Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - First part - II. The Swedish People - 1. Survey of its History. By E. Svensén, Author, Stockholm - Modern Times (from 1523 onwards)
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82
II. TH B SWEDISH PEOPLE.
The rulers of Sweden during this 17th century, which was so noteworthy for
the country, were: Charles IX (1599/1611), Gustavus II Adolphus (1611/32),
Axel Oxenstierna, as the head of the regency during the minority of Queen
Christina (1632/44), Christina, as ruling sovereign (1644/54), Charles X Gustavus
(1654/60), the Regency during the minority of Charles XI (1660/72), Charles XI
as ruling sovereign (1672/97), and Charles XII (1697/1718). The history of
the world cannot often show such a succession of great personalities as successive
leaders of the destinies of one nation. There is but the second Regency (1660/72)
which gives an impression of insignificance, and the term of its rule marks a
noticeable weakness in an otherwise brilliant picture. The personality and fate
of Gu.itavus II Adolphus and the story of Sweden during his reign belong to
the history of the world, and they are more generally and better known than
are the events of any other period in our history; we need not, therefore, enter
into any details. His appearing upon the scene of the great continental war was
quite as much a measure of self-defence on the part of the Swedish nation against
the far-reaching plans of Wallenstein and the Catholic princes to obtain the
mastery of the Baltic and its shores, as a noble assistance rendered to the
coreligionists of the Swedish people.
Riddarhuset (The House of the Nobility) in Stockholm. Statue of Axel Oxenstierna.
The victory of Breitenfeld (1631) at once raised Sweden to the rank of a
Great Power. Its new-won position was threatened, it is true, by the death of
the hero-king upon the field of Lützen (1632), but it was saved by the
political genius of Axel Oxenstierna and the illustrious warlike deeds of the Swedish
generals, which, even during the latter phases of the war, assured for Sweden a
far more important position than some foreign writers are accustomed to acknow-
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