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That is an interesing question - in general, Sweden was never good at ruling orthodox subjects, and most of the orthodox population, despite being Ingrian Ugric rather than Russian, upped and left Ingria during the Swedish rule, and protestant Finns were moved in instead. The tolls on the Neva...

He also had a ton of administrative ideas, some very good, others not so much. He did make sure to always bring a "Field chancellery" with him on campaign, so the normal running of the government could happen despite the war. The man was very duty-bound, and I don't think he'd up and go and...

Sweden did rent out troops and ships to the Grand Alliance in 1689, but did not partake otherwise - Karl XI had a firm anti-French and pro-Dutch and English/British foreign policy, but also a policy of not getting involved in wars. Twice during the 1680s Denmark-Norway tried to start a war with...

Yes, that is why I wrote "if someone else pays for it".

Should the Allies need it, you could probably also count on 40 000 Swedes in 3 months or so - that is, if someone else pays for it. Even if Karl XIV Johan (Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte) had resolved the Swedish debt situation by selling Guadeloupe back to the French, Sweden was not really in a good...

That system is prone to nepotism and corruption as soon as there's not a strong monarch at the head of it, and sometimes even with a strong monarch. Sweden did pretty much the same by creating a class of noblemen dependent on state jobs for their income, which in the era of liberty caused...

The Spanish navy was about equal in size to the US one in 1861, with 5 screw frigates as the most potent part of the force - the first ironclad was laid down in 183 and commissioned 1864. A war situation might move things up, but in general, Spain does not have the fleet nor the logistical...

Seems awfully convenient that the Germans manage to build 120 submarines without the British finding out or trying to counter it. Still, it will be irrelevant. Long before they have made enough of a difference to the Allied merchant fleets, the French are in Berlin, since the Germans do not...

The problem here is that by 1937 Germany was running on fumes - iron ore was coming from France and Sweden and the domestic production was maxed out. If they want to increase production of steel they need to pay for more ore. And Germany was bankrupt in 1937, only saved by taking the Austrian...

Thanks for the dates, I've been trying to find that out for a while. It is important to note that some of the most prominent Fennophiles OTL were of the Swedish-speaking (or often bi-lingual) upper class - any ideas that a harsh swedification would have the support of the Swedish-speakers in...

Considering how Sweden treated its Sami and Finnish speakers that did remain OTL with education in the local language until 1888 when bi-lingualism was to be enforced by education (and learning to read and write) in Swedish only, I seriously doubt there would be any larger efforts to force...

By 1914, Franz Ferdinand had abandoned the idea of a triple monarchy and were thinking centralisation on the imperial level and decentralisation on the regional level - ie one imperial diet in Vienna to handle any imperial affairs including railroads, postal system, currency, foreign policy...

As marathag wrote, spending as a percentage of GDP on par with the other great powers would help immensly. 1. Doctrinal change of defence against stronger opponents to knock weaker ones out, ie remain on the defensive against Russia, try to take Serbia out. 2. Spend more money on the artillery...

The 2pdr had a HE shell - the Mk II HE/T with a 0,86kg shell - the production was discontinued during the invasion panic in June 1940. Production was resumed in October 1942 with the slighlty heavier Mk VII HE/T. Very few 2pdr armed tanks made it over to France and in general only the anti-tank...

The British army re-introduced conscription in January 1939 - the BEF that arrived in France in October 1939 consisted of 4 motorised infantry divisions. The French were attacking into Saar, and their plan was to pile on more and more troops, tanks and artillery as they mobilised, but cancelled...

Prussia at the time is locked to the Baltic Sea and whatever they had of a navy was completely and utterly destroyed by the Swedes at the Battle of Frisches Haff 1759 - after that, there literally was no Prussian navy. Prussia has no way to actually bring a garrison to the island and actually...

The Allies and the Soviets took about 7 000 000 German prisoners March to June 1945 - Germany did, strictly, not have problem with manpower, they had a problem with fuel, equipment and training institutions. Even if you have more manpower and use it better, you're nog going to get more tanks...

Sweden being forced back into the Kalmar Union is extremely inplausible at this point - while Denmark had the upper hand in the war and took Älvsborg, they did not take Kalmar and were never even close to Stockholm. The Swedish navy was strong enough (despite some defeats) to best the Danish and...

Indeed - with the difference that the Netherlands were both rich and strategically placed to deal with Spain (and the other Habsburg domains)'s enemies in England, France and northern Germany. As both the Dukes of Burgundy and the Dutch themselves showed, there were plenty of potential riches in...

According to what I have been able to piece together, Stalin hoarded gold. Ever paranoid and fearful of the risk of facists and democracies uniting against him, he also considered "The capitalists will sell us the rope we'll hang them with" true. CIA estimates from the 50s puts the Soviet gold...