Military history of Sweden

Sweden's military strategies have evolved from aggressive expansion to a focus on territorial defense and international cooperation, reflecting changes in its geopolitical position and global security landscape.

In the aftermath, some of the Tushino boyars summoned Wladyslaw IV to lay his claim to the Russian throne, while Skopin-Shuisky was poisoned at the behest of his uncle and rival, Prince Dmitry Shuisky.

The Ingrian War between Sweden and Russia, which lasted between 1610 and 1617 and can be seen as part of the Time of Troubles, is mainly remembered for the attempt to put a Swedish duke on the Russian throne.

England and the Netherlands were also invested in the Baltic Sea trade, and pressured to curtail Denmark's power by ending the Kalmar War before a decisive victory could be attained.

The Danes, while well-equipped and strong, had relied heavily on mercenary forces and Christian IV, low on funds, was finally amenable to persuasion in 1613.

The Thirty Years' War was fought between 1618 and 1648, principally on the territory of today's Germany, and involved most of the major European continental powers, including Sweden.

Sweden held, for a time, control of the principal trade routes of the Baltic; and the increment of revenue resulting from this commanding position was of material assistance during the earlier stages of the war in Germany, whither the Swedish king Gustavus II Adolphus transferred his forces in June 1630.

Using new military techniques such as lighter and more mobile artillery, a larger proportion of his infantry using firearms (as opposed to pikes), and cavalry shock tactics, he won a crushing victory at the Battle of Breitenfeld in 1631.

Wanting to follow up his victory, Charles X attacked Copenhagen in 1659, but was forced to withdraw because of the strong Danish defence and support from the Dutch navy.

It was fought between a coalition of Russia, Denmark–Norway, and Saxony (also the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, from 1701, and Prussia and Hanover from 1715) and Sweden, which was helped by the Ottoman Empire and monetary subsidized by France.

France, naturally, hailed with satisfaction the rise of a faction which was content to be her armourbearer in the north; and the golden streams which flowed from Versailles to Stockholm during the next two generations were the political life-blood of the Hat party.

The European complications consequent with upon the almost simultaneous deaths of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor and Empress Anne of Russia, seemed to favour their adventurous schemes; and, despite the frantic protests of the Cap, a project for the invasion of Russian Finland was rushed through the premature Riksdag of 1740.

On 20 July 1741 war was formally declared against Russia; a month later the Diet was dissolved and the lantmarskalk set off to Finland to take command of the army.

A motion for an inquiry into the conduct of the war was skilfully evaded by obtaining precedence for the succession question Queen Ulrike Eleonora of Sweden had lately died childless and King Frederick was old; and negotiations were thus opened with the new Russian empress, Elizabeth of Russia, who agreed to restore the greater part of Finland if her cousin, Adolph Frederick of Holstein, were elected successor to the Swedish crown.

The French subsidies, which might have sufficed for a six weeks demonstration (it was generally assumed that the king of Prussia would give little trouble to a European coalition), proved quite inadequate; and, after five unsuccessful campaigns, the unhappy Hats were glad to make peace and ignominiously withdraw from a little war which had cost the country 40,000 men.

The Caps struck at once at the weak point of their opponents by ordering a budget report to be made; and it was speedily found that the whole financial system of the Hats had been based upon reckless improvidence and the wilful misrepresentation, and that the only fruit of their long rule was an enormous addition to the national debt and a depreciation of the note circulation to one third of its face value.

The Caps succeeded in reducing the national debt, half of which was transferred from the pockets of the rich to the empty exchequer, and establishing some sort of equilibrium between revenue and expenditure.

Sweden's particular geographical position made her virtually invulnerable for six months out of the twelve, her Pomeranian possessions afforded her an easy ingress into the very heart of the moribund empire, while her Finnish frontier was not many leagues from the Russian capital.

A watchful neutrality, not venturing much beyond defensive alliances and commercial treaties with the maritime powers, was therefore Sweden's safest policy, and this the older Caps had always followed out.

The general distress occasioned by their drastic reforms had found expression in swarms of pamphlets which bit and stung the Cap government, under the protection of the new press laws.

The senate retaliated by an order in council, which the king refused to sign declaring that all complaints against the measures of the last Riksdag should be punished with fine and imprisonment.

The king, at the suggestion of the crown prince thereupon urged the senate to summon an extraordinary Riksdag as the speediest method of relieving the national distress, and, on their refusing to comply with his wishes, abdicated.

On the eve of the contest there was a general assembly of the Hats at the French embassy, where the Comte de Modêne furnished them with 6,000,000 livres, but not until they had signed in his presence an undertaking to reform the constitution in a monarchical sense.

In the contest for speaker of the Riksdag (Lantmarskalk) the leaders of the two parties were again pitted against each other, when the verdict of the last Diet was exactly reversed, von Fersen defeating Rudbeck by 234, though Russia spent no less a sum than 90,000 Riksdaler to secure the election of the latter.

The Caps had short shrift, and the joint note which the Russian, Prussian and Danish ministers presented to the estates protesting, in menacing terms, against any "reprisals" on the part of the triumphant faction, only hastened the fall of the government.

Impediments multiplied at every step; the cry was raised: "The constitution is in danger" and on 30 January 1770 the Reaction Riksdag, after a barren ten months session, rose amidst chaotic confusion without accomplishing anything.

The conflict was initiated by King Gustav III of Sweden for domestic political reasons, as he believed that a short war would leave the opposition no recourse but to support him.

A Norwegian army briefly invaded Sweden and won the Battle of Kvistrum Bridge, before peace was signed on 9 July 1789 following the diplomatic intervention of Great Britain and Prussia.

As a result of the war, the eastern third of Sweden was established as the semi-autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, according to the Finns a personal union with Imperial Russia.

Under the leadership of its new Crown Prince Charles John, formerly French Marshal Bernadotte, Sweden was a founding member of the Sixth Coalition and played a key role in the German Campaign of 1813.

The Battle of Svolder was a naval battle in the 10th century that resulted in the partition of Norway between Denmark and Sweden.
A 1908 painting of Gustav Vasa 's entry into Stockholm shortly after the conquest of Stockholm in 1523.
Depiction of the Kalmar War . The conflict, lasting from 1611 to 1613, was fought between Denmark–Norway and the Kingdom of Sweden .
Although the Battle of Lützen was a Swedish victory, Gustavus Adolphus , the King of Sweden, was killed.
The Battle of Fehmarn in 1644, was a decisive victory for the Swedish Navy during the Torstenson War .
Swedish king Charles X Gustav in skirmish with Polish Tartars during the Battle of Warsaw , 1656.
Depiction of the Battle of Narva , 1700. An early battle of the Great Northern War , The battle saw Russian forces surrender to a Swedish Army a quarter of its size.
Map of Old Finland . Sweden ceded the territories in yellow to the Russian Empire following the Hat's War in 1743.
Depiction of the fall of Kolberg shortly after the third siege of the city in 1761. Two Swedish regiments supported the Russian siege of city.
Contemporary painting of the Battle of Hogland , the first engagement of Russo-Swedish War of 1788–1790 .
Although the Swedish Navy suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Vyborg Bay , the rest of the Swedish fleet was able to break through the Russian naval blockade.
The Swedish Navy dealt the Russian fleet a devastating defeat in the Battle of Svensksund , resulting in the end of the war.
The Battle of Bornhöved was fought in 1813, during the War of the Sixth Coalition . The battle was the last time Swedish and Danish forces met on the battlefield.
The Swedish Brigade at the Whites victory parade in Helsinki. The unit of Swedish volunteers assisted the White Guard during the Finnish Civil War .
Swedish coastal defence ship HM Pansarskepp Gustaf V, with Bofors gun 283 mm (1922-1957).
A Swedish soldier of the United Nations Operation in the Congo (UNOC). Carl von Horn of the Swedish Army was appointed UNOC's supreme commander.
Swedish soldier in Afghanistan, 2008. The Swedish military contributed to International Security Assistance Force , a NATO -led mission security mission following the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan .