Editing Baltic Sea (section)

===An arena of conflict===
[[File:Haupthandelsroute Hanse.png|thumb|Main trading routes of the [[Hanseatic League]] (''Hanse'').]]

In the period between the 8th and 14th centuries, there was much piracy in the Baltic from the coasts of [[Pomerania]] and [[Prussia]], and the [[Victual Brothers]] held [[Gotland]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

Starting in the 11th century, the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic were settled by migrants mainly from [[Germany]], a movement called the ''[[Ostsiedlung]]'' ("east settling"). Other settlers were from the [[Netherlands]], [[Denmark]], and [[Scotland]]. The [[Polabian Slavs]] were gradually assimilated by the Germans.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/639735/Wend Wend – West Wend] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022135757/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/639735/Wend |date=22 October 2014 }}. Britannica. Retrieved on 23 June 2011.</ref> [[Denmark]] gradually gained control over most of the Baltic coast, until she lost much of her possessions after being defeated in the 1227 [[Battle of Bornhöved (1227)|Battle of Bornhöved]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}
[[File:Eerste fase van de Zeeslag in de Sont - First phase of the Battle of the Sound - November 8 1658 (Jan Abrahamsz Beerstraten, 1660).jpg|thumb|The naval [[Battle of the Sound]] took place on 8 November 1658 during the [[Dano-Swedish War (1658–60)|Dano-Swedish War]].]]
[[File:Admiralty Chart No 259 Baltic Sea, Published 1919.jpg|thumb|Nautical chart of the Baltic Sea in 1919. ]]
[[File:Cap Arcona burning.jpg|thumb|The burning ''[[Cap Arcona]]'' shortly after the attacks, 3 May 1945. Only 350 survived of the 4,500 prisoners who had been aboard]]

In the 13th to 16th centuries, the strongest economic force in Northern Europe was the [[Hanseatic League]], a federation of merchant cities around the Baltic Sea and the [[North Sea]]. In the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Poland]], [[Denmark]], and [[Sweden]] fought wars for ''[[Dominium maris baltici]]'' ("Lordship over the Baltic Sea"). Eventually, it was Sweden that [[Swedish Empire|virtually encompassed the Baltic Sea]]. In Sweden, the sea was then referred to as ''Mare Nostrum Balticum'' ("Our Baltic Sea"). The goal of Swedish warfare during the 17th century was to make the Baltic Sea an all-Swedish sea (''Ett Svenskt innanhav''), something that was accomplished except the part between Riga in Latvia and [[Szczecin|Stettin]] in Pomerania. However, the [[Dutch Republic|Dutch]] dominated the Baltic trade in the seventeenth century.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

In the eighteenth century, [[Russian Empire|Russia]] and [[Prussia]] became the leading powers over the sea. Sweden's defeat in the [[Great Northern War]] brought Russia to the eastern coast. Russia became and remained a dominating power in the Baltic. Russia's [[Peter I of Russia|Peter the Great]] saw the strategic importance of the Baltic and decided to found his new capital, [[Saint Petersburg]], at the mouth of the [[Neva]] river at the east end of the [[Gulf of Finland]]. There was much trading not just within the Baltic region but also with the North Sea region, especially eastern [[England]] and the [[Netherlands]]: their fleets needed the Baltic timber, tar, flax, and hemp.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

During the [[Crimean War]], a joint British and French fleet attacked the Russian fortresses in the Baltic; the case is also known as the [[Åland War]]. They bombarded [[Sveaborg]], which guards [[Helsinki]]; and [[Kronstadt, Russia|Kronstadt]], which guards Saint Petersburg; and they destroyed [[Bomarsund, Åland|Bomarsund]] in [[Åland]]. After the unification of [[Germany]] in 1871, the whole southern coast became German. [[World War I]] was partly fought in the Baltic Sea. After 1920 [[Poland]] was granted access to the Baltic Sea at the expense of Germany by the [[Polish Corridor]] and enlarged the port of [[Gdynia]] in rivalry with the port of the [[Free City of Danzig]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

After the Nazis' rise to power, Germany reclaimed the [[Memelland]] and after the outbreak of the [[Eastern Front (World War II)]] occupied the Baltic states. In 1945, the Baltic Sea became a mass grave for retreating soldiers and refugees on torpedoed [[Operation Hannibal|troop transports]]. The sinking of the ''[[Wilhelm Gustloff (ship)|Wilhelm Gustloff]]'' remains the worst maritime disaster in history, killing (very roughly) 9,000 people. In 2005, a Russian group of scientists found over five thousand airplane wrecks, sunken warships, and other material, mainly from World War II, on the bottom of the sea.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}