian ships moved towards a small detachment of Swedish ships standing aside. Despite the fierce enemy fire, the Russian guard under the command of Prince M. M. Golitsyn went on board. Hand-to-hand combat began. The young Russian fleet won the naval battle. On this occasion, magnificent celebrations were organized in St. Petersburg.
In 1718, peace negotiations began, but to no avail. Meanwhile, Charles XII died, but the war continued. In 1719, the Russian fleet again won a naval victory off the island of Ezel. In 1720, near the island of Grengam, Russian military rowing ships surrounded the Swedish large ships and won a convincing victory.
