"Northern Wars" is a term used for a series of wars fought in northern and northeastern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

from the 16th to the 18th century. An internationally agreed-on nomenclature for these wars has not yet been devised. While the

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedi ...

is generally considered to be the last of the Northern Wars, there are different scholarly opinions on which war constitutes the First Northern War.Frost (2000), p. 13 Depending upon what date is chosen for the starting point, the Northern Wars comprise: *The

Russo-Swedish War (1554–1557) The Russo-Swedish War of 1554–1557, considered a prelude to the Livonian War of 1558–1583, arose out of border skirmishes. It ended when the parties agreed on a truce in the Treaty of Novgorod (1557). Prelude Relations between Sweden and Rus ...

, "First Northern War" according to

Arvo Viljanti Arvo Kunto Viljanti (until 1935 named ''Viklund'', 24 August 1900 in Pargas – 6 July 1974) was a Finnish historian. Viljanti had earned a PhD and from 1962 worked as a professor at the University of Åbo The Royal Academy of Turku or the Roy ...

*The

Livonian War The Livonian War (1558–1583) was the Russian invasion of Old Livonia, and the prolonged series of military conflicts that followed, in which Tsar Ivan the Terrible of Russia (Muscovy) unsuccessfully fought for control of the region (pre ...

(1558–1583), "First Northern War" according to Klaus Zernack **The

Northern Seven Years' War The Northern Seven Years' War (also known as the ''Nordic Seven Years' War'', the ''First Northern War'' or the ''Seven Years War in Scandinavia'') was fought between the Kingdom of Sweden and a coalition of Denmark–Norway, Lübeck, and Polan ...

(1563–1570), "First Northern War" according to some Polish historians *The

Russo-Swedish War (1590–1595) The Russo-Swedish War of 1590–1595 was instigated by Boris Godunov in the hope of gaining the territory of the Swedish Estonia, Duchy of Estonia along the Gulf of Finland belonging to Sweden since the previous Livonian War. As soon as the Truce ...

*The Russo-Polish or Thirteen Years' War (1654–1667), "First Northern War" according to some Russian historians *The

Second Northern War The Second Northern War (1655–60), (also First or Little Northern War) was fought between Sweden and its adversaries the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1655–60), the Tsardom of Russia (Russo-Swedish War (1656–1658), 1656–58), Brande ...

(1655–1660), "First Northern War" according to traditional Anglo-Saxon, German, Russian and Scandinavian historiography, in Poland known as

Swedish Deluge The Deluge ( pl, potop szwedzki, lt, švedų tvanas) was a series of mid-17th-century military campaigns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In a wider sense it applies to the period between the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648 and the Truce ...

*The

Scanian War The Scanian War ( da, Skånske Krig, , sv, Skånska kriget, german: Schonischer Krieg) was a part of the Northern Wars involving the union of Denmark–Norway, Brandenburg and Sweden. It was fought from 1675 to 1679 mainly on Scanian soil, ...

(1674–1679), also called "Swedish-Brandenburgian War" by German historians *The

See also

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