When the Great Northern War started in 1700 Sweden was the dominant military power in north-eastern Europe, controlling most provinces along the shores of the Baltic Sea. But it was a country with very limited resources and incapable of defending its position if attacked by several countries at once. Sweden's neighbours knew that and Denmark-Norway, Saxony and Russia secretly formed a coalition and launched a surprise attack on three fronts. At a later stage they were joined by Prussia and Hanover. But despite the coalition members' optimistic expectations of quick gains, the Swedish army led by Charles XII proved to be a formidable foe. This war that eventually led to the end of Sweden's age of greatness also contained its greatest moments. Almost always fighting against numerically superior armies (usually at least two times greater) Sweden managed to win a series of great battlefield victories at Narva, Düna, Kliszow, Fraustadt, Holowczyn, Helsingborg and Gadebusch. But Sweden also suffered its most catastrophic defeat ever at Poltava and the list of fortresses falling to the enemies during the latter half of the war is very long. The growing power of Russia proved too much and in the end it replaced Sweden as the dominant power in the Baltic Sea region.

The following list of battles and sieges is a selection of the most important events of the Great Northern War. All dates are according to the contemporary Swedish calendar which differs from the Julian calendar (Old Style) by one day until 1712 and from the Gregorian calendar (New Style) with ten days until 1712 when the difference increased to eleven days. This means that the battle of Narva is shown to have happened on 20 November, even though the Gregorian calendar which we use today date it to 30 November and the Russians who used the Julian calendar at the time date the battle to 19 November.

= Sweden, = Denmark, = Hanover, = Prussia, = Poland, = Russia, = Saxony
= Germany, = Finland, = Estonia, = Latvia, = Lithuania, = Belarus, = Ukraine,
= Ottoman Empire, = Romania (principality of Moldavia)

Date (Swedish Calendar)			Place	Commander	Strength	Opponents
1700	25 July		Humlebæk	Charles XII	4,900 men	700 men
	20 November		Narva	Charles XII	10,500 men	35,000-38,000 men
1701	9 July		Düna	Charles XII	7,200 men	9,000 men
	5 September		Rauge	W.A. Schlippenbach	2,000 men	7,000 men
	30 December		Erastfer	W A. Schlippenbach	2,500 men	18,000 men
1702	9 July		Kliszow	Charles XII	12,000 men	16,000 men, 8,000 men
	19 July		Hummelshof	W.A. Schlippenbach	5,700 men	24,000 men
	2-13 October		Nöteborg	G. V. Schlippenbach	400 men	12,500 men
1703	19 March		Saladen	Lewenhaupt	1,300 men	2,500 men, 4,000 men
	21 April		Pultusk	Charles XII	3,000 men	3,500 men
	26 April-2 May		Nyenskans	Apolloff	700 men	10,000 men
	9 July		Systerbäck	Cronhjort	4,000 men	7,000 men
	15 May-4 Oct.		Thorn	Charles XII	17,000 men	6,000 men
1704	16 June		Wesenberg	W A. Schlippenbach	1,400 men	4,500 men
	4 June-13 July		Dorpat	Skytte	5,000 men	21,000 men
	26 July		Jakobstadt	Lewenhaupt	3,100  men (+ )	3,600 men, 7,700 men
	27 June-9 August		Narva	Horn	5,100 men	43,000 men
	9 August		Posen	Meijerfeldt	2,100 men	3,400 men
	28 October		Punitz	Charles XII	4,000 men	6,000 men
1705	16 July		Gemäuerthof	Lewenhaupt	7,000 men	10,000 men
	21 July		Warszawa	Nieroth	2,000 men	3,500 men, 6,000 men
1706	15 Jan.-31 March		Grodno	Charles XII	18,000 men	25,000 men, 5,000 men
	3 February		Fraustadt	Rehnsköld	10,000 men	12,000 men, 6,400 men
	19 October		Kalisz	Mardefelt	4,400 men (+ )	20,000, 6,000, 10,000
1708	4 July		Holowczyn	Charles XII	12,000 men	20,000 men
	31 August		Malatitze	Roos	6,000 men	13,000 men
	10 September		Rajovka	Charles XII	2,400 men	8,000 men
	29 September		Lesnaya	Lewenhaupt	13,000 men	18,000 men
1709	7 January		Veprik	Charles XII	3,000 men	1,500 men
	28 June		Poltava	Rehnsköld	22,700 men	50,000-55,000 men
1710	28 February		Helsingborg	Stenbock	15,500 men	13,100 men
	22 March-13 June		Viborg	Stiernstråle	4,000 men	18,000 men
	31 October-4 July		Riga	Stromberg	10,700 men	12,000 men
	23 July-12 August		Pernau	Schwengeln	1,000 men	6 dragoon regiments
	7 July-9 Sept.		Kexholm	Stiernschantz	400 men	ca 5,000 men
	24-27 September		Köge bukt	Wachtmeister	21 ships of the line	26 ships of the line
	15 Aug.-29 Sept.		Reval	Patkul	4,000 men	20,000 men
1711	18-22 July		Prut	-	130,000 men	38,000 men
	24 November		Wismar	Schoultz	2,500 men	3,000 men
1712	7 Aug.-7 Sept.		Stade	Stackelberg	2,400 men	16,000 men
	9 December		Gadebusch	Stenbock	14,000 men	16,000 men, 3,000 men
1713	February-6 May		Tönningen	Stenbock	14,000 men	21,300, 8,200, 8,500
	6 October		Pälkäne	Armfelt	1,800 men	6,000 men
1714	19 February		Storkyro	Armfelt	4,500 men	9,000 men
	27 July		Hangöudd	Ehrenskiöld	6 galleys	23 galleys
	18 June-28 July		Nyslott	Busch	340 men	1,700 men
1715	13 April		Femer bält	Wachtmeister	4 ships of the line	8 ships of the line
	28 July		Rügen	Sparre	20 ships of the line	21 ships of the line
	5 November		Stresow	Charles XII	2,000 men	5,300,   4,500, 1,700
	4 July-12 Dec.		Stralsund	Charles XII	12,000 men	23,500, 21,000, 5,500
1716	1 Jan.-24 Feb.		Kajaneborg	Fieandt	50 men	4,000 men
	11 June-8 April		Wismar	Schoultz	3,000 men	4,900, 3,500, 2,300
	28 June		Dynekilen	Strömstierna	13 naval ships	7 naval ships
1717	8 July		Strömstad	Hiertta	3 regiments	16 large ships
1719	10-16 July		Marstrand	Danckwardt	400 men	700 men
	13 August		Stäket	Dahlheim/Fuchs	1,200 men	3,000 men
1720	27 July		Ledsund	Siöblad	5 large ships	61 galleys