Talk:Northern Seven Years' War

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Wasn't Muscovy a participant in that conflict? I found some tidbits of information about the gains of Sweden, Poland and Muscovy in this war, added them to the Treaty of Stettin article - it would be good if they were reviewed. Also, this may benefit from merger or expantion with material from Livonian War. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus ^Talk 00:12, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

Just found "Northern Seven Years War," wondered why it was so bad, then found this article. If there's any unique/useful information it should be merged and redirected, if not it should be simply replaced with a redirect.

[edit] Northern Seven Years War

Here is the text from that article. The only contributor were anonymous.

The Northern Seven Years War (1563–1570) was waged between Denmark (supported by Lübeck) and Sweden. It is the first great Danish-Swedish collision after the age of the union.

Behind the war laid a growing rivalry between the two Scandinavian powers in the Baltic area. A temporary detente between the two states during the reign Christian III and Gustav I was replaced by new tensions at the accession of Frederick II and Eric XIV. In Estonia both parts wanted to enlarge their areas after the collapse of the German Order, Frederick II dreamt of reviving the union and Eric XIV of conquests in Scania and Norway. Diplomatic provocations and a continual prestige strife about the national arms sharpened the conflict. 1563 – at a time when King Eric was preoccupied by a rebellion in Finland - Denmark (allied with Lübeck that wanted to better its privileges) declared war on Sweden.

A quick Danish effort to conquer Sweden by a large army consisting of German lansquenets failed and instead the war developed into a war of attrition. Both parts ravaged each other’s areas. Denmark was hampered by endless wage claims from the professional soldiers and 1564 the Swedes took the offensive, ravaged Scania and nearly conquered Norway but were expelled by Danish troops. 1565 the Danes won the only real battle of the war at Axtorna but without any possibility of exploiting it. Also the plague was a severe threat to both armies.

At sea the Danes won some minor victories but also here they were hard pressed by the Swedes. A large-scale effort of blockading Sweden to surrender led to serious conflicts with the Western trade powers and so did Danish up-and-down juggling with the Sound Dues. Both navies were weakened by bad supply and during the battles often many captains remained passive. 1566 most of the Danish navy was even crushed at a shipwreck at Gotland.

After a needed reconstruction of the Danish war leadership 1566–1567 by which the exiled Danish statesman Peder Oxe was recalled and made head of the government the Danes recovered a bearable financial and diplomatic position. 1557–1568 the Danish army led by the very able general Daniel Rantzau carried through a legendary and victorious campaign through Sweden but without any regular result. 1568 King Eric who had become insane was overthrown by his brother John III who wanted peace. However huge Danish demands led the war draw on for two more years. It ended by the peace of Stettin December 1570. In reality it was a status quo peace at which Denmark recognised Sweden as an independent state and Sweden recognised Gotland a Danish area. The question about the national arms was not solved until 1613. However, the payment of a Swedish ransom to get back the fortress of Elfsborg on the Kattegat coast let Denmark stand is the ”victor”.

The political results from the war were far ranging. To the Western powers it revealed the consequenses of the Danish mastery of both Sound coast and its economic abuse of the Sound Dues. It is not unlike that these experiences were behind the Dutch and English policy of recognising the Swedish conquest of Scania after 1658. In the same way the brutal Swedish behaviour in Norway for more than two hundred years ruined the Swedish hope of a voluntary Norwegian affiliation to Sweden.