Second Northern War the Little Northern War, which however might also refer to the 1741-43 war. In Poland, the term "The Deluge" is also ambiguous, as it is sometimes used for a broader series of wars against Sweden, Brandenburg, Russia, Transylvania and the Cossacks. In 1648, the Peace of Westphalia had ended the Thirty Years' War, during which the Swedish Empire emerged as a major European power. In the Torstenson War, a theater of the Thirty Years' War, Sweden had defeated the former Baltic great power Denmark. Sweden had been at peace with Russia since the Treaty of Stolbovo had ended the Ingrian
Seventeen Provinces during the Eighty Years' War (see Generality Lands), which ended with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. Artois and parts of Flanders and Hainaut (French Flanders and French Hainaut) were ceded to France in the course of the 17th and 18th centuries. By the mid-16th century, the Margraviate of Antwerp (Duchy of Brabant) had become the economic, political, and cultural center of the Netherlands after its capital had shifted from the nearby Lordship of Mechelen to the city of Brussels. Bruges (County of Flanders) had already lost its prominent position as economic powerhouse of northern Europe. And Holland was gradually