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II. THE SWEDISH PEOPLE.
Baltic was a necessity for Sweden at a time when routes more frequently led
over water than over land, and when it was much easier to travel from
Stockholm to Riga than to Småland or Västergötland. The more immediate
consequences of all these new complications begin, however, only during the next
epoch — the period which commences with the accession of Gustavus II Adolphus
to the throne, and ends with the death of Charles XII outside Fredrikshald.
Compared with the stirring period of the Union, the sixteenth century does
not present many great and interesting personages in Sweden below the
throne. Moreover, the cultural advance during this period was not so
considerable as were the economic and the political. The great work of the period
in the spiritual world, the reformation of the Church, did not bear its best
fruit until the following century. Amongst those who achieved the work of the
Reformation in Sweden, however, ought always to be remembered Olaus Petri,
one of the noblest characters in Swedish history, and one that has been of the
greatest importance for the nation, not only in things ecclesiastical, but also in
the domain of literature. Sweden’s two greatest. naval heroes, Jakob Bagge and
Klas Horn, also belonged to this period.
The outer boundaries of Sweden underwent two changes during this time,
Esthonia being acquired in 1561, whilst, on the other hand, the island of
Gottland was surrendered to Denmark in 1570.
The Period of Sweden’s Political Greatness (i6ii—1718). In order
not to break the thread of the history of Sweden, it is usual to count the
beginning of this period from the accession of King Gustavus II Adolphus to the
throne (1611), although it ought, of course, more correctly to be dated from his
appearance on the theatre of the great European war, in 1630.
The rulers of Sweden during this seventeenth 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
A" 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 series of great
personalities as successive leaders of the destinies of a single nation. It is only the
second Regency (1660—72) which gives an impression of insignificance; and
the period of its rule marks a noticeable weakness in an otherwise brilliant picture.
The personality and fate of Gustavus II Adolphus and the story of Sweden
during his reign belong to world-history, and they are more generally and better
known than are the events of any other period in Swedish history. His
appearance 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 Roman Catholic princes to obtain the mastery of
the Baltic and its shores, as a magnanimous assistance rendered to the German
co-religionists of the Swedish people.
The victory of Breitenfeld (1631) at once raised Sweden to the rank of a
Great Power. Her 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 military exploits of the Swedish
generals, which, even during the later phases of the war, assured for Sweden a
far more important position than certain foreign writers will acknowledge. At
the close of the lengthy conflict (1648), Sweden was master of the mouths of
all the German rivers and of the greater part of the shores of the Baltic.
Almost simultaneously with these events, Sweden succeeded, by the Peace of
Brömsebro (1645) and by that of Roskilde (1658), in acquiring the provinces of
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