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abdication of his daughter Kristina, Karl X succeeded to the throne. War against Poland
(1655) led to some early successes and, with Denmark espousing the Polish cause, gave
Karl the opportunity to march into Jutland (1657). From there his armies marched
across the frozen sea to threaten Copenhagen; the subsequent Treaty of Roskilde (1658)
broke Denmark and gave the Swedish empire its widest territorial extent.
However, the long regency of his son and heir, Karl XI , did little to safeguard Sweden's
vulnerable position, so extensive were its borders. On assuming power in 1672, Karl was
almost immediately dragged into war: beaten by a smaller Prussian army at Brandenberg
in 1675, Sweden was suddenly faced with war against both the Danes and the Dutch.
Karl rallied, though, to drive out the Danish invaders, and the war ended in 1679 with
the reconquest of Skåne and the restoration of most of Sweden's German provinces.
In 1682, Karl XI became absolute monarch and was given full control over legislation
and reduktion - the resumption of estates previously alienated by the Crown to the
nobility. The armed forces were reorganized too: by 1700, the Swedish army had
25,000 soldiers and twelve regiments of cavalry; the naval fleet had expanded to 38
ships and a new base had been built at Karlskrona (which was nearer to the likely
trouble spots than Stockholm).
Culturally, Sweden began to benefit from the innovations of Gustav II Adolf. Gymnasia
(grammar schools) continued to expand, and a second university was established at Lund
in 1668. A national literature emerged, helped by the efforts of George Stiernhielm ,
father of modern Swedish poetry. Olof Rudbeck (1630-1702) was a Nordic polymath
whose scientific reputation lasted longer than his attempt to identify the ancient Goth
settlement at Uppsala as Atlantis. Architecturally, this was the age of Tessin , both father
and son. Tessin the Elder was responsible for the glorious palace at Drottningholm , work
on which began in 1662, as well as the cathedral at Kalmar . His son, Tessin the Younger,
succeeded him as royal architect and was to create the new royal palace at Stockholm.
In 1697, the 15-year-old Karl XII succeeded to the throne; under him, the empire
collapsed. Faced with a defensive alliance of Saxony, Denmark and Russia, there was
little the king could have done to avoid eventual defeat. However, he remains a revered
figure for his valiant (often suicidal) efforts to take on the rest of Europe. Initial
victories against Peter the Great and Saxony led him to march on Russia, where he was
defeated and the bulk of his army destroyed. Escaping to Turkey, where he remained as
guest and then prisoner for four years, Karl watched the empire disintegrate. With
Poland reconquered by Augustus of Saxony, and Finland by Peter the Great, he
returned to Sweden only to have England declare war on him.
Eventually, splits in the enemy alliance led Swedish diplomats to attempt peace talks
with Russia. Karl, though, was keen to exploit these differences in a more direct
fashion. Wanting to strike at Denmark, but lacking a fleet, he besieged Fredrikshald in
Norway (then united with Denmark) in 1718 - and was killed by a sniper's bullet. In
the power vacuum thus created, Russia became the leading Baltic force, receiving
Livonia, Estonia, Ingria and most of Karelia from Sweden.
The Age of Freedom
The eighteenth century saw absolutism discredited in Sweden. A new constitution
vested power in the Estates, who reduced the new king Frederick I 's role to that of
1741
1744
1778
1809
Sweden declares war on
Russia
Anders Celsius dies
Death of Carl von Linné
Sweden loses Finland to
Russia
 
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