AHC: How much lasting power can you give Sweden?

Genghis Kawaii

Gone Fishin'
The challenge is to see how much land, money, and influence you can get a Swedish nation, with any POD. I know Sweden has some big resource, population, and geography limitations and isn't realistically going to be going blow to blow with France or thrashing the Royal Navy or anything like that, but I'd like to see how powerful you can get them. Lasting power means Sweden still has this power as of the year 1900, with no indications of it going away.
 
I think winning the Great Northern War would be a good start. Not sure how long Sweden could last against Russia in the long term, but it would be something.

Edit: Maybe a successful Dual Monarchy-type arrangement with Poland-Lithuania as well?
 
Keeping the Baltic is the best way to do this. If Sweden controls the entire Balkans+Pommerania, and "Swedifies" them, you're looking at a country nearly as populous as Spain. Good luck fending off Russia, though.
 

Genghis Kawaii

Gone Fishin'
Good luck fending off Russia, though.
If Peter the Great were to fail to escape his half-sister's attempt at taking him out of the equation, Russia probably isn't going to fare well. There is probably going to be a power struggle between her and Ivan V at the very least, and I'm not sure where Peter's mother would stand. Assuming nobody pulls off a clean victory, it's going to be a while before Russia is stable enough to modernize, much less cause shit in the Baltics. The intervening years might hold events that make going after Sweden's territory unfeasible or present a better opportunity elsewhere.
 
How stable could that be in the long term?

Have a less divisive Sigismund III Vasa of Poland who is more inclined to work with Protestants in the northern half of his realm. This might end up with the Polish tail wagging the Swedish dog, but it would probably be the only way of restraining Russian westward expansion.
 
One thing that always got me about Sweden is how underpopulated it is/
Yes. Most of the country is frozen forests and mountains. But there are significant tracts of good land around e.g. Skane, sodermanland, Uppsala, etc.... Yet they by and large remain very rural and underdeveloped.
Figuring out the big reasons for this and how to fix it is key to improving Swedens position
 
I think that even a more pleasant split between the Vasas in Sweden and Poland would be a big advantage. Even if they were simply on friendlier terms they'd spend a great deal less energy arguing and fighting and might see the danger inherent in a growing Russia.
 
Have them get so sick of being having Denmark shove Norway like a knife in their back every frickin war, and just devote enough resources to conquer it. Either releasing it as a friendly vassal or downright making it a Swedish province instead of a Danish one.

With no annoying Norway to attack them from the west, the east is a far easier task to defend, now having more manpower, a larger navy.
Keep in mind this will only work if they maintain friendly relations with UK and Holland, seeing as they now have a vast Atlantic coastline.

Anyways, 200 years of this might strenghten them so they might be able to keep Finland and Baltic territory around the time they lost it OTL to Russia.
Although this "western distraction" filled with fishermen and hill-folk might end up turning Stockholm's eyes towards the New World and cancelling out the advantage of a secure western flank.
 
Is there any way the Kalmar Union could have had its capital in Sweden rather than Denmark? I'm sure the Danes wouldn't be happy, but it could still be a good starting point for a wanked Sweden.... Or would this count?
 
Tough without a powerful ruler in Sweden or Sweden ruling the south earlier.
Denmark is just fundamentally the best place for a Scandinavian capital, of the three nations it is the most central.
 
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