"Northern Wars" is a term used for a series of wars fought in northern and northeastern Europe from the 16th to the 18th century, primarily between the territorial rivals of the Swedish Empire, Tsardom of Russia, Poland–Lithuania, and Denmark–Norway. The Great Northern War is generally considered to have concluded the Northern Wars with the decline of Sweden and establishment of the Russian Empire as the principal power of the region, however there are different scholarly opinions on which war constitutes the First Northern War and an internationally agreed-on nomenclature for these wars has not yet been devised.
Conflicts of the Northern Wars
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
See also
- Russo-Swedish Wars
- Polish–Swedish wars
- List of wars between Denmark and Sweden
- List of armed conflicts involving Poland against Russia
- Polish–Teutonic War
- Thirty Years' War, 1618 to 1648
- Early modern warfare