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while Peter was besieging Narva (in Ingermannland) with like result. Landing of Charles XII. with 8,000 men and brilliant

1700. Victory of Narva,

Nov. 30.

over the Russians. Charles's hatred of Augustus led him to neglect his more dangerous opponent, the Czar, and to seek revenge upon the king of Poland. Meeting and closer alliance of Augustus and Peter. Charles crossed the Duna and

1701. defeated the Saxons at Riga. Charles invaded Lithuania. The republic of Poland was drawn into the war; alliance of the party of the Sapiehas with the Swedes. The city of Warsaw surrendered at the first summons.

Victory of Charles XII. over the Poles and Saxons at Klissow (1702) and at Pultusk (1703). Charles rejected all overtures of peace, caused Augustus to be deposed by that party among the Poles which had joined him and his adherent, the Woiwod

1704-1709. Stanislaus Lesczinski to be elected king.

Meanwhile Peter had founded his capital, St. Petersburg, in the marshes of the Neva (1703), and captured Narva (1704).

Continuance of the war in Poland and Lithuania. Victory of Charles at Punitz (1704_Schulenburg's masterly retreat) and of his general Rhenskjöld at Fraustadt (1706). Charles invaded Saxony and compelled Augustus to sign the

1706. Peace of Altranstädt (near Leipzig).

1. Augustus II. abdicated the Polish crown, recognized Stanislaus Lesczinski as king of Poland, and sent him a written expression of good will. 2. Augustus abjured his alliance with the Czar, and delivered the plenipotentiary of the latter, Patkul, to Charles who had him executed with cruelty. 3. Saxony furnished provisions and pay for the Swedish army during the winter.

In Sept., 1707, Charles took the field against Peter, who had well employed the interval in making conquests and establishing his power on the Baltic, and in forming a trained and veteran army. The approach to Moscow cut off by devastation of the country. Charles allowed himself to be misled by the Cossack hetman Mazeppa, who had deserted Peter, crossed the Dnieper (1708) into the Ukraine. Futile siege of Pultowa. Peter hastened to raise the siege and by force of numbers completely defeated the Swedes, who were exhausted by long marches and lack of food, in the

1709, July 8. Battle of Pultowa,

which established Peter's new creations on a firm basis, and destroyed at one blow the ascendency of Sweden. The Swedish army was completely broken up, and a large part of it captured. Charles took refuge with the Turks.

1709-1714. Charles XII. in Turkey, endeavoring to induce the Porte to declare war against Peter. He was successful in 1711. Peter, allied with the princes of the Moldau, crossed the Dniester, was surrounded on the Pruth, and was obliged to buy the

1711. Peace of the Pruth from the Turks by bribery, upon the advice of his wife Catherine.

1. Azoff given back to the Porte. 2. The king of Sweden allowed to return to his realm unmolested.

Charles XII., indignant at this peace, refused to depart, and for three years more misused the patience and hospitality of the Turks at Bender, Bessarabia, now belonging to Russia, and in Demotika. Senseless defense of his camp against a whole army, when the attempt was made to force his departure (1713). Meantime his enemies were making good use of the time. Augustus II. drove king Stanislaus from Poland; the Danes tried to reconquer the southern provinces of Sweden, but were repulsed. Peter the Great occupied all of Livonia, Esthonia, Ingermannland, Carelia, Finland. The Convention of the Hague (1710), in order to keep the war away from the German boundaries, had established the neutrality of all the German provinces of Sweden, as well as of Schleswig and Jütland. Charles XII., however, having from his retreat in Turkey protested against this treaty, the Danes took Schleswig away from the duke of Holstein-Gottorp, and conquered the Swedish duchies of Bremen and Verden (1712), which they afterwards (1715) sold to Hanover upon condition that that state should take part in the war against Sweden. The Swedish general Stenbock defeated the Danes and burnt Altona, but was captured by the Russians at Tönningen (1713). The Danes and Poles invaded Pommerania, the Prussians occupied Stettin. 1714. Charles XII. at last returned to his kingdom.

Adventurous

journey through Hungary and Germany. The king reached Stralsund. Alliance between Prussia, Saxony, Denmark, Hanover, Russia, against Sweden. Stralsund and with it all Pomerania lost (1715), Wismar soon captured also (1716).

1716. Peter I. made a journey to Denmark, Holland, France.

Charles XII. negotiated with Peter I. through Baron von Görz, who, in spite of the hatred borne him by the Swedish nobles, was placed in control of the internal administration of Sweden. Three expeditions of the Swedes to Norway; on the third,

1718. Charles XII. was shot in front of Friedrichshall, probDec. 11. ably by an assassin.

After limits had been set on the royal power in the interests of the royal council, Charles's nephew was passed over, and his youngest sister,

1719. Ulrica Eleanora, raised to the throne. She soon placed the control of the government in the hands of her

husband,

1720-1751. Frederic of Hesse-Cassel.

Execution of the Baron von Görz, Charles's intimate. The northern war was ended by a series of treaties concluded at Stockholm and Friedrichsburg.

1. With Hanover (1719), which retained Bremen and Verden, and paid Sweden one million thalers. 2. With Prussia (1720), which received Stettin, western Pomerania as far as the Peene, the islands of Wollin and Usedom, and paid two million thalers. 3. With Den

mark, which restored all its conquests. In return Sweden paid 600,000 rix dollars, gave up its freedom from custom duties in the Sound and abandoned the duke of Holstein-Gottorp, whom Denmark deprived of his share of Schleswig. 4. With Poland the truce of 1719 was continued.

1721. Aug. 30. Peace of Nystadt between Sweden and Russia.

1. Sweden ceded to Russia, Livonia, Esthonia, Ingermannland, part of Carelia, and a number of islands, among others Oesel, Dagö. 2. Russia restored Finland and paid two million rix dollars.

§ 3. GERMANY.

1705-1711. Joseph I., son of Leopold. He was succeeded by his brother

1711-1740. Charles VI.,

War of the Spanish Succession, p. 390.

1713-1740. Frederic William I., son of Frederic I., king of Prus

sia, by wise economy, a military severity, and the establishment of a formidable army, laid the foundation of the future power of Prussia. Maintenance of a standing army of 83,000 men, with a population of two and a half million inhabitants. Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau (“the old Dessauan”).

1714-1718. War of Turks with Venice, and after 1716 with the emperor. Easy conquest of Morea by the Turks; the Venetians, however, kept Corfu. In Hungary the war was brilliantly conducted by prince Eugene. Victory of Peterwardein (1716). Victory, siege, and capture of Belgrade (1717).

1718. July 21. Peace of Passarowitz (Posharewatz).

1. Austria received the Bannat of Temesvar, a part of Servia, with Belgrade and Little Wallachia. 2. Venice retained her conquests in Dalmatia, but ceded Morea to the Porte.

The seizure of Sardinia (1717) and Sicily (1718) by Spain, where Elizabeth of Parma, the second wife of Philip V., and her favorite the minister and cardinal Alberoni, were planning to regain the Spanish appanages lost by the Peace of Utrecht, brought about the 1718. Quadruple alliance for the maintenance of the Peace of Aug. 2. Utrecht, between France, England, the emperor, and (since 1719) the Republic of Holland.

After a short war and the fall of Alberoni, who went to Rome († 1752), the agreements of the quadruple alliance were executed in 1720. 1. Spain evacuated Sicily and Sardinia, and made a renunciation of the appanages forever, in return for which the emperor recognized the Spanish Bourbons. 2. Savoy was obliged to exchange Sicily (p. 393) for Sardinia. After this time the dukes of Savoy called themselves kings of Sardinia.

The emperor Charles VI. was without male offspring. His principal endeavor throughout his whole reign was to secure the various

lands which were united under the sceptre of Austria against division after his death. Hence he established an order of succession under the name of the

Pragmatic Sanction,

which decreed that: 1. The lands belonging to the Austrian empire should be indivisible; 2. That in case male heirs should fail, they should devolve upon Charles's daughters, the eldest of whom was Maria Theresa, and their heirs according to the law of primogeniture; 3. In case of the extinction of this line the daughters of Joseph I. and their descendants were to inherit.

To secure the assent of the various powers to this pragmatic sanction was the object of numerous diplomatic negotiations. A special alliance between Austria and Spain (1725), in regard to this measure, produced the alliance of Herrenhausen, in the same year, between England, France, and Prussia in opposition. Prussia soon withdrew from the alliance and joined Austria by the Treaty of Wusterhausen. The alliance between Austria and Spain was also of short duration. 1733-1735. War of the Polish Succession, after the death of Augustus II.

Cause: The majority of the Polish nobles, under the influence of France, elected Stanislaus Lesczinski, who had become the fatherin-law of Louis XV., king, a second time. Russia and Austria induced a minority to choose Augustus III., elector of Saxony (son of Augustus II.), and supported the election by the presence of troops in Poland. France, Spain, and Sardinia took up arms for Stanislaus. The seat of war was at first in Italy, where Milan, Naples, and Sicily were conquered, and the Austrians lost everything except Milan, and afterwards on the upper Rhine, where the old prince Eugene fought unsuccessfully, and Francis Stephen, duke of Lorraine, the future husband of Maria Theresa, alone upheld the honor of the imperial arms. Lorraine occupied by the French. Kehl captured. Preliminaries of peace (1735), and, after long negotiations,

1738. Nov. 18. Peace of Vienna.

1. Stanislaus Lesczinski made a renunciation of the Polish throne, receiving as compensation the duchies of Lorraine and Bar, which at his death should devolve upon France. Stanislaus died 1766. 2. The duke of Lorraine, Francis Stephen, received an indemnification in Tuscany, whose ducal throne had become vacant by the extinction of the family of Medici, 1737 (p. 417). 3. Austria ceded Naples and Sicily, the island of Elba and the Stati degli Presidi to Spain as a secundogeniture for Don Carlos, so that these lands could never be united with the crown of Spain, receiving in exchange Parma and Piacenza, which Don Carlos had inherited in 1731 upon the death of the last Farnese, his great-uncle. 4. France guaranteed the Pragmatic Sanction.

1736-1739. Unsuccessful war with the Turks in alliance with Russia (p. 411). By the Peace of Belgrade Orsowa, Belgrade, Servia, and Little Wallachia were restored to the Turks, May. Death of Frederic William I. of Prussia.

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GERMAN BRANCH OF THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG.

Compare the Genealogical Table at p. 301.

Ferdinand I., 1556-1564.

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HOUSE OF LORRAINE AND TUSCANY.

Francis I., grand duke of Tuscany 1737, emperor 1745-1765, m. Maria Theresa, daughter of Charles VI. the last Hapsburg.

Gisela. Rudolf. Maria.

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