Sweden

C

The Union of Kalmar

Late in the 14th century, German power in Scandinavia had become so great that Sweden, Denmark, and Norway feared a German conquest. In 1397, in the Union of Kalmar, the three united against Germany and chose Margaret I, already ruler of Denmark and Norway, as their queen. The monarchy established by the triple realm was the largest in Europe in area. When Eric of Pomerania succeeded Margaret in 1412, he made himself unpopular by interfering with rights of the nobility and by involving Sweden in his quarrels with the Hanseatic League.

In 1432 a revolt of the lower classes broke out in the iron-mining district of central Sweden, where iron exports were hampered by a Hanse blockade. After the uprising, Eric fled the Swedish throne and lost the thrones of Norway and Denmark. All three countries chose Eric’s nephew, Christopher of Bavaria, to be king. After Christopher's death Karl Knutsson, a Swedish nobleman, became king of Sweden, while Denmark and Norway elected Christian I. Karl, who held the title Charles VIII, died in 1470.

D

Emergence of a Nation

In 1520, after nearly a century of Danish attempts to reestablish the Union of Kalmar by force, Christian II of Denmark captured Sweden’s capital city. In an attempt to subdue Sweden at last, he beheaded 80 Swedish nationalist leaders. But the so-called Stockholm Bloodbath only strengthened Sweden’s resolve for independence. A young Swedish nobleman named Gustavus Vasa raised a peasant army, and within three years the Swedes had driven Danish forces from their land. Denmark, however, retained possession of the southern part of the Scandinavian peninsula. The young nobleman was crowned king of Sweden as Gustav I Vasa.

Gustav immediately set about the task of strengthening Sweden’s economy. In 1527 he began to confiscate Swedish land owned by the Roman Catholic Church. He made Lutheran Protestantism the state religion. He reorganized the government, creating a strong central administration and an efficient civil service. When provinces rebelled, Gustav quickly put down the revolts. Under his reign, agriculture, mining, and domestic and foreign trade prospered.

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E

Sweden as Military Power

During the 16th century Sweden entered a period of expansion. The Reval district of Estonia put itself voluntarily under Swedish protection in 1561. As a result of the Livonia War (1557 to 1582), Sweden acquired all of Estonia from Poland, including the region of Narva. Gradually the kingdom became a major power in the Baltic Sea, and its expansionist policies were furthered by Gustav II Adolph, considered the greatest Swedish king, who succeeded to the throne in 1611. At the beginning of his reign, Sweden was embroiled in unsuccessful wars with Denmark, Poland, and Russia. He built up Sweden's military and naval power, successfully concluded the wars with Denmark and Russia, and forced the Poles to cede most of Livonia to Sweden.

In 1630 Gustav, a champion of Protestantism, entered the Thirty Years’ War. With a large treasury based on Swedish copper resources and with a military brilliance unparalleled in Swedish history, Gustav attacked Poland, occupied eastern Prussia, fought the Habsburgs and the Catholic League in Germany, and invaded Bavaria. Gustav died in battle 1632, but his policies were continued by his chancellor, the great Swedish statesman Count Axel Oxenstierna. The count directed the government in the years before Christina, Gustav’s daughter, came of age. Christina was crowned queen of Sweden in 1644.

By the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, which ended the Thirty Years’ War, Sweden acquired a large part of Pomerania, the island of Rügen, Wismar, the sees of Bremen and Verden, and other German territory. These German possessions entitled the Swedish sovereign to three votes in the diet of the Holy Roman Empire. Sweden had become the greatest power in the Baltic area. In 1654 Queen Christina abdicated, naming her cousin Charles X Gustav as her successor; she lived the rest of her life in Rome. While the new king was engaged in a military campaign in Poland, Denmark declared war on Sweden. In 1658, Charles X and his army returned from Poland and invaded Denmark. He regained all the southern provinces of Sweden from Denmark as well as control over the Öresund, the main inlet to the Baltic Sea. By the Peace of Oliva in May 1660, Poland formally conceded Livonia to Sweden.

F

Collapse of the Swedish Empire

When Charles XI came to the throne in 1660, Sweden’s treasury was nearly exhausted. After a treaty with Denmark had been signed in 1679, the king instituted a broad program of domestic reforms that affected every aspect of the Swedish state. Charles struck at fundamental Swedish liberties in a reorganization of the Swedish government, weakening the council of state and the Riksdag, and making himself an absolute monarch. His most important policy proved to be his land reforms. In 1680 he confiscated all large estates. Charles reduced the nobles’ holdings from nearly three-quarters to approximately one-third of Sweden’s territory.

The reign of the 15-year-old Charles XII, who came to the throne in 1697, marked the beginning of the decline of Sweden as a world power. In 1700, Denmark, Poland, and Russia simultaneously declared war on Sweden, beginning a conflict commonly called the Great Northern War (1700-1721). Charles marshaled Sweden’s forces and rapidly won a series of brilliant victories over these enemies. In 1709, against the advice of his officers, Charles invaded Russia. His entire army of 18,000 was captured at Poltava the same year. The young king fled to Turkey, where he remained for five years. Hannover, England, and Prussia now joined the alliance of Russia, Denmark, and Poland against Sweden.

In 1715 Charles returned home to try to strengthen Sweden’s defenses. However, he was killed in 1718 in a futile invasion of Norway, and Sweden had to conclude a series of treaties that stripped the country of most of its possessions. By the treaties of Stockholm and Nystadt in 1721, Sweden lost much of its German territory and ceded Livonia, Estonia, Ingria, part of Karelia, and several important Baltic islands to Russia. The Swedish empire was reduced to half its former size, and it was never again to dominate the Baltic. Russia, led by Peter the Great, was now the region’s dominant power.

G

Revolution and Constitutional Reforms

Charles XII was succeeded by his sister, Ulrika Eleanora, conditional on her acceptance of a new constitution abolishing the absolute monarchy and vesting legislative power in a Riksdag of four estates (or groups)—nobles, clergy, burghers, and peasants. Two new political parties known as the Hats and the Caps came into being. Executive power became the province of a secret committee of the first three estates, permitting aristocratic control of the government. Sweden’s so-called “era of liberty” ushered in a half century of rivalry, political strife, and foreign and domestic blundering.

In 1771 Gustav III came to the throne and, capitalizing on popular dissatisfaction with the high-handed policies of the aristocracy, managed to take over the government. He promulgated a new constitution that restored the absolute monarchy. Gustav also reorganized his country’s military forces. Dreaming of restoring Sweden to the position of a world power, he declared war on Russia.

Considered an enlightened despot, Gustav initiated domestic, civil, and land reforms. He also set up academies of literature, science, and art, and he ordered the construction of state theaters and opera houses. His war with Russia, however, went badly, and his policies met increasing opposition from the Riksdag, particularly from its nobles. In 1789, with the onset of the French Revolution, Gustav again revised the constitution, giving himself such sweeping powers that the period is referred to as that of Gustavian Absolutism. The following year, Sweden defeated the Russian navy at Svensksund and the two nations negotiated a peace. Two years later, a group of embittered nobles assassinated Gustav.

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