Hello! I will be starting a new timeline about what if Sweden won the Great Northern War. The timeline will be told through a series of fictional articles and book excerpts from this timeline. To be honest I am not an expert on this war but I hope that doesn't impede my writing. I am a very strong believer in the butterfly effect so this history will be very different. To cite these fictional documents I will be using MLA citation and each article, quote, and excerpt will be threadmarked. I hope you enjoy.
 
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The Treaty of Warsaw
The Treaty of Warsaw ended the Great Northern War. It was signed by delegates from all belligerents on the 19th of May, 1711 in Warsaw. This treaty granted much land to Sweden and her allies. It forced Russia to cease their claims on Swedish land in the Baltic, cede the lands of the former Smolensk Voivodeship back to the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, cede all land west of the Velikaya river to be split between Sweden and Poland Lithuania, pay vast amounts to the victors, and recognize and give land to the newly independent Cossack Hetmanate under Ivan Mazepa, otherwise known as Ivan I. This was a huge blow to the Russians and incredibly destabilized the country. This treaty led to much hatred towards the Swedes and Poles by the Russian people for many years to come.

Excerpt from Yates, John. Important European Military Treaties and Declarations. London: Broadstreet Publishing, 2001. Print. (Page 57)
 
Hello! I will be starting a new timeline about what if Sweden won the Great Northern War. The timeline will be told through a series of fictional articles and book excerpts from this timeline. To be honest I am not an expert on this war but I hope that doesn't impede my writing.

Yes, knowledge of the subject tends to be detrimental to a free flight of a fantasy. :winkytongue:
 
The Treaty of Warsaw ended the Great Northern War. It was signed by delegates from all belligerents on the 19th of May, 1711 in Warsaw. This treaty granted much land to Sweden and her allies. It forced Russia to cease their claims on Swedish land in the Baltic, cede the lands of the former Smolensk Voivodeship back to the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, cede all land west of the Velikaya river to be split between Sweden and Poland Lithuania, pay vast amounts to the victors, and recognize and give land to the newly independent Cossack Hetmanate under Ivan Mazepa, otherwise known as Ivan I. This was a huge blow to the Russians and incredibly destabilized the country. This treaty led to much hatred towards the Swedes and Poles by the Russian people for many years to come.

Excerpt from Yates, John. Important European Military Treaties and Declarations. London: Broadstreet Publishing, 2001. Print. (Page 57)

Don't want to be too critical but "Jan Olbracht" at least adds some entertaining moments like drunken August falling from a horse or out of the window to justify his plan "how to revive the PLC without making any changes". And, honestly, that Smolensk thingy became plain boring. Why don't you try to be a little bit more original? ;)
 

TruthfulPanda

Gone Fishin'
I'm certain that Swedish victory was gained through the supreme in-theater mobility of its moose-mounted dragoons:
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The Ousting of Tsar Peter
The Treaty of Warsaw left Russia greatly destabilized. The current government was hated by the populace and from 1711 to 1714 there were many uprisings against the Tsar's government. These last three years of Peters reign were some of the most tumultuous in Russian history. Tsar Peter would become incredibly hated in these years and is still viewed as a stain on Russian history with many in history and now referring to him as Peter the Dishonored or Peter the Foul. The number of Peters supporters quickly fell during these years as people believed Russia still could have won the war and they disapproved of his tactics in subduing the uprisings that plagued the nations. By the last six months of his reign only a handful of people in the government and the military supported him including Alexander Menshikov who would lead a small force of Romanov loyalists against the Sheremetev's forces just after the coup in 1714.

The beginning of these troubles was when news of the treaty reached Moscow. Almost immediately people took to the streets and a mass riot started. The Great Moscow Uprising ended seven days later on the 29th of May due to the population of Moscow fleeing the city en masse due to a fire, started during the riots, enveloping the city. The Great Moscow Fire would burn most of the city and claimed thousands of lives. Peter escaped and the capital was moved to Veliky Novgorod. From May to January of the following year many serfs started to revolt all across the empire and the last of these rebels wouldn't be put down until 1716. In February of 1712 a man named Ivan Andronovich tried to stab Peter after sneaking into his residence in the city. Peter was saved by a bodyguard but afterwords would never be seen in public and became very paranoid. He closed off his residence and only allowed his wife, his personal servant, his bodyguard, and Alexander Menshikov to enter the room he isolated himself to. He dismissed all of his previous bodyguards and hired a regiment of Hessian mercenaries to guard his residence and the land around it. He even gave orders to build a castle around his grounds and home although the construction was disbanded after the coup.

By June of 1712 most government functions fell to Alexander Menshikov who acted as the de facto regent for Peter. His rule still wasn't strong as much of the empire was very autonomous and at some points the army didn't even listen to him. In December a group of nobles from the southern parts of the empire rose up hoping to take control of the Empire. The Loyal elements of the Russian army fought these rebels throughout 1713 and 1714 finally defeating them at the Battle of Hlukhiv on April 6th. Many in the army, although siding against the rebels, hated the government in Veliky Novgorod and would start to plan what would be known as the Autumn Coup. They carried out their plans on the Autumnal Equinox as Menshikov was outside of the city consulting with an adviser. The coupists stormed the Tsar's residence and killed Tsar Peter, ending the Romanov Dynasty's control over Russia. Boris Sheremetev was proclaimed Tsar Boris II of Russia that day. The coupists could not defeat all of the Hessians and Menshikov quickly took charge of the remaining Hessians. Over the next few days he would try to defeat the new regime before surrendering on September 25th. The surviving Hessians were sent back to Germany and Menshikov was pardoned by the new Tsar. There was very little resistance to the new regime bar the remaining serf revolutionaries and by June of 1715 the new government was recognized by most of Europe's powers.

Excerpt from Popov, Androv. The Romanov Dynasty. New York: Croft Publishing, 1991. Page 382
 
Most Likely Yes. But in actuality the POD would probably be a Swedish Victory at Poltava or something of the like.

Can you try to be a little bit more original? BTW, Swedish victory at Poltava would change very little: Charles was losing strategically and Peter could afford tactical losses. Anyway, at Poltava only a fraction of the Russian army participated in a battle: the rest did not leave the fortified camp. Which probably should give you some idea about balance of the strengths.
 
Can you try to be a little bit more original? BTW, Swedish victory at Poltava would change very little: Charles was losing strategically and Peter could afford tactical losses. Anyway, at Poltava only a fraction of the Russian army participated in a battle: the rest did not leave the fortified camp. Which probably should give you some idea about balance of the strengths.
Thanks for your insight.
 
The Treaty of Warsaw left Russia greatly destabilized. The current government was hated by the populace and from 1711 to 1714 there were many uprisings against the Tsar's government.

An implication that Russian population gave a damn about that war (outside understandable wish of it ending ASAP) clearly indicates what you, with a laudable honesty, confessed: unfamiliarity with the issue on which you are fantasizing.

These last three years of Peters reign were some of the most tumultuous in Russian history. Tsar Peter would become incredibly hated in these years

I can tell you a big (and commonly known) secret: in OTL he was hated as well and his reign was as tumultuous as it goes.

and is still viewed as a stain on Russian history with many in history and now referring to him as Peter the Dishonored or Peter the Foul.

And why would that be? His grandfather and father had been losing to the Swedes as well so nothing unusual there. And why bother with these foolish nicknames if a noticeable part of the population clearly considered him being an Antichrist?

The number of Peters supporters quickly fell during these years as people believed Russia still could have won the war

Sorry, are we talking about Russia of the early XVIII? I don't think so. AFAIK, an overwhelming majority of the Russian population did not care for this or any other Peter's wars because they were producing nothing for them besides troubles, death and misery. An idea that there was some kind of a "patriotism" involved is simply bizarre.

and they disapproved of his tactics in subduing the uprisings that plagued the nations.

How original! Did they approve the tactics used by his predecessors in these cases? Or perhaps in your AH Peter was trying to convince the mutineers and forbade usage of the force? Well, this could definitely destroy his reputation on both sides of an uprising.

By the last six months of his reign only a handful of people in the government and the military supported him including Alexander Menshikov who would lead a small force of Romanov loyalists against the Sheremetev's forces just after the coup in 1714.

Boris Sheremetiev is approximately as likely candidate for being leader of anti-government coup as I'm a ballet dancer. :winkytongue:

The beginning of these troubles was when news of the treaty reached Moscow. Almost immediately people took to the streets and a mass riot started.

Yes, of course. The people much preferred to pay for the pointless war (or to be sent to die in it) to finally getting some peace. Of course, they were rioting on the streets demanding to be recruited into the army and to fight until the glorious end. Or to be sent to the swamps of Ingria to build Peter's "paradise".

If you are writing nonsense, at least try to be a little bit more inventive. Something along the lines :)p):

..... All population of Moscow, including women and children, armed themselves with the pitchforks and axes and started marching, under the leadership of Martha Posadnitsa and Ivan Susanin (*), westwards with a battle cry "Даешь Европу!!!". On the route they had been joined by the population of the areas through which they had been passing and kept growing in numbers. By the time they reached Smolensk (which seems to be the only Russian city, besides Moscow, that everybody knows about), their numbers rose to couple hundred thousands. The Poles, who had been happily celebrating return of the city, did not have time to sober up .... and the crowd kept marching all the way to the Baltic coast. Peter and "a small force of Romanov loyalists" tried to join the movement but had been rejected due to the improper attire. It took them couple weeks to grow the beards, get dressed into armyaks, porty and onuchi and then to catch up with the crowd. When they almost reached the border the marching crowd had been joined by a bunch of the Russian alt-historians from the XXI century itching to change the past and armed with all hand-held weaponry they could procure. (**)

Charles, who was still hanging in Livonia trying to figure out how to entertain himself after the peace was signed, jumped to opportunity and marched to meet the invading horde. Unfortunately, the Swedish bravery was quite useless against the rocket launchers and AK-47s... The crowd kept marching westward. Charles's severed head on a pike served as their battle standard....

By the time they reached the Baltic coast, it was already winter. With Daugava frozen Riga was an easy victim and, after fortifying themselves with its Black Balsam, Rupjmaize and Sklandrausis, the crowd, now proudly calling themselves "AHLA" ("Alt-history liberation Army") kept marching north to the frozen Gulf of Finland which they crossed by ice to invade Finland. Within days all local supply of "Finlandia" had been exhausted and AHLA was ready to march across the frozen sea right to Stockholm where they expected to find an unlimited supply of "Absolut". Seduced by the perspective of getting a free Swedish drink quite a few Finns joined AHLA. However, even before they reached the Aland Islands, a huge sledge train from Sweden carrying barrels of Absolut and a humble request of peace on any conditions met them.


The ensuing Aland Peace was harsh but better than the alternative of being left completely without a booze. Russia got Livonia and Sweden promised to keep selling "Finlandia" and "Absolut" to Russia at a discount price. Being upset with what they considered to be Swedish treachery ("these Swedes are selling our national resources cheap!") and seduced by a promise of cheap "Stolichnaya" and 100 barrels of free pickles, Finland rebelled and united with Russia.

To avert seemingly unavoidable revenge Sejm of the PLC (***) ordered to send all existing supplies of Gdańska wódka, Zubrowka, Luxsusowa and Sobieski to the Russian-Polish border as a token of the good feelings.... The resulting feast was a foundation of the ever-lasting Russian-Polish friendship.

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(*) These two would do just fine for the people unfamiliar with the Russian history.

(**) I found that there are numerous Russian fans of the genre who are considering "rewriting history" as a part of their patriotic duty.

(***) According to the national experts, the PLC was too busy celebrating the death of King August (who fell from a balcony and broke his most important body part) to elect a new king.
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:winkytongue::winkytongue::winkytongue::winkytongue::winkytongue::winkytongue::winkytongue::winkytongue::winkytongue::winkytongue::winkytongue:
 
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Interesting start. Even though as others said, the POD is cliche, you could make good out of it. I believe organizing your posts more and making them look more distinct (pictures at the top, different fonts, etc.) and creating a unique layout of your posts while layering them a bit more would make the TL easier to read and learn (sorry for the run on sentence, just some quickly written criticism).
Thank you for the comment. I was planning on messing with the fonts and no problem
 
Thanks for your insight.

My insight is rather useless in your case because you'll keep ignoring it but, just for the fun of it: Russia was not an "empire" in 1714 or even 1715. Name "Ivan Andronovich" does not make sense because "Andronovich" is a patronim, not a family name and in Peter's time patronims had not been widely used, except by the people of a certain rank, and with the family name. Peter's death would mean little because he had a son. Hessians are bravely stolen from the different time and place but would not make a slightest sense in Russia circa 1714, "Hlukiv" is Ukrainian name of Glukhov which nobody in Russia would be using (and, while the event made sense within a context of Russo-Polish War of 1654–67, it is rather difficult to make this geography meaningful even in your AH), etc. x'Dx'D
 
Seizure of the Kaapkolonie
Charles XII's plan to create a colonial empire for the Swedes had been real only in the king's mind for the majority of his life. These thoughts only came to fruition after the victory of the Swedish in the Great Northern War. The king decided to recognize these dreams by taking the Cape Colony. Inspired by the British seizure of New York née Nieuw Amsterdam Charles ordered the Swedish navy, along with 400 colonists and a company of infantrymen, to the Cape to issue an ultimatum to the Dutch. The ultimatum was virtually the same as the ultimatum given to Nieuw Amsterdam and the Dutch accepted it. This seizure wasn't that simple though. Once news reached Amsterdam that their valuable trade port had been taken they declared war on the Swedes on October 4th 1715. Thankfully King Charles had a plan for if the Dutch with their superior navy decided to declare war and had made a pact with Britain that said that if war arrived Britain would join on the side of Sweden and, if victorious, would gain Suriname.

Although the actions and events of the war are important we won't be talking about them today. The first Swedish settlers had arrived in the Cape. Wary of the natives and Dutch living in the colony the Swedes chose to settle just outside of Kaapstad and formed the town of Charlesborg. They erected a palisade and all travel into the community by the Dutch was heavily monitored. The Swedish dominance of the Cape was contested on January 3rd 1718 when a militarized fleet from the Dutch East India Company arrived to fight the Swedes. Many Dutchmen used this as an opportunity to rise up against the Swedes and had quickly occupied large parts of Kaapstad. The Battle of Cape Sound was very interesting. It seemed to be an even matchup and it was. A few hours into the fighting a loose cannonball hit Swedish Admiral Hans Wachtmeister II in the head killing him. Swedish morale took a turn for the worse as their flagship fell just twenty minutes later. The Dutch East Indian Company looked to be at the gates of victory but then the Portuguese Navy arrived. The Portuguese had joined the conflict on the side of the Swedes a few weeks prior in hopes of taking Dutch Colonies in the East Indies. This Portuguese fleet that had been based in Mozambique attacked the Dutch East India Company's fleet who were unaware of the Portuguese entrance into the war. The Swedes and Portuguese won and the rebels in Kaapstad laid down their arms once they saw this victory.

The Portuguese Admiral relieved the Swedish fleet of their duty in guarding the Cape and sent them back north, assuring the Swedes that they would protect Swedish claims in the area. The Portuguese dropped off an extra three companies to join the Swedish company in maintaining control of the Cape.

Excerpt from Christiansen, Julia. A Quick History of the Kaapvristat. Charlesborg: Selfpublished, 2011. Page 19. Translated from Kaapcreole.
 
I'm going to have to side with @alexmilman here: this TL really needs some research into the circumstances of Sweden, dipomatic and political norms of the period, and the general structures of an 18th century society in order to be taken seriously. Right now, it comes across as more of a fanfiction of history with Sweden as the Mary Sue, with the universe's sole direction being what benefits her most at a particular moment.
 
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