Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
On the prince's sudden death, however, Marshal Bernadotte (one of Napoleon's
generals) was invited to become heir. Taking the name of
Karl Johan
, he took his
chance in 1812 and joined Britain and Russia to fight Napoleon. Following Napoleon's
first defeat at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813, Sweden compelled Denmark (France's ally)
to exchange Norway for Swedish Pomerania.
By 1814 Sweden and Norway had formed an uneasy union. Norway retained its own
government and certain autonomous measures. Sweden decided foreign policy,
appointed a viceroy and retained a suspensive (but not absolute) veto over the
Norwegian parliament's legislation.
The nineteenth century
Union under Karl Johan, or
Karl XIV
as he became in 1818, could have been disastrous.
He spoke no Swedish and just a few years previously had never visited either kingdom.
However, under Karl and his successor
Oscar I
, prosperity ensued. Construction of the
Göta Canal
(1832) helped commercially, and liberal measures by both monarchs helped
politically. In 1845, daughters were given an equal right of inheritance. A Poor Law
was introduced in 1847, restrictive craft guilds reformed, and an Education Act passed.
The 1848 revolutions throughout Europe cooled Oscar's reforming ardour, and his
attention turned to reviving
Scandinavianism
. It was still a hope, in certain quarters, that
closer cooperation between Denmark and Sweden-Norway could lead to some sort of
revived Kalmar Union. Expectations were raised with the
Crimean War
of 1854: Russia
as a future threat could be neutralized. But peace was declared too quickly (at least for
Sweden) and there was still no real guarantee that Sweden would be sufficiently
protected from Russia in the future. With Oscar's death, talk of political union faded.
His son
Karl XV
presided over a reform of the
Riksdag
that put an end to the Swedish
system of personal monarchy. The Four Estates were replaced by a representative
two-house parliament
along European lines. This, together with the end of political
Scandinavianism (following the Prussian attack on Denmark in 1864 in which Sweden
stood by), marked Sweden's entry into modern Europe.
Industrialization
was slow to take root in Sweden. No real industrial revolution
occurred, and development - mechanization, introduction of railways, etc - was
piecemeal. One result was widespread
emigration
amongst the rural poor, who had
been hard hit by famine in 1867 and 1868. Between 1860 and 1910 over one million
people left for America (in 1860 the Swedish population was only four million). Given
huge farms to settle, the emigrants headed for land similar to that they had left behind
- to the Midwest, Kansas and Nebraska.
At home, Swedish
trade unionism
emerged to campaign for better conditions. Dealt
with severely, the unions formed a confederation (1898) but largely failed to make
headway. Even peaceful picketing carried a two-year prison sentence. Hand in hand
with the fight for workers' rights went the
temperance movement
. The level of alcohol
consumption was alarming, and various abstinence programmes attempted to educate
the drinkers and, if necessary, eradicate the stills. Some towns made the selling of spirits
a municipal monopoly - not a big step from the state monopoly that exists today.
With the accession of
Oscar II
in 1872, Sweden continued on an even, if uneventful,
keel. Keeping out of further European conflict (the Austro-Prussian War,
1905
1930s
1940
Norway gains independence from
Sweden
Welfare state established
Sweden surrounded by Nazi Germany
