Great Northern War
Having pacified the rebellious Astrakhan, Apraksin was summoned to Moscow, where he was put in charge of the mint and the armoury. In 1707, he was appointed president of the Russian Admiralty. The following year, he was appointed commander-in-chief in Ingria, to defend the new capital Saint Petersburg against the Swedes, whom he utterly routed, besides capturing Vyborg in Karelia. On February 25, 1710, aged 48, he became the third Russian ever to be elevated to the comital dignity.
Apraksin held the chief command in the Black Sea during the campaign of the Pruth (1711). In March 1710 he was in command at the Siege of Vyborg. Taking this Swedish fortress in June, he was invested with the Order of St. Andrew and appointed governor of the conquered provinces (Estonia, Ingria, and Karelia). He commanded the Imperial Russian Navy in the taking of Helsinki (1713) - materially assisting the conquest of Finland by his operations from the side of the sea - and the great Battle of Gangut (1714). That same year he assisted the tsar in launching a new harbour in Revel. Earlier, in 1712, he held parley with Turkey, which ended in the destruction of Taganrog and the surrender of Azov to the Ottomans.
From 1710 to 1720 he personally conducted the descents upon Sweden, ravaging that country mercilessly, and thus extorting the peace of Nystad, whereby she surrendered the best part of her Baltic provinces to Russia. For these great services he was made a senator and General Admiral of the Empire.
Read more about this topic: Fyodor Apraksin
Famous quotes containing the words northern and/or war:
“I have found that anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the Northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic.”
—Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964)
“The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone
In the ranks of death you’ll find him,
His father’s sword he has girded on,
And his wild harp slung behind him.”
—Thomas Moore (1779–1852)