The wars of the 18th century affected the historical development of the whole world, whether it was the rise of a weak state or the fall of a strong state. One way or another, this was an eventful time, and in the context of history, it is necessary to have at least an approximate understanding of the conflicts that changed the world.
Northern War (1700-1721)
The Northern War at the beginning of the 18th century was caused by the strengthening of Sweden, which by 1699 controlled almost the entire coast of the B altic Sea. Such a sharp increase in power contributed to the creation of the Northern Union. His goal was to weaken the growing power of Sweden. At the time of its inception, the Northern Union included the following countries: Russia, Saxony and Denmark.
The ruler of Sweden at that time was Charles XII. The members of the Northern Union made a typical mistake of the older generation - they underestimated the youth. Young Karl at that time was only 18 years old. The victory was planned to be easy due to the lack of military experience of Charles XII.
In fact, everything turned out exactly the opposite. Showing unexpected prudence and perseverance,Charles XII inflicted two crushing defeats on Denmark and Saxony. Due to colossal losses, they were forced to leave the Northern Union. Russia was next in line. The defeat of the army of Peter I took place in the Narva fortress. This quick and devastating defeat of the Russian army will later be called the Narva embarrassment.
Recovering from defeat, Peter I announced a new collection of the army, led another campaign against Sweden. Charles XII decided to crush the defeated enemy on his own territory. This event is known as the Battle of Poltava, in which the monarch of Sweden was defeated and forced to retreat. Thus began a new campaign of Peter I to Sweden.
The campaign against Sweden was quickly overshadowed by the hit of the Russian army surrounded by Turkish troops. The ratio of numbers was completely unfortunate for Peter I: 180 thousand Turkish soldiers against 28 thousand Russian. True, it did not come to bloodshed. Everything was decided by a peace treaty on Turkey's terms. The war between two strong powers was beneficial to her from a political point of view.
Results of the Northern War
The further course of the Northern War of the 18th century was on the side of Peter I. Victories in sea and land battles forced Charles XII to make peace with Russia. According to the terms of the peace treaty, Russia received the B altic states and part of Karelia, returning Finland to Sweden. As a result, the Northern War allowed Peter I to "cut a window to Europe" by gaining access to the B altic Sea.
Seven Years' War (1756-1763)
The reasons for the Seven Years' War of the 18th century in Europe was the rivalry between the two leading states: England and France. The Germans volunteered to support the English crown. Saxony, Austria and Russia went over to the side of the French. In this composition, the two coalitions began hostilities. England officially declared war.
The combat initiative came from Prussia. Frederick II attacked Saxony without warning and inflicted a devastating defeat on the Germans. Since Saxony was an allied state of Austria, the latter entered the war on the side of France. Spain also joined the Franco-Austrian coalition.
The Russian troops who arrived to help Saxony defeated the Prussian army and forced them to capitulate. Shortly thereafter, in 1757, Russian troops captured Koenigsberg. By decree of 1758, the lands of East Prussia went to Russia.
In the future, Russian troops won two battles: the Battle of Palzig (1759) and the Battle of Kunersdorf (1759). Then England captured Montreal (1760) and declared war on Spain (1762). The Seven Years' War ended with the signing of the Paris (England and Portugal - France and Spain) and Hubertusburg (Austria and Saxony - Prussia) treaties.
Results of the Seven Years' War
According to the results, the Anglo-Prussian coalition remained the winner. Prussia has become one of the strongest European states. England secured its title of the only "superpower". Russia ended the war without gains and losses, but demonstrated its military forcesEurope.
The French Revolution (1789-1799)
The cause of the civil war in the second half of the 18th century was a strong economic crisis in France. There was no harvest, there was a catastrophic lack of money to support the infrastructure. The government began to oppress priests and aristocrats in order to restore the economic balance. Needless to say, the privileged minority was not very happy about this.
Various meetings were held to solve urgent problems. First, the States General, representatives of all classes, who could not agree on anything, disintegrated due to inefficiency. After that, the Constituent Assembly was formed, which included everyone except the aristocracy and the clergy, that is, the third estate.
The first significant date of the French Revolution - July 14, Bastille Day by angry citizens. After that, the king was forced to make concessions and in fact transferred power to the Constituent Assembly. From that moment on, the king, already of little importance, was subjected to further "repressions" until he was finally executed. The birth of a new Constitution has begun.
The crisis continued to rage. As it developed, more and more oppositional cells arose in society. To combat the "traitors" the Revolutionary Tribunal was created, which carried out the massacre and trial of the "counter-revolutionaries". Then things got worse exponentially.
This continued until the new Constitution was adopted in August 1795. By itself, it did not help in any way, but, thanks to failures in its implementation, new rebellious cells appeared. One of them was headed by the then famous General Napoleon Bonaparte.
Results of the French Revolution
As we know, the result of the whole revolution was the coming to power of Napoleon. On November 9, 1799, the future emperor, with the help of his accomplices, carried out a coup d'état and seized power in the country. Now the ruling body was the Consulate, which consisted of three people: Napoleon and two of his associates. Since the end of this civil war of the 18th century, a new page has begun in the history of France.
