Northern Wars

Northern Wars is a term used for a series of wars fought in northern and northeastern Europe in the 16th and 17th century. An internationally agreed nomenclature for these wars has not yet been devised.^[1] While the Great Northern War is generally considered to be the last of the Northern Wars, there are different scholarly opinions on which war constitutes the First Northern War.^[2]

Depending upon what date is chosen for the starting point, the Northern Wars comprise:

• The Russo-Swedish War (1554–57), "First Northern War" according to Arvo Viljanti^[2]
• The Livonian War (1558–83), "First Northern War" according to Klaus Zernack^[2]
• The Northern Seven Years' War (1562–70), "First Northern War" according to some Polish historians^[2]
• The Russo-Polish or Thirteen Years' War (1654–67), "First Northern War" according to some Russian historians^[2]
• The Second Northern War (1655–60), "First Northern War" according to traditional Anglo-Saxon, German, Russian and Scandinavian historiography^[2]
• The Scanian War (1674–79)
• The Great Northern War (1700–21), also "Third Northern War"^[2] or "Second Northern War"^[3]

See also

• War in the North (1937), a campaign in the Spanish Civil War
• Russo-Swedish Wars
• Polish–Swedish wars
• Early modern warfare

Sources

References

1. Frost (2000), pp.12-13
2. Frost (2000), p.13
3. "Second Northern War". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 23 October 2008. Retrieved 31 March 2014.

Bibliography

• Frost, Robert I (2000). The Northern Wars. War, State and Society in Northeastern Europe 1558-1721. Longman. ISBN 978-0-582-06429-4.