Northern Wars

Northern Wars is a term used for a series of wars fought in northern and northeastern Europe in the 16th and 17th century. An internationally agreed nomenclature for these wars has not yet been devised. While the Great Northern War is generally considered to be the last of the Northern Wars, there are different scholarly opinions on which war constitutes the First Northern War.

Depending upon what date is chosen for the starting point, the Northern Wars comprise:

  • The Russo-Swedish War (1554–1557) ("First Northern War" according to Arvo Viljanti)
  • The Livonian War (1558–1583, "First Northern War" according to Klaus Zernack)
  • The Northern Seven Years' War (1562–1570, "First Northern War" according to some Polish historians)
  • The Russo-Polish or Thirteen Years' War (1654–1667, "First Northern War" according to some Russian historians)
  • The Second Northern War (1655–1660, "First Northern War" according to traditional Anglo-Saxon, German, Russian and Scandinavian historiography)
  • The Scanian War (1674–1679)
  • The Great Northern War (1700–1721, also "Third Northern War")

See Flagstaff War for more info on New Zealand Northern Wars 1845

Famous quotes containing the words northern and/or wars:

    “The northern sky rose high and black
    Over the proud unfruitful sea,
    East and west the ships came back
    Happily or unhappily....”
    —Philip Larkin (1922–1986)

    “The grief of the keen is no personal complaint for the death of one woman over eighty years, but seems to contain the whole passionate rage that lurks somewhere in every native of the island. In this cry of pain the inner consciousness of the people seems to lay itself bare for an instant, and to reveal the mood of beings who feel their isolation in the face of a universe that wars on them with winds and seas.”
    —J.M. (John Millington)