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The Baltic Story: A Thousand-Year History of Its Lands, Sea and Peoples
Focusing on key events and episodes, this book shows the ties of blood and commerce that have bound the different lands that lie today in Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Western Russia, Belarus, and Eastern Germany. This story encompasses the foundation, rise and fall of some of Europe's greatest dynasties and cities, including St. Petersberg, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Warsaw and Berlin. From the growth of monarchical power and the rise of autocracy, it then looks at the period of the Enlightenment, in particular at the achievements of Frederick II of Prussia and Catherine II. It considers the problems facing Poland’s last king and the events that ended with the country’s collapse. And it shows how new Enlightenment thinking influenced Denmark and Sweden, and rocked the monarchies. It shows the threat of Napoloeon's France to the Baltic and the impact of both World War I and the Russian Revolution, which led to the re-shaping and establishing of states.
464 pages, Paperback
First published June 9, 2019
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162 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 22, 2019
Not a thousand-year old history (1300-1918 in reality)
Not a history of 'Lands, Sea and Peoples' but of monarchy.
Superb in depth analysis of royal families, their marriages, intermarriages, conspiracies and other intrigues this book can be truly used as a reference for anyone interested in the high blood living in Sweden, Denmark, Poland/Lithuania, Russia and Prussia in the middle ages but for the history of 'Lands, Sea and Peoples' i suggest you go somewhere else. Michael North's 'The Baltic' is a good start however not without its own faults.
Not a history of 'Lands, Sea and Peoples' but of monarchy.
Superb in depth analysis of royal families, their marriages, intermarriages, conspiracies and other intrigues this book can be truly used as a reference for anyone interested in the high blood living in Sweden, Denmark, Poland/Lithuania, Russia and Prussia in the middle ages but for the history of 'Lands, Sea and Peoples' i suggest you go somewhere else. Michael North's 'The Baltic' is a good start however not without its own faults.
October 7, 2024
Relatively dense reading of the early-modern Baltic sea region. Learned a lot about the Swedish Empire, Danish kings and the collapse of Poland, Russia stuff was more of a refresher. Prussian was good but still need to read more about them. Overall a solid if textbook survey of the Baltics 1000-2000 AD
March 1, 2021
Not so much history as an extended celebrity gossip column and travel guide with little or no attempt at analysis.
June 11, 2020
Interesting, but too many annoying errors
This is an interesting and very readable book. At first it gives the impression of being a fairly rapid and not too insightful romp through the history of the countries bordering the Baltic Sea. However, this is unfair. The author clearly knows her field. A particularly good feature is how she tells the history of each country in each era. In other words (for example), you first read about Denmark during the late Middle Ages, then about Sweden during the same period and finally about Poland. Since the countries frequently interacted, you get many of the same events repeated, but from a different perspective. For someone who grew up in Sweden and was shaped by reading history through Swedish-tinted glasses, this is extremely interesting and useful.
However, the book is marred by too many minor errors which should have been avoided. The author claims that the Orkney and Shetland Islands “had been Danish since the time of the Vikings.” Not true, they were Norwegian. She has a lengthy discussion about names in the introduction, but still refers throughout to King Karl X Gustav of Sweden as Karl X. She claims the Russian troops crossed the Gulf of Bothnia in 1808 to march on Luleå in northern Sweden, but it should be Umeå, 265 kilometres away; and that the British and French fleets attacked Kronstadt during the Crimean War, which they never did. The Emperor Wilhelm I of Germany is said to have been proclaimed Emperor of the “Second Reich” — this term was invented in the 1920s. And so on.
The errors multiply in the Post Script, which really is a frenzied gallop through the first half of the 20th Century. Here, we are i.a. told that Queen Desirée of Sweden moved to the country when her husband became King, which she didn’t. She rarely visited Sweden but it took many years before she settled there. The current King of Sweden is said to the the son of his predecessor, instead of the correct grandson. The Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union is dated 1940-1941 nut should be 1941-1944. The Baltic states are alleged to have been incorporated into the Third Reich, when in fact they were part of the Reichskommissariat Ostland and legally not part of Germany. And there are other errors.
This errors are unfortunate. They detract from the story and makes you wonder what else the author got wrong that you do not spot. So, for a rapid overview, read this. For detail, read something else.
This is an interesting and very readable book. At first it gives the impression of being a fairly rapid and not too insightful romp through the history of the countries bordering the Baltic Sea. However, this is unfair. The author clearly knows her field. A particularly good feature is how she tells the history of each country in each era. In other words (for example), you first read about Denmark during the late Middle Ages, then about Sweden during the same period and finally about Poland. Since the countries frequently interacted, you get many of the same events repeated, but from a different perspective. For someone who grew up in Sweden and was shaped by reading history through Swedish-tinted glasses, this is extremely interesting and useful.
However, the book is marred by too many minor errors which should have been avoided. The author claims that the Orkney and Shetland Islands “had been Danish since the time of the Vikings.” Not true, they were Norwegian. She has a lengthy discussion about names in the introduction, but still refers throughout to King Karl X Gustav of Sweden as Karl X. She claims the Russian troops crossed the Gulf of Bothnia in 1808 to march on Luleå in northern Sweden, but it should be Umeå, 265 kilometres away; and that the British and French fleets attacked Kronstadt during the Crimean War, which they never did. The Emperor Wilhelm I of Germany is said to have been proclaimed Emperor of the “Second Reich” — this term was invented in the 1920s. And so on.
The errors multiply in the Post Script, which really is a frenzied gallop through the first half of the 20th Century. Here, we are i.a. told that Queen Desirée of Sweden moved to the country when her husband became King, which she didn’t. She rarely visited Sweden but it took many years before she settled there. The current King of Sweden is said to the the son of his predecessor, instead of the correct grandson. The Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union is dated 1940-1941 nut should be 1941-1944. The Baltic states are alleged to have been incorporated into the Third Reich, when in fact they were part of the Reichskommissariat Ostland and legally not part of Germany. And there are other errors.
This errors are unfortunate. They detract from the story and makes you wonder what else the author got wrong that you do not spot. So, for a rapid overview, read this. For detail, read something else.
July 31, 2024
It is surprising that with all of the history tied to the Baltic and related areas there has been a paucity of accounts tied to this obviously critical sea. Anyone who doubts this should look at a map and note the cities and adjacent area lapped by the sea. From the Vikings to the Hanseatic league to Lord Nelson, to the Bismarck, to current disruptions around Ukraine, it is harder to think of times the Baltic did not matter than times when it did. This is understandable after the 30 years war and the rise of Imperial Russia. Before that it seems to be an issue of making sense for people of different lines of Scandinavian royal politics and warfare. (These are hard to keep track of.)
The author has done a fine job of sorting this stuff out and she should be commended.I would have appreciated reading this advance of a recent trip through the area but I am glad I could read it even after the fact.
The author has done a fine job of sorting this stuff out and she should be commended.I would have appreciated reading this advance of a recent trip through the area but I am glad I could read it even after the fact.
April 18, 2025
Excellent overview of a whole region from the ninth century to the twentieth. It particularly focuses on the power dynamics between Denmark, Sweden, Prussia and Russia mainly in search of trade, conquest and knowledge. The book charts the flow of history through the people who shaped the region`s history although at times is too emphatic about the various monarchs, electors and dukes.
A useful and interesting story of an underrepresented area of the Baltic - at least in western historical narrative.
A useful and interesting story of an underrepresented area of the Baltic - at least in western historical narrative.
August 24, 2025
This book is dense and not about the “lands, sea, and peoples” of the Baltic. It’s more a history of the royal houses in the Baltic region, with a heavy emphasis on Russia. I knew almost nothing about Baltic history before reading this and felt like I was constantly missing context. The structure of the book is odd because it jumps around and there is a lot of overlap. However, the chapters that focused in on a single monarch were very interesting.
April 28, 2024
Comprehensive history of the Baltics, told by focusing on the countries and their leaders by turns. There is crossover because the royal families intermarried so often. I found it somewhat easier to follow in this format.
Read
September 21, 2021Good, if Long explanation of the whole regions conflicts
December 31, 2025
The book is not really about peoples, lands and seas around Baltics but about kings and queens of the Danes, Swedes, Russians, Poles and North Germans. If you have forgotten who was Charles XII of Sweden and the names of the numerous lovers of the Catherine the Great, it is a decent refresher of memory. The book is nothing like Abulafia's on Mediterranean but essentially a history of Nordic royal houses during the early modern period.
The writer defends her approach by saying that upper class actors often drove history and left most historical sources available to historians. This approach leads to disappearance of the people's of the Eastern Baltics from history: we learn next to nothing about the Finns, Carelians, Ingrians, Estonians, Livonians and Latvians. Similarly, all the political uppheavals starting from the Napoleonic period don't make any sense when described only from the point of view of the aristocratic rulers. Similarly, two crucial developments, reformation and trading cities with relatively independent middle class, that explain lot of the current Nordic societies are not explained.
The writer sometimes struggles with the wide subject matter. There are clear mistakes when discussing events in the 20th century and earlier disputed events are described using conditional instead of explaining why they might not be true. Best sections describe the Romanovs and seem to be the topic she is most passionate about.
The writer defends her approach by saying that upper class actors often drove history and left most historical sources available to historians. This approach leads to disappearance of the people's of the Eastern Baltics from history: we learn next to nothing about the Finns, Carelians, Ingrians, Estonians, Livonians and Latvians. Similarly, all the political uppheavals starting from the Napoleonic period don't make any sense when described only from the point of view of the aristocratic rulers. Similarly, two crucial developments, reformation and trading cities with relatively independent middle class, that explain lot of the current Nordic societies are not explained.
The writer sometimes struggles with the wide subject matter. There are clear mistakes when discussing events in the 20th century and earlier disputed events are described using conditional instead of explaining why they might not be true. Best sections describe the Romanovs and seem to be the topic she is most passionate about.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews