Quote Originally Posted by Hanna
Frankly, I have always wondered why Karl XII is considered a hero king. He should NOT have attacked Russia... I don't know the details of this precisely. Sweden had a great position in Northern Europe and I don't think Russia was even interested in challenging that. [b]So why did he declare war?
Baltic Sea. That's the reason. Peter was trying very hard to establish a foothold on its banks. If you look at the map of the Scandinavian peninsula you'll see that the only naval trade route was from Archangelsk which meant moving in the extreme north around the peninsula to mainland Europe. Russia had no ports in the Baltic sea and Sweden ruled these waters. Karl XII was trying to ban Peter's access to the Baltic Sea in this war. St. Petersburg is Russia's 'window' to Europe exactly because of that - the shortest naval way to Europe starts there.