TAMH: Trading Ports

Centuries - 16 | 18 | 19


Narva in the 18th century

(Narva, Estonia)

When German Balts turned to old adversaries, the Russians, to fight the Swedes, Peter the Great obliged. In 1700, 35000 Russian soldiers set out for the Swedish garrison at Narva. Charles XII, aged 19, came to its relief with 8000 men and, in a snowstorm, decimated the Russians capturing every artillery piece. Rejecting advisers' calls to press on to Moscow he moved to other fronts. Peter entrusted a second attack on Narva in 1704 to a Scot, Ogilvie. He overwhelmed the garrison, decided no prisoners would be taken and began an indiscriminate slaughter. When Peter arrived, it is said he stopped the massacre by slaying his own attackers with his sword. It was not pure humanity, he wanted Swedish prisoners for building work. The Peace of Nystad in 1721 gave Swedish possessions in the Baltic, including Estonia, to Russia. German merchants carried on as before.
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