Editing Peter III of Russia (section)

===Foreign policy===
[[File:Peter III by A.Antropov (1762, Tretyakov gallery).jpg|thumb|Portrait of Peter III by [[Aleksey Antropov]], 1762]]
After Peter succeeded to the Russian throne ({{OldStyleDateDY|5 January|1762|25 December 1761}}), he withdrew Russian forces from the [[Seven Years' War]] and concluded a [[Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1762)|peace treaty]] ({{OldStyleDate|5 May|1762|24 April}}) with Prussia (dubbed the "Second [[Miracle of the House of Brandenburg]]"). He gave up Russian conquests in Prussia and offered 12,000 troops to make an alliance with Frederick II of Prussia ({{OldStyleDate|19 June|1762|8 June}}).{{Cn|date=October 2023}} Russia thus switched from an enemy of Prussia to an ally—Russian troops withdrew from [[Berlin]] and marched against the Austrians.<ref>Anderson, pages=492–494{{unreliable source?|date=November 2021}}</ref> This dramatically shifted the [[balance of power in international relations|balance of power]] in Europe, suddenly handing the delighted Frederick the initiative. Frederick recaptured southern [[Silesia]] (October 1762) and subsequently forced Austria to the [[Treaty of Hubertusburg|negotiating table]].{{Cn|date=October 2023}}

As Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, Peter planned war against [[Denmark-Norway]] in order to restore parts of [[Schleswig]] to his Duchy. He focused on making alliances with Sweden and with Great Britain to ensure that they would not interfere on Denmark's behalf, while Russian forces gathered at [[Kolberg]] in Russian-occupied [[Pomerania]]. Alarmed at the Russian troops concentrating near their borders, unable to find any allies to resist Russian aggression, and short of money to fund a war, the government of Denmark threatened in late June to invade the [[City-state|free city]] of [[Hamburg]] in northern Germany to force a loan from it. Peter considered this a ''[[casus belli]]'' and prepared for open warfare against Denmark.<ref name="Dull">{{citation |last=Dull |first=Jonathan R |title=The French Navy and the Seven Years' War |publisher=University of Nebraska |year=2005}}.</ref>{{rp |220}}

In June 1762, 40,000 Russian troops assembled in Pomerania under General [[Pyotr Rumyantsev]], preparing to face 27,000 Danish troops under the French general [[Claude Louis, Comte de Saint-Germain|Count St. Germain]] in case the Russian–Danish freedom conference (scheduled for 1 July 1762 in Berlin under the patronage of Frederick II) failed to resolve the issue. However, shortly before the conference, Peter lost his throne ({{OldStyleDate|9 July|1762|28 June}}) and the conference did not occur. The issue of Schleswig remained unresolved. Peter was accused of planning an unpatriotic war.<ref name=mylnikov>{{citation |first=AS |last=Mylnikov |title=Piotr III |place=Moskva, RU |language=ru |year=2002}}.{{page needed|date=July 2020}}</ref>

While historically Peter's planned war against Denmark-Norway was seen{{by whom|date=December 2014}} as a political failure, recent scholarship has portrayed it as part of a pragmatic plan to secure his Holstein-Gottorp duchy and to expand the common Holstein-Russian power northward and westwards. Peter III believed gaining territory and influence in Denmark and Northern Germany was more useful to Russia than taking [[East Prussia]].<ref name="Dull" />{{rp |218–20}} Equally, he thought that friendship with Prussia and with Britain, following its [[Great Britain in the Seven Years War|triumph in the Seven Years War]], could offer more to aid his plans than alliance with either Austria or France.{{Cn|date=October 2023}}