ABSTRACT
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse cut a deep swathe through the lands of the Baltic during the first two decades of the eighteenth century. Hard on the heels of the great famine which afflicted the eastern Baltic region in 1696-7 followed the ravages of war and pestilence. Poland-Lithuania and the Baltic provinces suffered the ravages of war in addition to those of pestilence. In common with most colonial imports, it was destined for re-export, mostly to Germany and the Baltic region: refined sugar accounted for almost half the value of Copenhagen's exports in the 1760s. The widespread abandonment of farms and the devastation of war and plague may have pushed many of the Baltic German nobility to seek careers in the service of the Swedish or Russian contenders during the Great Northern War. Rank and social distinction was nevertheless highly valued and jealously guarded, particularly at the lower levels of society.
