Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Two of them, Gustavus Adolphus (1594-1632) and Karl XII (1682-1710), carried the
genes of military genius. They fought their wars for glory, territory, and the plunder that
came with territory. Their wars were also religious wars, Lutheranism and Protestantism
against Roman Catholicism and Russian Orthodoxy. The House of Habsburg was defender
of Catholicism, and Sweden was its chief opponent in the Thirty Years War, 1618-48.
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Peter the Great bested Sweden in the Great Northern War, a war fought for control of the
east Baltic. (In St. Petersburg, at the base of Peter's great statue are the words that Russi-
an children learn by heart: “When Russia celebrates another victory over the foe…”) But
when the last trumpets had sounded and the last war flags furled, Sweden's territory was
truncated, and its energies now turned to literature and invention.
At least one memento of imperial arms survives to astound us. Buried deep in the cold
waters of the Stockholm archipelago was a ghostly remnant of Sweden's military glory, the
warship Vasa. The Vasa was built in the 1620s on orders from Gustavus Adolphus to honor
the founder of his line, Gustav Vasa. Launched in 1628, she was a formidable vessel, built
of iron and oak and weighing 1,300 tons. As she sailed into the harbor, with gun ports open
to fire a royal salute, an unexpected wind forced her to broach. She sank, drowning most
of her crew and carrying everything aboard deep into the sea. The ship's position was dis-
covered in 1956; after being brought to the surface and after decades of patient restoration,
the ship is now displayed, mast reaching skyward, in the Vasa Museum.
WHAT IS SWEDEN'S MIDDLE WAY?
Among the Three Crowns, Sweden has the most advanced heavy industry in terms of pro-
duction and in terms of efficiency. In continental western Europe, Germany, France, Italy,
and Sweden are the only producers of large automobiles. In western Europe, only France,
Germany, and Sweden build jet fighters. Automobiles and airplanes are the most conspicu-
ous examples of industrial achievement, but Swedish industries produce a wide range of
goods and products. Their success is widely envied.
It is a success with many sources. Lutheran insistence that each person read the
Bible for himself or herself was a strong impetus to a literate society. Sweden's fertile
soil and forests created wealth for investment in fledgling industries. Sweden is rich in
iron ore, copper, and other industrial metals. Freedom of inquiry came early to Sweden,
and with it science forged ahead. Carl Linnaeus created a universal system of plant
and animal taxonomy. Anders Celcius created the hundred-degree thermometer. C. W.
Scheele (1742-1786) discovered and added chlorine to the periodic table. Jons Berzilius
(1779-1848) is a father of modern chemistry. In the nineteenth century a spate of Swedes
invented things of widespread use and need. L.M. Ericsson invented the table telephone.
And Albert Nobel held more than 200 patents, including dynamite, the stick that tamed ni-
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