In the early 18th Century, Europe was engulfed in two wars at the same time: The Great Northern War and the War of Spanish succession. How have these wars shaped Early Modern Europe?

by roparex
EvildeBeagle

Those two wars had significant consequences on Europe:  

  1. The Great Northern War switched a "bigplayer" out. Sweden was considered a great power no more and Russia took it´s place. Before that war Sweden actually controlled great areas in the Baltics and Northern Germany. Literally, the area of the later Russian Capital St. Petersburg, Ingermanland called that days, was a part of the Swedish domain.  

Sweden was reduced to that what it is today + Finland and effectively lost it´s status as the Great Power of the North(east). On that place stepped Russia, which took the northern baltics and was finally recognised by the other western powers as a "Bigplayer".  

The last important faction in that war was Poland-Lithuania. For them the war brough their demise, because their lands took most of the ravaging and because of an outbreak of the bubonic plague (For which the war was somewhat a catalisator.). It descended later into the 3 polish seperations. Its position in the eastern area was taken by Russia.  

  1. The War of Spanish succession is interesting in the aspect, that one can see there for the first time in history the establishment of the famed european balance of power, or at least hints of it.  

The nominally greatest looser of that war was Spain itself, since it lost the spanish Netherlands (Belgium today), Neaples and Sicily and Gibraltar. It was also driven down financially.  

France was somewhat a winner, since they managed to break free from the Habsburgian encirclement (Spain and the Empire were reigned by the Habsburgians), but was financially seriously damaged  

England was a winner too, but more on a economical basis. Since the war was fought on mainland europe, the economical concurrent of England, the Netherlands were weakened. The Centre of Trade shifted therefore from Amsterdam to London.  

And of course they obtained the Rock.