On December 4, 1714, the diplomats of the nations of Denmark-Norway, Poland-Lithuania, Saxony, Russia, and Sweden all met at the capital of Denmark-Norway (Schleswig-Holstein was not invited to the negotiations), to discuss the terms that would decide the fate of Northern and Eastern Europe. Needless to say, Swedish diplomats were not feeling optimistic about what the demands of their enemies would be, and these fears were for good reason.
First was Denmark-Norway, who intended for Sweden to suffer for centuries of conflict. The first term (which surprised nobody) was the return of Scania to Danish rule, although they also demanded the return of the Bohuslän region as to cut of Sweden from the Skagerrak sea. However, Denmark then made a rather bold demand of the return of the Jämtland region which had been taken from Norway roughly 7 decades prior. It then demanded the annexation of Schleswig-Holstein, along with Swedish Pomerania and Bremen-Verden (and all other German territories that Sweden owned). Sweden also forfeited her right to duty-free passage of Øresund. In return for all this, Denmark-Norway would pay 1.2 million Riksdaler to Sweden.
Next was Russia, who shared Denmark's goal of weakening Sweden as much as possible. The Russian Empire seized Estonia, Livonia, Ingria, Southeast Finland (
Kexholmslän and all of the
Karelian Isthmus), and the southern part of "Western Finland" along with the majority of the Lakeland region in exchange for 6 million silver
thaler [1]. While Sweden still owned the vast majority of Finland, the annexation of southern Finland gave Russia complete control over the Gulf of Finland, and let them establish themselves as a rising power in the Baltic Sea.
Poland-Lithuania did not demand much compared to the previous 2, just asking for Swedish Courland as a vassal state.
And with the signing of the treaty just as 1714 reached a close, the Great Northern War was truly over.
Meanwhile, the rest of Europe had just finished the War of Spanish Succession, with France managing to successfully insert a Bourbon ruler in Spain and annexing the southern half of the Spanish Netherlands (helped in large part by the Danish withdrawing their tens of thousands of volunteers due to their own war against Sweden). [3]
The northern half was given from Spain to Austria, and was only saved from annexation by the fact that the Bishopric of Liege split it from its southern counterpart.
Needless to say, with the end of 2 large-scale conflicts just as 1714 ended, the fate of millions of Europeans was changed forever...
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Dun dun dun! That's right, I'm back! I apologize for the long hiatus but countless AP exams along with me preparing for my upcoming freshman college year (not to mention my new summer job) have all kept me busy as heck. I will now try to devote as much time as I can to this TL for the next 2 months.
[1]: As you can no doubt tell, Russia has annexed quite a bit more from Sweden than IOTL, mainly due to Sweden having less of an army (and thus less will to fight along with less diplomatic power), this will have some ramifications on the Finnish people in the future while also giving Russia more naval control. The amount they paid Sweden hasn't changed from OTL. Denmark also took a huge chunk of land, but instead of Sweden paying for their return, Denmark is the one who pays ITTL, paying double what Sweden paid them IOTL.
[2] This is the minor ramification I told you guys about that resulted from Denmark withdrawing its tens of thousands of volunteer forces from the WoSS, as the loss of troops on the side of the Anti-French alliance let France take the aforementioned southern half of the now-Austrian Netherlands. Btw, the rest of the WoSS ends the same, with Habsberg Italy being given to Austria to control.
Also little btw, France will be far stronger and more populated by 1900 ITTL than IOTL, for all you people who like France.