Why did the Swedish Empire Collapse?

[@Knowledgia]

Holiday Season Deal! Go to nordvpn.com/knowledgiavpn to get a 2-year plan plus 1 additional month with a huge discount!

[@serkan6036]

Can you do a video about the 7 Years War? Its super glossed over, there is only like 4 or 5 vidoes on it and none of them are good, its like pre-WW with really important people

[@Knowledgia]

@@serkan6036 It's planned for 2022

[@serkan6036]

@@Knowledgia phew, if you say your gonna do it, then its guranteed that it will happen and that its gonna be one hell of a vidoe so thank you :)

[@christiandauz3742]

What if a Time-traveler Industrialized Norway on 872? Would the Norwegian Empire be a thing?

[@christiandauz3742]

@@vardekpetrovic9716 Could Industrialization at the earliest point in Swedish history save the empire?

[@tigertankerer]

Fun fact about Carolus Gustavus: his war of 1655, called in Poland "deluge" brought more destruction to Poland than WWII.

[@phunkracy]

Yes, it literally broke Commonwealth and it never recovered. It was as destructive as 30 Years War for HRE. A phyrric victory if there ever was one.

[@Leaffordes]

What a fun little fact.

[@amjan]

Mass killings is such a fun fact... /The Swedish Flood is the proper translation.

[@larryhall2805]

That concurs of what I read in the book 'Poland' by James Michener. Previous to reading that I used to think the Swedes were allies of Poland.

[@coreytre5016]

Fun..

[@DosSanterino]

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was in a very difficult situation when Swedish invasion happened. Plenty of conflicts in near past, present then war with Russia, cossack uprisings supported by a Tsar and other factors which did not help Poland with defending their land. In Polish history we call this event "Potop" which translates to flood because Swedes were like destructive power, like a wave that flooded the country. It's mind-blowing how much Poland was plundered and how many people died. Loss of 40% of the population and tons of cultural goods, many of which have not been given back to this day. Swedish soldiers looted everything they found valuable, paintings, jewerly, mirrors, cutlery, vases, from churches vanished whole altars, organs, chandeliers. Bigger stuff like fountains, sculptures, bells, furnitures, or smaller like hide, clothes, tents, chairs. Invaders even scraped the gold off the slats. It was ironic that most of these gains went to Protestant churches, the whole war was symbolic. The Reformation showed superiority over Catholicism. Many major Polish cities looked like hell, Warsaw especially. Poland was a "cultural desert", even the occupation of Germany during the Second World War was not as severe as the Swedish one. To this day, stolen treasures and objects are found in Polish rivers and the Baltic Sea.

[@bigjen8238]

Based

[@Leaffordes]

So, if you want to learn more about the Polish 15-17th centuries, don't go to Poland - go to Sweden.

[@babaganushsky]

@@Leaffordes I believe that many of these treasures are already hidden somewhere in Switzerland... But that was a good one though :-)

[@Radbot776]

Yea and polish still look up to west Europe for everything especially mentality, unfortunately Poland will be trash until they figure out who they are, sad how no matter what, everyone ends up just stabbing Poland in the back, I can’t imagine how much it sucks to be polish

[@pigoss]

Maybe you shouldn't declare war if you can't handle it after all

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

The Swedish Empire still exists, it's called IKEA

[@ddc2957]

That’s Dutch.

[@mackboiplays3649]

@@ddc2957 Ikea isn't dutch

[@Pannkakaize]

Swedistan*

[@ddc2957]

IKEA is Dutch today.

[@michaelalbertson7457]

And they use meatballs, not cannonballs. 😄

[@winnienguyen4420]

The Swedish Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were two awesome great powers of the 17th century that not many people really know about like England, France, or Spain.

[@RexOlafusVidulusMagnus]

In the west maybe lmao

[@Frullen]

"that many dont know about" what

[@winnienguyen4420]

@@Frullen that's right. Most people are only educated about the Spanish, Portuguese, French, English, and Dutch empires because they are the ones who built the most competent navies and acquired the vast majority of the New World as well as much of Africa and Asia. Sweden and Poland did no such thing so most people outside of central Europe or Scandinavia know nothing about them unless they are history buffs who delve deeper into European military history such as what I have.

[@Frullen]

@@winnienguyen4420 most people in general barely know any empire, but on the internet and within this certain section both empires, especially poland are well known

[@youtubesangryopinionramble1465]

The reason: Russia.

[@PakBallandSami]

Ikea will bring back the swedish empire and even make it more stronger

[@jozz2248]

The Empire would be incomplete... you'd find parts left over

[@thecryingshame]

If only they could figure out how to put it all together.

[@gr1mrea9er82]

Very simple... an agrarian-raised army, conscripting more and more men, will eventually deplete the ability to feed the domestic population. The Nobility of Sweden had imperial ambitions, but not the surplus of people the other empires could muster.

[@SSK-mp4cz]

The most important mistake that Sweden did under the great power era was the choice to not integrate the southern eastern half of the country. Livonia Estonia and Ingria was never integrated mostly of the reason of serfdom. In the old Sweden and nowadays Finland serfdom never exsisted but it did in the baltics and the Swedish nobilty wanted to take advantage of that. So this important provinces did never became cores of Sweden in the same way as later earned provinces as Halland or Jämtland as an exampel. Ingria was conqured in 1617 and Jämtland in 1645. Livonia in 1629 and Halland was fully conqured 1658. Karl XI did try to integrate all of the eastern provinces especially Livonia or Livland in Swedish but he died to early to conplete it

[@anthonytillman6363]

Serfdom was probably less of an issue in Sweden and Finland because the Agricultural opportunities up there were far fewer.

[@rudde7918]

@@anthonytillman6363 Agriculture was the basis of everything up here as well. We just never had serfdom or feudalism really.

[@fips711]

The Swedish kings didn't get rid of feudalism in Livonia because they didn't want to rock the boat. It would piss off the Baltic-German nobility majorly. Eventually they were pissed off with the reduction and that led to the Great Northern War and Sweden's destruction. Russia also granted the Baltic-Germans special privileges and didn't incorporate the province until around 1900.

[@SSK-mp4cz]

@@fips711 Before Karl XI and his regin. Livonia asked to be integrated in Sweden 3 times probably so they could be able to send representatives to the swedish parlament (ståndsriksdagen) at that time which only Sweden and Finland was allowed to do. When Karl XI gained power 1680 and 1682 so he cpuld be an absolute monarch he wanted to integrate these provinces to strengthen the crown and state and weaken the nobilty in the process. In the old Sweden he was able to take alot of land from the nobilty to fund a new army later known as Caroleans. In the baltics german nobilty was pissed because of the reason that they have been nobilty in livonia longer than sweden had been there and that is why Patkul is famous and so on. The nobilty itself was afraid of the Swedish king and his army. So when Patkul fled they more or less abandon his ideas. My source is a Swedish book called Den Glömda Historien by John Chrispinsson and the chapter about Riga and Livonia. Which mention this facts

[@fips711]

@@SSK-mp4cz I don't think we are disagreeing with anything. Sweden wanted to get rid of serfdom, but the Baltic Germans wanted to keep it, the issue was never solved. And yes, the nobles completely sided with Sweden when it came to war. When Patkul returned with the Saxon army, he was surprised that no one supported his schemes and everyone would rather stay loyal to Sweden than risk falling under Russia. They didn't give a damn about the reduction anymore.

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

Rebuilding the Swedish Empire will have some assembly required

[@IRosamelia]

Kim Jong-ay, just nuke 'm ☢

[@ddc2957]

Great one bud 😂

[@xdanbo1859]

Yes, but you do get some meatballs for dinner.

[@IRosamelia]

@@xdanbo1859 with a side of Kalles Kaviar 🍥

[@Draktand01]

If you’re wondering why a semi-absolute monarchy went over so well with the people, it’s because the internal power dynamics was a three way power struggle between the commoners, the nobility, and the crown. Basically, the crown had to either be allied to the nobility or the commoners for their government to be stable, and an absolute monarchy meant less power vested in the nobility, meaning the crown needed to appeal to the commoners, making absolute monarchy more appealing to the commoners, since the nobility was often viewed as corrupt. Sweden has always been a champion for personal freedoms, even when it wasn’t a democracy, and I hope that our nation continues this trends set by our rich history, whether we stay a democracy or not in he future. Either way, the Swedish people have a bright future ahead of us, and we’ll continue to champion these ideals for the forseeable future.

[@TheHouseOfRonin]

Sweden today has a woke govt , massive taxes and a hyper liberal agenda. Good luck keeping your " Freedoms"

[@changedpace9169]

I don't think anyone was wondering that

[@Draktand01]

@@changedpace9169 Keep in mind that people tend to have wildly different perspectives on life.

[@bornstar481]

@@changedpace9169😂😂😂

[@sampohonkala4195]

One obvious reason for the empire to fall was the population: back in 1650 the population of Finland was about 450 000 people and Sweden about 1,1 million. The population of the Polish - Lithuanian commonwealth at that time was about 11 million, Russia about 10 million. So, even though practically the entire male population of Sweden were involved with the military (which is still the case in Finland), they had a hard time competing and fighting several nations that were like ten times bigger. We cannot blame them for not trying, though.

[@nattygsbord]

In year 1500 things looked like this: France - 16,250,000 people. England - 2,750,000 people. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_in_1500 Now I ask you which country did become the leading world power? Do we hold this discussion in French or in English? Is the worlds largest super-power USA speaking French or English? I think its quite clear that England won the historical struggle for world dominance over its neighbour, despite it had a population that was 6 times larger. So saying that Sweden was doomed to fail is stupid. Its as stupid as saying England could never conquer the world. But yet it happened. You can say it was only because of luck. And perhaps that is true. But that doesn't change the fact that it happened - England did become the leading world power.

[@sampohonkala4195]

@@nattygsbord I ask you did England conquer anything on the European continent like Sweden tried to do? Germany? The Baltic states? Russia? Poland? No, England became an overseas world power. It conquered countries like Amerivca and India that were not a match for firearms.

[@sampohonkala4195]

@@nattygsbord Moreover, English is a Germanic language like Swedish, because England itself was conquered. We have this discussion in a language not originating from England.

[@1020Lester]

@@nattygsbord Its easier to defend your homeland against a bigger threat when you have the geography on your side, aka, being an island. Thats also the reason why the US became the global power of our era. Literally they cant be invaded because they are sandwiched between 2 oceans and 2 friendly countries.

[@michaelalbertson7457]

@@1020Lester The reason England became great was because the country accepted the Bible, which calls for righteousness. One can find fault, but when one realizes that their aims, at least in enough people, Christians, was to get people to come to Christ, which changed lives for the good, one can understand more. I cannot understand why people want to be heathens, when the history of heathens is much more violent than the history of Christians. As for countries, there is usually a "better" one in wars. The one for the good from tyranny. But then, good rulers turn to tyrants usually, because people are warlike, when they get persecuted in some way, and the wars start again. Endless cycle, until after judgement, heaven or hell, for eternity. It's the only way it ends. The Bible has all your answers, especially the New Testament. Don't expect everyone to live it, they won't. But you or anyone else can. The only thing you can't be forced to do is become a true Christian. Freedom to choose. Don't persecute Christians, you're hurting yourself. When Christians are allowed freedom, your govt will allow you freedom. Better for all. God puts it in people who are not Christians to go to places that Christians cannot go without those people. Even though the non Christians were doing much wickedness, the true Christians were doing good. When one always does good, then they can find fault with true Christians. Otherwise, if one complains about the true Christians, that one is (un)just a hypocrite. Yet, it seems, if one can complain about other hypocrites, in their eyes, it doesn't seem to stop them from being hypocrites themselves. Only Christ sets one free from such boorish, and worse behavior. God is love, and also a perfect Father. Many find fault with the Bible, but not themselves. Like that does them good. God cares. Seek Him while He may be found of you. All it takes is a heartcry for deliverance from wickedness. It is found in Christ alone. Look what He did for us. And He forgives.

[@depekthegreat359]

Sweden is one of my favourite respective countries ever but I am extremely so sad that their empire crumbled in a short period of time due to the many mistakes in organising the political and economical sectors respectively well!!!More so,some of the kings and queen themselves did not have a good communication skill among themselves to strengthen the empire for an extremely so long period of time which led to the respective neighbouring kingdoms to conquer many parts of the empire,good friends!!!Sweden is now being developed massively from the political till economical sectors which must have been done during the 16th century of Swedish Empire and ever this country must be massively developed even more,good friends!!!LONG LIVE SWEDEN!!!🇸🇪

[@amjan]

Sweden is currently dying.

[@gulapa8920]

@@amjan what does that even mean lol

[@SSK-mp4cz]

We did have Karl XI father of Karl XII and he was probably the best king Sweden has ever had to this date. Sadly he died of cancer only 41 years old in 1697 it was way to early and the consort government after his death made a fatal mistake when they proclaimed Karl XII king when his was only 15 years old. The famine in todays Estonia and Finland under the 1690s was a another disaster for Sweden at that time

[@Chase1493]

@@gulapa8920 Are you not aware of Sweden’s sorry state? It is dying, literally and figuratively. They might be a good example of being too compassionate.

[@winnienguyen4420]

Sweden in the 17th Century was awesome and had one of the greatest armies in Europe. Nowadays all they are known for is that annoying little Greta Thunberg girl that everyone makes fun of. Such a fall from grace.

[@ThoriberoCaroli]

I wouldn't say the problems started with Christina. Nor that she misspent more money than anyone else. She spent it on culture and science, which perhaps one can argue was not so wise in a military kingdom, but is something we usually applaud in other parts of history. And her spending was nothing compared to that of the regency during Charles XI. Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie knew how to party... Rather the empire had from the start suffered from a structural problem in the form of manpower shortage. Gustavus Adolphus and later Charles XI had military inventions and tactics which allowed Sweden to punch above its weight class. But Sweden was always poor in population and poor in money compared to its neighbours and other powers. It was really only a matter of time before a long enough conflict knocked out enough Swedish soldiers, and then the military would never be able to recover from it. Which was exactly what happened at Poltava...

[@barackobama0101]

Yeah I totally agree. The population wasn’t big, the economy wasn’t reliable enough and so on.

[@phunkracy]

Yeah, one cannot understate how much of the Swedish rise to power in 1600s was due to massive polish loot and even larger French war chest. Also, once the age of mercenaries was over and Europe switched to national, standing armies the disparity further grew.

[@MrFosite]

The lack of its colonial success cannot be understated either, nations with poor resources at home where successful thanks to their holdings overseas. Great example the Dutch republic, a nation much smaller in size resources and population while fighting for their independence. The difference in the end was Swedish aim to be a military power instead of a maritime one. A military power requires a contentious stream of manpower which small nations cant afford, plus brings with it huge expanses unless you mange to win enough, which generally meant sacrifice of more manpower. A maritime power required less manpower and trough overseas occupations highly profitable. Main recourse required for maritime powers is wood, something the Swedish didn't lack and sold off in large amounts to others including the Dutch whom themselves lacked it, same for Swedish steel, was bought in large amount by the dutch to forge their ship cannons. If Swedish Empire would have gone the way the Dutch Republic did, it might have ended up overshadowing them. Lets be honest their ancestors where vikings by thor. Them going as a maritime power would literally have been the most sensible thing to do as oppose to picking fights with those around them pick them with those overseas, much harder to get hit back that way. And trough the trade you could keep your neighbors happier, that and not trying to keep invading their shit helps to towards friendly relations... just saying. My conclusion, the fault lies squarely on the nonsensical move to try and become a military power over an maritime one, considering resources at disposal the limitation of manpower, and a history of shipbuilding.

[@valv_]

Thanks really Interesting

[@phunkracy]

@@MrFosite I think Sweden couldn't become a naval power. It was far too limited in geography, population and wealth. For one, they were pretty much confined to Baltic by the Danish. Then low population means no internal market (unlike all major maritime powers), no manpower to spare on very deadly colonial ventures, geography also meant poor access to external markets. Then comes the issue of immense cash drain that colonial companies were. Dutch and English were wealthy, Sweden was dirt poor compared to great powers. Also it's not like they didnt try to be at least regional naval power, buy they got outclassed by other powers on the sea, even by nascent russian navy. TBH the outcome they ended up with is probably for the best for swedish nation. They still benefitted greatly from European colonialism and industrial revolution.

[@LightxHeaven]

I should point out that the reasons for Christina's abdication are very complex. She never was comfortable with being a ruler and struggled a lot with finding herself an identity, which is not strange considering she was a woman who received a man's education. A highly fascinating woman that deserves her own exposition.

[@Nick_Goblin]

Yeah really an unfair way of portraying her here, she always had a plan to do whats best for the country and it was her choice to let Charles X be king.

[@maxgerecht5586]

It might be, but there‘s still the fact that she spent ALOT of money and nearly made the country gi bancrupt

[@nattygsbord]

She was young. Too young to be understand how the world works and being a good ruler. Understandibly did she want to end the war in Germany that had caused so much death and suffering for 30 years. Her mother was a German, so of course she was extra much anti-war. But Christina was a stupid girl that thought that peace at any cost was a good idea. But the strongest man in the Swedish government - Axel Oxenstierna knew very well that this was just nonsense. And in the end he got his will through, despite Christinas attempts to change course of the foreign policy. And thankfully did Sweden end up winning the war, and avoid bankruptcy (as the loser Austria paid for the war) and religious freedom in Europe was secured thanks to Sweden. German states now no longer had to follow their emperors faith. And Sweden won land and permanent political influence and became recognized as a Great power in Europe with one of the most dangerous armies. Christina probably realized that she had been wrong about her foreign policy. He also wasted lots of money by privatizing the state apparatus and wasting money on parties and luxuries. She ruined the country. And is worthy of contempt for it. The only kind thing I have to say about her, is that she was young and dumb. But on the other hand was many other Kings excellent rulers when they were in their early 20s - like Gustav I, Gustavus Adolphus and Carolus Rex. She probably realized that her handling of the economy had brought the country towards ruin, and that her ideas of foreign policy had been a failure. So its understandable that she felt like she felt when she said that "no woman is suitable to be ruler". I feel pity for her when she felt so inadequate, and that she felt guilt and shame over her gender. Personally I do think that this statement is just nonense, and that many women are smart and have the potential to be excellent rulers. But it is understandable that she felt sad and worthless and finally did end up buying into the ideas of men in the 1600s who truely believed women to be inferior. A sad fate of life.

[@mrbisshie]

Funny how a single girl can fuck over an empire so hard.

[@dl3472]

@Leo the British-Filipino which is really weird considering she was a traitor and the worst ruler ever

[@giorgijioshvili9713]

"A time of Religion and war the legends tell a tale of a lion this beast in a shape of a man with a dream to rule the sea and land"

[@ompwa5382]

You forgot that Kristina was a catholic. Which made her even more hated by the people since the thirty years war was still fresh in their memories

[@michaelalbertson7457]

That was what caused her to leave the Swedish throne.

[@ompwa5382]

@@michaelalbertson7457 U don’t say. It was the final drop, after already being hated by the people, nobles and the clergy. I’m Swedish so I know the history well

[@michaelalbertson7457]

@@ompwa5382 Yeah, I guess I stated the obvious. I'm of Swedish descent, from around the Arctic Circle, so we're probably more Finn than Swede. Most of, if not all, my grandparents friends were Finns in the U.S., but they spoke both languages. I read up on Swedish and Finnish history to some extent.

[@ompwa5382]

@@michaelalbertson7457 That’s awesome. Tho, Finland=eastern Sweden

[@michaelalbertson7457]

@@ompwa5382 Used to be, but Finns have something that others don't claim to have, at least to the extent of what the Finns claim, and that is sisu. Made quite a nation for themselves, they did. But Sweden 🇸🇪 almost always had better tennis players, except when Nieminen 🇫🇮 was playing 🎾. 😄

[@PakBallandSami]

And today Sweden is well know for it health Care, PewDiePie and hating Denmark but it is interesting to learn about the unique history of Sweden truly a great country

[@virreification]

We don't hate Denmark for real though (except when we play football against each other). The Danes are our brothers and sisters and we are very close culturally, economically and politically.

[@shanebraaten9553]

@Grudon 57 Because F*ck Em... That's Why 😶... 💯🤘🏻

[@miliba]

and muslims

[@octodaddy4494]

@@virreification I don't hate Denmark even when we play football against each other, i only hate them if they try to attack us agian like they have done many times in history XD. But i trust them as brothers so no i never hate them at all.

[@Raisonnance.]

I mainly know Sweden for being a muslim country where in 2100 the country won't even be swedish anymore lol. No okay I also know their king has french origins.

[@eksiarvamus]

Sweden also controlled Saaremaa island in Estonia for more than 50 years.

[@husar327]

Fun fact: Queen Christina abdicated because of here faith, she converted from protestantism to catholicism and moved to Rome.

[@HighPeakMapping]

It’s a good day when Knowledgia uploads

[@ThoriberoCaroli]

Sad Swedish Sabaton noises... :(

[@Ugapiku]

When Sweden and Commonwealth had the chance to ally and hold the center of Europe together as a barrier they went to war, which ended in both empires falling...

[@michaelalbertson7457]

Sweden served God's purpose in the 30 Years' War, of ending the power of the (Un)holy Roman Empire with its' false doctrines and grievous policies of lying to and robbing the common people, keeping them poor and enslaved to the church, made to think that was the way to heaven. God had used the RCC to introduce Christianity to the European nations, but their time was over when Luther posted 95, not 5, not 10, but 95 grievances against what the Bible said, or not even in the Bible, used by the RCC. Yet God allowed Russia to defeat Sweden. The only reason I can think of is no one in Europe could beat Nazi Germany. Sweden would not have been able to. God foresaw that.

[@ΠαναγιώτηςΚαλλίνικος-λ9ω]

When you said that the reign of Christina brought in fresh skepticism (9:05), it reminded me her relation (correspondence) with Descartes

[@boyanbogdanov1854]

I see many parallels with my Bulgaria. Denmark is Greece, the dominant naval state in the region for centuries. Russia is Turkey, the big country that poses existential threat to all. Both Bulgaria and Sweden had big empires in the past which are not very well known today. We both had great influence over Russia in the centuries - the founders of Kievan Rus were vikings, the Russians use the cyrillic alphabet which was created in Bulgaria during the reign of Simeon the Great and the russian language is strongly influenced from the so called "Old church slavonic"which is basically ancient Bulgarian.

[@nattygsbord]

People like to talk about what is just recent, and think that the world have always been like this. Armchair historian and such history channels only talk about world war 2 nowadays and ignore rest of western history.

[@corradomancini3271]

Legacy please? Any?

[@БоянБогданов-ю6о]

@@corradomancini3271 Russia was created by Swedish Vikings and later when they became Christians they started using the Bulgarian alphabet o the so called Cyrillic alphabet. Ancient Bulgarian or the so called Old church slavonic became lingua franca for the orthodox slavs and Romanians. This is a legacy for me. Eastern Europe was heavily influenced by our empires but at different moments in time.

[@boyanbogdanov1854]

@André Filipe Oliveira You know that the world didn't start at 1500.

[@johnnyboy3410]

pretty sure the Swedish Empire is more known than the 2 Bulgarian empire

[@romanzuna3197]

Any leader named Adolf. Poland: I´m in danger.

[@tarasdubenskyy508]

We need to be carefull with applying modern day terminology to certain fenomena of 17th century and what one may weirdly call today as corruption was a simple desire to vie for resources back in that time, I mean corruption in Sweden sounds like freedom in Northen Korea and it never crippled Sweden to more extent than any other country at any time, at least not to the same extent as small army and rather isolated geography did.

[@larikauranen2159]

Wasnt Kristina also a bit disillusioned with ruling and having more sympathy towards catholisism, moving to rome after her abdication? If so kinda important detail missed.

[@ginnungagapabyss5639]

The lady almost destroyed a nation shopping. Oh god that might be the silliest thing I heard about history, it might surpass the man that made it illegal to celebrate Christmas, because he hated it, you couldn’t even go to church.

[@TheCarolean]

I'm literally crying right now

[@conorf8091]

Nice empire bro *sails away with ur valuables* 🇬🇧 🛶

[@tellurius4951]

*dying by laughing in Russian*

[@oriongabriel6966]

@@tellurius4951 laughing in *Loosing with 4x amount of troops*

[@tellurius4951]

@@oriongabriel6966 in 1743 you lost another war and lost 3000 more soldiers than we. Sit down again

[@oriongabriel6966]

@@tellurius4951 that wasnt the great northern war it doesn’t count. We where the assholes in that war so I do not care too much about us losing that one

[@kaushikraj4357]

I like your videos so much but you promised that you will make a video on skanderbeg so when it will come

[@shacklock01]

Never seen a mention of the Swedish empire so casually brush over their unparalled millitary brilliance (short lived as it was)

[@andreaslundstrom7921]

You missed to actually include Finland to Russia at the end there. And Kristina chose to abdicate because of her being a devout catholic. Many big mistakes and inaccuracies in this one!

[@alparslankorkmaz2964]

Nicely explained.

[@raphlvlogs271]

did Denmark-Norway also had overseas colonies?

[@zyanego3170]

Greenland and Iceland.

[@octodaddy4494]

@@zyanego3170 Yes actually more than Sweden they had colonies in Caribbean, Africa and Indian ocean also for a fairly long time like the Virgin islands from 1672-1917.

[@TheBarser]

Yes quite a few

[@dzpower189]

Thank you for this great work 👍

[@kiowhatta1]

Isn’t the success of the Northern war 1700-1712 being somewhat overlooked here? Charles XII‘s breathtaking successes, especially in Russia ( which is held in equal regard with that of Napoleon’s and Hitler’s invasions), along with his exile to the Ottoman capital worth mentioning.?

[@johnnyboy3410]

i thought I didn’t read it, Hitler’s invasion ? Hitler’s invasion of Russia is what destroyed him, 80% of Germany’s casualties came at the hands of the Soviets, Hitler can’t be compared to Napoleon or Charles

[@shanebraaten9553]

Always Badass 🤘🏻 when Knowledgia Posts on Some Badass 🗺️ History, Ngl... 💯💪

[@marTn3]

like trump said one time "we shouldnt have gone into iraq" is like we shouldent have invaded prussia or let military power go down

[@raphlvlogs271]

the geography of Sweden is not particularly good for developing in to a maritime colonial empire.

[@fanbuoy9234]

Well, it's pretty much all forests and coastline, what's so bad about it?

[@winnienguyen4420]

It's ok, but definitely not as good as say England or Holland.

[@nattygsbord]

Poland, Germany and Denmark all had more fishers and merchant ship sailors than Sweden in the 1300s and 1500s. So it is quite remarable that Sweden with its total lack of any maritime tradition was able to compete with any of those countries, let alone defeat them at war at sea. But yet it all happened. To everyones surprise did Sweden manage to build a strong fleet. And not only that. It managed to crush all the others and get dominance in the Baltic sea. At some points in history did Sweden have the largest navy in Europe!

[@winnienguyen4420]

@@nattygsbordI had always read that the three best naval powers were the Venicians during the 1400s, the Spanish Armada during the 1500s, then the Dutch through the 1600s, and the English beginning in the mid 1600s but eclipsing by 1700 and eventually becoming the most powerful navy on earth up until after WW2.

[@greywolf7577]

@@fanbuoy9234 Because Denmark can block their ships from going into the Atlantic whenever they want. That isn't a good place to be in if you want colonies. That's why countries like Portugal, Spain, France, and England were the ones to form the most colonies because they were already on the Atlantic to begin with.

[@wetwillyis_1881]

The simple answer to this question is: Dreams are seldom shattered, by a bullet, in the dark! Years of war, and agony, now the King can finally rest! At least, this is what, Sabaton thought me.

[@Gray-Wolf]

King Karl XII was by far one of the best rulers Sweden had. It's a shame that he lost the Great Northern War, Sweden was so close to victory.

[@idontknowwhattonamemyself7350]

Wow This Is So Educational And amazing, Good Job

[@gajdangyorgy3283]

Me after listening to Carolus Rex album from sabaton: I'm 4 parallel universes ahead of you

[@catholicrusader7]

You tellin me they gave the crown to a girl and she almost bankrupted the empire?

[@niccolocaramori7288]

And the collapse of the swedish empire will mark the beggining of new empires, in particular with the foundation of St.Petesburg as new capital of a new and more modern Russian empire, the establishment of Prussia as an european power and the conquest of Odenburg from the Austrian empire we can at least say that the fall of Sweden will start a new era for the entirety of Europe

[@fernandojosesiqueira4512]

Depends, the Swedes had many advantages in infraestructure, polictics, that whould had maden many people of the baltics lifes better, and yes, I know about the serfdom, but lately, it whould had been better.

[@C_C4U]

In short: when Christina got in power, everything just went from bad from worse and from worse, to horrible

[@djmacieg]

Funny fact. Swedish invasion of Poland caused the unification of East Prussia with Brandenburg, giving birth to the future Kingdom of Prussia and Germany nation.

[@rursus8354]

Not funny!

[@454FatJack]

Now Kingdom of Kaliningrad🗜

[@Viikkinu]

Prussia was one of the kingdoms gived born to germany. There were like 50 kingdoms too

[@Simon-d]

The four major Western assaults on Moscow: 1. Poland 1610 (most successful of the four); 2. Sweden 1709 (least successful of the four); 3. France 1812; 4. Germany 1941.

[@nattygsbord]

Sweden took Moscow in 1610. And Sweden had been winning a war against Russia non-stop for 9 years during the Great Northern war - something which cannot be said about others. And this is also while Sweden stood alone against Denmark, Poland, Saxony and Russia.

[@Simon-d]

@@nattygsbord May be too much computer games or alternative history for you. In reality in 1610 Poles were in the Kremlin, not Swedes. And even them, they didn't "take" it, but were officially invited by the Russian boyars and marched in. That was their historic chance to rule Russia, but they screwed up and were ejected in 1612. I never said that Swedes were not great warriors, take it easy. However their march on Moscow didn't go further than Poltava.

[@nattygsbord]

@@Simon-d 12 of march did the Swedish troops march into the city and the Tsar Vasilj welcomed the Swedish troops and the population of Moscow celebrated the arrival of Swedish troops. And in the next year was Novgorod also taken by Swedish troops. The war in Russia was a half-assed military adventure, and the Swedes did not expect to have as much success as they did. Had Sweden put more effort into it, then there would have been a high likelyhood that a Swedish King would have been put on the Russian throne. A faction in the Russian civil war did openly support the idea. Gustavus Adolphus brother Filip was suggested to become the new Russian Tsar. But the boy was very young and his mother was very worried about him and prevented him from travel to Russia, and the terrified boy was probably not yet used for the idea either. This window of oppurtunity was short-lived, and soon the peace negotiations with Russia broke down. Sweden did conquer some important land from Russia, but did not get as much out from the peace deal as it could have done in earlier peace talks when it was suggested that Filip would become King of Russia and Sweden gained even more land than just Ingria and Kexholm county. Had Filip become King of Russia I guess it would not have changed much. The country was at chaos. And Filips mother was probably right when she said that it was barbaric and dangerous. The young boy would probably have been killed. So no big loss there. Even if Swedish vikings (Rus) created Russia do I think that religious and cultural differences would have made it a country too difficult to run for Swedish King. Especially for a 9 year old boy. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Philip,_Duke_of_S%C3%B6dermanland

[@Simon-d]

@@nattygsbord I still think you are confused. The article you linked is about a guy who was proposed by Swedes to Novgorod, an important, yet provincial city. The capital city was Moscow (I hope you know) and that's where the Poles were in charge at the time.

[@brokenbridge6316]

Nicely informative video

[@oliversherman2414]

Swedish empire: *Dies* Sweden: Time for a reboot Sweden: *Forms IKEA empire*

[@youtubesangryopinionramble1465]

Rode to certain death and pain Swedish soldiers met their bane Sacrificed their lives in vain POLTAAVAAAAA!!!!!!

[@svantebillinger4364]

Best vid ever

[@dantedante839]

A woman destroyed an empire, what a piece of news...

[@patrickweber3954]

Peter the Great: "I happened!"

[@toveychurchill6468]

They didn’t make enough furniture

[@youtubesangryopinionramble1465]

Polish-Swedish Wars are epic. The winner: Russia.

[@s.keikhosro_5555]

Some Similarity between persian and english Daughter=Dkokhtar/Star=setare/ no=na/mother=madar/ father =pedar /brother=baradar/ bad=bad /nam=name /static = ista /indoor =andarun/by =ba/off=oft/body =badan/garm=warm /circle=gerdal or gerdaly but in formal dayere is used arabic form/divar =the wall/eyebrow=abroo/cry=gerye/group=grooh/er for job became gar /ist in germany is in english in persian ast so nist in germany and persian means is not Griffen in germany become gereftan in persian means given /dush in persian and dushen in Germany means shower/auto =khod/bache in Netherlands and persian means =baby/ rob=robudan/dark=tarik/ki =who and ki in French/ /to stand /istadan/thunder=tondarSome Similarity between persian and english Daughter=Dkokhtar/Star=setare/ no=na/mother=madar/ father =pedar /brother=baradar/ bad=bad /nam=name /static = ista /indoor =andarun/by =ba/off=oft/body =badan/garm=warm /circle=gerdal or gerdaly but in formal dayere is used arabic form/divar =the wall/eyebrow=abroo/cry=gerye/group=grooh/er for job became gar /ist in germany is in english in persian ast so nist in germany and persian means is not Griffen in germany become gereftan in persian means given /dush in persian and dushen in Germany means shower/auto =khod/bache in Netherlands and persian means =baby/ rob=robudan/dark=tarik/ki =who and ki in French/ /to stand /istadan/thunder=tondar Chin =chane/lip=lab/right=rast Better=behtar or=ar(in middle persian and in /Iron =Isen in/

[@Pannkakaize]

Ok?

[@samamv9893]

other perfcet video much love

[@Snoflakes_1]

I've always loved and respected Sweden for this period in their history. Who knows, perhaps if rivalries were solved and political instability was crushed, Sweden might well be remembered as fondly as the Ottoman and British empires

[@mega0590]

you forgot about the part with charles the 10 campaign against denmark. He was famous for marching through the icy river and taking denmark by suprise and threaten copenhagen. This cause denmark to cede scania, to sweden. Otherwise you did a great job with the video and i enjoy it.

[@Uncle_Lex]

Swedes be like: You guys didn’t learn about Stormaktstiden, you didn’t whatttt

[@hoyer]

Becouse it was to beautiful to exist. Now it only exists in our hearts.

[@Tounushi]

8:52 the border stones of the new border in 1721 are still there in south-eastern Finland, at Virolahti.

[@sebastianmadsen4592]

It fall because it’s Sweden XD Greetings from Denmark.🇩🇰

[@octodaddy4494]

Where is the Danish empire in history though? oooof! XD

[@TheBarser]

@@octodaddy4494 can we say the north sea empire counts?

[@pyrrosdimas5798]

Sweden was lucky. Both Russia and Denmark have had crappy leaders throughout history

[@Liemetet]

The danish kalmar union was worse.

[@RodolfoGaming]

great video indeed the period between Gustavus Adolphus and Charles XII is one i wasn't aware of at all the rest i did. keep up the great work!

[@benjamincederberg818]

Sadly the video contains many misstakes in that exact part of the video, so you should probably look up other videos to know how it actually happened then! Its actually very exciting

[@chlopakzpolski]

It was swedish monarchy of Poland who involved Poland into his try to reign Sweden, it seems foreign monarch - especially those nordic germanic were bad for Poland.

[@STOCKHOLMCityWalks]

nicely explained

[@xlife3321]

Are you can make a video about the history of Sri Lanka?

[@tyskbulle]

There are several inaccuracies here Most notably with the monarchs and the state of the country Otherwise its a good overview of the beginning and end

[@jps0117]

To make room for ABBA?

[@reheyesd8666]

Things happened which led to the collapse. Give me my PHD now.

[@reneblom2160]

"Shit happened which led to the collapse". There - I have just improved your PHD thesis.

[@galahad-history]

4:56 the swedish map is such state lasted for less than 1 year. Its not wise to show it for longer period of time.

[@nunyabiznes33]

They didn't churn out enough Great People to win the game.

[@compatriot852]

Similar to Germany, Sweden got too cocky and ultimately lost its wars by making too many enemies at once and overextending

[@oriongabriel6966]

Well, it was the anti-swedish coalatition thst declared war on sweden. The danish and polish struck first.

[@Bubajumba]

@@oriongabriel6966 Exactly, if Sweden didn't have so many enemies there wouldn't be a significant "anti-swedish coalition"

[@reneblom2160]

@@Bubajumba Back then, everybody was keeping a close eye on everybody to make sure, that ONE particular nation wouldn't suddenly stand out and become too dominant and powerful in the region. A certain balance had to be maintained, in the eyes of the great powers. And Sweden was at that time being seen as a major threat to the stability in the Baltic region. Thus alliances were formed against Sweden, and war was being declared. Not quite unlike like today, when Russia decides to invade Ukraine, and Europe, the UK and the USA then form an alliance and subsequently "declares war" (in the form of heavy economic sanctions, and military aid to Ukraine) against the Putin regime.

[@starcobra2575]

They weren't overextended, atleast not yet. And its pretty much impossible to not make enemies with nations that surround you and want your land.

[@starcobra2575]

@@reneblom2160 The balance of power partly didn't exist yet, alltough i say "partly" because it mainly only existed between the powers of France Austria Spain and England at that time.

[@renfors3931]

Use me as a Dislike button Reasons below There are so many mistakes in this video that I don't know where to start. The map is quite wrong all the time and on notable example is that it makes it seem as if Sweden gains Estonia, Livonia and Ingria after the thirty years war while they actually won it circa 40 years prior to that. Sweden didn't have control over half of Poland after 1658 or something like that, and in that time it was Charles X who was king, not Charles XI. Also Sweden have had Scania for about 15 years before the Scanian war, but in the video it shows as if they got it in the peace after the war. The reasons to why Kristina abdicated are much more complex than which shown in the video and the reduction was not initiated until Charles XI, not Charles X. Overall bad quality and badly researched, seems as if the video was made without any effort or love put into it

[@Barbossa778]

This is not the first time I’ve seen these issues with their videos, along with several things pronounced incorrectly (not in this video but many others). I don’t know how much longer I will remain subscribed

[@renfors3931]

@@Barbossa778 I haven't really thought about noticing these kind of mistakes this often before, but then again I am a swede who is very interested in Swedish history. But now that I saw all of these mistakes I honestly think that maybe I soon will have to unsubscibe aswell. And with the dislike having been removed (thanks a lot KZbin u suck) u can't really voice your disappointment with the video and that it was poorly researched and done

[@tyreek.6815]

@@renfors3931 buddy you can still dislike. They’ll see it we just cant see it.😀

[@ragnaraxelson59]

@@renfors3931 You are doing the lord's work. 🙏 🙏 🙏

[@ragnaraxelson59]

Also, the dislike button does work with browser extension, however nothing feasible for seeing dislikes on the phone or xbox etc.

[@edgarmodin]

There are so many inaccuracies that it is really difficult to consisely present a truthful picture of the Swedish Empire.

[@devlinmorin7615]

I havent watched it but I assume it was because they fought the barbary pirates for years with no success only to have the US swoop in, beat the pirates in a month, take all the credit then leave. That convinced them that empiring just wasnt their calling.

[@mrgopnik5964]

The very bare-bones reason why it fell is that Sweden quite literally didn't have enough men to defend it. At the time Sweden had a population of 2.5 million, while Russia had a population of 15 million. While the efforts of Peter the great strengthened Russia substantially, even with a less competent monarch, the Russians would have inevitably taken over the Baltics. Even if every Swedish monarch is a reincarnation of Gustavus Adolphus, as Hannibal, Phyrrus and Napoleon had or would discover, no matter how skilled you are as a general, you can’t win a war if you have no soldiers to fight it with.

[@dacechasinghawk3910]

I had no idea that the Swedish Empire was that huge at one time. At least they still exist in some sort unlike that Ottoman Empire.

[@dwainstromquist9116]

I thought the Empire collapsed because of the wars, they had a meatball shortage.

[@sagittariusa7662]

Copenhagen has the worse place to have a capital. Why? Because you can get attacked by the British at any second and there is virtually nothing you can do about it. As for Munso, you have to get into the Baltic Sea and with Gotaland and other possible checkpoints, it gives you enough of a warning to avoid catastrophe.

[@lightoftheworld7398]

Scandinavia Unite!

[@TheBarser]

Not a bad idea, just Swedish politics 🤪

[@DeutschlandMapping]

3:47 Facepalm moment. The X stands for 10th.

[@nizararrasis89]

How Majapahit becomes a great kingdom from Nusantara/Indonesia?

[@washingtonjunior1994]

So Kristina was not a good ruler. damn Civ VI...

[@wiktorjachyra1869]

This is pretty much the downfall of every European empire instability took down the swedes, the russians, the Polish-Lithuanians, the Austrians, and the French.

[@benktlofgren4710]

Poland was never a real threat to Sweden alone, they just kept on declaring at the same time as the Danes and Russians.

[@hussar843]

so why are you still scared of Winged Hussars? hahahahaa

[@benktlofgren4710]

@@hussar843 That is news to me, Swedish history do not even mention them. Have Poland won a single war they declared alone and finished alone in all of history?

[@greghall4836]

Unfortunately there are map errors everywhere in the video. The conclusions made in it are not much better and I'd say the answers given to the question stated in the video title are mostly wrong. This channel really needs to do it's research better. It's a pitty, because the channel covers interesting topics and the graphics and style of the naration work well.

[@play_boy7543]

The most realistic explanation is that the Swedes were in decline while the Russians under Peter The Great reformed their army, after all it is widely accepted that the Great Northern War was the end of their empire, the Russians won that war and took over the dominance and status that the Swedes had

[@caad5258]

Empires are a dime a dozen. Sweden doesn't need one.

[@Kyrgyzstan-ball]

I see a person 0:54

[@ramthianthomson601]

Xxx. Thank you so much.

[@CarlYdesen]

Can you make a video about the danish Empire now you have made about THE swedish

[@andreaslundstrom7921]

Scania (and Blekinge and many other areas) was conquered by Charles X, not during the reign of his son Charles XI

[@brandenburg2388]

How sad. Had those colonies remained in the Swedish Empire, they would be so happy to have Abba as their national singing group.

[@jensrick6106]

We did'nt have enough men. "Gå på" took its tool. Fighting Russia, Poland, Saxony, Denmark and Norway did'nt help.

[@donzeigler1021]

That was not much more than a chronology of monarchs and military victories/defeats.

[@bobanstojkovic3754]

During history Now days Norvey was Swedish province.

[@MCorpReview]

Hard to believe Sweden was once a rival of giant Russia 🇷🇺 n even seemed to have an edge

[@ddc2957]

I thought they lost an invasion of Russia…

[@Pannkakaize]

Well Sweden had an edge, Swedens army was much stronger and better quality than russias, but russia had allies and russia had Manpower, Manpower is a quality itself.

[@bobofthestorm]

Is this the same Kristina in Civ 6? The wokism in game is a joke. The audacity of trying to pitch this trainwreck as somehow in the same standing as Elizabeth is hilarious.