Georg Heinrich von Görtz

Georg Heinrich von Görtz was Carl XII of Sweden's minister who (to me, anyway) seems like an early Talleyrand or even a Swedish Menshikov. Unfortunately, he lost his head (literally) in Ulrika Eleonora's reign. Am I overestimating his abilities/powers in the Swedish government, or was he really a "spider-politician" who was just working several angles at once? Could Görtz's negotiations at Aland (which were favorable to Sweden, but rejected by Carl XII [small surprise]) have saved Sweden from her decline in the future?
 
In the early to middle 18th century there was still room for a smaller state to be a major player if it uses its resources well, the way Sweden did 1560 to 1718, so a temporary defeat might not mean that Sweden as a European Power is finished, for a few decades, that is. In the late 1700s, Sweden would have needed to expand drastically in the previous half-century to still be reckoned with, although OTL incompetent and weak Sweden actually still was one of the contemporary powers back then, but that might have been more of a residual effect than reality, although there were some scientific and technical progress to back things up.

If Sweden had lost Viborg and Narva and Ingria, but kept the rest of Finland, Estonia and Livonia, and had gotten Russian support for acquiring Courland and Norway, and holding on to the lost German provinces in the peace, then an expansive Sweden might, if successful, have made further advances into Poland-Lithuania, Denmark and Germany in the 1700s, and have taken the position corresponding to OTL late 18th and 19th century Prussia as the Northern Continental Power.
 
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In the early to middle 18th century there was still room for a smaller state to be a major player if it uses its resources well, the way Sweden did 1560 to 1718, so a temporary defeat might not mean that Sweden as a European Power is finished, for a few decades, that is. In the late 1700s, Sweden would have needed to expand drastically in the previous half-century to still be reckoned with, although OTL incompetent and weak Sweden actually still was one of the contemporary powers back then, but that might have been more of a residual effect than reality, although there were some scientific and technical progress to back things up.

If Sweden had lost Viborg and Narva and Ingria, but kept the rest of Finland, Estonia and Livonia, and had gotten Russian support for acquiring Courland and Norway, and holding on to the lost German provinces in the peace, then an expansive Sweden might, if successful, have made further advances into Poland-Lithuania, Denmark and Germany in the 1700s, and have taken the position corresponding to OTL late 18th and 19th century Prussia as the Northern Continental Power.

Can someone explain the final Swedish deal at Nystadt versus the deal that Görtz got at the Aland congress? Since I think at the latter Sweden had Cardinal Alberoni and England acting as mediators or am I understanding it wrong?
 
Is it known what results Görtz had got out of the negociations? I have never really succeeded in finding anything of substance.

I seems as if the Czar was willing to let Sweden get most lands back, and even ally with Sweden. Unfortunately, the Swedes were not really interested, so they played a false hand.
 
Is it known what results Görtz had got out of the negociations? I have never really succeeded in finding anything of substance.

I seems as if the Czar was willing to let Sweden get most lands back, and even ally with Sweden. Unfortunately, the Swedes were not really interested, so they played a false hand.

Its Carl XII - he was "resolved to never end a war EXCEPT by defeating my enemies" - so it makes sense that Gortz was hamstrung in his peace negotiations. IIRC someone described Russia's willingness to attend the congress as "trying to cloak fear in pacificism".

But say Carl XII decides/realises that Sweden is not like him (i.e. Not immune to pain, supposedly bulletproof etc) and agrees to attend the congress (if only as a sop to Cerberus to buy time for a Swedish victory), what might the results then be - for instance if a Russo-Swedish alliance like the 7YW League of the 3 petticoats (France, Austria and Russia) were to be formed.
 
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