Greater Wrath
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| Great Northern War |
|---|
| Narva – Daugava – Kliszów – Gemauerthof – Fraustadt – Holowczyn – Lesnaya – Poltava – Helsingborg – Gadebusch – Storkyro – Gangut – Stralsund – Dynekilen – Ösel – Stäket – Grengam |
The Greater Wrath (Finnish: Isoviha Swedish: Stora ofreden) is a term used in Finnish history for the Russian invasion and subsequent military occupation from 1713 until the treaty of Nystad 1721, which ended the Great Northern War, although sometimes the term is used to denote all of the Great Northern War.
Relatively few Finnish soldiers participated in king Charles' military campaigns in Poland and Russia. Instead, they were deployed in the defense of the Baltic territories, where they slowly succumbed to the grinding of Peter the Great's attacks. After the disaster of Poltava in 1709, very little help was to be had by the shattered continental army. Russia invaded Finland in 1713 and destroyed the Finnish army at the battle of Storkyro in 1714.
The victor at Storkyro, Mikhail Golitsyn, became governor of Finland. The finnish peasants were forced to pay large contributions to the occupying Russians (as was the custom in that time). Plundering was widespread, especially in Ostrobothnia. Churches were looted, Storkyro was burned to the ground. A scorched earth zone several hundred kilometer wide was burned to hinder Swedish counteroffensives; 8,000-9,000 finns were killed or taken away as slaves. The civilian population was treated unusually harshly. Thousands fled to the (relative) safety of Sweden, thousands more fled into the woods.
Even the Swedish western side of the Gulf of Bothnia was ravaged by the Russians. The city of Umeå was burned to the ground by the Russians on September 18, 1714, and after struggling to rebuild was razed again in 1719, 1720, and 1721.
It took several decades for the Finnish population and economy to recover after the peace in 1721, at which point Finland was scourged again during the Lesser Wrath.
[edit] Reference
- Svenska slagfält, 2003, (Wahlström & Widstrand, ISBN 91-46-21087-3)
