Main stages in the fights for supremacy at the Baltic Sea (XII-XX centuries): (instigators, conquerors and governors)

ENThe countries in the eastern part of the Baltic Region (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) hold a strategically important place in Europe; their existence and the specific geopolitical dislocation are the factors that rule out supremacy in the Baltic Sea, or the area around it, without occupation or turning these lands into the sphere of particular interests. Hence every attempt to expand supremacy in North East Europe was closely related to direct or indirectsubjugation of the Baltic Region. Consequently, the wars started to play an important part in the lives of the Baltic peoples earlier than in the traditionally assumed 9th century. As monographic studies on the history of several wars fought in the Baltic have not been carried out, an attempt to provide a diachronic survey about the initiators and victors of the war as well as the post-war rulers is obstructed by notable difficulties. The Baltic wars could be classified as external wars (fought with an invader from outside, or between such external invaders, for supremacy in the Baltic) and internal wars (these waged by the orders, bishops, peasants and burghers). Here attention will be focused only on the most important foreign attempts to achieve domination over the Baltic Sea (dominum maris Balticum), i. e., attempts to find solution to the Baltic issue from the positions of strength.The last eight most important wars were related to the efforts of the states in Europe to expand their domination in the area by force. The Baltic wars of conquest of the 12th-13th century or the first wave of wars swept over Europe during the 3rd-7th crusades (1189-1290) and in the time of the third wave of the conversion to Christianity. The time of the second wave consisting of the Livonian War was the spread of the Spanish colonization (1492-1598), while the third wave was comprised of the Polish-Swedish War, which was waged during the spread of the Dutch colonization (1598-1680) and the North War in the period of the French and British colonization (1688-1783). The last two world wars were fought in the period of the imperialistic colonization (1870-1945). Though it is difficult to find a direct link between the overall aggravation of military political relations in Europe and in the Baltic Region, for the second to fourth periods of wars in particular, the „density" of wars in this area of the Baltic Sea had increased considerably in the given period. [Extract, p. 18-19]