The Principal Purpose of the Empire Sweden

The century of empire-building had been facilitated by the keep going weakness of Russia and Poland as well as the support of other mercantile nations who did not want to see Denmark in fillet of sole control of access to the Baltic.

The development of the empire had entailed, however, an increase in the might of the Swedish nobility which, largely due to deuce long regencies, had effectively assumed most of the political power in the country. however when an tout ensembleiance with France led to involvement in wars that were not really in Sweden's interests, Denmark attacked and the ensuing war (1675-79) convinced(p) the nobility that it was necessary to find some "means to brighten Sweden strong enough to safeguard her possessions alone" (Hatton 650). Since Charles XI had proven to be a strong leader in the war, the nobility, scorn their strong reservations about his growing absolutism, allowed his program of renewal to go forward. Charles XI undertook the reform of the nation's budget, the overhaul of its military, and the modernization of its bureaucracy "for its chief(prenominal) task as custodian of both branches of the armed forces" (Hatton 650). These reforms to a fault enabled Charles to shore up his position as absolute principle and his son, the only surviving son of five boys, was raised by parents who "tried to prepare him for kingship" (Scott 225).

The intelligent, energetic Charles "learned early to accomplishment authority" and when his father died unexpectedly in 1697 the

Black, Jeremy. Eighteenth Century Europe 1700-1789. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1990.

as yet in his four years of virtual captivity in Turkish territory Charles seldom made any concessions to the naturalism of the situation in the north. As soon as he was defeated at Poltava, the old alliance reformed as Augustus, re-established in Poland, and Frederick resumed their aggression toward Sweden. In 1710 Peter occupied all of Estonia and Livonia and threatened Finland. Domestic problems in Sweden led much and more of the population to urge the king "in stronger and stronger terms to get ahead a settlement with his enemies while something might still be salvaged" (Oakley 118).

But Charles never abandoned his hope of overcoming his adversaries and, even when he finally managed his return to the last remnants of Swedish possessions, he move to press the nation for more troops and brought "the whole Swedish economy under his control in an attempt to change the revenue" that was lost when the Baltic provinces were taken away (Oakley 119).

But this was quickly followed by the worst possible combination of events as a situation occurred that Swedish diplomacy had long struggled to prevent--"a concretion of her immediate neighbors with the object of divesting her of her empire and partitioning it among themselves" (Oakley 112). The coalition of Denmark, Saxony-Poland and Russia had agreed to mount a three-front attack on Sweden's possessions. Frederick IV's impact of Sleswig-Holstein was soon followed by Peter of Russia's invasion of the Baltic provinces and the accession into Swedish Livonia of Augustus II, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony. Sweden was surrounded and Charles' "only root was the sword" but, while the "diplomacy of delay" might induct served Sweden's interests better, Charles did not even try such a caterpillar tread "until all was already lost" (Scott 226-27). The great problem was that Russia was, alike(p) Sweden, threatened on three fronts and Peter was
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