I prefer Lesser and Great version as to keep a pun on "Lesser Naval Swear of Peter the Great" (Малый морской загиб Петра Великого).
But yes, Cat could have heard it a few times.
No GNW (or “Peter goes South”)
- Thread starter alexmilman
- Start date
But yes, Cat could have heard it a few times.
The dirty
55. The dirty substances. [1]
So this is a late fall/early winter of 1712. The armies are busy with marching/fighting/besieging/planning to go to the winter quarters and the navies are sailing in all possible directions. There is a time to talk about something else…. like making money.😉
While both the LNW and the ongoing BFW were more or less the regional affairs, they had the impact well beyond the region, which is not a nog surprise because Sweden and Russia had something that others desperately needed. The issues of flax and hemp had been already addressed and now it is time for the dirty substances, pitch and tar.
The major supplier of pitch and tar to the English market was Sweden- Finland. In Finland, tar was produced of young pine trees. Tar production concentrated in more remote locations of the country, where it would be too difficult and expensive to transport timber and wood products. The cheapest products, such as wood, boards and planks, were produced on a coastal zone at farthest 30 km from the coast. Tar was produced in the zone beyond the coastal district.
Prior to the first Anglo-Dutch War, England's share of the tar trade was negligible, but by 1660, it had risen to half the total volume of Swedish tar exports. The aggressive trading tactics of the English merchants soon clashed with the Swedish attempts to control and direct the trade through a monopoly company (Tar Company). The tar monopoly was termed a 'considerable' grievance by the Eastland Company in a petition to the English Council of Trade in 1661, and the Council itself was of the opinion that any future trade treaty with Sweden should contain provision either for the abolition of the monopoly or for free and unhindered trade between English traders and the factors of the Tar Company. The trade treaty concluded later in the year with Sweden did not however contain any specific reference to the tar monopoly.
Anglo-Swedish commercial relations underwent a number of crises towards the end of the seventeenth century, culminating in the expulsion of a number of English factors in 1695 as a result of the implementation of the 1673 Ordinance strictly limiting the period of residence for foreigners in Sweden. The Swedes took this step to bring pressure on the English government to pay compensation for Swedish ships seized as prizes during the war with France.
The consequent disruption of trade underlined England's dependence on Sweden for naval stores and gave further impetus to those who sought to provide such stores from the Colonies. The pamphleteers were quick to seize on the disadvantages of the permanently unfavourable balance of trade with Swe- den and to laud the benefits to English shipping and industry that a thriving colonial trade would bring. Charles Davenant claimed that the drain of money to pay for naval stores had in the past been offset by the fact that these goods were for the most part carried in English bottoms, but even this meagre advantage had been whittled away during King William's War. Davenant strongly advocated the benefits of colonial trade and made suggestions for the creation of a council of trade to improve commerce and committees to encourage trade with the Colonies. The strained commercial relations with Sweden during King William's War did in fact cause a renewed interest in the development of a colonial trade in naval stores. A number of offers and petitions to import quantities of pitch and tar were made, but the factious bickering of the rival merchants and the increasing reluctance of the government to grant charters of incorporation to large consortiums of merchants meant that little was achieved before the outbreak of WoSS.
The pine forests of the New World promised abundant supplies of pitch and tar, but there were a number of serious drawbacks to the successful supplying of English needs, well illustrated in a report drawn up by John Taylor, a New England merchant of some standing with the Navy. After pointing out that the New England barrels was of smaller volume than the standard Stockholm barrel, which meant prices quoted by New Englanders had to be carefully scrutinised, Taylor posed the vital question of how bulky goods could be imported as cheaply from the distant colonies as from the nearby Baltic lands. This problem was, in Taylor's view, insoluble, since the finished products were more plentiful in Sweden and Norway than in New England, labour costs were much lower in the Baltic (the labour costs in Finnish tar-burning were almost two times lower), and freighting costs were at least five times as high from New England as from the Baltic. It was also found that the methods used in the colonies produced tar which was not suitable for the naval needs [3] even if it had been quite useful for some other important purposes. 😂
The search for ship timber to meet the ever growing demands of the maritime European powers in the eighteenth century was accompanied by equally vigorous efforts to secure sufficient supplies of the preservative elements necessary for building and maintaining ships, pitch and tar. Average annual import of these two commodities into English ports rose from around 30,000 barrels at the beginning of the century to exceed 100,000 barrels on the eve of the American War of Independence. The major customer for pitch and tar was the Navy; during the War of Spanish Succession, the Navy's average annual demand was about twelve to fourteen thousand barrels, between one quarter to one third of the total volume of imports of pitch and tar. The body responsible for securing contracts for naval stores was the Navy Board, a permanent committee directly subordinate to the Admiralty.
With the entry of Denmark into the war against Sweden in 1712, Charles XII imposed an embargo on shipping passing from Sweden through the Sound, which meant that tar ships bound for England could not sail. The English government sought to have the embargo lifted and the envoy to Denmark was instructed to obtain assurances from the Danes that they would not interfere with the tar ships bound for England. P Jackson in Stockholm managed to persuade Charles to lift the embargo, but despite his assurances that the ships would be allowed to pass unmolested through the Sound, the owners of the ships refused to sail [4]. Jackson therefore advised the Navy Board not to depend on supplies of pitch and tar from Sweden for that year.
The Danish landing in Scania caused the tar ships to withdraw to Stockholm for the winter. Jackson was at last able to persuade the owners of the ships to venture out on the first open water, if the Navy provided a convoy and the Danish court a safe-conduct. He also managed to secure an assurance from the Tar Company that they will in future furnish whatever quantitys of these Commoditys her Majesty’s occasions shall need, and deliver the same here to whoever may be appointed to receive and ship the same for Her Majesty’s Service. The Navy Board suspected that the Tar Company imagined the goods would be bought by Crown agents, and shipped at the risk and expense of the British Navy, and Jackson was ordered on his return to London to attend the Board to explain the nature of this new policy of accommodation on the part of the Tar Company.
After this meeting, Jackson reminded the Swedish factors that their Company was now under the obligation to supply the Navy at its own cost and risk. The factors declared themselves willing to supply tar, but claimed that the high cost of discounting bills and chartering English shipping would force up the price.
After getting these not too cheerful news, the British government turned to Russia, which so far was not a major tar supplier. During the meeting with the British ambassador, Whitworth, Peter offered 16,000 Muscovite tons of tar to the English if they would ship them off from St. Petersburg and said that he had ordered the governor of Archangel to sell any surplus tar to willing purchasers when the fleet arrived [5].
Whitworth was soon to find that these promises meant very little. His offer of one rouble per barrel, forty kopeks more than Stiles had previously paid, for 25,000 barrels proved inadequate. A Russo-Dutch consortium offered two rix- dollars a barrel for 40,000 barrels, on condition that no more be exported that year. Whitworth's only consolation was that the export of such quantities would so overstock the market that Swedish tar would have to fall in price. Nevertheless, the deal had 'the air of another monopoly'. The tsar's explanation as relayed by Golovkin was that war expenses compelled him to sell to the highest bidder. He refused to allow Whitworth to buy up the remaining 15,000 barrels of the winter's tar-burning, although he hinted that any ship arriving in St. Petersburg would not return empty. Whitworth suspected that the Russians themselves intended to export some of the tar in their own vessels, a belief which was strengthened by Golovkin’s request for trading privileges for the ships of Osip and Fedor Basenines, merchants of Archangel.
Both for Sweden and Russia the ongoing war (of which they claimed to be the victims) provided a great excuse for raising the prices forcing the British government to start thinking about applying some pressure upon the “aggressors”.
Other kind of a dirty stuff….
Wachmeister was, of course, heavily criticized for SNAFU at Rugen but this was mostly a hot air. He was too deeply rooted into the state and naval Establishment to suffer really serious consequences: stupidity is not punished in the military, especially when committed by a President of Amiralitetskollegiet, the highest-ranking official in the navy. He was not even removed from his position, which he retained all the way to his death in 1714.
And while he never sailed again, he kept pursuing rather unique approach to the Swedish navy putting the main stress upon preservation of the ships. Swedish navy developed a truly efficient system of maintaining the ships , which allowed to extend their service to 50 - 70 years. The ships allocated for “conservation” had been fully unloaded, the guns removed, the masts and rigging taken out, the ships placed in the covered dry docks where their bottoms had been scrapped and tarred and the bodies covered by a special paint preventing the rot. In a due time the ship was reassembled, reloaded and only after that provided with a crew (to save money on the salaries).
In the British navy (presumably) only the guns had been taken out and the ships left in the rivers close to the wharfs. In the Russian navy the ships simply spent winter frozen in the ice.
Minus of the system was a ling process of putting the ships back into the service condition but this was not critical, with a proper planning. But this system was quite expensive and, with the ships’ sizes growing, even more so. With the naval expenses not increasing at the same rate, there was a need to economize and the sailors’ rations steadily drifted from being heavy on meat and fish to the less expensive products. A diet based on cereals and peas rather than meat and fish worked out cheaper for the Admiralty Board.
Rations of cereals, peas and vegetables increased by 200 percent from the 16th century to the 18th century. Not only did the consumption of provisions (except for cereals, peas and vegetables) decline over time; there was also a decline in the variation of food items. Fish is a good example. During the 16th century, there was plenty of fish even if they were served in small quantities. The decline starts in the 17th century and during the 18th century stockfish and herring are the only types of fish served. Official explanation was that the fish is not a good provision [6]. Consumption of a meat also sharply declined and the same goes for bread. Beer was substituted with a vinegar diluted with a water. Spices simply disappeared together with the eggs, dairy products, poultry and all other “luxury items”. For the people engaged in a heavy physical activities this was not necessarily a very good diet but priority were the ships, not their crews.
www.heritagedaily.com
warspot.ru
______________________
[1] Heavily borrowed from David Kirby (1974) The Royal Navy's quest for pitch and tar during the reign of Queen Anne, Scandinavian Economic History Review
[2] Each state has its mafia but not every mafia has its own state.
[3] As in the case with the hemp processing, the colonists had been using a faster and simplified process with a predictable impact on the product’s quality.
[4] Shortage of the supplies always was conductive to raising their cost and if Charles was not fully aware of certain facts pf the economy, those directly involved surely were.
[5] Why say “no” when you have the subordinates capable of handling the necessary details in a right way?
[6] They had been centuries ahead of the Soviets who, every time there was a shortage of some product had been publishing “scientific” articles explaining that this specific product is not good for your health.
“Tar - a dark, thick, flammable liquid distilled from wood or coal”
«В каждой стране есть своя мафия, но не у каждой мафии есть своя страна!»[2]
Statement of the fact
“Isn’t it unjust that only one company makes game ‘Monopoly’?”
A naive question
«В каждой стране есть своя мафия, но не у каждой мафии есть своя страна!»[2]
Statement of the fact
“Isn’t it unjust that only one company makes game ‘Monopoly’?”
A naive question
So this is a late fall/early winter of 1712. The armies are busy with marching/fighting/besieging/planning to go to the winter quarters and the navies are sailing in all possible directions. There is a time to talk about something else…. like making money.😉
While both the LNW and the ongoing BFW were more or less the regional affairs, they had the impact well beyond the region, which is not a nog surprise because Sweden and Russia had something that others desperately needed. The issues of flax and hemp had been already addressed and now it is time for the dirty substances, pitch and tar.
The major supplier of pitch and tar to the English market was Sweden- Finland. In Finland, tar was produced of young pine trees. Tar production concentrated in more remote locations of the country, where it would be too difficult and expensive to transport timber and wood products. The cheapest products, such as wood, boards and planks, were produced on a coastal zone at farthest 30 km from the coast. Tar was produced in the zone beyond the coastal district.
Prior to the first Anglo-Dutch War, England's share of the tar trade was negligible, but by 1660, it had risen to half the total volume of Swedish tar exports. The aggressive trading tactics of the English merchants soon clashed with the Swedish attempts to control and direct the trade through a monopoly company (Tar Company). The tar monopoly was termed a 'considerable' grievance by the Eastland Company in a petition to the English Council of Trade in 1661, and the Council itself was of the opinion that any future trade treaty with Sweden should contain provision either for the abolition of the monopoly or for free and unhindered trade between English traders and the factors of the Tar Company. The trade treaty concluded later in the year with Sweden did not however contain any specific reference to the tar monopoly.
Anglo-Swedish commercial relations underwent a number of crises towards the end of the seventeenth century, culminating in the expulsion of a number of English factors in 1695 as a result of the implementation of the 1673 Ordinance strictly limiting the period of residence for foreigners in Sweden. The Swedes took this step to bring pressure on the English government to pay compensation for Swedish ships seized as prizes during the war with France.
The consequent disruption of trade underlined England's dependence on Sweden for naval stores and gave further impetus to those who sought to provide such stores from the Colonies. The pamphleteers were quick to seize on the disadvantages of the permanently unfavourable balance of trade with Swe- den and to laud the benefits to English shipping and industry that a thriving colonial trade would bring. Charles Davenant claimed that the drain of money to pay for naval stores had in the past been offset by the fact that these goods were for the most part carried in English bottoms, but even this meagre advantage had been whittled away during King William's War. Davenant strongly advocated the benefits of colonial trade and made suggestions for the creation of a council of trade to improve commerce and committees to encourage trade with the Colonies. The strained commercial relations with Sweden during King William's War did in fact cause a renewed interest in the development of a colonial trade in naval stores. A number of offers and petitions to import quantities of pitch and tar were made, but the factious bickering of the rival merchants and the increasing reluctance of the government to grant charters of incorporation to large consortiums of merchants meant that little was achieved before the outbreak of WoSS.
The pine forests of the New World promised abundant supplies of pitch and tar, but there were a number of serious drawbacks to the successful supplying of English needs, well illustrated in a report drawn up by John Taylor, a New England merchant of some standing with the Navy. After pointing out that the New England barrels was of smaller volume than the standard Stockholm barrel, which meant prices quoted by New Englanders had to be carefully scrutinised, Taylor posed the vital question of how bulky goods could be imported as cheaply from the distant colonies as from the nearby Baltic lands. This problem was, in Taylor's view, insoluble, since the finished products were more plentiful in Sweden and Norway than in New England, labour costs were much lower in the Baltic (the labour costs in Finnish tar-burning were almost two times lower), and freighting costs were at least five times as high from New England as from the Baltic. It was also found that the methods used in the colonies produced tar which was not suitable for the naval needs [3] even if it had been quite useful for some other important purposes. 😂
The search for ship timber to meet the ever growing demands of the maritime European powers in the eighteenth century was accompanied by equally vigorous efforts to secure sufficient supplies of the preservative elements necessary for building and maintaining ships, pitch and tar. Average annual import of these two commodities into English ports rose from around 30,000 barrels at the beginning of the century to exceed 100,000 barrels on the eve of the American War of Independence. The major customer for pitch and tar was the Navy; during the War of Spanish Succession, the Navy's average annual demand was about twelve to fourteen thousand barrels, between one quarter to one third of the total volume of imports of pitch and tar. The body responsible for securing contracts for naval stores was the Navy Board, a permanent committee directly subordinate to the Admiralty.
With the entry of Denmark into the war against Sweden in 1712, Charles XII imposed an embargo on shipping passing from Sweden through the Sound, which meant that tar ships bound for England could not sail. The English government sought to have the embargo lifted and the envoy to Denmark was instructed to obtain assurances from the Danes that they would not interfere with the tar ships bound for England. P Jackson in Stockholm managed to persuade Charles to lift the embargo, but despite his assurances that the ships would be allowed to pass unmolested through the Sound, the owners of the ships refused to sail [4]. Jackson therefore advised the Navy Board not to depend on supplies of pitch and tar from Sweden for that year.
The Danish landing in Scania caused the tar ships to withdraw to Stockholm for the winter. Jackson was at last able to persuade the owners of the ships to venture out on the first open water, if the Navy provided a convoy and the Danish court a safe-conduct. He also managed to secure an assurance from the Tar Company that they will in future furnish whatever quantitys of these Commoditys her Majesty’s occasions shall need, and deliver the same here to whoever may be appointed to receive and ship the same for Her Majesty’s Service. The Navy Board suspected that the Tar Company imagined the goods would be bought by Crown agents, and shipped at the risk and expense of the British Navy, and Jackson was ordered on his return to London to attend the Board to explain the nature of this new policy of accommodation on the part of the Tar Company.
After this meeting, Jackson reminded the Swedish factors that their Company was now under the obligation to supply the Navy at its own cost and risk. The factors declared themselves willing to supply tar, but claimed that the high cost of discounting bills and chartering English shipping would force up the price.
After getting these not too cheerful news, the British government turned to Russia, which so far was not a major tar supplier. During the meeting with the British ambassador, Whitworth, Peter offered 16,000 Muscovite tons of tar to the English if they would ship them off from St. Petersburg and said that he had ordered the governor of Archangel to sell any surplus tar to willing purchasers when the fleet arrived [5].
Whitworth was soon to find that these promises meant very little. His offer of one rouble per barrel, forty kopeks more than Stiles had previously paid, for 25,000 barrels proved inadequate. A Russo-Dutch consortium offered two rix- dollars a barrel for 40,000 barrels, on condition that no more be exported that year. Whitworth's only consolation was that the export of such quantities would so overstock the market that Swedish tar would have to fall in price. Nevertheless, the deal had 'the air of another monopoly'. The tsar's explanation as relayed by Golovkin was that war expenses compelled him to sell to the highest bidder. He refused to allow Whitworth to buy up the remaining 15,000 barrels of the winter's tar-burning, although he hinted that any ship arriving in St. Petersburg would not return empty. Whitworth suspected that the Russians themselves intended to export some of the tar in their own vessels, a belief which was strengthened by Golovkin’s request for trading privileges for the ships of Osip and Fedor Basenines, merchants of Archangel.
Both for Sweden and Russia the ongoing war (of which they claimed to be the victims) provided a great excuse for raising the prices forcing the British government to start thinking about applying some pressure upon the “aggressors”.
Other kind of a dirty stuff….
Wachmeister was, of course, heavily criticized for SNAFU at Rugen but this was mostly a hot air. He was too deeply rooted into the state and naval Establishment to suffer really serious consequences: stupidity is not punished in the military, especially when committed by a President of Amiralitetskollegiet, the highest-ranking official in the navy. He was not even removed from his position, which he retained all the way to his death in 1714.
And while he never sailed again, he kept pursuing rather unique approach to the Swedish navy putting the main stress upon preservation of the ships. Swedish navy developed a truly efficient system of maintaining the ships , which allowed to extend their service to 50 - 70 years. The ships allocated for “conservation” had been fully unloaded, the guns removed, the masts and rigging taken out, the ships placed in the covered dry docks where their bottoms had been scrapped and tarred and the bodies covered by a special paint preventing the rot. In a due time the ship was reassembled, reloaded and only after that provided with a crew (to save money on the salaries).
In the British navy (presumably) only the guns had been taken out and the ships left in the rivers close to the wharfs. In the Russian navy the ships simply spent winter frozen in the ice.
Minus of the system was a ling process of putting the ships back into the service condition but this was not critical, with a proper planning. But this system was quite expensive and, with the ships’ sizes growing, even more so. With the naval expenses not increasing at the same rate, there was a need to economize and the sailors’ rations steadily drifted from being heavy on meat and fish to the less expensive products. A diet based on cereals and peas rather than meat and fish worked out cheaper for the Admiralty Board.
Rations of cereals, peas and vegetables increased by 200 percent from the 16th century to the 18th century. Not only did the consumption of provisions (except for cereals, peas and vegetables) decline over time; there was also a decline in the variation of food items. Fish is a good example. During the 16th century, there was plenty of fish even if they were served in small quantities. The decline starts in the 17th century and during the 18th century stockfish and herring are the only types of fish served. Official explanation was that the fish is not a good provision [6]. Consumption of a meat also sharply declined and the same goes for bread. Beer was substituted with a vinegar diluted with a water. Spices simply disappeared together with the eggs, dairy products, poultry and all other “luxury items”. For the people engaged in a heavy physical activities this was not necessarily a very good diet but priority were the ships, not their crews.
Nourishment in the Swedish naval fleet 1500-1800
During the period 1500-1800 the foodstuff in the Swedish naval fleet can be divided into the following categories; bread, meat and meat products, fish, dairy products, cereals, peas, vegetables and beverages. The consumption of these provisions (except for cereals, peas and vegetables) was at...
www.heritagedaily.com
Мы пойдём своим путём
Организация шведского флота в эпоху паруса: когда корабли важнее экипажей
warspot.ru
______________________
[1] Heavily borrowed from David Kirby (1974) The Royal Navy's quest for pitch and tar during the reign of Queen Anne, Scandinavian Economic History Review
[2] Each state has its mafia but not every mafia has its own state.
[3] As in the case with the hemp processing, the colonists had been using a faster and simplified process with a predictable impact on the product’s quality.
[4] Shortage of the supplies always was conductive to raising their cost and if Charles was not fully aware of certain facts pf the economy, those directly involved surely were.
[5] Why say “no” when you have the subordinates capable of handling the necessary details in a right way?
[6] They had been centuries ahead of the Soviets who, every time there was a shortage of some product had been publishing “scientific” articles explaining that this specific product is not good for your health.
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A nitpick for using this painting here for depicting tar production ("tar burning"): even if the work might look similar, Eero Järnefelt's Raatajat rahanalaiset ("Toilers ruled by money", difficult to translate directly) has strictly-speaking nothing to do with tar, being the most iconic Finnish painting about slash-and-burn agriculture. A tar kiln is a well-contained hole in the ground, with the wood placed inside it, while in Järnefelt's painting, a large open area is being burned to create farmland. If you want to use a Finnish painting depicting a tar kiln, I suggest using this one.
Please don't take this as any serious criticism, I was just moved to comment because the painting is very familiar to me: my wife is from a small farm located just under a kilometer from the hill depicted by Järnefelt, Väisälänmäki in Lapinlahti north of Kuopio, and I have been to the place several times.
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Thanks for the information: the painting simply popped up in a search “tar production in XVIII century finland” while your did not 😢 Replaced with yours so thanks again.A nitpick for using this painting here for depicting tar production ("tar burning"): even if the work might look similar, Eero Järnefelt's Raatajat rahanalaiset ("Toilers ruled by money", difficult to translate directly) has strictly-speaking nothing to do with tar, being the most iconic Finnish painting about slash-and-burn agriculture. A tar kiln is a well-contained hole in the ground, with the wood placed inside it, while in Järnefelt's painting, a large open area is being burned to create farmland. If you want to use a Finnish painting depicting a tar kiln, I suggest using this one.
Please don't take this as any serious criticism, I was just moved to comment because the painting is very familiar to me: my wife is from a small farm located just under a kilometer from the hill depicted by Järnefelt, Väisälänmäki in Lapinlahti north of Kuopio, and I have been to the place several times.
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Yeah, I tried it too (and in Finnish, in fact), with the same results. So I understand why you used it.
EDIT: The service I linked to above (Finna.fi) is a great resource to use for finding Finnish artwork, photos, museum objects, etc. I tend to promote it anytime I can.
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That’s Google for you: indispensable source of a misinformation. In a search of the appropriate images I’m receiving, time and again, a pile of the absolutely unrelated stuff instead of what I’m really looking for. In this case I simply did not have enough knowledge to do filtering. 😢Yeah, I tried it too (and in Finnish, in fact), with the same results. So I understand why you used it.
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Thanks for the link. BTW, just for the fun of it, I tried the same search (for the Finnish tar production in the 18 century) in Russian and got, among other things:Yeah, I tried it too (and in Finnish, in fact), with the same results. So I understand why you used it.
EDIT: The service I linked to above (Finna.fi) is a great resource to use for finding Finnish artwork, photos, museum objects, etc. I tend to promote it anytime I can.
which is tar production but in Russia
which (I presume) shows the Finns but I have serious doubts that they are making tar at the moment 😂
Which is definitely not a tar (tasted it more than once)
Probably “the tar makers during the lunch break” but not sure about the XVIII century…
tar-producing cow surely is a rare breed…
😂😂😂😂
Interesting results for sure!
Searching in Finnish in Finna for "tar burning" (tervanpoltto), this copper engraving from 1747 seems to be the most relevant result for your TL:
This turn of the 19th and 20th century photo appears to show that at the time in Kainuu, tar was produced by Finnish hobbits:
Seriously though, you can find a huge number of photos there from about a century ago, tar being produced pretty much in the same way as it would have been in the early 18th century.
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I added engraving (definitely educational, if somebody decides to start making tar on his/her backyard 😉). The problem (for me) with that site is two-fold: (a) it requires knowledge of Finnish to read texts and (b) even the mid-sized images are too big for my ipad to insert.Interesting results for sure!
Searching in Finnish in Finna for "tar burning" (tervanpoltto), this copper engraving from 1747 seems to be the most relevant result for your TL:
This turn of the 19th and 20th century photo appears to show that at the time in Kainuu, tar was produced by Finnish hobbits:
Seriously though, you can find a huge number of photos there from about a century ago, tar being produced pretty much in the same way as it would have been in the early 18th century.
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56. Campaign of the 1712. The last moves
“War without fire is like sausages without mustard.”
Jean (II) Juvénal des Ursins concerning Henry V's firing of Meaux in 1421 [1]
“War does not determine who is right – only who is left.”
Bertrand Rusell
“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”
Voltaire
“Теперь пускай ударит канонада,
А там посмотрим, кто кого!”
Песня гренадеров [2]
Stettin
By late November 1712 the vanguard of Golitsyn’s corps had been approaching Stettin defended by 4,000 Swedes under command of general von Krassow against the the Prussian-Danish army of 24,000. The allies freely occupied and pillaged the open country of the Swedish Pomerania but, with both winter and Russians approaching, and a lack of food and supplies in the devastated area the siege had been canceled. The Prussians withdrew to the winter quarters in Brandenburg and the Danes marched to their main force besieging Stralsund.
Of course, setting the winter quarters in a devastated area was not the best imaginable scenario but the Prussian Inner Pomerania was reasonably untouched and Sheremetev felt his position safe enough to settle his forces on both sides of the Oder with the protective cordon established on the Penne River and the irregulars scouting all the way to Prenzlau. Prussian Kolberg with its garrison of less than 2,000 remained deep in his rear but it should not represent any realistic danger to his supply lines.
Stralsund
When invasion of the Swedish Pomerania started, Swedish commander in the province, general Dücker concentrated all Swedish forces scattered in Pomeranian garrisons in Stralsund, Wismar and Stettin, leaving the rest of a territory undefended. This gave him 4,000 in Stettin, 5,000 in Wismar and 8,000 in Stralsund.
After arrival of the first Swedish reinforcement on Rugen in September 1712 number of the defenders increased by 6,000 totaling 14,000 and the besieging force of 25,000 Danish, Prussian and Hanoverian troops withdrew to the Recknitzand Peene rivers.
[
Short interlude to give a background:
At this time, Frederik IV of Denmark-Norway was not interested in annexing Stralsund to his empire. When he entered the war in 1712, Frederik had promised to not attack Swedish territories in the Holy Roman Empire and protect their citizens wherever they pledge loyalty to him. However, after George of Hanover entered the war and it became clear that the Brits are going to drop out of the WoSS at any moment (and will be free to enter the anti-Swedish alliance or at least support it because George was a heir to the throne), Frederik IV changed his mind. In 1712, Denmark and Hanover had invaded and partitioned Bremen-Verden.
The Stralsund area had been tied to Denmark in the Late Middle Ages, was of strategic importance as a bridgehead into the Holy Roman Empire, and a potent exporter of wool and grain. First Danish claims to northern Swedish Pomerania were formulated in 1712, and a respective treaty was drafted in May of that year between Frederick IV and George of Hanover which guaranteed the Danish occupied Swedish dominion of Bremen-Verden to George in return for him entering the war on Frederik's side, and Pomerania north of the Peene river as well as 30,000 talers to Frederik IV. When Prussia, keen to annex Swedish Pomerania as well, joined the allies in summer, a Dano-Prussian treaty was concluded partitioning Swedish Pomerania along the Peene, with Denmark being assured her claims for the northern part with Stralsund, and Prussia for the southern part with Stettin. Danish tendencies to minimize their military efforts in the coalition after the treaty, resulting from Frederik IV's understanding that he now would gain Stralsund anyway, led to quarrels in the siege force and this was an additional factor in it being rather passive even before arrival of the Swedish reinforcements: Frederick I of Prussia did not see the reason for doing the Danish job, especially when his own Prussia was under attack. For him coming winter was as good excuse as any to withdraw even before the Russians invaded Eastern Pomerania.]
By the late November Charles finally managed to assemble enough transports to bring to Stralsund 8,000 troops which he led personally. This time the caravan had been guarded by the squadron led by Gustaf von Psilander and repetition of the earlier disaster had been averted. Gyldenløve with the Danish fleet appeared near the Rugen but Psilander hold a defensive position protecting the transports and approach of Seniavyn’s squadron sailing from Stettin made the odds obviously too unfavorable for the Danes to try an engagement.
With 18,000 troops Charles marched out of Stralsund in the early December and on December 9 at Gadebusch attacked with 13,000 and 30 cannons the Danish army of 17,000 with 13 cannons led by Frederick IV personally (of course, the boring details of command had been trusted to general Jobst von Scholten but Frederick was there watching the show). The most remarkable detail of the whole event was that, unlike his earlier battles, Charles put a great emphasis upon the effective usage of his artillery.
At night the Danish forces broke camp and moved to a better position around the village of Wakenstädt, three kilometers south of and today incorporated by Gadebusch. Scholten expected the Swedish attack to come from the south to avoid the marshy Radegast river. At four in the morning of December 9 the Danish army was arrayed in defensive formation, with cavalry wings flanking the infantry in the center. As hours passed, snowfall turned to rain.
Swedish reconnaissance made it clear that the only Swedish option was a frontal assault. Charles judged that although the passable terrain was narrow and his men somewhat outnumbered, the thirty Swedish field guns would provide an advantage over the Danish thirteen. The Swedish onslaught from the east began around 11 a.m. Swedish artillery opened fire on the tightly grouped Danish battalions and provided cover for the deploying cavalry and infantry. At 1 p.m. the order to attack was given. While the artillery kept firing, the infantry marched towards the Danes, not firing until reaching a distance of twelve paces. During this time, the Danish army remained relatively passive although firing several long range volleys with little effect. A Danish cavalry counterattack was broken by the infantry, supported by the constant artillery fire. To the north, the Swedish cavalry made a flanking movement and surprised the cavalry on the Danish left wing. The subsequent retreat into Wakenstädt caused confusion in the Danish ranks, which was exploited by the infantry on the Swedish right wing. Meanwhile, heavy fighting was taking place on the Danish right wing where the elite of the Danish army, the royal guard, was positioned supported by the main bulk of the cavalry. But despite the numerical superiority of the allies, attacks by the Danish cavalry were repelled. The two Danish guard regiments fought a hard pressed melee battle with the Swedish Dalarna Regiment and Hälsinge Regiment. The fight was eventually won by the Swedes when the Danes realized that cavalry support would not come (the cavalry was engaged with the Swedish cavalry during the whole fight) while they were slowly pushed back by the Swedish infantry onslaught. Eventually the order for retreat came and the guard regiments withdrew in quite good order but with big losses, the Swedes were tired and had also taken considerable losses from the battle and could not make any determined pursuits.
The battle wound down by dusk: Danish forces withdrew more or less orderly to a position several kilometers west of Gadebusch to regroup. All of the Danish artillery had been abandoned.
After the battle Stenbock, who commanded the Swedish right wing, was promoted to Field Marshal. Later he wrote about this battle:
"Never have I seen such a combination of uncontrollable dash and perfectly controlled discipline, such soldiers and such subjects are not to be found the wide world over except in Sweden."
After the victory Charles marched to Altona and burned it down as a punishment for the Danish perfidiousness but instead of the immediate invasion of Brunswick-Luneburg he turned East where the Swedish garrison of Wismar was in a grave danger after on December 5 an ill-implemented attack on the Danes ended up with a defeat and a loss of almost 2,000. After receiving the news about Gadebusch the besieging Danish force immediately abandoned the siege and speedily marched toward the main Danish army which was retreating into Schleswig. Being true to himself, Charles started pursuit but was stopped by a most trivial reason: he run out of the horses and ammunition.
The campaign on land had to stop for the winter.
On a sea the Swedish-Russian squadron of 27 ships of the line of the line met Gyldenløve with 22 ships of the line at Mecklenburger Bay. The encounter started with the routine “ritual dance” of the two lines trying to gain a wind but when, after few hours of maneuvering, the two fleets finally got close to each other, the Swedish-Russian line split with the rearguard of the 7 Russian ships forming a second line and putting the Danish rearguard between the two fires. Under the normal circumstances this would not be too bad because both Swedish and Danish ships still had been carrying a lot of the 18-, 12- and even 4-pounders but the Russian ships of the line had a much heavier artillery including 40-pound short range howitzers capable of firing the explosive and incendiary shells. With all inefficiency of these types of ammunition, after two hours of battle two Danish ships were on fire and eventually exploded and one more lost all its masts and had to surrender. Gyldenløve managed to disengage and to reach Copenhagen safely but this was an unquestionable defeat.
The Swedish squadron sailed for a winter to Karlskrona and the Russian to Stralsund. After this had been done Gyldenløve, in the best traditions of a “gentlemanly warfare” sent to the Russian commander a written protest against his practice of using the brandskugels pointing out that this type of ammunition is acceptable only when fighting the barbarians like the Ottomans but absolutely unacceptable in a civilized warfare. Seniavyn’s response was that he got from his emperor and order to treat the prisoners of war decently but don’t hesitate in choosing any means necessary to win a victory. All complaints regarding the methods of fighting must be addressed to His Imperial Majesty, Peter I. This being said, he asks Admiral Gyldenløve to accept his compliments regarding the brave conduct of the Danish sailors and his own skillful conduct of the battle. Blahblahblah….
Everybody could rest for the next few months except for two VIPs ….
___________________
[1] Or Henry himself; with all eyewitness now being dead, nobody can tell for sure.
[2] “Now let the cannonade start and we’ll see who is a winner” Grenadier’s song by Yuliy Kim
“War without fire is like sausages without mustard.”
Jean (II) Juvénal des Ursins concerning Henry V's firing of Meaux in 1421 [1]
“War does not determine who is right – only who is left.”
Bertrand Rusell
“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”
Voltaire
“Теперь пускай ударит канонада,
А там посмотрим, кто кого!”
Песня гренадеров [2]
By late November 1712 the vanguard of Golitsyn’s corps had been approaching Stettin defended by 4,000 Swedes under command of general von Krassow against the the Prussian-Danish army of 24,000. The allies freely occupied and pillaged the open country of the Swedish Pomerania but, with both winter and Russians approaching, and a lack of food and supplies in the devastated area the siege had been canceled. The Prussians withdrew to the winter quarters in Brandenburg and the Danes marched to their main force besieging Stralsund.
Of course, setting the winter quarters in a devastated area was not the best imaginable scenario but the Prussian Inner Pomerania was reasonably untouched and Sheremetev felt his position safe enough to settle his forces on both sides of the Oder with the protective cordon established on the Penne River and the irregulars scouting all the way to Prenzlau. Prussian Kolberg with its garrison of less than 2,000 remained deep in his rear but it should not represent any realistic danger to his supply lines.
Stralsund
When invasion of the Swedish Pomerania started, Swedish commander in the province, general Dücker concentrated all Swedish forces scattered in Pomeranian garrisons in Stralsund, Wismar and Stettin, leaving the rest of a territory undefended. This gave him 4,000 in Stettin, 5,000 in Wismar and 8,000 in Stralsund.
After arrival of the first Swedish reinforcement on Rugen in September 1712 number of the defenders increased by 6,000 totaling 14,000 and the besieging force of 25,000 Danish, Prussian and Hanoverian troops withdrew to the Recknitzand Peene rivers.
[
Short interlude to give a background:
At this time, Frederik IV of Denmark-Norway was not interested in annexing Stralsund to his empire. When he entered the war in 1712, Frederik had promised to not attack Swedish territories in the Holy Roman Empire and protect their citizens wherever they pledge loyalty to him. However, after George of Hanover entered the war and it became clear that the Brits are going to drop out of the WoSS at any moment (and will be free to enter the anti-Swedish alliance or at least support it because George was a heir to the throne), Frederik IV changed his mind. In 1712, Denmark and Hanover had invaded and partitioned Bremen-Verden.
The Stralsund area had been tied to Denmark in the Late Middle Ages, was of strategic importance as a bridgehead into the Holy Roman Empire, and a potent exporter of wool and grain. First Danish claims to northern Swedish Pomerania were formulated in 1712, and a respective treaty was drafted in May of that year between Frederick IV and George of Hanover which guaranteed the Danish occupied Swedish dominion of Bremen-Verden to George in return for him entering the war on Frederik's side, and Pomerania north of the Peene river as well as 30,000 talers to Frederik IV. When Prussia, keen to annex Swedish Pomerania as well, joined the allies in summer, a Dano-Prussian treaty was concluded partitioning Swedish Pomerania along the Peene, with Denmark being assured her claims for the northern part with Stralsund, and Prussia for the southern part with Stettin. Danish tendencies to minimize their military efforts in the coalition after the treaty, resulting from Frederik IV's understanding that he now would gain Stralsund anyway, led to quarrels in the siege force and this was an additional factor in it being rather passive even before arrival of the Swedish reinforcements: Frederick I of Prussia did not see the reason for doing the Danish job, especially when his own Prussia was under attack. For him coming winter was as good excuse as any to withdraw even before the Russians invaded Eastern Pomerania.]
By the late November Charles finally managed to assemble enough transports to bring to Stralsund 8,000 troops which he led personally. This time the caravan had been guarded by the squadron led by Gustaf von Psilander and repetition of the earlier disaster had been averted. Gyldenløve with the Danish fleet appeared near the Rugen but Psilander hold a defensive position protecting the transports and approach of Seniavyn’s squadron sailing from Stettin made the odds obviously too unfavorable for the Danes to try an engagement.
With 18,000 troops Charles marched out of Stralsund in the early December and on December 9 at Gadebusch attacked with 13,000 and 30 cannons the Danish army of 17,000 with 13 cannons led by Frederick IV personally (of course, the boring details of command had been trusted to general Jobst von Scholten but Frederick was there watching the show). The most remarkable detail of the whole event was that, unlike his earlier battles, Charles put a great emphasis upon the effective usage of his artillery.
At night the Danish forces broke camp and moved to a better position around the village of Wakenstädt, three kilometers south of and today incorporated by Gadebusch. Scholten expected the Swedish attack to come from the south to avoid the marshy Radegast river. At four in the morning of December 9 the Danish army was arrayed in defensive formation, with cavalry wings flanking the infantry in the center. As hours passed, snowfall turned to rain.
Swedish reconnaissance made it clear that the only Swedish option was a frontal assault. Charles judged that although the passable terrain was narrow and his men somewhat outnumbered, the thirty Swedish field guns would provide an advantage over the Danish thirteen. The Swedish onslaught from the east began around 11 a.m. Swedish artillery opened fire on the tightly grouped Danish battalions and provided cover for the deploying cavalry and infantry. At 1 p.m. the order to attack was given. While the artillery kept firing, the infantry marched towards the Danes, not firing until reaching a distance of twelve paces. During this time, the Danish army remained relatively passive although firing several long range volleys with little effect. A Danish cavalry counterattack was broken by the infantry, supported by the constant artillery fire. To the north, the Swedish cavalry made a flanking movement and surprised the cavalry on the Danish left wing. The subsequent retreat into Wakenstädt caused confusion in the Danish ranks, which was exploited by the infantry on the Swedish right wing. Meanwhile, heavy fighting was taking place on the Danish right wing where the elite of the Danish army, the royal guard, was positioned supported by the main bulk of the cavalry. But despite the numerical superiority of the allies, attacks by the Danish cavalry were repelled. The two Danish guard regiments fought a hard pressed melee battle with the Swedish Dalarna Regiment and Hälsinge Regiment. The fight was eventually won by the Swedes when the Danes realized that cavalry support would not come (the cavalry was engaged with the Swedish cavalry during the whole fight) while they were slowly pushed back by the Swedish infantry onslaught. Eventually the order for retreat came and the guard regiments withdrew in quite good order but with big losses, the Swedes were tired and had also taken considerable losses from the battle and could not make any determined pursuits.
The battle wound down by dusk: Danish forces withdrew more or less orderly to a position several kilometers west of Gadebusch to regroup. All of the Danish artillery had been abandoned.
After the battle Stenbock, who commanded the Swedish right wing, was promoted to Field Marshal. Later he wrote about this battle:
"Never have I seen such a combination of uncontrollable dash and perfectly controlled discipline, such soldiers and such subjects are not to be found the wide world over except in Sweden."
After the victory Charles marched to Altona and burned it down as a punishment for the Danish perfidiousness but instead of the immediate invasion of Brunswick-Luneburg he turned East where the Swedish garrison of Wismar was in a grave danger after on December 5 an ill-implemented attack on the Danes ended up with a defeat and a loss of almost 2,000. After receiving the news about Gadebusch the besieging Danish force immediately abandoned the siege and speedily marched toward the main Danish army which was retreating into Schleswig. Being true to himself, Charles started pursuit but was stopped by a most trivial reason: he run out of the horses and ammunition.
The campaign on land had to stop for the winter.
On a sea the Swedish-Russian squadron of 27 ships of the line of the line met Gyldenløve with 22 ships of the line at Mecklenburger Bay. The encounter started with the routine “ritual dance” of the two lines trying to gain a wind but when, after few hours of maneuvering, the two fleets finally got close to each other, the Swedish-Russian line split with the rearguard of the 7 Russian ships forming a second line and putting the Danish rearguard between the two fires. Under the normal circumstances this would not be too bad because both Swedish and Danish ships still had been carrying a lot of the 18-, 12- and even 4-pounders but the Russian ships of the line had a much heavier artillery including 40-pound short range howitzers capable of firing the explosive and incendiary shells. With all inefficiency of these types of ammunition, after two hours of battle two Danish ships were on fire and eventually exploded and one more lost all its masts and had to surrender. Gyldenløve managed to disengage and to reach Copenhagen safely but this was an unquestionable defeat.
The Swedish squadron sailed for a winter to Karlskrona and the Russian to Stralsund. After this had been done Gyldenløve, in the best traditions of a “gentlemanly warfare” sent to the Russian commander a written protest against his practice of using the brandskugels pointing out that this type of ammunition is acceptable only when fighting the barbarians like the Ottomans but absolutely unacceptable in a civilized warfare. Seniavyn’s response was that he got from his emperor and order to treat the prisoners of war decently but don’t hesitate in choosing any means necessary to win a victory. All complaints regarding the methods of fighting must be addressed to His Imperial Majesty, Peter I. This being said, he asks Admiral Gyldenløve to accept his compliments regarding the brave conduct of the Danish sailors and his own skillful conduct of the battle. Blahblahblah….
Everybody could rest for the next few months except for two VIPs ….
___________________
[1] Or Henry himself; with all eyewitness now being dead, nobody can tell for sure.
[2] “Now let the cannonade start and we’ll see who is a winner” Grenadier’s song by Yuliy Kim
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Hamburg must be feeling pretty friendly toward the Swedes at the moment. Only a few months since Denmark used alleged discrimination against Altona as an excuse to force Hamburg to pay Denmark a lot of money, and now Altona is ashes.
Kolberg is now the only hostile territory in the south Baltic. Allies are going to be in big trouble come spring. 3 major battlefield defeats so far. I wonder if Augustus is already working on campaign plans for Brandenburg in the spring. After all, Saxony now actually has a significantly larger army than Prussia.
Kolberg is now the only hostile territory in the south Baltic. Allies are going to be in big trouble come spring. 3 major battlefield defeats so far. I wonder if Augustus is already working on campaign plans for Brandenburg in the spring. After all, Saxony now actually has a significantly larger army than Prussia.
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Yes, probably the “lesser” and “Great” are better, especially “Great” as more fitting the overall “Great” status. According to the less royal theory, the short version was supposed to be used by the boatswains for encouragement of the sailors and had to last for as long as it takes to lower a boat on a water. Can’t vouch for any theory but the royal one just gave me an opportunity for getting off the purely military track. 😂
Did this also have an effect of saddling the Swedish navy with obsolete ships? Presumably the other naval powers built modern ships as the old ones wore out, where as the Swedes were stuck sailing ships built sixty-seventy years ago. Or was technological progress not fast enough for this to make a difference?
Ha! "An organism that has been weakened by the consumption of meat is unable to resist infection."
On this I can’t give a coherent answer: know too little on the subject. But the list of the Swedish ships available in 1700 does contain the ships built in the mid XVII so probably they were reasonably OK technologically.
But the whole part-time system raises some questions about the crews and their preparedness. In the full-time navies even when the ships were staying in their bases the permanent crews had been doing at least some routine exercises and developing some team-based skills. The part-time sailors had been raised, as I understand, on availability/need basis, did not form permanent crews and weren’t trained as such. At least in theory, this should negatively impact their performance.
Exactly. With typhus and other diseases being a problem even with the almost vegan diet, can you imagine a damage which consumption of meat could be causing? 😂
Age of sail, no engines or electronics etc to wear out or become obsolete , armour is just wood, so as long as the hull is not rotten, the basic ship is sound. As has been noted the bits that would have the main improvements , mainly the guns, are removed and replaced. Warships can last a long time ( with upgrades and care ) unless a step change occurs, the next one is steam and iron in the 1860's ( the Baltic favours smaller, shallower draft, ships so the move to bigger ships seen by other navies operating in the Atlantic and Mediterranean during the later 18th Century is not so much an issue.)
Honestly even today weapons last a lot longer than people think they do, if there had been a conventional WW3 in the 80ties a lot of weapon systems like artillery which had been used in WW2 would have come into use again.
Agreed, Age of Sail isn't exactly the Anglo-German naval race. I was thinking things like gun weight: if a ship is built to carry 18lb guns (for example) as its main battery, is it possibly to re-arm it with 32lbs? To my dilettante view, it seems like 1st rate ships-of-the line had more upgrade potential, hence Victory being useful at Trafalgar. But what about something like a 64-gun ship, or even smaller 4th-rate ships, once the enemy is overwhelmingly 74-gun ships carrying heavier guns, presumably things can unpleasant.
Fighting, funerals and “all that jazz”
57. Fighting, funerals and “all that jazz”
В голосе его слышалось удивление, видно, никак он не ожидал от закоренелого солдафона, каким считал Волкова, разумных требований мудрого правителя.
By the late December of 1712 everybody was seemingly resigned to the idea of giving the armies some rest for the next few months but what everybody else is thinking usually meant little for King Charles. Shortage of the horses and ammunition were …er… objective factors, especially the horses because shortage of a gunpowder and cannonballs could be compensated by the Swedish bayonets. These two problems would have to be addressed immediately and with all possible efforts. At least for a while the ammunition problem can be resolved by taking “extra” supplies from the now safe Stralsund, Wismar and Stettin and even from the few Swedish warships which stuck in Stralsund for a winter.
Confiscation of the horses had been going on in Mecklenburg and some had been purchased in Germany through Hamburg: silly as it may sound, the citizens of that city had been unhappy with King Frederick IV [3] and, after burning of Altona tended to consider Charles as a kind of God’s hand delivering the Divine Justice.
[
Short interlude to explain situation with Mecklenburg.
Probably it is fair to say that the only time when the area enjoyed a good administration was a brief period when its was ruled by Wallenstein.
Formally, there were two duchies, Mecklenburg-Shwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelutz, each with its own duke. Each duchy had representation in the imperial Bundesrat. However, on most of the issues the duchies had to act as a single entity and the Estates (dominated by the nobility) had an absolute right to define the taxation. It should come as no surprise that as a result Magdeburg had no army worth mentioning [4] and, even when it was maintaining a neutral status, it was routinely occupied during the regional wars.
In OTL the Duke of Mecklenburg-Shwerin, Charles Leopold, tried to prevent a foreign occupation during the GNW by raising an army. An idea of raising the taxes had been rejected by the Estates who complained to the Emperor. As a result, Charles VI issued imperial execution and a big part of the duchy was occupied by Hanover and Prussia and the duke himself was expelled and replaced by his younger brother.
In this TL the timetables are moved a little bit ahead of the OTL schedule: in 1712 Charles Leopold os already a duke and already trying to increase his power at the Estates’ expense. As in OTL, he had chance to participate in the campaign of Charles XII but, unlike OTL, his is not going to marry Catherine Ivanovna because she is already married to Charles. Both Charles and Peter are considering him a friendly “power” and interested in making him a meaningful ruler as a part of the “Baltic Mafia” schema. Which, of course, does not prevent Charles from doing all necessary confiscations on his territory.
To provide the ongoing looting with some political meaning, let’s say that most of the confiscations are happening from the nobility estates. 😜
]
As soon as his army got enough horses, gunpowder and other shooting necessities, Charles marched 20,000 troops to the North into Holstein and then Schleswig. While prior to that the Danes had been destroying the ducal lands, now he was doing the same to the royal lands (and, of course, the lands of the “imperial knights” and other semi-independent entities suspected in the pro-Danish sentiments). The soldiers were not extremely happy with fighting during the cold winter but Charles had a firmly set opinion that if he personally is suffering inconveniences, then his subordinates should not complain. After Gottorp was taken and the whole Schleswig cleaned from the Danish troops (not that there were too many), Charles marched up Jutland, ravaging the countryside, until he reached Fredericia. Here he finally had to stop by a very prosaic reason: besieging a well-fortified city with a strong garrison without having a siege artillery was a little bit too much even for him.
After sending few looting parties around to provide his army with the food and fodder, he turned back South toward Schleswig in the late February of 1713 thus finally ending the winter campaign.
In Gottorp he received a message that his “dear brother” Peter arrived to Stettin and few days later that some other important event just happened…
Coalition is cracking…
Starting from February 25 there was a new King in Prussia, Frederick Wilhem I, and this meant a lot because the only thing that a new king had in common with his father was his love of an army but even then, while for Frederick I the army was just an instrument for his ambitious plans, his son was a true martinet and loved an army as a matter of principle. His other obsession was, putting things to order and cutting expenses so as his first act he abolished most of the court positions and cut the court expenses to one forth of those of his father. Between this act and the next one, revision of the revision of Berlin’s financial department, which he ordered on March 5 [5], FWI sent messages to Peter and Charles with the offer to start peace talks.
Charles, being busy planning a revenge campaign against Hanover and a summer campaign against Denmark, initially did not pay an attention [6] but Peter jumped to the opportunity by more than one reason:
1st, he did not have any specific reason to be hostile toward Prussia outside of what was required by his allied & family obligations.
2nd, he did not expect to get any advantages for Russia out of war with Prussia and already controlled the territory in Pomerania which was lost by Sweden in 1679 and which Charles could legitimately want back. Memel was delivered to the Swedes early in the war, the Russian navy helped to win a victory over the Danes and to relieve Stettin from the siege so there was no reason for Charles to say that Peter neglected his moral obligations.
3rd, the war cost money and even thoroughly defeated coalition members could not pay more than they realistically could so he was probably already fighting at his own expense and there were other areas in which he could spend money with a greater return on investment.
4th, strictly speaking, if FWI proves to be a reasonable ruler and not a megalomaniac like his father, Prussia as it is may become an useful member of the Baltic Mafia guaranteeing almost a complete coverage of the Eastern Baltic coast. Clearly it couldi keep Mecklenburg under control and if necessary get pieces of it.
5th, Prussia may be pretty useful in controlling Saxony because the Favorite Pet already started not quite clear game with Charles VI and so far proved to be quite useless in the ongoing war.
6. With the arrangement, the Baltic region is going to be completely out of the Hapsburg reach except for some formal imperial decrees and protests which could be simply ignored.
7. In a short-term, Prussia switching the sides, would be a very serious blow to the coalition. Immediately, against Brunswick-Luneburg to help Charles to return Bremen-Verden and then, if need arises, invading Oldenburg .
8. Russian army and navy already scored on “European theater” in a rather convincing way firmly establishing reputation of a newly-proclaimed empire as a Great Power.
So Peter wrote to FWI offering to discuss the issues at a personal meeting on a neutral territory, for example in Gustrow. To Charles he sent a message regarding the planned meeting inviting to join or, if he (hopefully) otherwise busy, to sent Count Piper or some other trusted person of his choice. In any case he promised to keep Charles updated regarding the ongoing developments.
In March 15 two monarchs met each other (with Piper as Charles’ representative) and the meeting went quite well: both of them had been naturally bad-mannered, liked the soldiers food (and humor) and had been the heavy smokers. It took only a couple days to outline the general framework of the agreement after which Golitsyn, Piper and von Ilgen ironed down the details. Agreement was rather simple:
(a) Prussia returns to Sweden the land lost in 1679 [7] and cedes Memel. Prussia also gives to the Great Duchy of Lithuania a strip of land on the right bank of the Nieman down to its delta with the fishing rights in a Curonian lagoon. However, Prussia retains the Curonian Split. Prussia also pays Sweden 200,000 thalers as a compensation for the losses suffered by Swedish Pomerania.
(b) Prussia is paying Russia an indemnity of 1,000,000 thalers (which can be, by a mutual agreement, partially paid by the objects of art).
(c) Prussia joins the Swedish-Russian alliance and, upon request, may provide services of its army. The details have to be discussed when and if the need arises.
(d) Prussia joins Russia and Sweden in their arrangement regarding the exports.
(e) All prisoners are let free without extra payments.
__________________
[1] “There are many rich people who are doing something good only by dying” Ivan Krylov
[2] “- So you want a peace? - asked the Landman - You want trade?
There was a surprise in his voice, obviously he did not expect from an ingrained martinet like Volkov the reasonable demands of a wise ruler.
- Living by a sword is not the only way for me, I can live by trade if a neighbor is honest and not arrogant - calmly answered the cavalier - Especially taking into an account that you’ll benefit from it as well.” Inquisitor. Shoes on the flags by Boris Konofalsky
[3] What do you expect from the burghers forced to pay huge amounts of money under the invented pretext? While Frederick IV was on a side opposite to the newly-established Baltic Mafia, his methods were the same.
[4] I found only reference to the Guards company which was disbanded in 1701 and whatever else is mentioned, is dated by the 1740s or later. Probably there was something prior to that time but even the mid-XVIII combined “armies” of both duchies amounted to something in the range of 2,000-2,500.
[5] Well, actually he kept selling his father’s horses and collections but this was a continued process rather than a single act. 😉
[6] He expected that more or less by default Peter will continue to attend to the Prussian issues while he keeps dealing with other coalition members.
[7] On a map in the previous chapter, a narrow greenish-yellow
“A good general must know that his men and horses need food and rest”
Genghis Khan
“War is much too serious a thing to be left to military men.”
Talleyrand
«Есть много богачей, которых смерть одна к чему- нибудь годна»
И. Крылов [1]
“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”
Sun Tzu
“Genghis Khan
“War is much too serious a thing to be left to military men.”
Talleyrand
«Есть много богачей, которых смерть одна к чему- нибудь годна»
И. Крылов [1]
“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”
Sun Tzu
Так вы мира желаете? — спросил ландаман. — Торговать хотите?В голосе его слышалось удивление, видно, никак он не ожидал от закоренелого солдафона, каким считал Волкова, разумных требований мудрого правителя.
— Не всё мне мечом проживать, если сосед честный и не заносчивый, можно и с торговли жить, — спокойно отвечал кавалер. — Тем более, что и вам это будет выгодно.”
Excerpt From Инквизитор. Башмаки на флагах. Борис Конофальский [2]
Excerpt From Инквизитор. Башмаки на флагах. Борис Конофальский [2]
By the late December of 1712 everybody was seemingly resigned to the idea of giving the armies some rest for the next few months but what everybody else is thinking usually meant little for King Charles. Shortage of the horses and ammunition were …er… objective factors, especially the horses because shortage of a gunpowder and cannonballs could be compensated by the Swedish bayonets. These two problems would have to be addressed immediately and with all possible efforts. At least for a while the ammunition problem can be resolved by taking “extra” supplies from the now safe Stralsund, Wismar and Stettin and even from the few Swedish warships which stuck in Stralsund for a winter.
Confiscation of the horses had been going on in Mecklenburg and some had been purchased in Germany through Hamburg: silly as it may sound, the citizens of that city had been unhappy with King Frederick IV [3] and, after burning of Altona tended to consider Charles as a kind of God’s hand delivering the Divine Justice.
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Short interlude to explain situation with Mecklenburg.
Probably it is fair to say that the only time when the area enjoyed a good administration was a brief period when its was ruled by Wallenstein.
Formally, there were two duchies, Mecklenburg-Shwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelutz, each with its own duke. Each duchy had representation in the imperial Bundesrat. However, on most of the issues the duchies had to act as a single entity and the Estates (dominated by the nobility) had an absolute right to define the taxation. It should come as no surprise that as a result Magdeburg had no army worth mentioning [4] and, even when it was maintaining a neutral status, it was routinely occupied during the regional wars.
In OTL the Duke of Mecklenburg-Shwerin, Charles Leopold, tried to prevent a foreign occupation during the GNW by raising an army. An idea of raising the taxes had been rejected by the Estates who complained to the Emperor. As a result, Charles VI issued imperial execution and a big part of the duchy was occupied by Hanover and Prussia and the duke himself was expelled and replaced by his younger brother.
In this TL the timetables are moved a little bit ahead of the OTL schedule: in 1712 Charles Leopold os already a duke and already trying to increase his power at the Estates’ expense. As in OTL, he had chance to participate in the campaign of Charles XII but, unlike OTL, his is not going to marry Catherine Ivanovna because she is already married to Charles. Both Charles and Peter are considering him a friendly “power” and interested in making him a meaningful ruler as a part of the “Baltic Mafia” schema. Which, of course, does not prevent Charles from doing all necessary confiscations on his territory.
To provide the ongoing looting with some political meaning, let’s say that most of the confiscations are happening from the nobility estates. 😜
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As soon as his army got enough horses, gunpowder and other shooting necessities, Charles marched 20,000 troops to the North into Holstein and then Schleswig. While prior to that the Danes had been destroying the ducal lands, now he was doing the same to the royal lands (and, of course, the lands of the “imperial knights” and other semi-independent entities suspected in the pro-Danish sentiments). The soldiers were not extremely happy with fighting during the cold winter but Charles had a firmly set opinion that if he personally is suffering inconveniences, then his subordinates should not complain. After Gottorp was taken and the whole Schleswig cleaned from the Danish troops (not that there were too many), Charles marched up Jutland, ravaging the countryside, until he reached Fredericia. Here he finally had to stop by a very prosaic reason: besieging a well-fortified city with a strong garrison without having a siege artillery was a little bit too much even for him.
After sending few looting parties around to provide his army with the food and fodder, he turned back South toward Schleswig in the late February of 1713 thus finally ending the winter campaign.
In Gottorp he received a message that his “dear brother” Peter arrived to Stettin and few days later that some other important event just happened…
Coalition is cracking…
Starting from February 25 there was a new King in Prussia, Frederick Wilhem I, and this meant a lot because the only thing that a new king had in common with his father was his love of an army but even then, while for Frederick I the army was just an instrument for his ambitious plans, his son was a true martinet and loved an army as a matter of principle. His other obsession was, putting things to order and cutting expenses so as his first act he abolished most of the court positions and cut the court expenses to one forth of those of his father. Between this act and the next one, revision of the revision of Berlin’s financial department, which he ordered on March 5 [5], FWI sent messages to Peter and Charles with the offer to start peace talks.
Charles, being busy planning a revenge campaign against Hanover and a summer campaign against Denmark, initially did not pay an attention [6] but Peter jumped to the opportunity by more than one reason:
1st, he did not have any specific reason to be hostile toward Prussia outside of what was required by his allied & family obligations.
2nd, he did not expect to get any advantages for Russia out of war with Prussia and already controlled the territory in Pomerania which was lost by Sweden in 1679 and which Charles could legitimately want back. Memel was delivered to the Swedes early in the war, the Russian navy helped to win a victory over the Danes and to relieve Stettin from the siege so there was no reason for Charles to say that Peter neglected his moral obligations.
3rd, the war cost money and even thoroughly defeated coalition members could not pay more than they realistically could so he was probably already fighting at his own expense and there were other areas in which he could spend money with a greater return on investment.
4th, strictly speaking, if FWI proves to be a reasonable ruler and not a megalomaniac like his father, Prussia as it is may become an useful member of the Baltic Mafia guaranteeing almost a complete coverage of the Eastern Baltic coast. Clearly it couldi keep Mecklenburg under control and if necessary get pieces of it.
5th, Prussia may be pretty useful in controlling Saxony because the Favorite Pet already started not quite clear game with Charles VI and so far proved to be quite useless in the ongoing war.
6. With the arrangement, the Baltic region is going to be completely out of the Hapsburg reach except for some formal imperial decrees and protests which could be simply ignored.
7. In a short-term, Prussia switching the sides, would be a very serious blow to the coalition. Immediately, against Brunswick-Luneburg to help Charles to return Bremen-Verden and then, if need arises, invading Oldenburg .
8. Russian army and navy already scored on “European theater” in a rather convincing way firmly establishing reputation of a newly-proclaimed empire as a Great Power.
So Peter wrote to FWI offering to discuss the issues at a personal meeting on a neutral territory, for example in Gustrow. To Charles he sent a message regarding the planned meeting inviting to join or, if he (hopefully) otherwise busy, to sent Count Piper or some other trusted person of his choice. In any case he promised to keep Charles updated regarding the ongoing developments.
In March 15 two monarchs met each other (with Piper as Charles’ representative) and the meeting went quite well: both of them had been naturally bad-mannered, liked the soldiers food (and humor) and had been the heavy smokers. It took only a couple days to outline the general framework of the agreement after which Golitsyn, Piper and von Ilgen ironed down the details. Agreement was rather simple:
(a) Prussia returns to Sweden the land lost in 1679 [7] and cedes Memel. Prussia also gives to the Great Duchy of Lithuania a strip of land on the right bank of the Nieman down to its delta with the fishing rights in a Curonian lagoon. However, Prussia retains the Curonian Split. Prussia also pays Sweden 200,000 thalers as a compensation for the losses suffered by Swedish Pomerania.
(b) Prussia is paying Russia an indemnity of 1,000,000 thalers (which can be, by a mutual agreement, partially paid by the objects of art).
(c) Prussia joins the Swedish-Russian alliance and, upon request, may provide services of its army. The details have to be discussed when and if the need arises.
(d) Prussia joins Russia and Sweden in their arrangement regarding the exports.
(e) All prisoners are let free without extra payments.
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[1] “There are many rich people who are doing something good only by dying” Ivan Krylov
[2] “- So you want a peace? - asked the Landman - You want trade?
There was a surprise in his voice, obviously he did not expect from an ingrained martinet like Volkov the reasonable demands of a wise ruler.
- Living by a sword is not the only way for me, I can live by trade if a neighbor is honest and not arrogant - calmly answered the cavalier - Especially taking into an account that you’ll benefit from it as well.” Inquisitor. Shoes on the flags by Boris Konofalsky
[3] What do you expect from the burghers forced to pay huge amounts of money under the invented pretext? While Frederick IV was on a side opposite to the newly-established Baltic Mafia, his methods were the same.
[4] I found only reference to the Guards company which was disbanded in 1701 and whatever else is mentioned, is dated by the 1740s or later. Probably there was something prior to that time but even the mid-XVIII combined “armies” of both duchies amounted to something in the range of 2,000-2,500.
[5] Well, actually he kept selling his father’s horses and collections but this was a continued process rather than a single act. 😉
[6] He expected that more or less by default Peter will continue to attend to the Prussian issues while he keeps dealing with other coalition members.
[7] On a map in the previous chapter, a narrow greenish-yellow
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As I stated , for a Navy in the Baltic ( especially when relying on sail ) , shallow draft ( and therefore usually smaller ships ) is needed in many places. Hence as late as the Napoleonic wars, Baltic powers are still fielding 64's when the Atlantic powers had long moved to the 74 as their workhorse. Guns were replaced as technology/opinion changed, sizes however did not always increase, indeed Victory herself had 42 pdrs on her main gundeck initially but these were replaced later with 32 pdrs .
ITTL some of the Swedish ships are noted as having 40 pdrs so they seem to lack only number of guns not weight of individual shot.