During the Great Northern War (1700–1721), Swedish Estonia experienced not only the devastation of warfare but also a severe outbreak of the plague between 1710 and 1713, which ravaged the region. This epidemic came on the heels of previous calamities, including the Great Famine of 1695–1697, which had already reduced Estonia’s population by about a fifth. The combined impact of famine, war, and disease during these years decimated the population, with the plague alone killing up to 75% of the population in parts of Swedish Estonia and Livonia.
The plague spread through Riga, Swedish Estonia’s largest city at the time, which was besieged by Russian forces under Boris Sheremetev following the Battle of Poltava. The disease quickly spread both within the city and to the Russian siege forces, ultimately leading to the surrender of Riga in 1710. Other areas, such as Reval (modern Tallinn), capitulated without a fight due to the overwhelming toll the plague had taken on the population. By the end of the epidemic, Tallinn’s population had dropped from 20,000 to fewer than 2,000 survivors.
The Great Northern War, which ultimately ended with the Treaty of Nystad in 1721, marked the end of Swedish rule in Estonia. Estonia and Livonia were ceded to Russia, with Peter the Great gaining control of the region. The plague, coupled with the devastation of war, left Estonia in a dire state, with much of its population decimated and its cities depopulated, setting the stage for over two centuries of Russian rule.