Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IX. Reign of Gustavus Adolphus, 1611–1632 - C. Gustavus Adolphus and the Thirty Years’ War
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152 A History of Sweden
Emperor. Some were Catholics and others Protestants.
The two parties had long been hostile to each other.
Wallenstein and His Plans. The Emperor, Ferdi-
nand II, authorized the Bohemian nobleman, Albert
von Wallenstein, to raise an army. Large masses of
adventurers from all parts of Europe flocked to his
standard in the hope of plunder. These rough soldiers
feared their commander as a supernatural being. With
his boundless ambition, lone and mysterious, he moved
among his soldiers. He fancied he could read his des-
tiny in the stars. On this alone he relied. It was his
religion.
No one could check the victorious Catholics. Chris-
tian IV of Denmark, who came to the aid of the Prot-
estants, was thoroughly defeated and forced to agree
to take no further part in the war. Wallenstein’s forces
spread out over Jutland and the German coasts of the
Baltic. The great commander fairly reveled in his vast
plans, one of which was to build a great fleet in the
Baltic and make the Emperor master of the northern
seas. Emperor Ferdinand had already appointed him
"Admiral of the Baltic and the Ocean."
Sweden’s Independence Threatened. Sweden was
thus directly threatened, for what would be her fate if
the Emperor should become lord of the Baltic? What
would happen to her Protestant faith if Protestantism
were suppressed in the neighboring states? The Em-
peror plainly indicated his intention regarding Sweden
and Protestantism by sending troops at this time, 1629,
to aid Sigismund against Gustavus Adolphus, and an-
other army to aid Spain against the Protestant Nether-
lands. Gustavus Adolphus could not remain inactive
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