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Essay Subject: Life & career of 17th Cent. Swedish king. Military, administration, impact on nation.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Life & career of 17th Cent. Swedish king. Military, administration, impact on nation. Paper Introduction: Gustavus Adolphus, or Gustav Adolf,1 King of Sweden from 1611 until his death at the Battle of Luetzen in 1632, was one of the most remarkable statesmen and soldiers of the earlymodern era, and had perhaps more impact on European and world history than any other Swede. At his accession, Sweden was a territorially large but poor kingdom, peripheral to European affairs. It had only gained its independence from Denmark in the previous century, and had a population of little more than a million people. Gustavus Adolphus made Sweden a European Great Power, a status which it retained for about another century, and in the course of some two years' campaigning he played a decisive part in the Thirty Years War. He saved the Protestant cause and thus did much the shape the Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. As King of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus' achievements were vast, but manyof them were ultimately transient. The name by which GustavusAdolphus came to be called, the Lion of the North, was richly deserved. 1, 271ff. Macedonian phalanx of Alexander the Great. 17Ibid., 119-21. She was an ill-educated andsomewhat unstable woman, and the marriage had not been a happy feature ofGustavus Adolphus' life.23 Queen Christina was herself a rather unstablewoman, who eventually abdicated her throne and ended her life as a Catholic________ 2 Ibid., 96-97. Thiswas adopted two years later, in 1634. of modern armored-warfare tactics.3 Yet in the course of the vast scopeof his activities, Gustavus Adolphus won the devotion of his people, and hehas been called "probably the most attractive king ever to have sat on theSwedish throne."4 He came to his throne under inauspicious circumstances. For his chiefcouncillor he chose one of the great statesmen and administrators of theage, Axel Oxenstierna, who was himself a relatively young man when GustavusAdolphus tapped him.1 The earlier Vasa kings, like many sixteenth-century monarchs, hadruled through personal royal secretaries of relatively humble birth. 19Ibid., 13 ff. For the devotion of his subjects, 94-96. Boston: Little, Brown, 1928.Oakley, Stewart A. 1 Roberts, v. Christina of Sweden. Sir Alec Randall, ed. He savedthe Protestant cause and thus did much the shape the subsequent politicaland social development of Europe. 22Liddell Hart, 147-49. 2. vol. 21Roberts, v. This discussion will use the traditionalforms, however, as they are the most familiar. He then turned his energies toorganizing the potential military resources of his kingdom. 23Sven Stolpe, Christina of Sweden, Sir Alec Randall, ed. At Breitenfeld,the Imperialist army under Tilly actually commenced a flanking maneuver.But Gustavus Adolphus' more flexible units quickly________ 16Liddell Hart, 114-19. Oakley, A Short History of Sweden (New York: Praeger,1966), 94. 14Liddell Hart, 1 3-6. The great military strategist B. Nor indeed was Charles' claim tothe throne certain; the senior branch of the Swedish royal house of Vasawas represented by Sigismund, King of Poland.5 Charles had alienated thenobles of his own country, and embroiled the country in a costly andindecisive war with Denmark. Cavalry hadadopted guns, carbines or pistols, but in so doing had become a mereskirmish force, lacking "shock" power. 2 (New York: Longmans, Green, 1958), 246. 7Oakley, 84. Armies were raised by "Captains," who managed themvirtually as independent entrepreneurs -- many indeed selling themselvesand their forces as mercenaries. 8Roberts, 48ff.surprise night attack (both features exceptional at that time) on theDanish fortress of Christianopel, taking it.9 During his early years on the throne, Gustavus Adolphus concernedhimself primarily with ensuring Sweden's security situation. He was personally extremely bold, oftencarrying out forward reconaissances.2 In strategy, however, he tendedtoward caution. Thishad been one factor in creating hostility among the nobles, and on hisaccession Gustavus Adolphus was compelled to grant a more favorablestanding to the nobility.11 The administration that he and Oxenstiernacreated, however, allowed the nobility its leadership role withoutcompromising efficiency. Advancing with a small detachment through fog, Gustavus Adolphuswas killed, but his army, like Nelson's fleet at Trafalgar, won thebattle.22 Gustavus Adolphus' death made his six-year-old daughter, Christina,Queen of Sweden. Gustavus Adolphus: A History of Sweden 1611-1632. Wallenstein and Gustavus Adolphus finally met at Leutzenin 1632. in Rome. His failure to advance on Vienna has been criticized, butthere is room for doubting that it would have been decisive if he had --and many seventeenth-century armies came to grief by overextendingthemselves.21 In this emergency, the Holy Roman Emperor recalled his best general,Wallenstein, who had been previously dismissed on account of his excessivepersonal power. moved to respond, and in the battle the Imperialistforce was shattered. The way to Vienna, the Imperial Hapsburg capital, was open, butGustavus Adolphus did not take it. educational institutions.) Gustavus Adolphus' final contribution toSwedish national administration was posthumous. Gustavus Adolphusintroduced four-pounder field guns that could be moved more easily andquickly into position.18 These new tactics had their great test at the battle of Breitenfeld,on September 7, 1631.19 Sweden had entered the Thirty Years War in theprevious year, when the Protestant cause was at its low ebb. It had only gained its independence from Denmark in the previouscentury, and had a population of little more than a million people.Gustavus Adolphus made Sweden a European Great Power, a status which itretained for about another century, and in the course of some two years'campaigning he played a decisive part in the Thirty Years War. Likewise, Gustavus Adolphus' military innovations created thestyle of highly organized European warfare that would help to make Europethe predominant center of power in the world. Earlier in the year of his accession, he led a________ 3Ibid., 12 . His campaigns also reshaped the European art of war, creating inoutline the system of organization, weapons, and tactics that would endureuntil the industrial era. Liddell Hart, Great Captains Unveiled (Boston: Little, Brown,1928), 151. 2B. He elevated Sweden to Great Powerstatus, but the country ultimately could not sustain that burden. Gustavus Adolphus: A History of Sweden 1611- 1632. Gustavus Adolphus trained hiscavalry to attack with the sword, restoring its ability to break in on andshatter enemy formations.17 He also introduced more mobile cannon.Contemporary armies used what were in effect heavy siege guns, whichrequired many horses to draw and were still slow-moving. The key tobattle was the massed formation of infantry, chiefly armed with pikes, andformed in an unwieldy square. Bibliography Liddell Hart, B. A Short History of Sweden. Shortly after he died atLuetzen, Oxenstierna issued a "Form of Government" that would be theconstitution of Sweden through the rest of the early-modern period. But the work Gustavus Adolphus had done survived her, and Swedenremained a Great Power for the rest of the century. Great Captains Unveiled. 11Oakley, 84. Although it cannot be certain, it ishighly probable that this represented Gustavus Adolphus' own will andthought.13 Apart from these acts of general national administration, GustavusAdolphus devoted great and immensely consequential effort to militaryorganization. It was in some respects a re-creation of the________ 13Roberts, v. The Swedish army created by GustavusAdolphus had a regular system of recruitment and organization, and wasessentially the first national army in the modern sense.14 It was more than simply an administrative exercise. New York: Longmans, Green, 1953.Stolpe, Sven. 6Ibid., 46. Inlarger European history, his impact was more permanent. vol. New York: Longmans, Green, 1953.________. 1., 342-49. 18Ibid., 121-22. These Swedish unitswere to the conventional formation much as the Roman legion was to thephalanx -- and with the same result when they met.16 Comparable advances were made in cavalry and artillary. New York:Macmillan, 1966. 1. New York: Praeger, 1966.Roberts, Michael. 15Michael Roberts, Gustavus Adolphus: A History of Sweden 1611-1632,v. (New York:Macmillan, 1966), 3 -35. 2., 539-41. When he died, on October 3 , 1611, his sonGustavus Adolphus was only seventeen years old.6 The young new king was legally still underage, and in fact a plan fora regency had been drawn up. 5Michael Roberts, Gustavus Adolphus: A History of Sweden 1611-1632, v.1 (New York: Longmans, Green, 1953), 48ff. H. A new government organization was created, with"colleges" under each of the five great ministers of state, the Chancellor(Oxenstierna's office), the Marshall, the Admiral, the Treasurer, and theSteward.12 ("College" in this context meant simply "organization;" thesewere not________ 9Liddell Hart, 81. At his accession,Sweden was a territorially large but poor kingdom, peripheral to Europeanaffairs. H. Hisadministrative reforms "were, and were intended by their author to be, thepreliminaries to a new style of fighting."15 The military tactics of theearly seventeenth century were based on the developments that had in theprevious two centuries brought an end to medieval warfare. His father,Charles IX, was not a successful king. He had commanded in the fieldsince the age of sixteen. Gustavus Adolphus, incontrast, created a more flexible infantry order, based on battalions, andwith much heavier emphasis on muskets for firepower. Liddell Hartcalled him "the Founder of Modern War."2 The ideas he pioneered did notdie with the technology of his age; in discussing Gustavus Adolphus'contribution to cavalry tactics, Liddell Hart found the germ of the concept-- not yet fully formed when Liddell Hart wrote --________ 1The practice in recent scholarship seems to favor the use of theSwedish form of his name, and those of other historical figures such as hisdaughter Christina (Kristina). But his ministers had enough confidence inhim that they dispensed with the regency, and Gustavus Adolphus assumedfull royal power immediately.7 He had in fact been well-trained forkingship.8 More important than any formal training, given the largelymilitary nature of the problems he faced, was that he already hadsubstantial military command experience. Gustavus Adolphus, or Gustav Adolf,1 King of Sweden from 1611 untilhis death at the Battle of Luetzen in 1632, was one of the most remarkablestatesmen and soldiers of the early-modern era, and had perhaps more impacton European and world history than any other Swede. H. He broughtthe war with Denmark to a moderately successful conclusion, and madesettlements with Russia and Poland. 12Ibid., 9 -91. At this period, national armies as we know them today didnot yet really exist. Had he notdefeated Tilly at Breidenfeld, the Catholic Imperialist cause might havewon the Thirty Years war then and there, profoundly altering Europeanhistory. 4Stewart A. The CatholicImperialist army had conquered nearly all of Germany when Gustavus Adolphusbegan his advance in 163 from a small Baltic bridgehead. She was the daughter of Gustavus Adolphus' queen, MariaEleanora, whom he had married in 162 . 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