Swedish Rule
1561-1660 		Estonia Russian
1721-1795






Estonia 1660-1721



Under Sweden, Estonia enjoyed the protection requested for in 1561. For Sweden, the cities of the southern Baltic shore (Reval) were a major source of revenue, which the country needed to finance it's many wars.
In 1673, Estonia was elevated to a General Government (hitherto duchy). A new Church Ordinnance for Estonia in 1686 introduced the consistorium.
In 1700, Russia's Tsar Peter the Great laid siege to the city of NARVA. Young Swedish King CHARLES XII. appeared at the head of an 8,000 men strong Swedish army and defeated the 30,000 strong Russians. King Charles XII. then focussed on Poland, Saxony and Denmark, while Estonia lay unprotected throughout the remainder of the GREAT NORDIC WAR (1700-1721).
In 1709 Charles XII. was defeated by the Russians in the Battle of Poltava; Estonia was occupied by Russian forces in 1710. In the PEACE OF NYSTAD (1721) Sweden ceded Livonia and Estonia to Russia.





EXTERNAL
LINKS 		Estonian History 1558-1710, the Swedish Age, from Estonica
Courland, Livonia and Estonia. Confidential Handbooks No.57, 1919, from the British Foreign Office, posted on the Web by jewishgen.org
Estonian Timeline, by Tapani Hietaniemi
History of Tallinn (Reval), by infomaterjalid
DOCUMENTS Report on the Battle of Narva, 1700, from Svensk Krigshistoria, in old Swedish
REFERENCE Reinhard Wittram, Baltische Geschichte. Die Ostseelande Livland, Estland und Kurland 1180-1918 (Baltic History. The Baltic Lands of Livonia, Estonia and Courland, 1180-1918), Darmstadt : Wissenschaftliche Buchgemeinschaft (1954) 1973, in German


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2000, last revised on November 11th 2004

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