Well russia somewhere i believe their crusade train to muslim nations thats what i meant they gonna do something big your thoughts?
Remember this part of history? Will they try to get even?
Swedish Supremacy and Russia’s Baltic Crisis
In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the Kingdom of Sweden was a dominant military and naval power in Northern Europe. Under rulers like Charles XI and Charles XII, Sweden controlled vast territories around the Baltic Sea, including Finland, Estonia, Livonia, and parts of northern Germany. This control effectively blocked Russia’s access to warm-water ports, leaving it isolated from vital European trade routes and naval influence.
Russia’s only major seaport at the time was Arkhangelsk, located far to the north and frozen much of the year. This geographic bottleneck was both a strategic vulnerability and a symbolic humiliation for Tsar Peter the Great, who envisioned Russia as a modern European empire.
The Great Northern War and the Seizure of Nyenskans
In 1700, Peter launched the Great Northern War against Sweden, forming a coalition with Denmark-Norway, Saxony, and Poland-Lithuania. His goal: break Sweden’s Baltic monopoly and secure a permanent maritime gateway.
After initial setbacks, Russian forces captured the Swedish fortress of Nyenskans at the mouth of the Neva River in May 1703. Days later, Peter laid the foundation of the Peter and Paul Fortress, marking the birth of St. Petersburg—a city built not just of stone, but of strategic defiance.
St. Petersburg: Russia’s “Window to Europe”
Peter’s new city was a deliberate affront to Swedish dominance. Located on territory wrested from Sweden, it gave Russia direct access to the Baltic and allowed Peter to shift the capital from Moscow to a Western-facing metropolis by 1712.
Built by conscripted laborers and Swedish prisoners of war, St. Petersburg was a monument to imperial ambition, maritime power, and ideological transformation. It embodied Peter’s desire to Westernize Russia, break free from medieval isolation, and challenge the Protestant monarchies of Northern Europe.
Legacy of Strategic Reversal
The founding of St. Petersburg marked the decline of Swedish hegemony and the rise of Russia as a European power. By the end of the Great Northern War in 1721, Sweden had lost much of its Baltic empire, and Peter had earned the title “Emperor of All Russia.”
St. Petersburg wasn’t just a city—it was a geopolitical pivot, a spiritual and ideological statement, and a lasting symbol of Russia’s emergence from under the shadow of Swedish domination.
