Again, I present you, historians a query:

I need information, as detailed as possible about the opening moves of the Great Northern War, we're talking about the 1697-1702 period. I need to know what difficulties each of the states had, who were the major figures involved, and what general political-economic-social issues happened in the period. I have a decent background on Russia, but almost no information on any of the other players.

Questions like what made the english support Sweden instead of Denmark? Who were the people involved in the negotiations? Why did the Ottomans sign a bad peace treaty with Russia? What was the role of Mazepa? How closely was the Hetman state aligned with Poland or Russia?


I appreciate the help.