On this day 304 years ago, on September 10, 1721 (July 19, 1721 lunar calendar), the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Sweden signed the Nystad Unequal Treaty. The Treaty of Nystad was an unequal treaty signed between Russia and Sweden on September 10, 1721 in the small town of Nystad. In order to seize the Baltic Sea and compete with Sweden, the Czarist Russia officially declared war on Sweden in August 1700, launching the Great Northern War, which lasted for 20 years. In 1720, the Russian army invaded Sweden, and the Swedish army was defeated like a mountain. They had to engage in unequal peace negotiations with Russia. In 1721, the two countries signed the Treaty of Nistad, Sweden lost a large area of land, and the advantages gained after the Thirty Years' War were lost, while Russia gained access to the Baltic Sea and has since dominated the Baltic Sea, becoming one of the European powers. The Treaty of Nistad has 24 clauses and a separate annex. According to the treaty, Sweden must cede to Russia all the land in the Baltic Sea that Russia had acquired in the Great Northern War except Finland, including Inglia, Estonia, Livonia, and Karelia; Russia will withdraw its army from Finland, return Finland to Sweden, and never invade. But Russia broke the contract in 1809 and conquered Finland.