• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

House of Vasa, 1523-1654

The history of Sweden, it has well been said, is the history of her kings. Till the reign of Gustavus Vasa there was no such thing as a Swedish State in the modern sense of the word. Sweden in those days was a name rather than a nation. Even so late as the third decade of the sixteenth century she cheerfully submitted to the humiliation of being treated as little better than a trading colony by the Hansa League to avoid absorption by Denmark.

Since the Union of Calmar, in the year 1397, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden had formed one kingdom; but the kings chosen by the Danes from the house of Oldenburg were not acknowledged in Sweden until Christian II. enforced their recognition in 1520, and endeavored to confirm his authority by a cruel slaughter of his enemies at Stockholm. Gustavus Vasa, who had escaped this massacre, placed himself, after a succession of romantic adventures, at the head of an army of Dalecarlians, declared war against the Danes, was elected Administrator, and afterwards King (in 1523), and delivered Sweden from the Danish yoke. The unbridled ambition of the house of Oldenburg occasioned also the loss of Denmark (which included Norway, the South of Sweden, Gothland [until 1645], and Iceland), to the Duke of Holstein and Schleswig (Frederick I.).

Gustav I Eriksson (Vasa) [r. 1521-1560] laid the foundations of her national existence as well as of her future greatness in the strong monarchy which he bequeathed to his sons, and so well did he do his work that even their follies and blunders could not seriously shake it. Gradually the young State began to feel her power and expand in every direction. The complications resulting from the collapse of the German Order first gave her a footing on the other side of the Baltic, and with the acquisition of Reval (1561) her dominion in the North may be said to have been founded. From Esthonia she advanced, step by step, into Livonia, though here the way was barred, for a time, by the valour of the Polish chivalry and the genius of the Grand Hetman of Lithuania, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz. Nevertheless, in Livonia also, Sweden, on the whole, stood her ground.

Gustavus I. (Vasa) introduced the Reformation into Sweden with considerable tact and circumspection ; but here, as elsewhere, the change was accompanied by acts of unjust severity, especially towards the clergy, whose immense wealth was confiscated to supply the deficiencies of the royal exchequer. The repeated declarations of the King that he wished to abdicate, induced the estates to grant all his demands, and even to settle the crown upon himself and his descendants. Gustavus created the nucleus of a naval force, and encouraged the extension of Swedish commerce. Both these objects were still further promoted by his successor Eric XIV. This sovereign was subject to periodical fits of insanity, on account of which he was placed under restraint by his brothers, deposed, with consent of the estates of his kingdom, and poisoned in prison.

His next descendant but one, Sigismund, King of Poland, was educated in the faith of the Church of Rome, and in consequence was deposed soon after his coronation, through the intrigues of his uncle, Charles, Duke of Sudermania, who was appointed Administrator of the kingdom, and, after completing the work of the Reformation in Sweden, ascended the throne as Charles IX.

Charles IX [r. 1599-1611]. combined (1609) with Tsar Vasily Shuisky against their common foe Poland, but the swift and irresistible advance of the Poles upset all the calculations of the allies. Vasily was deposed and carried off to Warsaw; a Polish prince was placed on the Muscovite throne, and Russia was straightway plunged into such a horrible state of anarchy that her speedy and complete dissolution seemed inevitable. The tenacity of that cruel but eminently capable monarch, Charles IX., prepared the way for the ultimate triumph of his illustrious son.

Gustavus II Adolphus [r. 1611-1632], who was born on December 19, 1594, was richly endowed both bodily and mentally. He was by nature noble and upright, and possessed the -power of self-control and of leading others ; he had a keen intellect, and could express himself briefly and forcibly both in speech and writing. He had received A thorough education in ancient and modern languages, in history, military science, and in all knightly accomplishments. Gustavus II Adolphus found his kingdom distracted by intestine commotions, and involved in three foreign wars (with Denmark, Poland, and Russia). A peace was concluded with the Danes, who restored all the territory taken from Sweden in the war, Gustavus on his part consenting to pay an indemnification of a million thalers.

Russia, after one campaign, was driven from the Baltic. With the election of the first Romanov, a new era began for the distracted country, and after a glorious but indecisive six years' struggle, Gustavus, recognising the impossibility of obliterating his eastern neighbor, dictated a peace that was to paralyse her for a century. By the Peace of Stolbova (27 Feb., 1617) Russia abandoned all her claims to Esthonia and Livonia, ceded Carelia and Ingria to Sweden, and paid besides a war indemnity of 200,000 rubles. By this humiliating treaty the frontier of Russia was thrust back beyond Lake Ladoga and she was totally excluded from the Baltic.

The war with Poland (then at the height of her short-lived power) proved a much more serious business. It took Gustavus nine years of hard fighting to wrest Livonia from her grasp ; but the victory of Wallhof (7 June, 1626) finally completed the work. With Riga in his possession, he was now master of the Dwina, and in 1626 he transferred the war to West Prussia (then a fief of Poland) .

It was his steadfast resolve to found a Scandinavian empire with the Baltic for its Mediterranean ; nay, there is good reason to believe that, had he lived to realise his ambition, he would have transferred his capital from the shores of the remote Malare to a more central position on the very spot where Peter the Great, a century later, with equal prescience, was to erect Petersburg. Unfortunately for Sweden, this magnificent project was postponed to a nobler but less practical ambition - the heroic monarch determined to champion the desperate cause of his suffering co-religionists in Germany.

During the Thirty-Years' War, which grew from a civil war in Germany to be a general European struggle, the Austro-Spanish monarchy lost its ascendency, and Europe was no longer threatened with a universal Catholic empire. Its place at the head of European monarchies was taken by France. Sweden had risen to the rank of a great power, and had acquired considerable possessions on the Baltic. Her army had gained the reputation of heing invincible; the dauntlessness and courage of the people were strengthened.

Gustavus Adolphus made Sweden the second power in Europe, and it maintained this position until after the year 1700. Its possessions almost inclosed the Baltic Sea. By the Peace of Westphalia it acquired Lower Pomerania (with Stettin, Stralsund, and Rugen), Wismar, and the principalities of Bremen and Verden. Western Pomerania with the islands of Riigen and Usedom, a small strip of Eastern Pomerania with the towns of Stettin, Damin, Golbrow and the Isle of Wollin ; Wismar and the district of Poel and Neukloster ; the former Bishopric of Bremen and Verden with a seat and a vote in the German Reichstag and the direction of the Lower Saxon circle alternately with Brandenburg, was all that fell to her share.

Sweden became by these acquisitions a member of the empire, and afterward exercised a decisive and oppressive influence in all its affairs. Its influence also extended over Denmark, Russia, and Poland, powerless or undeveloped countries which tried in vain to throw off its control. These new possessions, it will be seen, gave Sweden the control of the three chief rivers of Germany, the Oder, the Elbe and the Weser, and she had the exclusive right to all the tolls levied thereon.

For so poor and thinly populated a country to attempt to dominate Germany and remain the Mistress of the North at the same time meant inevitable disaster, though favorable circumstances and an extraordinary succession of great rulers postponed the evil day for something more than half a century. But the power and the wealth of the upper nobility had become so great that the nobles became despotic and treated the people with arrogance and superciliousness. Their morals and habits were becoming corrupt, inasmuch as peaceful occupations were despised and luxury and extravagance were increasing.

Gustavus Adolphus was succeeded by his daughter Christina [r 1632-1654], who commenced her reign under the guardianship of the Chancellor Axel Oxenstiern and the Council of State. Whilst the young queen, who possessed extraordinary abilities, was receiving a learned education in obedience to her father's injunctions, the war was continued in Germany, and hostilities were recommenced against the Danes, who had manifested considerable jealousy of Sweden on account of her recent successes. Both these wars were terminated, as soon as Christina herself assumed the reins of government, under circumstances very advantageous to Sweden. The period of tranquillity which ensued was favorable to the extension of commerce and the cultivation of the arts and sciences; but the literary tastes of the Queen were soon found to be inconsistent with the conscientious discharge of her political duties; and complaints of the time and treasure squandered on unworthy favorites became general.

Christina, in 1654, abdicated in favor of her cousin Charles Gustavus, Count Palatine of Zweibrucken, the son of Catherine, daughter of Gustavus Vasa, and John Casimir, Duke of Zweibrucken. Charles's policy was a continuation and extension of the original policy of Gustavus Adolphus freely interpreted by the extravagant imagination of a Prince, who, with all his genius, was much more of a knight-errant than a statesman or even a general.