This Day in History-10/9/2005
Charles XII, detail of an oil painting by David von Krafft after J.D. Swartz, 1706; in Gripsholm …
Courtesy of the Svenska Portrattarkivet, Stockholm 1721: Great Northern War concluded by Peace of Nystad
Sweden's expansion in the Baltics antagonized Russia, Denmark-Norway, and Saxony-Poland and led to the prolonged conflict known as the Second Northern War, or Great Northern War (1700–21). Although the forces of Sweden's King Charles XII were successful in the early stages of the war, they suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Russians at Poltava in Ukraine in June 1709. After spending five years in Bender (now Bendery, Moldova), attempting in vain to convince the Turks to attack Russia, Charles returned to Sweden in 1715, then was killed in combat against Norway in 1718. His death ended Sweden's “Age of Greatness.” By the Peace of Nystad, concluded this day, Sweden formally ceded the Baltic provinces, part of Karelia, and the city of Vyborg (near St. Petersburg) to Russia.
More events on this day
1988: By winning the U.S. Open, Steffi Graf completed the grand slam of tennis; she was the first woman to accomplish the feat since Margaret Court in 1970.
1974: Guinea-Bissau gained independence from Portugal.
1919: Austria and the Allied Powers signed the Treaty of Saint-Germain, concluding World War I.
1894: The United Daughters of the Confederacy, an American women's patriotic society, was founded in Nashville, Tennessee.
1813: U.S. naval forces under the command of Oliver Hazard Perry defeated the British in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812.
1651: Japanese rebel Yui Shosetsu committed suicide after the failure of his plot against the Tokugawa shogunate.
1608: John Smith became president of the Jamestown colony, the first permanent English settlement in North America.
1419: John the Fearless, second duke of Burgundy, was killed during a meeting with the future king Charles VII at Montereau, France.
422: Saint Celestine I was elected to succeed Boniface I as pope. |
