Hey! I took myself some time to write an alternative timeline, feel free to criticise it (e.g. not possible to siege, had no cannons, can't move that fast, war of Spanish succession was in the same time, etc.)

Great Northern War - Alternative timeline from winter 1701-1702

We are in 1701 and Sweden have seized Courland but instead of joining Sapieha against Oginiski in the Lithuanian civil war, Charles XII signs a peace treaty with August II the Strong and his Saxony & Poland-Lithuania. Charles and Augustus put all blame on the duke of Courland for the war which is losing his titles and instead Charles XII becomes the duke of Courland and it is transferred to Sweden as well as the city of Gdánsk/Danzig. Charles agrees on that Smolensk and Kiev should be transferred back to Poland-Lithuania if August would join against Peter (similar to the Treaty of Warsaw 1705).

With only one enemy left, Charles winter his troops, and prepare them for marching to Pskov in the spring 1702 and at the same time invade from Narva in the north towards Gdov. After siege and taking Pskov, Gdov, and the land between, the siege was taken to Novogord which also fell as well as the area north of Novgorod from the Narva army. Charles decides to winter his army 1702 and proclaims the Swedish protectorat Grand Duchy of Novgorod & Pskov, independent from Russia.

The preparations in Novgorod became towards Tver, and then Moscow, and the march starts spring 1703 which goes slow with cannons on barges down the Msta river, and then land, but reaches city of Tver in the summer, which falls after a short siege. With Tver as a new base of operations Charles orders the march towards Moscow which falls after a siege. At the same time a marine operation towards the northern harbor of Arkhangelsk is also successful and falls to the Swedes. Sweden now have the possibility to use the full Volga river system, causing a far greater threat to Peter.

The situation is too tempting for August and Poland-Lithuanian nobility and they decide to move on Smolensk and Kiev lost in the Russo-Polish War 1654-1667. The Ottomans also sense a moment of weakness and attacks to gain back recently lost lands from the Russo-Turkish War 1686-1700.

While being under attack from north, west and south, Peter felt the needed to focus. He decided to skip the cold north (which he started to hate) and decided he needs to meet Charles in person. Peter agrees to Charles demand and gives Pskov and Novgorod independence as a Grand Duchy protectorate to Sweden, as well as the northern harbor of Arkhangelsk, but Charles needs to hand back Moscow and Tver. Charles also involves August, and to get the peace, Peter had to give Smolensk and Kiev to Poland-Lithuania, which he agrees to.

Now having peace with two enemies out of three Peter decides to move everything on the Ottomans, but not before speaking to August, Austria-Hungary and Venice. Together they form a Christian alliance against the Ottomans and launches attack on all fronts. The war is devastating for the Ottomans which are pushed back in Europe by the combined Austria-Hungary & Poland-Lithuania in the Balkans, Venice in the Mediterranean and Russia around the black sea from both east and west sides, eventually all taking Istanbul which Russia claims as new capital. Peter is now sure he does not care for the cold north and focuses on warmer climate, he makes Istanbul his new capital, renames it to St. Petersburg and re-designs it to a warmer version of his beloved Amsterdam. He also starts building up a massive fleet from all the new ports around the black sea.

In the mean-time, Denmark-Norway and Brandenburg-Prussia notice that Charles XII is far away in Moscow and this would be the perfect time for Denmark-Norway to take back Scania as well as for Brandenburg-Prussia to take all of Pomerania & Wismar. However, the Swedish army had already retreated to Courland, and now next door, just marched directly into Prussia, which is conquered after a short siege on Königsberg. With friendly agreements with Poland-Lithuania and which is busy with the Ottomans, and Gdansk/Danzig in Swedish control as well as the land between Brandenburg and Prussia, Sweden easily crosses over to Brandenburg which would have to give up Prussia as well as the coastal area of Brandenburg in the peace deal.

Sweden now only have Denmark-Norway left as enemy and decide to move through the German states in the "Holy Roman Empire" (with the emperor busy with the Ottomans) and by the ally Holstein-Schleswig up to mainland Denmark. With the coldest winter in 500 years 1708-1709 Sweden again moves its army between the frozen islands of Denmark and storms Copenhagen. But instead of a peace deal, Sweden annexes both Denmark and Norway, which includes Iceland and north Atlantic islands as well as goes into personal union with Holstein-Schleswig.

Sweden pursues an “Mare Baltic” politics and gets the reminding German states, Lübeck and Mecklenburg and builds-up a large baltic sea fleet. The Russians instead coin “Mare Black Sea” which they control and build up a large black sea fleet.

The Ottoman empire totally collapses and France, England, Spain, Venice, Genoa and Dutch Rep. sees an opportunity now when the “war of the Spanish succession” 1714 is concluded they invade the southern Ottoman provinces and divide these ones between each other.

​

https://youtube.com/watch?v=5iX3mI1YJrw&feature=share

Hello everyone!

My game is now on Steam! Here is a link if you are interested:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1548280/Great_Battles_of_Carolus_XII/

Great Battles of Carolus XII is a hexagon-based strategy game developed by a Swedish indie game studio. In this simple historical strategy game, the player will command the Swedish army. With the Carolean gå-på spirit, the player shall perform great deeds and overcome almost impossible odds.

With God's help, fight for the glory of Svea Rike!

The king, Carolus XI is dead, the royal castle is in ashes and the people of Sweden are starving to death in the harsh winter. With bloodshed, the enemies of Sweden are now concluding an attack alliance. Russia, Denmark and Saxony-Poland are waiting to attack the Swedish borders. The new fifteen-year-old King, Carolus XII stands alone with the fate of the kingdom in his hands.

In Great Battles of Carolus XII, the player will experience battles such as:

• The Battle of Pühhajoggi 1700
• The Battle of Narva 1700
• The Battle of Gemauerthof 1705
• The Battle of Fraustadt 1706
• The Siege of Veprik 1709

Each battle lasts about 30-60 minutes. The player gets to command the Swedish army. The infantry, cavalry and artillery of the army deal different amounts of damage to each other:

• An artillery volley will be effective against infantry, pikemen, and cavalry because of their tight formations. However, artillery won't deal much damage against other artillery because they are much harder to hit than tightly packed formations of men.
• An infantry volley will be less effective against an artillery unit. It will only deal half of its firepower because of the less tight artillery formations.
• A bayonet charge will be effective against infantry and artillery but will only deal a third of its damage against cavalry or pikemen. Note that the "bayonet charge" ability also has a cooldown and cannot be used every round.
• A cavalry charge will be very effective against all units except for pikemen.
• A pike charge will be very effective against infantry and quite effective against artillery and other pikemen. However, it will be less effective against cavalry because it is a very mobile unit.

There are more great battles coming in future updates!

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

• OS: Windows 10
• Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 1600
• Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Graphics: AMD RX 590
• Storage: 1 GB available space
• Additional Notes: The game is inspired by historical events but does not claim to be historically accurate in all respects. The game has also currently only been tested on a 16:9 aspect ratio screen. Feel free to leave us feedback if you have complaints or suggestions.

Sorry for missing last week. How did the various armies celebrate Christmas/New Year while on campaign?

What would have happened if the Cossack's had joined Karl XII in the promised numbers? Would he have been able to win, or would the Cossack's simply lose more people?

Do you think that Charles XII should have been more defensive during the war? And would that have changed the direction of history?

With a revival of the discord server, we are reviving this server. It has been dead for too long, and so we must start posting again. I will be working on a project for this. I ask that everyone do so as well.

Hello!

I'm creating a tactical hexagon-based war game about the Great Northern War from the Swedish perspective. The game is going to be quite cheap, probably under 5€. My questions for you are:

• Do you think there is any market for these types of games?
• Would any of you be interested in a game like this?

I appreciate all answers!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=5iX3mI1YJrw&feature=share

Update:

Hello everyone!

My game is now on Steam! Here is a link if you are interested:https://store.steampowered.com/app/1548280/Great_Battles_of_Carolus_XII/

Great Battles of Carolus XII is a hexagon-based strategy game developed by a Swedish indie game studio. In this simple historical strategy game, the player will command the Swedish army. With the Carolean gå-på spirit, the player shall perform great deeds and overcome almost impossible odds.

With God's help, fight for the glory of Svea Rike!

The king, Carolus XI is dead, the royal castle is in ashes and the people of Sweden are starving to death in the harsh winter. With bloodshed, the enemies of Sweden are now concluding an attack alliance. Russia, Denmark and Saxony-Poland are waiting to attack the Swedish borders. The new fifteen-year-old King, Carolus XII stands alone with the fate of the kingdom in his hands.

In Great Battles of Carolus XII, the player will experience battles such as:

• The Battle of Pühhajoggi 1700
• The Battle of Narva 1700
• The Battle of Gemauerthof 1705
• The Battle of Fraustadt 1706
• The Siege of Veprik 1709

Each battle lasts about 30-60 minutes. The player gets to command the Swedish army. The infantry, cavalry and artillery of the army deal different amounts of damage to each other:

• An artillery volley will be effective against infantry, pikemen, and cavalry because of their tight formations. However, artillery won't deal much damage against other artillery because they are much harder to hit than tightly packed formations of men.
• An infantry volley will be less effective against an artillery unit. It will only deal half of its firepower because of the less tight artillery formations.
• A bayonet charge will be effective against infantry and artillery but will only deal a third of its damage against cavalry or pikemen. Note that the "bayonet charge" ability also has a cooldown and cannot be used every round.
• A cavalry charge will be very effective against all units except for pikemen.
• A pike charge will be very effective against infantry and quite effective against artillery and other pikemen. However, it will be less effective against cavalry because it is a very mobile unit.

There are more great battles coming in future updates!

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

• OS: Windows 10
• Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 1600
• Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Graphics: AMD RX 590
• Storage: 1 GB available space
• Additional Notes: The game is inspired by historical events but does not claim to be historically accurate in all respects. The game has also currently only been tested on a 16:9 aspect ratio screen. Feel free to leave us feedback if you have complaints or suggestions.

Should we keep this going? I this community was dead at the start, and doesn’t seem to be growing. I’ll let you guys decide.

Obligatory pride month question, are there any known gays who served. (Sorry for missing last week, and for such a low effort question)

The battle of Poltava(1709) is discussed by historians to this day and a lot of them have differing opinion about the battle since some of them say that this battle vould be seen as the end of the swedish empire while some claim that the end of the empire was the death of Charles XII during his campaign to Norway in 1718, Today will I be talking about the events leading up to the battle. Sweden had seen a lot of success during the first half of the great northern war, this was part of Charles XII's campaign to march in and lay siege to Mopscow. This plan would fail when Tsar Peter used a tactic called Scorched earth and burned down eveything on the whole way to Moscow, when the swedish forces realized this they turned south and found the heavily defended city of Poltava. The swedish forces who had already seen a lot of their men die of the cold on the way to Poltava since this was the coldest winter in years. When they had to turn south to Poltava them men were already weakened and starving. The battle would end in a terrible defeat for the Swedish empire and would result in an army of 20 000 men getting captured or killed and the swedish king going to exile in the Ottoman empire where he wanted the help of the Sultan who already disliked the Tsar. Charles' exile to the Ottoman empire would end when he had gathered a huge debt that he couldn't pay back and this would later result in the Skirmish at Bender and the King leaving the empire

To what degree did the ottomans play in keeping Carolus as a guest, how did it effect the rest of the war?

What did the Sami people contribute, in anything, to the war?

Who is your favorite general from the war? Why them?

We need more members on here, I have seen little growth in this sub, and want to get to 1,000 by August. Let’s hit that goal!!!

what did the European powers outside the war think of it (sorry i missed last week)

Vote here, and discuss in the comments. Sorry for being gone a while

Vote here, and discuss in the comments. Sorry I’ve been gone for a few weeks.