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- XV. Sweden in 1914
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CHAPTER XV
SWEDEN IN 1914
Happy is the nation that has no history. For a hundred
years, from 1815, Sweden has had no history in the
ordinary sense of the word, that is to say that she has
sustained no wars or revolutions, and has not taken an
active part in the political events of Europe.
Nevertheless profound changes have taken place during this
period in the conditions of existence of the Swedish
people, and in the political and economic structure of
the country; and these changes, contrasted with the
curious survivals of the former social state of the
kingdom and with the original mentality of the people,
presented and still present a spectacle worthy of the
earnest historian’s attention.
From 1700 and until 1809 the principal enemy, the
hereditary enemy of Sweden, was Russia—the Imperial
Russia of Peter the Great, Elizabeth, Catherine and
Alexander I.; and the home policy of the country adapted
itself to the vicissitudes of this perennial struggle.
The aristocratic régime, headed by the Oxenstiernas,
had in the seventeenth century placed the international
power of Sweden on a pinnacle, and shed a lustre on the
justice and administration of the kingdom that all the
other countries of Europe might well envy; the first two
Kings of the Vasa-Zweibrücken branch, energetic and
authoritative, wished to have their share of glory and
influence, so to lucky and easy conquests they added
reforms which struck a blow at the exclusive ascendancy
of the nobility, and enhanced the fame of Swedish justice
and administration.
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