Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
more than 400 years since Russia's medieval hero prince, Alexander Nevsky, had de-
feated the Swedes near the site of Peter's expanding ambition. The territory, however,
had long ago passed out of Russian influence. In 1700 Peter put his new army to the
test against the powerful Swedish Empire, and the Great Northern War was on. For
the next 20 years northern Europe's modernising autocrats, Charles II and Peter,
fought for supremacy over the eastern Baltic.
To Peter's dismay, his troops were badly beaten in their first engagement at the
Battle of Narva in Estonia, by a smaller, more adept Swedish force. But Russia found
allies in Poland, Saxony and Denmark, who diverted Charles' attention. Peter used the
opportunity to revamp his army and launch his navy. He established a small Baltic
foothold on tiny Hare Island (Zayachy Island) at the mouth of the Neva River, and
used it as a base to rout a nearby Swedish garrison. This primitive outpost would be-
come the kernel of Peter's northern capital.
By the time Charles tried to retake the territory, Peter commanded a formidable
fighting force. Russia's first naval victory came at the Battle of Hanko, where a galley
fleet overwhelmed a Swedish squadron and secured Russian control over the Neva
and access to the Gulf. His military chief and boyhood friend, Alexander Menshikov,
had a series of impressive battlefield victories, further extending Russian presence on
the Baltic coast and causing his Scandinavian foe to flee and the Swedish empire to
expire. The Great Northern War shifted the balance of power to the advantage of
Peter's Russia. Hostilities officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Nystad
(1721), which formally ceded Sweden's extensive eastern possessions to Russia, in-
cluding its new capital city, St Petersburg.
When he realised there wasn't enough stone available locally to build his
city in polished marble and granite, Peter simply decreed a stone tax, by
which all new arrivals to the city were obliged to bring with them a fixed
amount of stone before they could enter (not so unusual for a guy who
previously issued a tax on beards). Every ship that entered the port also
was required to pay a stone tariff. St Petersburg's rocky revenue laws re-
mained in effect for six decades.
