APPLICATION; APHLOS
PLAYER
Name: EDI ☼
Age: 22
Personal Journal: notedible.
E-mail: notforconsumption [at] gmail [dot] com
AIM/Yahoo!/MSN: GTALK; notforconsumption [at] gmail [dot] com / AIM; orribleedi
CHARACTER
Country Name [Human Name]: Konungariket Sverige/Kingdom of Sweden; Berwald Oxenstierna.
Apparent Age/Actual Age: 21; 486 since 'de facto independent kingdom in 1523.
Appearance: The tallest of the Nordic-characters standing at 182cm, Sweden is a rather intense presence in personality as well as appearance. A stature containing broad shoulders and a solid jaw, he bares the commonly colored blonde hair shared amongst his northern counterparts. Cut short his hair holds its own sort of organization, slightly untidy and fanned. He is fit for his size with a proper waist to shoulder ratio which could be considered a rather intimidating figure, but per some nations opinion, that should not deter you.
As far as accessories are concerned he can at times be witnessed with a blue/black colored cap strapped to his head by a band that tucks under his chin, though commonly, if not constantly, he bares glasses that rest on the bridge of his nose, framing his green shaded eyes. What he is seen wearing most often in the modern time period, or what you would dub of it, is a long, dark blue double breasted, overcoat that hangs over a black shirt, tie and slacks that match the coloring of his coat. A belt and shoulder stab adorn the assemble as well as a pair of black gloves and boots.
Personality: A stifling, silent presence, overwhelming and often one misunderstood, Sweden is a nation of perceptive and only those with the insight of perception tend to understand him completely, and it takes more than a translator of a rather thick accent to do such.
A nation with a well composed cold facade, an exterior of ice, Sweden beneath contains nothing but hidden passion within the confines of his heart and soul. Amongst his silence, the northern nations keeps his desires for warmth and gratification shoved deep within the recesses of himself, for they are shameful, they tear apart the guise he has created of himself as strength does not come from being open and loving, strength comes from detachment, from stillness, his tolerance of others around him. His silence, his frigid nature is his fortress and those in number are rare who can penetrate its walls. Sweden is a warrior, an old lion of a soul and such in his lack of emotion, he lack of reaction, Sweden composes himself strongly, he has no need to feel or to show feeling aloud.
Works are rare and when spoken, awkwardly projected, unable, unnaturally and like a fish out of water his ability to express himself verbally is a struggle. For Sweden, words are sparing, and the things that are said are words that must be stated, forced to be shared, words complicate things and sometimes were a look can be regarded for them, it is for the best; they are irrelevant often and need not to be said aloud. Each word and each thought must be planned with extreme consideration before leaving the breath of his lips. Yet, it is not uncommon for these well planned words to tangle, causing the nation to look and seem more unsure, flustered in response, unable to compose himself accordingly.
Aside his fault in verbal slips, despite his tough exterior, Sweden does indeed care deeply for those whom find themselves in the title of good company, those closest to him and though he does not always find himself in high regards with his northern companions, he admires them and holds them highly in consideration to other nations southerly. Such feelings though, such thoughts stay hidden within him though and rarely do they find themselves produced amongst company or face-to-face.
A character seemingly unapproachable, one that exudes silent confidence, strength and unwitting ferocity, within Sweden possesses a calm and gentle nature that despite his efforts and time invested in hiding and maintaining such compassion, rises to the surface. His affection shows in minor ways that many mistake simply for calculated means of keeping others at a distance, but whether mending a torn piece of clothing or assisting in crafts to rebuild and reconstruct, Sweden finds himself mildly content, satisfied for the moment, to know at least in some manner he has assisted, he has helped and it is by this his feeling shines through.
Weapons: Deadly, delicious surströmming At times Sweden has been illustrated with a metal staff, or sword as a weapon in official art and a great deal of fanartists utilize this concept as well.
Your Favorite place to hide: Under the BED WITH AN ENGAN STYLE BEDFRAME.
History: Swedish history kicked into full gear with the coming of the Viking Age. Until the 9th century reared its head, the Scandinavian people in their prehistory of Ice, Stone, Bronze and Iron, lived in Germanic kingdoms were war expeditions to foreign countries gave way to the age of the Vikings, their atrocities and their triumphs. Seas were easier to travel amongst than the forest of the inland and brought about the solidification of regions and kingdoms. The Vikings that found their heritage in Sweden commonly traveled east into Russia, developing their settlements on the east side of the Baltic sea. During the Migration Age, Swedish kings belonging to the Scylfing dynasty, known as Ynglings, ruled over the lands to a state of semi-legendary status and sources often state that such findings can trace the foundation of the Swedish kingdom back into the last centuries of the BC era. Yet history is controversial, and native Scandinavians generally hold their dates no earlier than the 9th century.
The first undisputed king of Sweden was Eric the Victorious who existed between 970 to 994 and was succeeded by King Olof Skötkonung whom would become the first Christian king of Sweden, ultimately bring a rather intense halt the Viking era with the introduction of Christianity. Swedes had their contact with Christianity from their earlier travels and commonly Irish missionary work was an active source of evidence by the worship of Irish saints during the Middle Ages. Office independence of the Church of Sweden from the state was not obtained until the late 9th century when in 1060 King Stenkil ascended to the throne. Christianity by then was firmly established throughout most of Sweden asides the people pf Uppland, with their center in Uppsala, would retain their original faith until the main temples replacement by Eric the Saint whom, in legend, undertook the First Swedish Crusade to Finland, conquering the country and building many churches along the way.
In 1319, the first union between Sweden and Norway occurred when the three-year-old Mangnus, son of the Swedish royal Duke Eric and the Norwegian princess Ingeborg inherited the throne of Norway from his grandfather the same year he was elected King of Sweden. The boy-king’s long minority weakened royal influence in both countries and he would lose both kingdoms before his death. The Swedes, upset by his rule, superseded him by his nephew in 1365.
Twenty-three years later, at the request of the Swedes themselves, Margaret I of Denmark, who placed her great-nephew Eric of Pomerania to be elected the common king, drove the nephew off the throne. The union was to be a personal, not a political union and when Margaret refused to observe the stipulations that the kingdoms of the Kalmar union reserved the right to hold a native ruler of land or high office, the efforts of her Denmark to impose will on the weaker kingdoms produced a series of pushes and shoves from the other nations involved. The Swedish were far from happy with the Danes’ wars on surrounding territories, which put a hold on Swedish exports to the rest of the European continent. Wanting to maintain a fair degree of self-government, the unity of the union began to dissolve in the 1430’s to even bring about armed rebellion, entitled the Engelbrecht rebellion in 1434, which lead to the expulsion of Danish forces from Swedish lands. Sweden elected Charles VIII king with the intent to reestablish the union under a Swedish crown, but Charles was elected King of Norway the following year.
In 1520, Stockholm was invaded and taken by Christian II of Denmark in which the scene of the Stockholm Bloodbath would take place. The bloodbath was a series of executions aside a promise for general amnesty. A year later, Gustav Eriksson, gathered troops from Dalama with the purpose of defeating the Danes. In August of the same year, he was elected monarch of the troops and the Swedish War of Liberation started and would continue until the official capture of Stockholm in June of 1523. Yet, because of Gustav making his aims a model on self-preservation, a truce would seal Sweden's freedom from Denmark on August 28th, 1537. Finland, an integrated part of the Swedish Kingdom from the Kalmar Union to the Napolenoic wars, joined naturally amongst Sweden whom from the Middle Ages up to 1809, what now is geographically Finland, was already an integrated part of the Swedish Kingdom and considered one of the four Swedish lands. The difference from Götaland and Svealand, but not Norrland, was that Swedish was not the dominate language.
Even with Sweden’s break from the Kalmar Union, the Danish king Christian III continued to carry the Swedish insignia in his coat of arms, making a supposed claim of sovereignty. An offensive action, Sweden’s neighbor Russia proved to cause a source of stress amongst the populace when Gustav waged an inconclusive war against leader Ivan IV from 1554 to ’57.
Only neutral for a short time, Sweden began the makings of an overseas empire. In October of 1560, Gustav’s son Eric XIV became ruler and engaged Sweden in what was known as the Livonian War involving the Livonian Order threatened by invading Muscovites threatening to destroy the province. By March of 1561 Reval surrender to Sweden and would become an outpost to further Swedish conquest. Sweden was forced to continue its policy of combat to save its interests in Baltic trade. Erik obstructed the Danish plans to conquer Estsonia whom became a dominion of the Swedish Empire from 1561 to 1721 when ceded to Russia. Because Erik hindered trade with Russia, Lübeck would join Denmark in a war alliance which Poland soon joined, desiring more control of the Baltic trade.
Ivan IV concluded a truce with Sweden on August 5th, 1582 yet as soon as the truce expired, the war was resumed by the Russians which ultimately lead to the Treaty of Tyavzino. The treaty was less favorable for Sweden while the treaty prior, the Truce of Plussa, was less favorable to Russia. Sweden ended up receiving Narva and eastern Estonia with Reval which would make the whole of Estonia Swedish. The Swedish-Russian border was delineated and the Russo-Swedish War was put to an end. After the war ended, the son of John III, Duke Sigismund of Sweden, would be elected king of Poland in 1587. After his election, John and his son signed the Articles of Kalmar which would regulate the future relations between thet two countries during a time Sigismund should be succeeding his father as king of Sweden. Meant to be a perpetual alliance, each nation would retain its own laws and customs.
Duke John, the son of John III and brother of Sigismund III, formally renounced his hereditary right to the throne on March the 6th, 1604 which opened the doors for Charles IX of Sweden to be styled as king. Upon taking the throne, Sweden would not only become predominantly Protestant, but also a predominantly military monarchy, which eventually would change the entirety of Swedens policy for nearly the next century. Charles would make the provences liable to provide and maintain a infantry and cavalry for the service of the state. Charles, with due reason, applied these precautions. A struggle ignited in the contest for the possession of the northern Baltic provinces. Though Estonia had been recovered by the Swedes in 1600, their efforts and attempts to gain a holding in Livonia, Finnic lands, were halted and frustrated by the forces of Lithuania.
While Charles normally aimed at supporting weaker Slavonic powers against the stronger variety, Russia was seemingly fading from the nations of Europe. With some Swedish statesmen desiring compensation for the expense of the war, they aimed to get the lands they could before Poland could absorb everything. Charles made siege and captured the County of Kexholm in Russian Finland and Great Novgorod which Charles son Philip would be recognized as tsar unless relief came from Moscow. It was when Charles assumed the title of “King of the Lapps of Nordland”, a title normally reserved for the Danish Crown, did Sweden once more find itself involved in war with Denmark, a war known as the Kalmar War. Diverted from their real objective of gaining more territory, the Swedish forces were transferred to another field even though even with victory would have been unprofitable. What would come though was disaster. Worse, the Kalmar War concluded by Charles’ son Gustavus Adolphus in the second year of his reign by the Treaty of Knäred in January of 1613, imposed obligations and intense suffering upon the Swedish peoples would enkindle a fire of hatred that would burn for the next two centuries.
On the other side, the Russian problem was dealt with a far greater ease. With the idea of a new Russian tsar coming to the throne dissipating, Swedish statesmen had the hope for finally the creation of a Trans-Baltic domination in their control of Novgorod. With the Treaty of Stolbovo in February of 1617, the tsar surrendered to the Swedish king the provinces of County of Kexholm and Ingria, including the fortress of Nöteborg, the key to Finland. Russia also renounced all claims upon Estonia and Livonia which made it possible for Gustavus to restore Novgorod and in turn give acknowledgement to Michael Romanov as tsar of Russia.
The Polish war would turn out to be a world-wide significance unlike the wars with Denmark and Russia that seemed to be exclusively Scandinavian wars. A struggle for the Baltic littoral and a struggle that was intensified with the understanding that the Polish Vasas denied the right of Gustavus to the Swedish throne, but moreover, the Polish War was a war of religion. Gustavus claimed that the Scandinavian kingdoms were the two chief pillars which the Evangelical religion reposed. If they were to disunion, it would open the door to the Catholic league and bring about the destruction of the nations of Denmark and Sweden alike and though Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth held no danger to Protestantism, an alliance was made with Denmark to defend Stralsund in 1628.
Between 1621 and 1629, the Polish War became and exhausting and expensive burden. Swedish Livonia was conquered by the beginning of 1626 and hostiles became transferred to the Prussian provinces of Poland. The delta of the Vistula became occupied and Gustavus treated it as a permanent conquest, yet it would be the limit of the Swedish advance. Gustavus’ efforts were frustrated by the rather superior strategy of the Polish hetman at the time, Stanisław Koniecpolski and in June of 1629, the king created the Treaty of Altmark. By the truce Sweden was, for six years, to retain its possession of its Livonain conquests besides holding Elbling, the Vistula delta and other sections in Prussia while still holding the ability to levy tolls at various cities and ports of Polish land. Thus Sweden was able to hold the control of the principal trade routes of the Baltic up to the very confines of the empire. The extra revenue it created assisted greatly in the early states of the war in Germany.
Following the Thirty Years' War, Sweden was to gain territories as war reparations at the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The nation gained Silesia [a section of what now is Poland], Pomerania [land on the Baltic coast between Poland and Germany] and a pretty penny in turn. Axel Oxenstierna and Johan Banér, two Swedish statesmen assisted in the matters to also obtain several pivotal towns in Russian, German and Polish lands, and an extra 5,000,000 Riksdaler in the bank. In the time France and Sweden both became close allies and joint guarantors with a treaty with the Holy Roman Emperor in 1650. Sweden had officially become the third largest country in Europe by land area with only Russia and Spain surpassing. Gustavus Adolphus's two successors, Christina and Charles X Gustav caused difficulties though. During Christina's rule, the state reached the verge of bankruptcy and in turn caused public unrest until her abdication. Charles X Gustav had a stronger hold between the people and the nobility. His ambitions rested in military glory, but he was a wise politician, concentrating on domestic unity as an underlying strength of an empire.
Once again though, Sweden would go to war with Poland. Though the king Charles X had done his best to recovered the financial errors of Christina, his desire for more military glory did worse. He persuaded the Swedish estates to attack Poland and left Stockholm for Warsaw on July 10th, 1654. The Polish War would expand into a general European war but though he achieved his passage over the Belts and emerge with victory, he died of sheer exhaustion. His son, Charles XI, who was only four at the time, would inherit the throne but the regency appointed to govern till he came of age moved quickly to end the war with Sweden's numerous enemies which stemmed to Russia, Poland, Brandenburg and of course, Denmark. It would be the Peace of Oliva in May of 1660 that would put to rest the feud with Poland and with French assistance on the treaty, ended the fight between Sweden and emperor of Brandenburg.
Sweden's political influence would lessen though. By a combination of territorial loss and loss of religious liberty, neighbors had started to lessen their ties. With the fifteen-year regency in charge of Sweden due to their young king, the administration became divided and hindered. Between the aristocratic party and the party of peace and economy, the aristocratic group prevailed but with it brought a decline of morality. The government eventually fell to corruption leading to Sweden to be hired by foreign powers. What they claimed as a subsidy policy began in 1661 when Sweden in exchange for funds supported the French candidate for the Polish throne. In April of 1668, Sweden acceded to the Triple Alliance between England, Sweden and the United Provinces. Sweden would remain true to the alliance for four years but in 1672 Louis XIV of France gained back the Dutch Republic and regained Sweden as an ally and by a treaty entitled the Treaty of Stockholm, would agree to protect the Netherlands from German claims.
It would be in 1674 that Sweden would be called upon to invade Brandenburg and in May of 1675 would be defeated, opening the idea of a vulnerable Sweden and enabling neighboring nations to attempt to gain headway in the form of the Scanian War. The war would be the breaking point of the decline of the Swedish empire. Swedish Pomerania and the Duchy of Bremen were taken by the lords of Brandenburg, Austria and Denmark. In December of 1677, Brandenburg would capture Stettin and Stralsund would fall on October of 1678. Greifswald, the last Swedish possession on the continent fell in November. In 1679 the French king Louis XIV would come to negotiate terms of peace, eventually without Swedish consent. Sweden would receive nearly full restitution of its German territory and Denmark would return all captured land and while Sweden would have never be able to gain the territory back alone, Charles XI formed a personal hatred towards the French king. The government of Sweden would be turned into a semi-absolute monarchy and the king made his claim that if Sweden was to still be a power, it would need radical reform and soon turned into an absolute monarchy.
After the death of Charles XI, the throne came to rule to his underage son Charles XII, which only had a brief regency. In 1700, Denmark, Poland and Russia, jointly declared war on Sweden. Denmark was forced to peace after an intervention between Swedish, English and Dutch arms and the Russian army was defeated in the Battle of Narva after which Charles took the army into Poland with the intention of dethroning the king. In 1706, he reached his goal. Russia all the while took possession of several towns by the Baltic Sea and instead of attempting to retake them, Charles chose to march directly on Moscow where he was forced to turn towards Ukraine due to complications of environment. In 1709, the Swedish army came to defeat and capture at the Battle of Poltava with Charles barely being able to escape to the Ottoman Empire. Poland and Denmark reentered the war after the defeat along with other nations desiring parts of the Swedish provinces. Most of them would fall and Russian army would gain control of Finland.
At the end of 1715 Sweden was approaching its last stage in exhaustion and openly at war with Great Britain, Hanover, Russia, Prussia, Saxony and Demark, whom all desired and formed a coalition to partition its continental territory. It Charles would have not been such a stubborn king, on many occasion prior and after the date, Sweden might have been saved from the wreckage of what its empire was becoming. His death would leave Sweden at the mercy of its enemies. Northern Swedish Pomerania with Rügen was to be retained after the Treaties of Stockholm in 1719 and 1720, and in July of 1720, the Treaty of Frederiksborg was signed, brining peace between Denmark and Sweden in which Denmark would retrocede land to Sweden in exchange for indemnity funds. Negotiations with Russia opened once more in May of 1720 but peace would not be concluded till 1725 where Sweden would, under pressure, cede Ingria, Estonia, Livonia, the Finish province of Kexholm and Viborg Castle, Finland west of Viborg and north of Käkisalmi was restored to Sweden.
It would not so much be the misfortunes of the Great Northern War, but a new constitution that would contain all the elements for rather dire future calamity. When Frederick I took the throne, Sweden was converted into a extremely limited monarchy in which no measure of law could be had until the assent of at least three out of the four estates was made, essentially a republican constitution and a crowned puppet. The policy worked well at first until Chancery President Count Arvid Horn reveres the policy of the part of Hats and kept France at an arms length, drawing closer to Great Britain. A twenty years' war was to break out as a new race of politicians were born into the fold, the first estate a nursery for great stronghold of opposition towards the Hats, the Caps. The Hats wished to return to the alliance between France and Sweden, but the opposing party to Horn felt that without glory, prosperity in Horn's cautious neutrality, was a worthless possession. Their aim to restore Sweden to the form position as a great power was successful and France hailed, keeping for the next two generations political favor to the Hats.
Problems would arise though amongst the Hats, in a hasty and ill-advised war with Russia. Though the Caps protested, a plan to invade Russian Finland was set in action and on July of 1741, war was formally declared against Russia. Yet, due to a demoralized Swedish force, a single defeat, and a rumor of a hostile attack, caused the army to run blind to Helsinki. Before the end of the year, all of Finland was in the hands of the Russians, the Swedish fleet disabled by an epidemic. The Hats, better at being parliamentary strategists than military, made a motion and a deal with the Russian empress Elizabeth, to agree to restore the greater part of Finland if her cousin, Adolph Frederick of Holstein, would be elected successor to the Swedish crown as the kings wife had died childless. A treaty signed in May of 1743 would solidify these terms and only small parts of Finland would be retained by Russia. In 1751, the old king Frederick died and Adolf Frederick would take the throne.
The Hats would not stand though, and their system would collapse when they plunged Sweden into the Seven Years' War, the result disastrous. The French subsidies proved inadequate and after five unsuccessful campaigns, the Hats withdrew from the little war. Yet, when the estates met in 1765, due to the Hats failures, the Caps were brought into power. The Caps would succeed in reducing the national debt and introduce new reforms to the system, including liberty of the Press in 1776. Yet, their most important act was to throw Sweden's lot in with Russia, counterpoising French influence. No longer a great power, Sweden's alliance was a marketable commodity and its geographical location was nothing to sneeze at. Ever watchful of neutrality, never venturing beyond much as a defensive ally and commercial treaties, the younger generation of the Caps would throw themselves in the arms of the Russians which was an alliance to be feared more than one with France, as France's location was too distant to be proved dangerous. Sweden, to Russia, was regarded as more of future prey, not a possible ally and while the French alliance and the war ridden Hats had destroyed the prestige of Sweden, Russia threatened to destroy its existence completely.
At the death of Adolf Frederick in February of 1771 elections would result in a victory for the Caps. Due to the complications of the coronation oath of monarchical rule, the estates expressed their weariness on the matter. When the Caps, supporters of the Russian federation, became the majority of the Privy Council, Gustav was forced to consider the possibility of a revolution. On the point of being absorbed by the Northern System, a coup d'état was in order to save the independence of the nation, which was slowly becoming isolated by hostilities between neighbors. A revolution began on August 19th, 1772 and from it came the new constitution of August 20th, 1772 in which Gustav III of Sweden imposed upon the terrified Riksdag of the Estates at the bayonet's point, converted a weak and disunited republic into a strong but limited monarchy, in which the balance of power inclined in favor of the monarch. Results abroad varied. Catherine II of Russia, due to the revolution, would prolong the costly Turkish War and in turn stay her hand in the affairs of Finland. Also as a side effect Russia would fall into alliance with Denmark in which the revolution was signified as an act of violence and both powers could gain the chance to seize the first opportunity for intervention to restore the constitution of 1720.
In Sweden the change, at first, was mostly popular. Eight years would pass though and trouble would begin. While the Riksdag of 1778 was witnessed as a hopeful event, the Riksdag of 1786 was a mutiny. In three years, another Riksdag was forced to summon in 1789. Gustav's attempt to interval rule without parliament had been hell, only in his own constitution had he been able to declare war against Russia in April of 1788 and due to a conspiracy, at the beginning of the campaign all military operation stood still. The Danes also made it hard with their sudden invasion of the western territories which almost brought Gustav to ruin. Yet, even amongst the crises, Gustav was able to succeed in another coup d'état in February of 1789 in which he passed the Act of Union and Security, allowing the king an absolute free hand in regards to foreign affairs and command of the army. Though the nobility would forgive him for the act, it would be one of Gustav's last acts before his assassination, which would remove from Sweden its last great monarch.
The period of Gustav IV was considered a melancholy one. Gustaf Reutherholm would virtually rule Sweden until the boy-king would come to rule at the age of eighteen. Between those years Sweden's domestic affairs switched gears, adopting a friendly attitude towards the government in Paris despite the execution of Louis XVI in 1793. On the bright side of the sordid period, a rapprochement was reached between the Scandinavian kingdoms during the revolutionary wars. On March 27th of 1794, a neutrality compact was formed between Denmark and Sweden, in which their united forces would patrol the North Sea, protecting their merchantmen from the British cruisers. Relations with Russia did not run so smoothly though, and were frustrated by the king refused to accept the bride, the grand duchess Alexandra, Catherine II's granddaughter.
On November 1st, 1796, Gustav IV, now eighteen, would ascend the throne. The following year, Denmark, Sweden and Russia acceded to a second League of Armed Neutrality against Great Britain. Until that point, Sweden had kept aloof from continental complications but when the arrest and death of Duc d'Enghien in 1804 inspired Gustav IV with such hatred of Napoleon, that when a general coalition was formed against the French emperor, he was one of the first to join. He pledged to send an army corps to cooperate with the English and Russians in driving the enemy out of the Netherlands and Hanover, but due to a problem amongst Frederick William II of Prussia, he was detained in Pomerania. Due to Gustav though, rejecting the overtures of Napoleon, the results would lead to a total loss of Swedish Pomerania and at Tilsit, the emperor Alexander I of Russia would undertake to compel his greatest geographical enemy, as Napoleon designated Sweden. Gustav, who would not close the Baltic against the English under Alexander's proposals, took no measures to defend Finland against Russia even though it was obvious that the tsar was preparing to attack the grand duchy. In February of 1808, the Russian army crossed the Finnish border without any declaration of war and on April 2nd of the same year, Gustav ordered men of his army corps alongside a British contingent to stand on the Norwegian border in anticipation of an attack from Denmark at the instigation of Napoleon whom had declared war against Sweden, leaving the Finnish army unsupported.
It was the hope that Norway could made up for the loss of Finland and the new crowned prince would argue that it would be an easy matter to persuade the anti-Napoleonic powers to punish Denmark for its loyalty to the First French Empire by taking Norway from it.
On November 13th, 1810, Sweden was forced to declare war against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland at the will of Napoleon I of France. Due to the pressure and occupation of Pomerania, the Swedish government concluded a secret convention with Russia in which the Treaty of St. Petersburg of April 5th, 1812 was signed. The treaty would send men to operate against Napoleon in Germany in return for the promise of Alexander I to guarantee Sweden the possession of Norway. Napoleon though, outbid Alexander by offering to Sweden, Finland all of Pomerania and Mecklenburg in return for Sweden's co-operation against Russia. In May of 1812, the crown prince of Sweden played the cards of a true manipulating force. Assisting in creating peace between Russia and Ottoman Empire, this enabled Russia to take all force against France and in turn, in July, peace was concluded between the United Kingdom, Russia and Sweden. The two motions were a coalition against Napoleon and thus started the outbreak of the Franco-Russian War in which the tsar undertook to place an army corps of men at the disposal of the Swedish crown prince for the conquest of Norway. Finland was sacrificed and Norway was to be won.
In 1813 the campaign to claim Norway would begin, but even though forces were determined to cripple Denmark to secure Norway, the Norwegians themselves were opposed and due to a short war at the hands of the Swedish forces, they were forced to settle for a personal union of two equal nations. Sweden and Norway would come to union on August 6th, 1815, giving royal assent, though Norway was a reluctant member of the union and a growing sense of nationalism between the two nations would influence the political affairs. During the time period of the personal union though, Sweden sympathized warmly with Denmark during the Dano-Prussin War of 1848-1849. Swedish volunteers made haste to assist Danish forces and the Swedish government mediated the Truce of Malmö. Yet, the time of the Crimean War, Sweden remained neutral even though politician and public regard was favorable in regaining Finland. Growing dissatisfaction with the union on the act of Norway would bring the parliament to unanimously declare its dissolution on June 7th, 1905. Sweden threatened war in turn. Yet, after negotiations Sweden agreed to mutual demobilization, revoking the Act of Union on October 16th. King Oscar II of Sweden renounced his claim to the Norwegian throne and recognized Norway as an independent kingdom.
King Oscar would come to Sweden with a problem on his hands. The economic and political condition of the nation was on a decline, in dire need of reforms and a threat to the kinds crown if he were not to answer to the public's cries for a more helpful approach to the manner in which the Swedish government was being handled. Economic, political and internal struggle and change would arise during the 19th century, questions of tax, labor, military incensement, depletion of funds and other issues dealing with the change of power from the crown, to the council, to the voices of the people. As in 1897, the Riksdag received members of socialist representation. At the time of King Oscar II death on December 8th, 1907, he was mourned by his people and was succeeded as the king of Sweden by his eldest son, Prince Gustaf.
With change came the industrialization of Sweden, starting around the year 1870, yet, by the late 19th century, multinational companies utilizing advanced technologies had started emerge. During the early phase of the first world war, Sweden remained neutral. The nation did benefit from demand for goods. With the German u-boat war in progress though, Sweden was cut off from the markets and it led to a severe economic depression and it would be between the two world wars, Swedish goods specialized in steel, ball-bearings, wood pulp and marches. Prosperity would follow and provide foundations for the social welfare characteristics of modern Sweden. During the time of industrialization, the main line railways that stemmed from the Southern, stretching from Stockholm to Malmö in the south, and the Western, to Gothenburg in the west, were put into the fold, assisting greatly internally for Sweden.
At the start of the second world war in September of 1939, Sweden would deem themselves neutral in standing. Due to Sweden's location, it was able to continue its long-held stance on neutrality beside a mild military build-up in concern for the unpredictable course of events of the war calling upon the draft and the Swedish Home Guard to stand amongst wary times. Yet, Sweden throughout the war would prove to sway its side of claimed neutrality towards favoring the side with the upper hand. Before the war though, Sweden was ridden with political movements divided between the communist revolutionary parties and the reformist social democratic. Left wing influence came with the first free election, though not completely free excluding women, men with tax debts and others, who were barred from the election. Riots were a common occurrence in the years leading up to the second world war of confrontation between the employer and the employee, workers aiming for their rights but such things halted at the a new government elected in 1932 led by social democrats, yet only proved to fissure further the gap between the two dominating parties.
An active supporter of the League of Nations, Sweden's stance and policy of neutrality had been questioned long before the second war began and the Swedish non-aligned policy was often considered flawed and corrupt by those involved. At the outbreak of World War II, came the following of the Winter War, a conflict between Finland and the Soviet Union, which began in November of the same year. Though Sweden declared itself to be a non-belligerent case in regards to the conflict, the government actively sided with Finland in the matter and allowed aid economically while supplying armaments. At the beginning of the war, Sweden made the choice to sign trade agreements with both powers despite its stance in neutrality and while the many Swedes wished to join in the effort to protect Finland from the Soviet Unions forces, from a humanitarian and military point of few, the government stood strongly against it despite pleas from the Finnish government. Volunteers made their way to Finland while the Swedish government sent goods such as medicine and weapons to aid the Finns, avoiding directly any military involvement. Even though a plan was put in place by the allied forces to send forces to help the Finns, the danger of both Allied or Axis occupation kept Sweden, as well as Norway, from allowing them to utilize their transits.
With Sweden being cut off from the western world, the nation was dependent on German goodwill but with the German operation to occupy Denmark and Norway in plan in 1940, the Swedish government realized that they could be invaded from either side, forcing them to put up fortifications along their borders. Germany, during the invasion, gained access to Swedish telephone and telegraph lines, which were directly allowed by Sweden, but the lines were tapped and utilized for future Allied use. Though Germany claimed the order that Sweden was not mobilize, the Swedish government raised troops within a few weeks of the invasion, aside the fact that the British had offered to protect Sweden if German troops were to attack. The Swedish though, noting Britain's inability to halt the Germans in France and Norway, were not convinced, continuing to export goods to Axis need. It was not until 1943 that Sweden would begin to resist Germany and allow greater involvement from the Allied pressures. They would eventually come to accept payments from the Allies to halt their trade, compensating for the loss of income, but off the record, Sweden continued to sell to Nazi Germany at inflated rates.
During the years, Sweden in its humanitarian efforts received most of Denmark's Jewish population until the dissolution of the Danish government in 1943. In turn, the Swedes also supported refugees from Finland and Norway, as well as protecting their own Jewish population due to their stance in neutrality. Sweden would choose though, protecting their own people over assisting their neighboring nations. Such an act was deemed as a cowardly one and Winston Churchill viewed Sweden as "that small, coward country" claiming that the nation played both sides of the war for its own profit.
Emerging from the war unharmed, Sweden remained in their non-alignment policy. Eventually the government would reject NATO membership but join up with the United Nations in 1946. Between then and up into the 70s, Sweden would experience a large influx in economic and social prosperity as well as large-scale immigration, the first wave from southern Europe and the another with refugee families from nations such Chile and Vietnam, the government itself supporting the Hanoi government in the Vietnam War. During the 80's though, the economy entered a less powerful stage and while Sweden continued to be industrialized with business and cutting-edge innovation, it did not generate any sustainable amount of new employment for generations to follow. During the Cold War, problems would arise between Sweden and the Soviet Union when the threat of submarines off the coast of Swedish borders hit too close to home. Keeping their policy strictly neutral, Sweden would keep their ties strong with the United States. With the Swedish military unbalanced and vulnerable, the United States took tactics of manipulation to attempt to sway the Swedish government to join the cause to their side and involve themselves militarily. Due to U.S. naval vessels frequently operating on the waters near of Sweden's territory, the people of Sweden were led to believe that vessels held Soviet preference. Convinced of a danger posed by the Soviet Union, the government made the move to prepare for war against it.
The modern era for Sweden has been full of political back and forth. The 1991 elections though would be relative progression in the form of reforms, lowering taxes and reshaping higher education that would eventually bring Sweden into the European Union. With Sweden's entrance to the EU, it would become the symbolic end to Swedish exceptionality and neutrality. Sweden, whom was the norm to keep the content at arms length, bowed to such views with the Oresund Bridge completed in 2000. In 1994 with the election of Göran Persson as the fiancé minister, budget cuts were made in the social programs which the locals immediately resented, only softening their views upon the achievements he was able to gain in the long run. In 2001, Sweden held the seat for a rotating EU Presidency and in 2003, the nation itself denied the proposition of adopting the euro. Riots such as the Gothenburg and various petitions and movements to deny the euro made it clear that the Swedes, particularly the younger generation, felt annoyed by the EU-oriented nation Sweden was becoming, seemingly less self-assured. Still, amongst the time, Sweden continued to thrive forward, becoming a leading power in information technology, mobile telephony and digital terrestrial television, moving to a completely 3G network. Throughout the years though, Sweden has continued to remain and always be true to itself, striving for the best for its people whenever possible.
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Wilhelm Stenhammar came to mind. Piano Sonata No. 4 in G minor, part two, Romanza.
As Sweden sat within a worn hollowed section of trunk amongst the giant sequoia, tucked against one of the moss covered walls, it was all he could think about. The rain drenched the fog covered landscape beyond and clutching his weapon protectively to his side, he only yearned to hear the cords of the piano struck with the talented hands of composers he had watched as he grew, the music shaping with his world. The melancholy of it, the lingering sounds of yearning and sorrow, whispering tones of down trodden grief and uplifting hope within moments of each other. It was a song you could interpret how you wished and would carry your mood along until the end of the score. You could remain silent, observant and your frame of mind could remain tucked within because Stenhammar spoke to the soul when he played.
The rain was cold, but not as cold as his home and somehow the humidity lingering within the fog and the concept of the surroundings did little to soothe the knot that his heart and stomach had formed in unison when the situation had been explained. Alone, he had had made his path and until he was beyond exhaustion had he forced himself to stop, to seek refuge in the arms of the earth. It was there he could clear his head and find out what he needed to do to survive, to succeed. It was important and though the concept was ridiculous, though he found it sick, Sweden, unable to take a stance on a neutral basis, had to aim to protect his profits, his people and his land.
He had left the compound alone and alone he sat. Inside he was desperate to seek out nations he could trust, could debate with, without the concern of automatically being thrust into battle. He need to fight, he needed to calm his busy mind and form a strategy. Outside, he was cold, sullen, silent, his plan a blank slate to an open world.
Outside the rain poured down and collected on leaves, dripping into the hollows of the ground.
Inside, Stenhammer placed his sonata.
Name: EDI ☼
Age: 22
Personal Journal: notedible.
E-mail: notforconsumption [at] gmail [dot] com
AIM/Yahoo!/MSN: GTALK; notforconsumption [at] gmail [dot] com / AIM; orribleedi
CHARACTER
Country Name [Human Name]: Konungariket Sverige/Kingdom of Sweden; Berwald Oxenstierna.
Apparent Age/Actual Age: 21; 486 since 'de facto independent kingdom in 1523.
Appearance: The tallest of the Nordic-characters standing at 182cm, Sweden is a rather intense presence in personality as well as appearance. A stature containing broad shoulders and a solid jaw, he bares the commonly colored blonde hair shared amongst his northern counterparts. Cut short his hair holds its own sort of organization, slightly untidy and fanned. He is fit for his size with a proper waist to shoulder ratio which could be considered a rather intimidating figure, but per some nations opinion, that should not deter you.
As far as accessories are concerned he can at times be witnessed with a blue/black colored cap strapped to his head by a band that tucks under his chin, though commonly, if not constantly, he bares glasses that rest on the bridge of his nose, framing his green shaded eyes. What he is seen wearing most often in the modern time period, or what you would dub of it, is a long, dark blue double breasted, overcoat that hangs over a black shirt, tie and slacks that match the coloring of his coat. A belt and shoulder stab adorn the assemble as well as a pair of black gloves and boots.
Personality: A stifling, silent presence, overwhelming and often one misunderstood, Sweden is a nation of perceptive and only those with the insight of perception tend to understand him completely, and it takes more than a translator of a rather thick accent to do such.
A nation with a well composed cold facade, an exterior of ice, Sweden beneath contains nothing but hidden passion within the confines of his heart and soul. Amongst his silence, the northern nations keeps his desires for warmth and gratification shoved deep within the recesses of himself, for they are shameful, they tear apart the guise he has created of himself as strength does not come from being open and loving, strength comes from detachment, from stillness, his tolerance of others around him. His silence, his frigid nature is his fortress and those in number are rare who can penetrate its walls. Sweden is a warrior, an old lion of a soul and such in his lack of emotion, he lack of reaction, Sweden composes himself strongly, he has no need to feel or to show feeling aloud.
Works are rare and when spoken, awkwardly projected, unable, unnaturally and like a fish out of water his ability to express himself verbally is a struggle. For Sweden, words are sparing, and the things that are said are words that must be stated, forced to be shared, words complicate things and sometimes were a look can be regarded for them, it is for the best; they are irrelevant often and need not to be said aloud. Each word and each thought must be planned with extreme consideration before leaving the breath of his lips. Yet, it is not uncommon for these well planned words to tangle, causing the nation to look and seem more unsure, flustered in response, unable to compose himself accordingly.
Aside his fault in verbal slips, despite his tough exterior, Sweden does indeed care deeply for those whom find themselves in the title of good company, those closest to him and though he does not always find himself in high regards with his northern companions, he admires them and holds them highly in consideration to other nations southerly. Such feelings though, such thoughts stay hidden within him though and rarely do they find themselves produced amongst company or face-to-face.
A character seemingly unapproachable, one that exudes silent confidence, strength and unwitting ferocity, within Sweden possesses a calm and gentle nature that despite his efforts and time invested in hiding and maintaining such compassion, rises to the surface. His affection shows in minor ways that many mistake simply for calculated means of keeping others at a distance, but whether mending a torn piece of clothing or assisting in crafts to rebuild and reconstruct, Sweden finds himself mildly content, satisfied for the moment, to know at least in some manner he has assisted, he has helped and it is by this his feeling shines through.
Weapons: Deadly, delicious surströmming At times Sweden has been illustrated with a metal staff, or sword as a weapon in official art and a great deal of fanartists utilize this concept as well.
Your Favorite place to hide: Under the BED WITH AN ENGAN STYLE BEDFRAME.
History: Swedish history kicked into full gear with the coming of the Viking Age. Until the 9th century reared its head, the Scandinavian people in their prehistory of Ice, Stone, Bronze and Iron, lived in Germanic kingdoms were war expeditions to foreign countries gave way to the age of the Vikings, their atrocities and their triumphs. Seas were easier to travel amongst than the forest of the inland and brought about the solidification of regions and kingdoms. The Vikings that found their heritage in Sweden commonly traveled east into Russia, developing their settlements on the east side of the Baltic sea. During the Migration Age, Swedish kings belonging to the Scylfing dynasty, known as Ynglings, ruled over the lands to a state of semi-legendary status and sources often state that such findings can trace the foundation of the Swedish kingdom back into the last centuries of the BC era. Yet history is controversial, and native Scandinavians generally hold their dates no earlier than the 9th century.
The first undisputed king of Sweden was Eric the Victorious who existed between 970 to 994 and was succeeded by King Olof Skötkonung whom would become the first Christian king of Sweden, ultimately bring a rather intense halt the Viking era with the introduction of Christianity. Swedes had their contact with Christianity from their earlier travels and commonly Irish missionary work was an active source of evidence by the worship of Irish saints during the Middle Ages. Office independence of the Church of Sweden from the state was not obtained until the late 9th century when in 1060 King Stenkil ascended to the throne. Christianity by then was firmly established throughout most of Sweden asides the people pf Uppland, with their center in Uppsala, would retain their original faith until the main temples replacement by Eric the Saint whom, in legend, undertook the First Swedish Crusade to Finland, conquering the country and building many churches along the way.
In 1319, the first union between Sweden and Norway occurred when the three-year-old Mangnus, son of the Swedish royal Duke Eric and the Norwegian princess Ingeborg inherited the throne of Norway from his grandfather the same year he was elected King of Sweden. The boy-king’s long minority weakened royal influence in both countries and he would lose both kingdoms before his death. The Swedes, upset by his rule, superseded him by his nephew in 1365.
Twenty-three years later, at the request of the Swedes themselves, Margaret I of Denmark, who placed her great-nephew Eric of Pomerania to be elected the common king, drove the nephew off the throne. The union was to be a personal, not a political union and when Margaret refused to observe the stipulations that the kingdoms of the Kalmar union reserved the right to hold a native ruler of land or high office, the efforts of her Denmark to impose will on the weaker kingdoms produced a series of pushes and shoves from the other nations involved. The Swedish were far from happy with the Danes’ wars on surrounding territories, which put a hold on Swedish exports to the rest of the European continent. Wanting to maintain a fair degree of self-government, the unity of the union began to dissolve in the 1430’s to even bring about armed rebellion, entitled the Engelbrecht rebellion in 1434, which lead to the expulsion of Danish forces from Swedish lands. Sweden elected Charles VIII king with the intent to reestablish the union under a Swedish crown, but Charles was elected King of Norway the following year.
In 1520, Stockholm was invaded and taken by Christian II of Denmark in which the scene of the Stockholm Bloodbath would take place. The bloodbath was a series of executions aside a promise for general amnesty. A year later, Gustav Eriksson, gathered troops from Dalama with the purpose of defeating the Danes. In August of the same year, he was elected monarch of the troops and the Swedish War of Liberation started and would continue until the official capture of Stockholm in June of 1523. Yet, because of Gustav making his aims a model on self-preservation, a truce would seal Sweden's freedom from Denmark on August 28th, 1537. Finland, an integrated part of the Swedish Kingdom from the Kalmar Union to the Napolenoic wars, joined naturally amongst Sweden whom from the Middle Ages up to 1809, what now is geographically Finland, was already an integrated part of the Swedish Kingdom and considered one of the four Swedish lands. The difference from Götaland and Svealand, but not Norrland, was that Swedish was not the dominate language.
Even with Sweden’s break from the Kalmar Union, the Danish king Christian III continued to carry the Swedish insignia in his coat of arms, making a supposed claim of sovereignty. An offensive action, Sweden’s neighbor Russia proved to cause a source of stress amongst the populace when Gustav waged an inconclusive war against leader Ivan IV from 1554 to ’57.
Only neutral for a short time, Sweden began the makings of an overseas empire. In October of 1560, Gustav’s son Eric XIV became ruler and engaged Sweden in what was known as the Livonian War involving the Livonian Order threatened by invading Muscovites threatening to destroy the province. By March of 1561 Reval surrender to Sweden and would become an outpost to further Swedish conquest. Sweden was forced to continue its policy of combat to save its interests in Baltic trade. Erik obstructed the Danish plans to conquer Estsonia whom became a dominion of the Swedish Empire from 1561 to 1721 when ceded to Russia. Because Erik hindered trade with Russia, Lübeck would join Denmark in a war alliance which Poland soon joined, desiring more control of the Baltic trade.
Ivan IV concluded a truce with Sweden on August 5th, 1582 yet as soon as the truce expired, the war was resumed by the Russians which ultimately lead to the Treaty of Tyavzino. The treaty was less favorable for Sweden while the treaty prior, the Truce of Plussa, was less favorable to Russia. Sweden ended up receiving Narva and eastern Estonia with Reval which would make the whole of Estonia Swedish. The Swedish-Russian border was delineated and the Russo-Swedish War was put to an end. After the war ended, the son of John III, Duke Sigismund of Sweden, would be elected king of Poland in 1587. After his election, John and his son signed the Articles of Kalmar which would regulate the future relations between thet two countries during a time Sigismund should be succeeding his father as king of Sweden. Meant to be a perpetual alliance, each nation would retain its own laws and customs.
Duke John, the son of John III and brother of Sigismund III, formally renounced his hereditary right to the throne on March the 6th, 1604 which opened the doors for Charles IX of Sweden to be styled as king. Upon taking the throne, Sweden would not only become predominantly Protestant, but also a predominantly military monarchy, which eventually would change the entirety of Swedens policy for nearly the next century. Charles would make the provences liable to provide and maintain a infantry and cavalry for the service of the state. Charles, with due reason, applied these precautions. A struggle ignited in the contest for the possession of the northern Baltic provinces. Though Estonia had been recovered by the Swedes in 1600, their efforts and attempts to gain a holding in Livonia, Finnic lands, were halted and frustrated by the forces of Lithuania.
While Charles normally aimed at supporting weaker Slavonic powers against the stronger variety, Russia was seemingly fading from the nations of Europe. With some Swedish statesmen desiring compensation for the expense of the war, they aimed to get the lands they could before Poland could absorb everything. Charles made siege and captured the County of Kexholm in Russian Finland and Great Novgorod which Charles son Philip would be recognized as tsar unless relief came from Moscow. It was when Charles assumed the title of “King of the Lapps of Nordland”, a title normally reserved for the Danish Crown, did Sweden once more find itself involved in war with Denmark, a war known as the Kalmar War. Diverted from their real objective of gaining more territory, the Swedish forces were transferred to another field even though even with victory would have been unprofitable. What would come though was disaster. Worse, the Kalmar War concluded by Charles’ son Gustavus Adolphus in the second year of his reign by the Treaty of Knäred in January of 1613, imposed obligations and intense suffering upon the Swedish peoples would enkindle a fire of hatred that would burn for the next two centuries.
On the other side, the Russian problem was dealt with a far greater ease. With the idea of a new Russian tsar coming to the throne dissipating, Swedish statesmen had the hope for finally the creation of a Trans-Baltic domination in their control of Novgorod. With the Treaty of Stolbovo in February of 1617, the tsar surrendered to the Swedish king the provinces of County of Kexholm and Ingria, including the fortress of Nöteborg, the key to Finland. Russia also renounced all claims upon Estonia and Livonia which made it possible for Gustavus to restore Novgorod and in turn give acknowledgement to Michael Romanov as tsar of Russia.
The Polish war would turn out to be a world-wide significance unlike the wars with Denmark and Russia that seemed to be exclusively Scandinavian wars. A struggle for the Baltic littoral and a struggle that was intensified with the understanding that the Polish Vasas denied the right of Gustavus to the Swedish throne, but moreover, the Polish War was a war of religion. Gustavus claimed that the Scandinavian kingdoms were the two chief pillars which the Evangelical religion reposed. If they were to disunion, it would open the door to the Catholic league and bring about the destruction of the nations of Denmark and Sweden alike and though Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth held no danger to Protestantism, an alliance was made with Denmark to defend Stralsund in 1628.
Between 1621 and 1629, the Polish War became and exhausting and expensive burden. Swedish Livonia was conquered by the beginning of 1626 and hostiles became transferred to the Prussian provinces of Poland. The delta of the Vistula became occupied and Gustavus treated it as a permanent conquest, yet it would be the limit of the Swedish advance. Gustavus’ efforts were frustrated by the rather superior strategy of the Polish hetman at the time, Stanisław Koniecpolski and in June of 1629, the king created the Treaty of Altmark. By the truce Sweden was, for six years, to retain its possession of its Livonain conquests besides holding Elbling, the Vistula delta and other sections in Prussia while still holding the ability to levy tolls at various cities and ports of Polish land. Thus Sweden was able to hold the control of the principal trade routes of the Baltic up to the very confines of the empire. The extra revenue it created assisted greatly in the early states of the war in Germany.
Following the Thirty Years' War, Sweden was to gain territories as war reparations at the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The nation gained Silesia [a section of what now is Poland], Pomerania [land on the Baltic coast between Poland and Germany] and a pretty penny in turn. Axel Oxenstierna and Johan Banér, two Swedish statesmen assisted in the matters to also obtain several pivotal towns in Russian, German and Polish lands, and an extra 5,000,000 Riksdaler in the bank. In the time France and Sweden both became close allies and joint guarantors with a treaty with the Holy Roman Emperor in 1650. Sweden had officially become the third largest country in Europe by land area with only Russia and Spain surpassing. Gustavus Adolphus's two successors, Christina and Charles X Gustav caused difficulties though. During Christina's rule, the state reached the verge of bankruptcy and in turn caused public unrest until her abdication. Charles X Gustav had a stronger hold between the people and the nobility. His ambitions rested in military glory, but he was a wise politician, concentrating on domestic unity as an underlying strength of an empire.
Once again though, Sweden would go to war with Poland. Though the king Charles X had done his best to recovered the financial errors of Christina, his desire for more military glory did worse. He persuaded the Swedish estates to attack Poland and left Stockholm for Warsaw on July 10th, 1654. The Polish War would expand into a general European war but though he achieved his passage over the Belts and emerge with victory, he died of sheer exhaustion. His son, Charles XI, who was only four at the time, would inherit the throne but the regency appointed to govern till he came of age moved quickly to end the war with Sweden's numerous enemies which stemmed to Russia, Poland, Brandenburg and of course, Denmark. It would be the Peace of Oliva in May of 1660 that would put to rest the feud with Poland and with French assistance on the treaty, ended the fight between Sweden and emperor of Brandenburg.
Sweden's political influence would lessen though. By a combination of territorial loss and loss of religious liberty, neighbors had started to lessen their ties. With the fifteen-year regency in charge of Sweden due to their young king, the administration became divided and hindered. Between the aristocratic party and the party of peace and economy, the aristocratic group prevailed but with it brought a decline of morality. The government eventually fell to corruption leading to Sweden to be hired by foreign powers. What they claimed as a subsidy policy began in 1661 when Sweden in exchange for funds supported the French candidate for the Polish throne. In April of 1668, Sweden acceded to the Triple Alliance between England, Sweden and the United Provinces. Sweden would remain true to the alliance for four years but in 1672 Louis XIV of France gained back the Dutch Republic and regained Sweden as an ally and by a treaty entitled the Treaty of Stockholm, would agree to protect the Netherlands from German claims.
It would be in 1674 that Sweden would be called upon to invade Brandenburg and in May of 1675 would be defeated, opening the idea of a vulnerable Sweden and enabling neighboring nations to attempt to gain headway in the form of the Scanian War. The war would be the breaking point of the decline of the Swedish empire. Swedish Pomerania and the Duchy of Bremen were taken by the lords of Brandenburg, Austria and Denmark. In December of 1677, Brandenburg would capture Stettin and Stralsund would fall on October of 1678. Greifswald, the last Swedish possession on the continent fell in November. In 1679 the French king Louis XIV would come to negotiate terms of peace, eventually without Swedish consent. Sweden would receive nearly full restitution of its German territory and Denmark would return all captured land and while Sweden would have never be able to gain the territory back alone, Charles XI formed a personal hatred towards the French king. The government of Sweden would be turned into a semi-absolute monarchy and the king made his claim that if Sweden was to still be a power, it would need radical reform and soon turned into an absolute monarchy.
After the death of Charles XI, the throne came to rule to his underage son Charles XII, which only had a brief regency. In 1700, Denmark, Poland and Russia, jointly declared war on Sweden. Denmark was forced to peace after an intervention between Swedish, English and Dutch arms and the Russian army was defeated in the Battle of Narva after which Charles took the army into Poland with the intention of dethroning the king. In 1706, he reached his goal. Russia all the while took possession of several towns by the Baltic Sea and instead of attempting to retake them, Charles chose to march directly on Moscow where he was forced to turn towards Ukraine due to complications of environment. In 1709, the Swedish army came to defeat and capture at the Battle of Poltava with Charles barely being able to escape to the Ottoman Empire. Poland and Denmark reentered the war after the defeat along with other nations desiring parts of the Swedish provinces. Most of them would fall and Russian army would gain control of Finland.
At the end of 1715 Sweden was approaching its last stage in exhaustion and openly at war with Great Britain, Hanover, Russia, Prussia, Saxony and Demark, whom all desired and formed a coalition to partition its continental territory. It Charles would have not been such a stubborn king, on many occasion prior and after the date, Sweden might have been saved from the wreckage of what its empire was becoming. His death would leave Sweden at the mercy of its enemies. Northern Swedish Pomerania with Rügen was to be retained after the Treaties of Stockholm in 1719 and 1720, and in July of 1720, the Treaty of Frederiksborg was signed, brining peace between Denmark and Sweden in which Denmark would retrocede land to Sweden in exchange for indemnity funds. Negotiations with Russia opened once more in May of 1720 but peace would not be concluded till 1725 where Sweden would, under pressure, cede Ingria, Estonia, Livonia, the Finish province of Kexholm and Viborg Castle, Finland west of Viborg and north of Käkisalmi was restored to Sweden.
It would not so much be the misfortunes of the Great Northern War, but a new constitution that would contain all the elements for rather dire future calamity. When Frederick I took the throne, Sweden was converted into a extremely limited monarchy in which no measure of law could be had until the assent of at least three out of the four estates was made, essentially a republican constitution and a crowned puppet. The policy worked well at first until Chancery President Count Arvid Horn reveres the policy of the part of Hats and kept France at an arms length, drawing closer to Great Britain. A twenty years' war was to break out as a new race of politicians were born into the fold, the first estate a nursery for great stronghold of opposition towards the Hats, the Caps. The Hats wished to return to the alliance between France and Sweden, but the opposing party to Horn felt that without glory, prosperity in Horn's cautious neutrality, was a worthless possession. Their aim to restore Sweden to the form position as a great power was successful and France hailed, keeping for the next two generations political favor to the Hats.
Problems would arise though amongst the Hats, in a hasty and ill-advised war with Russia. Though the Caps protested, a plan to invade Russian Finland was set in action and on July of 1741, war was formally declared against Russia. Yet, due to a demoralized Swedish force, a single defeat, and a rumor of a hostile attack, caused the army to run blind to Helsinki. Before the end of the year, all of Finland was in the hands of the Russians, the Swedish fleet disabled by an epidemic. The Hats, better at being parliamentary strategists than military, made a motion and a deal with the Russian empress Elizabeth, to agree to restore the greater part of Finland if her cousin, Adolph Frederick of Holstein, would be elected successor to the Swedish crown as the kings wife had died childless. A treaty signed in May of 1743 would solidify these terms and only small parts of Finland would be retained by Russia. In 1751, the old king Frederick died and Adolf Frederick would take the throne.
The Hats would not stand though, and their system would collapse when they plunged Sweden into the Seven Years' War, the result disastrous. The French subsidies proved inadequate and after five unsuccessful campaigns, the Hats withdrew from the little war. Yet, when the estates met in 1765, due to the Hats failures, the Caps were brought into power. The Caps would succeed in reducing the national debt and introduce new reforms to the system, including liberty of the Press in 1776. Yet, their most important act was to throw Sweden's lot in with Russia, counterpoising French influence. No longer a great power, Sweden's alliance was a marketable commodity and its geographical location was nothing to sneeze at. Ever watchful of neutrality, never venturing beyond much as a defensive ally and commercial treaties, the younger generation of the Caps would throw themselves in the arms of the Russians which was an alliance to be feared more than one with France, as France's location was too distant to be proved dangerous. Sweden, to Russia, was regarded as more of future prey, not a possible ally and while the French alliance and the war ridden Hats had destroyed the prestige of Sweden, Russia threatened to destroy its existence completely.
At the death of Adolf Frederick in February of 1771 elections would result in a victory for the Caps. Due to the complications of the coronation oath of monarchical rule, the estates expressed their weariness on the matter. When the Caps, supporters of the Russian federation, became the majority of the Privy Council, Gustav was forced to consider the possibility of a revolution. On the point of being absorbed by the Northern System, a coup d'état was in order to save the independence of the nation, which was slowly becoming isolated by hostilities between neighbors. A revolution began on August 19th, 1772 and from it came the new constitution of August 20th, 1772 in which Gustav III of Sweden imposed upon the terrified Riksdag of the Estates at the bayonet's point, converted a weak and disunited republic into a strong but limited monarchy, in which the balance of power inclined in favor of the monarch. Results abroad varied. Catherine II of Russia, due to the revolution, would prolong the costly Turkish War and in turn stay her hand in the affairs of Finland. Also as a side effect Russia would fall into alliance with Denmark in which the revolution was signified as an act of violence and both powers could gain the chance to seize the first opportunity for intervention to restore the constitution of 1720.
In Sweden the change, at first, was mostly popular. Eight years would pass though and trouble would begin. While the Riksdag of 1778 was witnessed as a hopeful event, the Riksdag of 1786 was a mutiny. In three years, another Riksdag was forced to summon in 1789. Gustav's attempt to interval rule without parliament had been hell, only in his own constitution had he been able to declare war against Russia in April of 1788 and due to a conspiracy, at the beginning of the campaign all military operation stood still. The Danes also made it hard with their sudden invasion of the western territories which almost brought Gustav to ruin. Yet, even amongst the crises, Gustav was able to succeed in another coup d'état in February of 1789 in which he passed the Act of Union and Security, allowing the king an absolute free hand in regards to foreign affairs and command of the army. Though the nobility would forgive him for the act, it would be one of Gustav's last acts before his assassination, which would remove from Sweden its last great monarch.
The period of Gustav IV was considered a melancholy one. Gustaf Reutherholm would virtually rule Sweden until the boy-king would come to rule at the age of eighteen. Between those years Sweden's domestic affairs switched gears, adopting a friendly attitude towards the government in Paris despite the execution of Louis XVI in 1793. On the bright side of the sordid period, a rapprochement was reached between the Scandinavian kingdoms during the revolutionary wars. On March 27th of 1794, a neutrality compact was formed between Denmark and Sweden, in which their united forces would patrol the North Sea, protecting their merchantmen from the British cruisers. Relations with Russia did not run so smoothly though, and were frustrated by the king refused to accept the bride, the grand duchess Alexandra, Catherine II's granddaughter.
On November 1st, 1796, Gustav IV, now eighteen, would ascend the throne. The following year, Denmark, Sweden and Russia acceded to a second League of Armed Neutrality against Great Britain. Until that point, Sweden had kept aloof from continental complications but when the arrest and death of Duc d'Enghien in 1804 inspired Gustav IV with such hatred of Napoleon, that when a general coalition was formed against the French emperor, he was one of the first to join. He pledged to send an army corps to cooperate with the English and Russians in driving the enemy out of the Netherlands and Hanover, but due to a problem amongst Frederick William II of Prussia, he was detained in Pomerania. Due to Gustav though, rejecting the overtures of Napoleon, the results would lead to a total loss of Swedish Pomerania and at Tilsit, the emperor Alexander I of Russia would undertake to compel his greatest geographical enemy, as Napoleon designated Sweden. Gustav, who would not close the Baltic against the English under Alexander's proposals, took no measures to defend Finland against Russia even though it was obvious that the tsar was preparing to attack the grand duchy. In February of 1808, the Russian army crossed the Finnish border without any declaration of war and on April 2nd of the same year, Gustav ordered men of his army corps alongside a British contingent to stand on the Norwegian border in anticipation of an attack from Denmark at the instigation of Napoleon whom had declared war against Sweden, leaving the Finnish army unsupported.
It was the hope that Norway could made up for the loss of Finland and the new crowned prince would argue that it would be an easy matter to persuade the anti-Napoleonic powers to punish Denmark for its loyalty to the First French Empire by taking Norway from it.
On November 13th, 1810, Sweden was forced to declare war against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland at the will of Napoleon I of France. Due to the pressure and occupation of Pomerania, the Swedish government concluded a secret convention with Russia in which the Treaty of St. Petersburg of April 5th, 1812 was signed. The treaty would send men to operate against Napoleon in Germany in return for the promise of Alexander I to guarantee Sweden the possession of Norway. Napoleon though, outbid Alexander by offering to Sweden, Finland all of Pomerania and Mecklenburg in return for Sweden's co-operation against Russia. In May of 1812, the crown prince of Sweden played the cards of a true manipulating force. Assisting in creating peace between Russia and Ottoman Empire, this enabled Russia to take all force against France and in turn, in July, peace was concluded between the United Kingdom, Russia and Sweden. The two motions were a coalition against Napoleon and thus started the outbreak of the Franco-Russian War in which the tsar undertook to place an army corps of men at the disposal of the Swedish crown prince for the conquest of Norway. Finland was sacrificed and Norway was to be won.
In 1813 the campaign to claim Norway would begin, but even though forces were determined to cripple Denmark to secure Norway, the Norwegians themselves were opposed and due to a short war at the hands of the Swedish forces, they were forced to settle for a personal union of two equal nations. Sweden and Norway would come to union on August 6th, 1815, giving royal assent, though Norway was a reluctant member of the union and a growing sense of nationalism between the two nations would influence the political affairs. During the time period of the personal union though, Sweden sympathized warmly with Denmark during the Dano-Prussin War of 1848-1849. Swedish volunteers made haste to assist Danish forces and the Swedish government mediated the Truce of Malmö. Yet, the time of the Crimean War, Sweden remained neutral even though politician and public regard was favorable in regaining Finland. Growing dissatisfaction with the union on the act of Norway would bring the parliament to unanimously declare its dissolution on June 7th, 1905. Sweden threatened war in turn. Yet, after negotiations Sweden agreed to mutual demobilization, revoking the Act of Union on October 16th. King Oscar II of Sweden renounced his claim to the Norwegian throne and recognized Norway as an independent kingdom.
King Oscar would come to Sweden with a problem on his hands. The economic and political condition of the nation was on a decline, in dire need of reforms and a threat to the kinds crown if he were not to answer to the public's cries for a more helpful approach to the manner in which the Swedish government was being handled. Economic, political and internal struggle and change would arise during the 19th century, questions of tax, labor, military incensement, depletion of funds and other issues dealing with the change of power from the crown, to the council, to the voices of the people. As in 1897, the Riksdag received members of socialist representation. At the time of King Oscar II death on December 8th, 1907, he was mourned by his people and was succeeded as the king of Sweden by his eldest son, Prince Gustaf.
With change came the industrialization of Sweden, starting around the year 1870, yet, by the late 19th century, multinational companies utilizing advanced technologies had started emerge. During the early phase of the first world war, Sweden remained neutral. The nation did benefit from demand for goods. With the German u-boat war in progress though, Sweden was cut off from the markets and it led to a severe economic depression and it would be between the two world wars, Swedish goods specialized in steel, ball-bearings, wood pulp and marches. Prosperity would follow and provide foundations for the social welfare characteristics of modern Sweden. During the time of industrialization, the main line railways that stemmed from the Southern, stretching from Stockholm to Malmö in the south, and the Western, to Gothenburg in the west, were put into the fold, assisting greatly internally for Sweden.
At the start of the second world war in September of 1939, Sweden would deem themselves neutral in standing. Due to Sweden's location, it was able to continue its long-held stance on neutrality beside a mild military build-up in concern for the unpredictable course of events of the war calling upon the draft and the Swedish Home Guard to stand amongst wary times. Yet, Sweden throughout the war would prove to sway its side of claimed neutrality towards favoring the side with the upper hand. Before the war though, Sweden was ridden with political movements divided between the communist revolutionary parties and the reformist social democratic. Left wing influence came with the first free election, though not completely free excluding women, men with tax debts and others, who were barred from the election. Riots were a common occurrence in the years leading up to the second world war of confrontation between the employer and the employee, workers aiming for their rights but such things halted at the a new government elected in 1932 led by social democrats, yet only proved to fissure further the gap between the two dominating parties.
An active supporter of the League of Nations, Sweden's stance and policy of neutrality had been questioned long before the second war began and the Swedish non-aligned policy was often considered flawed and corrupt by those involved. At the outbreak of World War II, came the following of the Winter War, a conflict between Finland and the Soviet Union, which began in November of the same year. Though Sweden declared itself to be a non-belligerent case in regards to the conflict, the government actively sided with Finland in the matter and allowed aid economically while supplying armaments. At the beginning of the war, Sweden made the choice to sign trade agreements with both powers despite its stance in neutrality and while the many Swedes wished to join in the effort to protect Finland from the Soviet Unions forces, from a humanitarian and military point of few, the government stood strongly against it despite pleas from the Finnish government. Volunteers made their way to Finland while the Swedish government sent goods such as medicine and weapons to aid the Finns, avoiding directly any military involvement. Even though a plan was put in place by the allied forces to send forces to help the Finns, the danger of both Allied or Axis occupation kept Sweden, as well as Norway, from allowing them to utilize their transits.
With Sweden being cut off from the western world, the nation was dependent on German goodwill but with the German operation to occupy Denmark and Norway in plan in 1940, the Swedish government realized that they could be invaded from either side, forcing them to put up fortifications along their borders. Germany, during the invasion, gained access to Swedish telephone and telegraph lines, which were directly allowed by Sweden, but the lines were tapped and utilized for future Allied use. Though Germany claimed the order that Sweden was not mobilize, the Swedish government raised troops within a few weeks of the invasion, aside the fact that the British had offered to protect Sweden if German troops were to attack. The Swedish though, noting Britain's inability to halt the Germans in France and Norway, were not convinced, continuing to export goods to Axis need. It was not until 1943 that Sweden would begin to resist Germany and allow greater involvement from the Allied pressures. They would eventually come to accept payments from the Allies to halt their trade, compensating for the loss of income, but off the record, Sweden continued to sell to Nazi Germany at inflated rates.
During the years, Sweden in its humanitarian efforts received most of Denmark's Jewish population until the dissolution of the Danish government in 1943. In turn, the Swedes also supported refugees from Finland and Norway, as well as protecting their own Jewish population due to their stance in neutrality. Sweden would choose though, protecting their own people over assisting their neighboring nations. Such an act was deemed as a cowardly one and Winston Churchill viewed Sweden as "that small, coward country" claiming that the nation played both sides of the war for its own profit.
Emerging from the war unharmed, Sweden remained in their non-alignment policy. Eventually the government would reject NATO membership but join up with the United Nations in 1946. Between then and up into the 70s, Sweden would experience a large influx in economic and social prosperity as well as large-scale immigration, the first wave from southern Europe and the another with refugee families from nations such Chile and Vietnam, the government itself supporting the Hanoi government in the Vietnam War. During the 80's though, the economy entered a less powerful stage and while Sweden continued to be industrialized with business and cutting-edge innovation, it did not generate any sustainable amount of new employment for generations to follow. During the Cold War, problems would arise between Sweden and the Soviet Union when the threat of submarines off the coast of Swedish borders hit too close to home. Keeping their policy strictly neutral, Sweden would keep their ties strong with the United States. With the Swedish military unbalanced and vulnerable, the United States took tactics of manipulation to attempt to sway the Swedish government to join the cause to their side and involve themselves militarily. Due to U.S. naval vessels frequently operating on the waters near of Sweden's territory, the people of Sweden were led to believe that vessels held Soviet preference. Convinced of a danger posed by the Soviet Union, the government made the move to prepare for war against it.
The modern era for Sweden has been full of political back and forth. The 1991 elections though would be relative progression in the form of reforms, lowering taxes and reshaping higher education that would eventually bring Sweden into the European Union. With Sweden's entrance to the EU, it would become the symbolic end to Swedish exceptionality and neutrality. Sweden, whom was the norm to keep the content at arms length, bowed to such views with the Oresund Bridge completed in 2000. In 1994 with the election of Göran Persson as the fiancé minister, budget cuts were made in the social programs which the locals immediately resented, only softening their views upon the achievements he was able to gain in the long run. In 2001, Sweden held the seat for a rotating EU Presidency and in 2003, the nation itself denied the proposition of adopting the euro. Riots such as the Gothenburg and various petitions and movements to deny the euro made it clear that the Swedes, particularly the younger generation, felt annoyed by the EU-oriented nation Sweden was becoming, seemingly less self-assured. Still, amongst the time, Sweden continued to thrive forward, becoming a leading power in information technology, mobile telephony and digital terrestrial television, moving to a completely 3G network. Throughout the years though, Sweden has continued to remain and always be true to itself, striving for the best for its people whenever possible.
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Wilhelm Stenhammar came to mind. Piano Sonata No. 4 in G minor, part two, Romanza.
As Sweden sat within a worn hollowed section of trunk amongst the giant sequoia, tucked against one of the moss covered walls, it was all he could think about. The rain drenched the fog covered landscape beyond and clutching his weapon protectively to his side, he only yearned to hear the cords of the piano struck with the talented hands of composers he had watched as he grew, the music shaping with his world. The melancholy of it, the lingering sounds of yearning and sorrow, whispering tones of down trodden grief and uplifting hope within moments of each other. It was a song you could interpret how you wished and would carry your mood along until the end of the score. You could remain silent, observant and your frame of mind could remain tucked within because Stenhammar spoke to the soul when he played.
The rain was cold, but not as cold as his home and somehow the humidity lingering within the fog and the concept of the surroundings did little to soothe the knot that his heart and stomach had formed in unison when the situation had been explained. Alone, he had had made his path and until he was beyond exhaustion had he forced himself to stop, to seek refuge in the arms of the earth. It was there he could clear his head and find out what he needed to do to survive, to succeed. It was important and though the concept was ridiculous, though he found it sick, Sweden, unable to take a stance on a neutral basis, had to aim to protect his profits, his people and his land.
He had left the compound alone and alone he sat. Inside he was desperate to seek out nations he could trust, could debate with, without the concern of automatically being thrust into battle. He need to fight, he needed to calm his busy mind and form a strategy. Outside, he was cold, sullen, silent, his plan a blank slate to an open world.
Outside the rain poured down and collected on leaves, dripping into the hollows of the ground.
Inside, Stenhammer placed his sonata.