title: Russian Expansion in the Baltic in the 18th Century
abstract: Russia’s expansion in the Baltic region in the 18th century was neither an obvious nor historically justified direction. It was Peter I who abandoned the expansion to the south and east in favor of the west. The rise of Russia’s power on the Baltic was linked to the decline in importance of the 17th‑century powers blocking its path to Europe: Sweden, the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Ottoman Empire. When Peter I the Great took power Russia had no access to either the Baltic Sea, the Bl
journal: Studia Historica Gedanensia