Sweden : 1701 - 1727 : Is the Golden Age here? The Reign of Karl XII
When Karl XI died, Sweden had risen from being an economically and militarily weak nation to a nation with a strong base and the capital to field the huge armies required in todays warfare. Trade had boomed and soon Swedish merchants had established a presence in every major center of trade around Europe as well as some in the Middle East. (5 merchants in every known trade center
, pretty hard considering the really awful competition in Europe). In the end of his reign, continued expansion in the baltics had taken place. Huge Swedish armies had invaded the Polish province of Livland, scaring the Polish king so much that he handed it over without much fuss.
The reign of a true genius
Karl XI died from cancer in the stomach and the same year, 1697, his son Karl took the throne. Karl was only 15 years old, but the fact that he had lost his mother, his father and three of his brothers had made him mature earlier and the kingdom decided that he was fit to rule. Karl took the throne of a very absolutistic country, where the nobility had very little influence and the king ruled supreme.
His reign started with yet another boost to trade and drew the Swedish economy to even greater heights.
Karl sought to relive the Polish escapades of his father, trying to achieve the long sought dream of dominium maris baltici, Swedish supremacy over the Baltic. An invasion was skissed up, but rumors must have reached the cowardly rulers down in Warzaw, as an offer to purchase the former Teutonic lands of Kurland and Memel arrived in Stockholm a few months later. 800d was a reasonable price and it was immediately accepted. Sweden now ruled the entire eastern Baltic coast.
As any ruler, and very much the Swedish, Karl XII sought personal glory for himself. He dreamt of large victories and military fame, but now that his ambitions in Poland had been met, where would he direct his forces?
On the continent a huge war was taking place. The now Bourbon Spain had allied with France and was battling the Habsburgs & Co for supremacy over Germany and other areas. Apparently, monsieur Louis XIV had crawn a crayon line through the middle of Germany, the western side claimed for himself.
A terrible disaster, the rest of Europe thought. A golden opportunity Karl thought .
The western Baltic was not under the iron grip of the Swedes, although Vorpommern had been occupied during the war of religion in Germany. Brandenburg now ruled these lands, an ally of the Habsburg Austria. With these lands under Swedish rule it would strengthen the grip over the baltic and draw supremacy in northern Europe up one notch. Perhaps through taking these lands, Sweden would have a direct link to the continent, able to meddle in any European affairs and thus being treated as an individual of the European sphere of power. It had after all been a long time since Sweden made any reaches to join in on the eternal struggle of the west, two hundred years about, when gloried king Gustav stuck terror into the hearts of catholics. That age was over of course, the cause long lost in an ocean of blood and the escapade ending in disaster.
This was how the talk was going up in chilly Stockholm, nobles and councillers going about and trying to come up with a reason to or not to expand the realm. But in the end, the decision was in the hands of Karl.
And Karl very much wanted to, but he wouldnt like to risk his neck for something uncertain. If Sweden went to war alone, she would take the entire backlash if things went wrong. Striving whispers were sent to the court of Warzaw and soon, the Polish king proclaimed a guarrantee over the Prussian provinces Hinterpommern and Küstrin.
With his back secure, Karl proceeded his attack. With the main army (about 80k) landing in Vorpommern, he charged his way through, assaulting and taking the provnice and then proceeding into the heartland, Berlin. Friedrich Wilhelm, already occupied with French forces in the west, withdrew to try to save the core of his country. He arrived too late however, as Berlin fell a week after the Swedish army had arrived. After a minor operation on the other side of the Elbe, Karl XII withdrew, his army quite worn down from assaults and attrition.
In the east, the second division had stormed Prussia and were now being ferried over to Germany. At the same time, Karl had reinforced in Skåne and after a minor operation in Bremen (very successful by that, occupied Bremen, Oldenburg and Hannover, while the southern provnices were being ravaged by French troops, breaking the Prussian eastern defence) and was also shipped over to Germany. Marching against the Prussian army of 50k, the entire Swedish army in Germany (120k!) began mobilizing yet again.
The battle stood outside a village near Magdeburg and even though the Swedish force had to cross the Elbe, the Prussian army was completely annihilated together with her skilled commanders.
King Frederick Wilhelm had had enough. Vorpommern, Hinterpommern and Prussia was ceded to the Swedish crown.
The Poles had never made a move, which made Karl very uneasy and in the future it would prove that he was right.
Everyones out for my hide!
The reaction in the courts of Europe were not all too friendly. Swedish allies were heard to complain, the Russians and Poles were seen recruiting and fortificating and the Emperor told Sweden that she "....will go down and you [KarlXII] will go down hard.". The only one with a reason to be happy was France and allies, as the Swedish action in Northern Germany had won her the war (at least from the eyes of a certain Peter). The explosive atmosphere on the international scene began affecting domestic matters too. Several political crises and uprisings took place during this period and the newly incorporated German subjects revolted more than once (five times actually). Times were hard and due to the instability, trade went down for a couple of years. Troops were being recruited in a feverish speed and soon the army was larger than ever before, taking a huge toll on the treasury. The German provinces were fortificated and tax collectors were appointed to begin taxing the new subjects. Every dime was important in these times!
The Habsburgs promised Prussia great aid of men and money whenever they felt like taking revenge upon the Swedes. Poland sent small requests for Hinterpommern, whenever a war would take place. A large fleet under English flag was seen in the Baltic and Swedish diplomats were sent to the Isles. It soon became clear that whenever a war would take place, England would make her job with the navy and clear out the Baltics of Swedish ships. To prevent such a disaster, Karl promised that he would not call for his own allies, if Germany did neither.
All the time, the Poles schemed and whispered in every court, noone sure of whos side they were on.
Europe was once again on the brink of war and it would all explode the second Friedrich Wilhelm "pushed the button". Luckily (for Sweden), he never did....
In September of 1718, Karl XII was shot by an assassin right through the head. He died immediately. The government was terribly shocked. One of the greatest monarch in the history of Sweden had fallen to the hands of a lowly assassin!
No better was the fact that it remained a mystery to who had ordered the killing. The Swedish court even managed to conceal the death of the king, powdering the corpse with perfume and putting him on the throne, telling all ambassadors that he had an ache in the tongue, so he couldnt speak all that much. Nevertheless, Sweden needed a monarch and they needed it now.
The sister of Karl XII, Ulrika Eleonora, was crowned queen, but she ruled for but a year, as she stepped down from the throne in favor of her husband, Fredrik of Hessen.
Fredrik wasnt much of a ruler and neither much of a husband, he liked the friendship of young women much better, to the dismay of Ulrika.
Anyway, after a while, the "Cold War" feeling began to dissapear and the frenzied build-up stalled. Now a new race took its place, the race for technology. A new theory had been proposed in Madrid, enabling the conscription of armies and the size of them to more than double. The information had leaked out however and soon almost every ruler in Europe began a desperate race for whom would finish this project first. In the lead was Holland and Spain, with France, Austria and Sweden close behind and Poland just slightly later. Due to bad stability and such, Sweden finished the project quite late, but started the work of building conscription centers with great speed.
In the middle of all of this, a proposition was sent to the king from the nobles, Arvid Horn being the leader. He wanted to break the absolute and just power of the monarch and increase the liberty and freedom of the provinces. They thought that the problem of instability and revolts were because of the monarchs inability to be everywhere at once. Suffice to say, Fredrik rejected the offer (he wasnt going to give that juicy power up in the first hand!), which caused some minor stirring among the nobles, but they feared to act, since the crown had the army on their side.
In 1727, Sweden was larger than ever before, with most of the Baltic under her wings. The jewel of the sea however, Danzig, was under the greedy hands of Poland. Something had to be done about that, but the fear of being the spark that fired the bazooka, Sweden stood silent on the matter.
My thoughts: Sweden has expanded alot in the latest session, in a very RPGish way too. The Baltic is nearly entirely under my rule, but at the cost of having alot more enemies on my fronts PLUS having two non religion non culture provinces without any chance of converting them. I could just as well not done it, in fact id had been better off, getting my income up into the 200d a month, but for the sake of RPG and the itching to finally get to use one of those super monarchs Sweden is blessed with i did it anyway. In conclusion, the expansion was really dumb, but RPGish.
When Karl XI died, Sweden had risen from being an economically and militarily weak nation to a nation with a strong base and the capital to field the huge armies required in todays warfare. Trade had boomed and soon Swedish merchants had established a presence in every major center of trade around Europe as well as some in the Middle East. (5 merchants in every known trade center
, pretty hard considering the really awful competition in Europe). In the end of his reign, continued expansion in the baltics had taken place. Huge Swedish armies had invaded the Polish province of Livland, scaring the Polish king so much that he handed it over without much fuss.The reign of a true genius
Karl XI died from cancer in the stomach and the same year, 1697, his son Karl took the throne. Karl was only 15 years old, but the fact that he had lost his mother, his father and three of his brothers had made him mature earlier and the kingdom decided that he was fit to rule. Karl took the throne of a very absolutistic country, where the nobility had very little influence and the king ruled supreme.
His reign started with yet another boost to trade and drew the Swedish economy to even greater heights.
Karl sought to relive the Polish escapades of his father, trying to achieve the long sought dream of dominium maris baltici, Swedish supremacy over the Baltic. An invasion was skissed up, but rumors must have reached the cowardly rulers down in Warzaw, as an offer to purchase the former Teutonic lands of Kurland and Memel arrived in Stockholm a few months later. 800d was a reasonable price and it was immediately accepted. Sweden now ruled the entire eastern Baltic coast.
As any ruler, and very much the Swedish, Karl XII sought personal glory for himself. He dreamt of large victories and military fame, but now that his ambitions in Poland had been met, where would he direct his forces?
On the continent a huge war was taking place. The now Bourbon Spain had allied with France and was battling the Habsburgs & Co for supremacy over Germany and other areas. Apparently, monsieur Louis XIV had crawn a crayon line through the middle of Germany, the western side claimed for himself.
A terrible disaster, the rest of Europe thought. A golden opportunity Karl thought
.The western Baltic was not under the iron grip of the Swedes, although Vorpommern had been occupied during the war of religion in Germany. Brandenburg now ruled these lands, an ally of the Habsburg Austria. With these lands under Swedish rule it would strengthen the grip over the baltic and draw supremacy in northern Europe up one notch. Perhaps through taking these lands, Sweden would have a direct link to the continent, able to meddle in any European affairs and thus being treated as an individual of the European sphere of power. It had after all been a long time since Sweden made any reaches to join in on the eternal struggle of the west, two hundred years about, when gloried king Gustav stuck terror into the hearts of catholics. That age was over of course, the cause long lost in an ocean of blood and the escapade ending in disaster.
This was how the talk was going up in chilly Stockholm, nobles and councillers going about and trying to come up with a reason to or not to expand the realm. But in the end, the decision was in the hands of Karl.
And Karl very much wanted to, but he wouldnt like to risk his neck for something uncertain. If Sweden went to war alone, she would take the entire backlash if things went wrong. Striving whispers were sent to the court of Warzaw and soon, the Polish king proclaimed a guarrantee over the Prussian provinces Hinterpommern and Küstrin.
With his back secure, Karl proceeded his attack. With the main army (about 80k) landing in Vorpommern, he charged his way through, assaulting and taking the provnice and then proceeding into the heartland, Berlin. Friedrich Wilhelm, already occupied with French forces in the west, withdrew to try to save the core of his country. He arrived too late however, as Berlin fell a week after the Swedish army had arrived. After a minor operation on the other side of the Elbe, Karl XII withdrew, his army quite worn down from assaults and attrition.
In the east, the second division had stormed Prussia and were now being ferried over to Germany. At the same time, Karl had reinforced in Skåne and after a minor operation in Bremen (very successful by that, occupied Bremen, Oldenburg and Hannover, while the southern provnices were being ravaged by French troops, breaking the Prussian eastern defence) and was also shipped over to Germany. Marching against the Prussian army of 50k, the entire Swedish army in Germany (120k!) began mobilizing yet again.
The battle stood outside a village near Magdeburg and even though the Swedish force had to cross the Elbe, the Prussian army was completely annihilated together with her skilled commanders.
King Frederick Wilhelm had had enough. Vorpommern, Hinterpommern and Prussia was ceded to the Swedish crown.
The Poles had never made a move, which made Karl very uneasy and in the future it would prove that he was right.
Everyones out for my hide!
The reaction in the courts of Europe were not all too friendly. Swedish allies were heard to complain, the Russians and Poles were seen recruiting and fortificating and the Emperor told Sweden that she "....will go down and you [KarlXII] will go down hard.". The only one with a reason to be happy was France and allies, as the Swedish action in Northern Germany had won her the war (at least from the eyes of a certain Peter). The explosive atmosphere on the international scene began affecting domestic matters too. Several political crises and uprisings took place during this period and the newly incorporated German subjects revolted more than once (five times actually
). Times were hard and due to the instability, trade went down for a couple of years. Troops were being recruited in a feverish speed and soon the army was larger than ever before, taking a huge toll on the treasury. The German provinces were fortificated and tax collectors were appointed to begin taxing the new subjects. Every dime was important in these times!The Habsburgs promised Prussia great aid of men and money whenever they felt like taking revenge upon the Swedes. Poland sent small requests for Hinterpommern, whenever a war would take place. A large fleet under English flag was seen in the Baltic and Swedish diplomats were sent to the Isles. It soon became clear that whenever a war would take place, England would make her job with the navy and clear out the Baltics of Swedish ships. To prevent such a disaster, Karl promised that he would not call for his own allies, if Germany did neither.
All the time, the Poles schemed and whispered in every court, noone sure of whos side they were on.
Europe was once again on the brink of war and it would all explode the second Friedrich Wilhelm "pushed the button". Luckily (for Sweden), he never did....
In September of 1718, Karl XII was shot by an assassin right through the head. He died immediately. The government was terribly shocked. One of the greatest monarch in the history of Sweden had fallen to the hands of a lowly assassin!
No better was the fact that it remained a mystery to who had ordered the killing. The Swedish court even managed to conceal the death of the king, powdering the corpse with perfume and putting him on the throne, telling all ambassadors that he had an ache in the tongue, so he couldnt speak all that much. Nevertheless, Sweden needed a monarch and they needed it now.
The sister of Karl XII, Ulrika Eleonora, was crowned queen, but she ruled for but a year, as she stepped down from the throne in favor of her husband, Fredrik of Hessen.
Fredrik wasnt much of a ruler and neither much of a husband, he liked the friendship of young women much better, to the dismay of Ulrika.
Anyway, after a while, the "Cold War" feeling began to dissapear and the frenzied build-up stalled. Now a new race took its place, the race for technology. A new theory had been proposed in Madrid, enabling the conscription of armies and the size of them to more than double. The information had leaked out however and soon almost every ruler in Europe began a desperate race for whom would finish this project first. In the lead was Holland and Spain, with France, Austria and Sweden close behind and Poland just slightly later. Due to bad stability and such, Sweden finished the project quite late, but started the work of building conscription centers with great speed.
In the middle of all of this, a proposition was sent to the king from the nobles, Arvid Horn being the leader. He wanted to break the absolute and just power of the monarch and increase the liberty and freedom of the provinces. They thought that the problem of instability and revolts were because of the monarchs inability to be everywhere at once. Suffice to say, Fredrik rejected the offer (he wasnt going to give that juicy power up in the first hand!), which caused some minor stirring among the nobles, but they feared to act, since the crown had the army on their side.
In 1727, Sweden was larger than ever before, with most of the Baltic under her wings. The jewel of the sea however, Danzig, was under the greedy hands of Poland. Something had to be done about that, but the fear of being the spark that fired the bazooka, Sweden stood silent on the matter.
My thoughts: Sweden has expanded alot in the latest session, in a very RPGish way too. The Baltic is nearly entirely under my rule, but at the cost of having alot more enemies on my fronts PLUS having two non religion non culture provinces without any chance of converting them. I could just as well not done it, in fact id had been better off, getting my income up into the 200d a month, but for the sake of RPG and the itching to finally get to use one of those super monarchs Sweden is blessed with i did it anyway
. In conclusion, the expansion was really dumb, but RPGish.
