Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In 2009, experts sought to establish the chemical composition of the bullet that killed King
Karl XII and solve the 18th-century whodunit once and for all. Sadly, permission to have
his body exhumed was denied, as it had already been plucked from its resting place three
times since 1917.
The Age of Liberty
In the 18th century, intellectual enlightenment streaked ahead and Sweden produced some
celebrated writers, philosophers and scientists. Anders Celsius gave his name to the tem-
perature scale; Carl Scheele discovered chlorine; and Carl von Linné (Linnaeus) was the
great botanist who developed theories about plant reproduction.
Gustav III (1746-92) was a popular and sophisticated king who granted freedom of
worship and was surprisingly successful in the maritime battle in the Gulf of Finland
against Russia in 1790. Still, his costly foreign policy earned him enemies in the aristo-
cracy and led to his assassination.
His son Gustav IV Adolf (1778-1837) was forced to abdicate after getting drawn into
the Napoleonic Wars and permanently losing Finland (one-third of Sweden's territory) to
Russia. His rule ended unrestricted royal power with the 1809 constitution.
Out of the blue, Napoleon's marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte (1763-1844) was invited
by a nobleman, Baron Mörner, to take the Swedish throne - which he did, along with the
name Karl Johan. Judiciously changing sides, he led Sweden, allied with Britain, Prussia
and Russia, against France and Denmark.
Although not history textbooks, Vilhelm Moberg's four novels about 19th-century Swedish
emigration are based on real people and bring this period to life. They're translated into
English as
The Emigrants, Unto A Good Land, The Settlers
and
The Last Letter Home
.
Emigration & Industrialisation
Industry arrived late in Sweden (during the second half of the 19th century), but when it
did come it eventually transformed the country from one of Western Europe's poorest to
one of its richest.
Significant Swedish inventions, including dynamite (Alfred Nobel) and the safety match
(patented by Johan Edvard Lundstrom), coupled with efficient steel-making and timber ex-
