Holstein-Gottorp

Holstein-Gottorp or Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp was a duchy consisting of areas within Schleswig and Holstein, in present-day Denmark and Germany. From 1544, when it was ceded to Adolf, the brother of King Christian III of Denmark, the Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp shared the rule of Schleswig and Holstein with the Kings of Denmark. As such, they were often the clients of the Swedes, the great enemies to the Danes, and Duke Friedrich IV married the daughter of King Charles XI of Sweden. Following the defeat of Holstein-Gottorp in the Great Northern War in which the duchy had sided with Sweden, the peace settlement of 1721 forced the dukes to surrender all territorial claims in Schleswig to the king of Denmark. Duke Karl Friedrich, however, fled to the court of Peter the Great of Russia, and for some time the Russians intrigued to restore Karl Friedrich to his lands in Schleswig. Karl Friedrich himself was married to Grand Duchess Anna, Peter's daughter. Although Peter's successors abandoned his policy of backing the pretensions of the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, from this marriage was born Karl Peter Ulrich, who succeeded to Holstein-Gottorp in 1739, and became heir to the Russian throne upon the accession of his aunt Elisabeth in 1741.

Related Topics:
Duchy - Schleswig - Holstein - Denmark - Germany - 1544 - Adolf - Christian III - Charles XI of Sweden - Great Northern War - Sweden - Karl Friedrich - Peter the Great - Russia - Karl Peter Ulrich - 1739 - Elisabeth - 1741

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Karl Peter Ulrich, who acceded the Russian throne as Peter III in 1762, was determined to conquering Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark. When he became tsar in 1762, he immediately signed a generous peace with Prussia (which was on its knees and virtually destroyed) and withdrew Russia from the Seven Years' War in order to concentrate fully on an attack upon Denmark. This move angered Russian opinion, who considered it a betrayal of Russia's sacrifices in the war, as well as placing national interests in jeopardy. At the same time, the Danish army had hastily moved across the border into Mecklenburg, to avoid an invasion of Holstein, and assumed battle positions. The two armies stood less than 30 kilometres from each other when news from Saint Petersburg suddenly reached the Russian army than the mad tsar had been overthrown by his wife, who had now acceded the throne as Catherine II of Russia. One of her first actions was to call of the war against Denmark and restore normal relations.

Related Topics:
1762 - Prussia - Russia - Seven Years' War - Catherine II of Russia

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Peter III's son, Paul, was under the regency of his mother Catherine the Great, who in 1773 agreed with the Danes for her son's abdication of his rights in Schleswig-Holstein in favor of the Prince-Bishop of Lübeck, representative of a younger branch, and to a trade which would allow the Danes to take over the Holstein-Gottorp lands, giving the Prince-Bishop the County of Oldenburg in exchange.

Related Topics:
Paul - Catherine the Great - 1773 - Oldenburg

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The dynastic policy of the Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp resulted in the House of Holstein-Gottorp ruling Sweden from 1751 until 1818 and Russia briefly in 1762 and then again from 1796 until 1917.

Related Topics:
House of Holstein-Gottorp - Sweden - 1751 - 1818 - Russia - 1762 - 1796 - 1917

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