Disambiguation[]
Sweden, Swedish and Swedes can refer to any of the following:
Rise of the Moderns[]
Ultima Ratio[]
History[]
Despite being one of the smaller nations of Europe and oft overlooked by the English-speaking world, the contributions and achievements of Sweden during the modern era cannot be simply brushed aside for nothing. Nestled in the mountain valleys of Eastern Scandinavia, this small nation overcame an era of lawlessness and anarchy during the mediaeval era to become a key power on the European continent by the 17th century, making its presence felt even in the Americas and Africa. For most of the early modern era, Sweden was almost uninterruptedly at war, with some small breaks for peace. Wars Sweden thus was a significant player in European politics and fought in many large wars, such as the Thirty Years' War and the Great Northern Wars were fought against many nations — notably Austria, England, France, Holland, Poland, Prussia, Russia, Saxony and Spain — before being supplanted by the Russians in Europe and the British and the French overseas.
The Birth of Modern Sweden[]
The first king known to rule over both Svealand and Götaland was Olof Skötkonung in the 11th century, but the further history is obscure with kings whose periods of regency and actual power is unclear. In the 12th century, Sweden was still consolidating with the dynastic struggles between the Erik and Sverker clans, which finally ended when a third clan married into the Erik clan and founded the Folkunga dynasty on the throne. This dynasty gradually consolidated a pre-Kalmar-Union Sweden to an actual nation, which essentially fell apart after the Black Death.
The Vasa Dynasty[]
During the late middle ages Sweden was in a union, together with Denmark and Norway, called the Kalmar Union. Denmark, with the largest population, was the leading nation in this union and the most high appointments in Sweden were held either by Danes or by Germans - Sweden in practice was a Danish province - and this was not very popular among the Swedes. This led to conflict between the union party and the independence party, which eventually resulted in Sweden leaving the union in 1521, when a man named Gustav Eriksson led a succesful uprising against king Christian II of Denmark and was crowned king Gustav I in June 1523, his coronation anniversary (6 June) now the national day of Sweden. Gustav Vasa, as he is known, is in Swedish history with justice called riksbyggaren, "the Statebuilder". When he came to power the country was totally desorganised, the economy was controlled by the Hansa in Lübeck and the power lay in hands of the church and local nobility. Through reformation to the Lutheran Church, reductions and centralisation of authority Gustav Vasa moved the power to the centralized government, and to himself. Lübeck was defeated in 1536. In 1544 the Riksdag (the Swedish parliament) decided that the crown should be hereditary.
By the beginning of the 17th century the economy began developing. Sweden became the largest exporter of minerals and artillery in Europe, while wars with Poland and Russia would cede control of the rich trade between Russia and western Europe. Sweden still had a long way to go on the road towards national consolidation, however: towards the end of the 16th century, Sweden was in personal union with Poland. The then king of Poland, Sigismund, was a convinced Catholic and planned to make a counter-reformation. This alienated the Riksdag, which subsequently supported a pretender to the throne, a duke Karl. Karl subsequently defeated Sigismund at Stångebro in 1598 and was crowned Karl IX.
Karl IX had a son, whose name was Gustav Adolf. Educated early in warfare and politics; as a teenager Gustav Adolf assumed command in wars against Denmark and Russia. After the peace with Russia, Gustav Adolf, who now had become king Gustav II Adolf started reorganising the Swedish army along Dutch lines, and introduced linear tactics in gunpowder warfare, which brought more firepower to bear on the opposing force as opposed to the Spanish square formations. Lighter weapons and artillery also added to the mobility and so Sweden thus had the most modern army of Europe in Gustav Adolf's time. A Polish army was crushed in battle at Wallhof in 1626, its hitherto unbeaten winged hussars scattered and by the next three years, Sweden was now the new master of the Baltic.
The Thirty Years' War had been going on in twelve years when Sweden in 1630 entered the war. After the battle of Breitenfeld, where Gustav Adolf defeated the Imperial army of the Holy Roman Empire, his new tactics were as the time went on to be adopted by the other nations of Europe. Gustav Adolf fell in battle in 1632, but his apprentices continued the war and Sweden was one of the victors, along with its allies the French, when the war ended in 1648. Gustav Adolf got the epithet 'the Great' and is undoubtly the greatest king Sweden ever had.
Alongside Gustav Adolf lived another great man named Axel Oxenstierna, the statesman who handled diplomacy and domestic politics. It was he who built up Sweden from inside, during his time the postal service was introduced. The French cardinal Mazarin once said 'if all ministers of Europe were in the same boat, the rudder should better be given to the Swedish chancellor (Oxenstierna).'
In 1654 Gustav Adolf's daughter, queen Kristina, abdicated, moved to Rome and converted into Catholicism. This was a huge scandal, Gustav Adolf was the saviour of all Protestants and now his daughter converted! This undoubtedly posed a succession crisis but a new ruler was chosen and this was Karl (Charles) X Gustav.
Birth of the Swedish Empire: Wittelsbach Rule[]
In 1699 the strongest enemies of Sweden - Denmark, Saxony/Poland and Russia - created an alliance to break the Swedish dominance in northern Europe. The war, which is known as the Great Northern War, began in 1700 when a Russian army invaded from the east. The young Swedish king, Karl XII, was an outstanding commander and he immediately forced the Danes to surrender. Karl broke the Russian incursions next and turned against Poland and Saxony, defeating them in a drawn-out campaign. Russia was now alone and it seemed that Sweden should win the war. However the turing point came at the battle of Poltava in 1709, when the Russians defeated the Swedes. The war continued until 1721 with the Swedish losing all the Baltic and most of their German territory. This was the practical end of Sweden as a great power. During the next century Sweden took part in many wars, one of them the Seven Years' War, but it never made any larger effect on history. Karl's legacy has been a controversial one: he has often been labelled a warmonger, yet it has been noted that he did the best he could of an impossible task: preventing the destruction of Sweden by its more larger neighbours. The fact that Sweden continued to be tolerated as a not-so unimportant country is a quite clear indication that he not was a catastrophe.
After Karl died in battle, his sister Ulrika Eleonora became the new queen. She abddicated in 1720 after signing a new consitutional law that, together with later additions, reduced the king or queen's power to two votes in the Council, whose president became the real ruler. The members of the council were chosen by the parliament which consisted of representatives of the four estates - the clergy, the nobility, the bourgeois and the peasantry. Little much can be said of her husband, either, who succeeded her as Frederick I of Sweden. Although Frederick's reign was a time of relative peace and prosperity, Frederick himself was a weak and decadent individual. It is now thought that the Swedish nobles, worried about having another strong ruler like Charles XII and recently bloodied by military defeat, deliberately elected him as their monarch. Frederick died heirless and so another German family, the Oldenburgs, succeeded to the throne.
Sweden under House Oldenburg[]
The period after the death of Charles XII is therefore called Frihetstiden, 'Time of Freedom', and ended in 1772 after a bloodless coup d'état by king Gustav III. Sweden experienced cultural and scientific progress. Theaters and operas were built, Gustav III created the Swedish academy and famous scientists like Linnaeus, Scheele and Celsius. Many ideas of the Enlightenment came from France. Gustav III was murdered in 1792 by the nobility during his plans to intervene in the French revolution.
Yet one catastrophe awaited. In 1809 Sweden lost the whole reming eastern part of its former empire - Finland. This was its last war against Russia, and partly due to treason and poor leadership from the king and the highest commanders it ended in a disaster for Sweden.
The Swedish colonial empire[]
Swedish enterprise did not merely concentrate itself in Europe, but also flowed out towards America and Africa. It was said that the First Nations tribes initially received the Europeans well due to how they were treated by the Swedes.
Swedish overseas rule, however, was brief. The first settlers in America were Finns in Nea Sverige in Delaware, now part of the present-day USA. However, Nea Sverige's proximity to the larger Dutch colonies of Nieuw Holland and Sweden's preference to invest in Europe led to the downfall of its colonies throughout America and Africa - the Dutch annexed Nea Sverige and the Danes, the Swedes' mortal foes, took Swedish forts on the African Gold Coast. By 1663, Swedish colonialism was all but finished, and would not be revived until the late 18th century.
The most successful colony Sweden ever established was the Caribbean port of Gustavia in 1771. Eager not to be outdone by the overseas colonial empires of Spain, France, Holland and England, the then king Gustav III decided to re-assert Swedish power worldwide, and acquired the island of Saint-Barthelemy from France. It seemed a poor choice: the island was uninhabitable, had no sources of fresh water, and could only provide salt and cotton. Surprisingly, however, it turned out to be a good investment: the Swedish crown soon decided to set up Saint-Barthelemy as a free port specialised in slaves. Companies were encouraged to set up shop on Saint-Barthelemy to create a base from which ships could then be sent to the African coast to purchase slaves which were in abundance thanks to the many tribal wars going on there. The slaves would then be shipped back to Saint-Barthelemy, which the other colonial masters of America may then visit to purchase the manpower they needed. However, anti-slavery sentiment in Europe soon meant that the colony, once a viable business, would soon become an economic grindstone around Sweden's neck, and the island was sold back to France in 1878, who since then continues to rule the island to this present day.
House Bernadotte: from stagnation to regeneration[]
In 1810, during the Napoleonic Wars, Sweden had no succesor to the throne. The French marshal Jean Bernadotte was chosen to be the new king. As the Swedish crown prince, Bernadotte took command over the Northern Army of the Third Coalition against Sweden's former allies the French. This army, consisting of Russian, Austrian and Swedish troops, defeated Napoleon at the bloody battle of Leipzig in 1813. After that, Bernadotte turned against Napoleon's ally Denmark with the Swedish army, defeating them and forcing them to surrender Norway. This happened in 1814 and ever since then, after centuries of warfare, Sweden has been at peace.