Appihuud porgust. Umberpiiratud Tallinna viimased paevad Rootsi voimu all 1710. (Estonian)

An important upheaval took place in Estonian history exactly three hundred years ago: the transition from 150 years of Swedish rule to 200 years under the dominion of Czarist Russia. The actual and dramatic final act of the transition was the fall of Tallinn in the autumn of 1710. Tallinn had been the first stronghold of Swedish power in the Baltic Sea provinces in 1561 and it was the last one remaining in 1710. The Treaty of Uusikaupunki signed in 1721 between Sweden and Russia officially confirmed the transfer of power. The Great Northern War that broke out in 1700 set Sweden against three enemies: Denmark, Russia and Germany-Poland. After victory over Denmark, Karl XII marched his army against and soundly defeated the Russians, who were besieging Narva. Thereafter Karl XII’s army marched south against Poland and once again against Russia, which ended in catastrophe for the Swedes at Poltava in 1709. The king retreated south from that battle with a small military escort into Turkish territory, where the Sultan granted him asylum and where he remained until 1714. The withdrawal in 1701 of the main Swedish force from the Baltic Sea provinces, where only a few territorial defence units were left, proved to be fateful for Estonia and Livonia. Soon afterwards, Russian forces undertook forays and invasions against Estonian territories. Tartu and Narva were captured in 1704, next in line were Riga and Parnu in July and August of 1710 and a couple of weeks later, Russian military forces arrived outside of Tallinn to lay siege to the city. With the exception of a narrow maritime connection with Sweden and Finland protected by Swedish warships, Tallinn was blockaded to the extent that it caused severe hardship for the population in many spheres of life. Overpopulation became a serious problem in the city. The city’s population doubled with the arrival of people who had fled to Tallinn to escape the war. This led to a serious shortage of food that brought about starvation, leading to the deaths of large numbers of people and to instances of cannibalism. The plague broke out just as the siege began and struck Tallinn’s population even more severely. The total number of deaths due to the plague in Tallinn is estimated at between 15 000 and 20 000. The plague struck the Tallinn garrison especially severely. It initially had 4000 soldiers but only about 400 survived the plague. Tallinn needed aid from Sweden to survive, above all grain for bread and other food provisions, military reinforcements to strengthen the garrison, equipment and arms for the soldiers, and money to pay the officers. Some aid did come from Sweden but it was mostly too little and too late. The main applicant for aid from Sweden’s central government was the Deputy Governor of Estonia and commande of Tallinn’s defence forces Major General Dietrich Friedrich Patkul. Many associations such as the city administrative court, the Knighthood of Estonia, higher ranking military officials and representatives of the church also presented their petitions for aid with convincing descriptions of the horrible situation and the total destruction threatening the city. The Russian Army Command contacted Deputy Governor Patkul in the course of the siege and exhorted him to voluntarily surrender Tallinn to the Czar’s rule. Hostilities had thus far been limited to isolated skirmishes between reconnaissance patrols. The Russian forces laying siege did not bombard the city nor did they attempt to break in to the city. They waited for the plague to do its work. It was decided to accept the Russian offer on the background of extreme misery and hardship in the course of negotiations between Patkul and representatives of the city administrative court, the knighthood and the army command. The acts of capitulation were signed on 29. September 1710 and the city was surrendered to the Russian Army. It is important to note here that capitulation did not mean Tallinn’s unconditional surrender but rather a contractual transfer of power. As a sign of this, Tallinn’s Swedish garrison-or more properly its remnants that had survived the plague were allowed to freely evacuate to Finland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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