Editing Great Northern War (section)

== Peace ==
{{Main|Treaty of Frederiksborg|Treaties of Stockholm (Great Northern War)|Treaty of Nystad}}
{{multiple image|width=220|image1=Great Northern War Part1.png|image2=Great Northern War Part2.png|footer=Campaigns and territorial changes 1700–1709 (left) and 1709–1721 (right)}}

By the time of Charles XII's death, the anti-Swedish allies became increasingly divided on how to fill the power gap left behind by the defeated and retreating Swedish armies. George I and Frederik IV both coveted hegemony in northern Germany, while Augustus the Strong was concerned about the ambitions of Frederick William I on the southeastern Baltic coast. Peter the Great, whose forces were spread all around the Baltic Sea, envisioned hegemony in East Central Europe and sought to establish naval bases as far west as [[Mecklenburg]]. In January 1719, George I, Augustus and emperor [[Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles VI]] concluded a {{ill|treaty in Vienna|no|Wien-traktaten i 1719}} aimed at reducing Russia's frontiers to the pre-war limits.<ref name=Frost295296 />

Hanover-Great Britain and Brandenburg-Prussia thereupon negotiated separate peace treaties with Sweden, the [[Treaties of Stockholm (Great Northern War)|treaties of Stockholm]] in 1719 and early 1720, which partitioned Sweden's northern German dominions among the parties. The negotiations were mediated by French diplomats, who sought to prevent a complete collapse of Sweden's position on the southern Baltic coast and assured that Sweden was to retain [[Wismar]] and northern [[Swedish Pomerania]]. Hanover gained Swedish [[Bremen-Verden]], while Brandenburg-Prussia [[Province of Pomerania (1653–1815)|incorporated]] southern Swedish Pomerania.<ref name="Frost296">{{Harvnb|Frost|2000|p=296}}</ref>
Britain would briefly switch sides and supported Sweden before leaving the war.
In addition to the rivalries in the anti-Swedish coalition, there was an inner-Swedish rivalry between [[Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp]], and [[Frederick I of Sweden|Frederick I of Hesse-Cassel]] for the Swedish throne. The Gottorp party succumbed and Ulrike Eleonora, wife of Frederick I, transferred power to her husband in May 1720. When peace was concluded with Denmark, the anti-Swedish coalition had already fallen apart, and Denmark was not in a military position to negotiate a return of its former eastern provinces across the [[Øresund|sound]]. Frederick I was, however, willing to cede Swedish support for his rival in Holstein-Gottorp, which came under Danish control with its northern part annexed, and furthermore cede the Swedish privilege of exemption from the [[Sound Dues]]. A respective treaty was [[Treaty of Frederiksborg|concluded in Frederiksborg]] in June 1720.<ref name=Frost296 />

[[File:Great Northern War Timeline.png|thumb|450px|left|Timeline of each main participant in the war]]

When Sweden finally was at peace with Hanover, Great Britain, Brandenburg-Prussia and Denmark–Norway, it hoped that the anti-Russian sentiments of the Vienna parties and France would culminate in an alliance that would restore its Russian-occupied eastern provinces. Yet, primarily due to internal conflicts in Great Britain and France, that did not happen. Therefore, the war was finally concluded by the [[Treaty of Nystad]] between Russia and Sweden in [[Uusikaupunki]] (''Nystad'') on 30 August 1721 ([[Adoption of the Gregorian calendar|OS]]). Finland was returned to Sweden, while the majority of Russia's conquests (Swedish [[Estonia]], [[Swedish Livonia|Livonia]], [[Ingria]], [[Priozersk|Kexholm]] and a portion of [[Karelia]]) were ceded to the tsardom.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rambaud|first=Arthur|title=Recueil des instructions données aux ambassadeurs et ministres de France depuis les traités de Westphalie jusqu'à la Révolution française|publisher=Ancienne Librairie Germer Baillière et Cie.|year=1890|location=Paris|page=232}}</ref> Sweden's dissatisfaction with the result led to fruitless attempts at recovering the lost territories in the course of the following century, such as the [[Russo-Swedish War (1741–1743)|Russo-Swedish War of 1741–1743]], and the [[Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790)|Russo-Swedish War of 1788–1790]].<ref name=Frost296 />

Saxe-Poland-Lithuania and Sweden did not conclude a formal peace treaty; instead, they renewed the [[Peace of Oliva]] that had ended the [[Second Northern War]] in 1660.<ref>{{Harvnb|Donnert|1997|p=510}}</ref>

Sweden had lost almost all of its "overseas" holdings gained in the 17th century and ceased to be a major power. Russia gained its Baltic territories and became one of the great powers of Europe.