The Great Power Period of Russia
During the period from around 1600 to 1800, the Kingdom of Russia was a world power with dominant control over the Baltic Sea, almost successfully forming a mare clausum over the Baltic Sea. The rise of Russia from a regional power to a great power began in the aftermath of the Great Schism. During the period historiographically called the Germanocratic era, the kings of the Nordic countries were either elected or inherited by German lords from the north of the German Empire. Norway fell under the rule of cadet branches of the German princes of the blood and Denmark the Pomeranian House of Griffin. In the case of Russia, the Russian and Yeatish nobilities both consistently elected the same kings, gradually forming a unified state under the House of . In 1468, the two kingdoms were formally united under the rule of Johannes Magnus (1451-1489). and his successor Christopher I (1489-1500).
Russia's first major territorial expansions were in wars with their rival the Kingdom of Denmark, the conquest of Gotland, Estonia, and Kolberg occurred during the early portions of the 16th century under King Henricus II (1501-1522), and elements of the Church Reform Movement was suppressed by his successor Olaus (1522-1545), keeping the Evangelical Orthodox creed the state church of the Kingdom. Olaus died with only a daughter, Wilhelmina (1545-1560). Wilhelmina never married, preventing an immediate dynastic union between Russia and its surrounding states. Wilhemina also was sympathetic to the teachings of the German Eidgenossen reformer Rogerius Molitoris, intervening in the German Wars of Religion in favor of the Eidgenossen claimant Manfred.
With no heirs, the 25 year period known as the Chaotic Era began. Noble Magnates expanded their territories with a series of edicts by King Alberic (1560-1569), cognatic descendant of Olausand first cousin by marriage. Alberic was overthrown by his Palatine Gudfrid I Erikson (1569-1578), who attempted an invasion of Norway in the Jamtlandic War. Gudfrid I was killed in a riot in the capital Starnborg after the news of the disastrous defeat of the and was replaced with a descendant of a bastard son of Olaus, Jacomus I (1579-1583). Jacomus purged the treasury rebuilding the army, resulting in tax increases . He was overthrown by the nobility and exiled to Lendia and replaced by Gudfrid II Gudfridson (1583-1588). Gudfrid stablised the economy and lowered the debt, but died young and without an heir. With no more possible potential rulers that could make the nobility satisfied, they elected Boguslaus I (1588-1610), a cognatic descendant of Olaus and Alberic and a member of the House of Oswiecim, a cadet house of Lendia's. Boguslaus defeated the nobility using the army built by Jacomus in the War of Reduction and married the daughter of Jacomus, reuniting the country under a centralized absolute ruler and a powerful military and developing a long term alliance with Lendia.
Boguslaus I was succeeded by Boguslaus II (1610-1647), who expanded into Lapland and conquered Tavastia and Savonia, unifying the Finns under Russian rule. Boguslaus II's successor Carol I (1647-1672) continued Russia's geographic expansion during the Livonian War (1657-1664) over the succession of the Kingdom of Livonia, which pitted Russia against Livonia, the Varengian Republic and Denmark. Carol's victory resulted in the taking of Karelia, Ingria, and Livonia, with a portion of Livonia being ceded to Lithuania. Henricus III (1672-1680) invested funds into the establishment of the Henrician Bay Company, Russian East and West India Company, and the establishment of the colonies of Ursalia and the seizing of 2 Caribbean islands. Carol II (1680-1686) died and was succeeded by his son Carol III Magnus (1686-1745), who returned Russia to its policy of attaining dominium maris baltici and expansion after exiting his regency in 1690.
His reign was dominated by the Great Baltic War (1691-1702) and the successive wars of confirmation and rebellions that followed, which saw an alliance of Russia and Lendia fight a coalition of Norway, Denmark, Lithuania, and Varengia, hoping to take advantage of the instability associated with the regency. In succession, Carol III led his armies to knock out each of the parties out of the war, most notably Denmark by crossing the Belts during a frozen winter. In the Treaties of Elbing, The Kingdom of Norway would be granted to Carol, with the King of Norway being made the new King of Cimbria. Samogitia, Plescovia, and the rest of Livonia would be protectorates of Russia, which would be later incorporated as territories of the Kingdom. Carol III's reign proved to be the apex of the kingdom, with the later conquest of Novgorod and the partition of Prussia with Lendia in 1730.
