AHC: Sweden still a great power?

One way would be Karl X Gustav succeeding in storming Copenhagen and somehow convince the Emperor, the Poles, the Dutch and probably everyone else in Europe, that it'd be a much better idea if he ruled both sides of the Øresund or alternatively fight them off - which he failed to do miserably OTL.

Alternatively have the unionist revival of the 1800s catch greater support alongside increased agricultural development (happened in Denmark after 1864, but granted - as a direct effect of the defeat in the 2nd Dano-German War) and have the three kingdoms unite peacefully.
 
Well, there's always the North American colonies route, [1] although in that case you would end up with a situation where the American tail waved the Scandinavian dog.

Bruce


[1] It's not like anyone really wanted Canada very much...what did Voltaire call it, "a few acres of snow?"
 
I doubt Sweden can remain a Great Power on its own in anyway. It needs its neighbouring Nordic countries to stick with it (for whatever reason) to have any hope of it.
 

trajen777

Banned
One way to do this is to have Gustavus remain alive. Forget the nationalism though process but have more of a union of states under the guise of a Northern Empire (think of the Roman empire where citizens in Egypt considered themselves Roman). So you would have more prosperous and populous area.
Have him keep and build a northern confederation from conquests in the 30 years war:
· Take over Brandenburg –
· Prussia
· Lower Saxony
· Etc
· The Baltic States
· Norway
· Finland

In future wars have them finish conquest of northern Poland and Denmark. Ultimately the greatest issue was that Sweden proper could not expand into strategically valuable areas without having major enemies in many places. So to control the southern Baltic would incur the wrath of the German states – Poland – Russia and Denmark. So if they could have incorporate Prussia and the Baltic states they would need to expand strongly into Russia. Take away St Petersburg and in the Great Northern War you have a much weaker Russia that Charles almost defeated in the real world. So your expansion could have taken in land towards Moscow. You gain population density, decent food production, and secure borders with Austria dominating southern Germany, a weak and eternal enemy in Russia and you would need to keep Poland neutralized,
 
One way to do this is to have Gustavus remain alive. Forget the nationalism though process but have more of a union of states under the guise of a Northern Empire (think of the Roman empire where citizens in Egypt considered themselves Roman). So you would have more prosperous and populous area.
Have him keep and build a northern confederation from conquests in the 30 years war:
· Take over Brandenburg –
· Prussia
· Lower Saxony
· Etc
· The Baltic States
· Norway
· Finland

Because taking over Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, etc. will have no unpleasant effects at all. Somehow, I do not see even the creaky Holy Roman Empire taking that very well.

In future wars have them finish conquest of northern Poland and Denmark. Ultimately the greatest issue was that Sweden proper could not expand into strategically valuable areas without having major enemies in many places. So to control the southern Baltic would incur the wrath of the German states – Poland – Russia and Denmark. So if they could have incorporate Prussia and the Baltic states they would need to expand strongly into Russia. Take away St Petersburg and in the Great Northern War you have a much weaker Russia that Charles almost defeated in the real world. So your expansion could have taken in land towards Moscow. You gain population density, decent food production, and secure borders with Austria dominating southern Germany, a weak and eternal enemy in Russia and you would need to keep Poland neutralized,

St. Petersburg didn't exist until after the Great Northern War, so taking it away doesn't weaken Russia by anything. Nor did Charles really "almost defeat" it - sure he won some impressive battles, but that didn't translate towards actually winning the war.
 
Top