Lejonet från Norden: A Swedish Empire Timeline

The Lion of the North Survives
Lützen, 16th of November, 1632

The damn fog was slowing the preparation of the troops. The religious war for the Holy Roman Empire had been going on for many years before the Swedes arrived. Prior to them had come the Danes, who were unsuccessful to say the least. Breitenfeld had demonstrated to the protestant princes of the empire that Gustav could beat the catholics, unlike the Danes. But that didn't matter now, the catholics had a new general, Wallenstein. So far he had been at least partially successful in attacking the protestant forces. He was holed up in Leipzig, but clearly he'd known ahead of time of the protestant approach, as they could see a prepared army waiting for them.

The worst part about preparations was the fog, it easily doubled the time it would take to get in formation. People couldn't see where they were going and occasionally fell. In total, preparations took around two hours. Then the battle started.

Wallenstein had a weak point in his defences, his left flank. Unfortunately for Wallenstein, that is exactly where Captain Gars attacked, leading to early successes of the protestants. That wasn't the end of the battle, it was just near the beginning. The Swedish assault suddenly stopped due to being attacked by a cavalry force of 2,000-3,000.

"Thus I know my Pappenheim!" Wallenstein exclaimed. He had sent Pappenheim to gather his army corps and return as soon as possible.

One Swedish soldier at a cannon fired a fateful shot at the approaching cavalry and struck the most important figure of theirs, Pappenheim. He was fatally wounded by the lone cannon shot and died while being evacuated from the field in a coach.

Cavalry action continued against Wallenstein's left wing, then he deployed reserves to attempt to gain an upper hand. Not wanting to lose this battle, King Gustav also deployed reserves to ensure the left wing would fall.

"Assemble a force of cavalry for me to lead," Gustav told a low ranking general.
"At once, my king."

The fog was finally lifting in time for the king's assault. The cavalry charged, with Gustav leading them. Seeing their king's bravery, the centre pushed harder into Wallenstein's heavily guarded centre.

Men on the Swedish side died like flies in the centre until they were saved by the king's other troops. Wallenstein's left wing collapsed to the Swedish cavalry. Afterwards, the Swedes overran the rest of Wallenstein's troops from two fronts, leading Wallenstein to surrender to Gustav.

"Good work, my king."
"Thank you, Axel. Now I'm afraid I must attend to other business, such as speaking to our new guest."

A stroke of luck for the Swedes was capturing Wallenstein himself. After all, he couldn't lead an army against the protestants if he was their prisoner.
 
Looks interesting.

As this is before the death of Ulrik of Denmark, you could engage him with Christina of Sweden. This would both give Gustav a clearer heir and keep Christian IV of Denmark pro-Swedish. A pro-Swedish Denmark even if neutral remove a potential front, enable Sweden to push stronger in northern Germany, but it also mean that Christian as German prince in the Lower Saxon Circle could push for the establishment of the Lower and Upper Saxon circles as a kingdom under Gustav (similar in function as Bohemia). Also as Denmark is a elective kingdom, you could get Ulrik elected in 1648, especially if Christian support him over Ulriks surviving older brother.The older brother Frederik likely need a bribe, but he could be regain Bremen-Verden and gain royal Schleswig-Holstein (where he would still be a vassal of the Saxon (Swedish) king in Holstein and the Danish king in Schleswig).
 
Aftermath of Lützen
After the Battle

King Gustav was determined to find out as much about the imperial army as possible from Wallenstein. It was imperative knowledge and could secure Swedish dominance over the Holy Roman Empire in this war. As he creeped into the prisoner's room, Wallenstein was playing chess with a soldier. A few moves later and the soldier lost the game. Then Wallenstein noticed King Gustav standing in the room.

"Greetings, your Majesty. It seems we finally meet face-to-face."

"True. I suppose you already know what I want you to tell me."

"Everything about the imperial army. I cannot tell you due to my loyalty being to the emperor."

"That's unfortunate, it was my understanding that the Edict of Restitution encroaches upon your land."

"That's true. I may not like that, but I will not collaborate with traitors."

"Then we'll settle for keeping you prisoner and just occupying the entire empire."

"Care for a game of chess in the meantime?"

"I would, but I'm running a war and I don't have time right now for chess. Maybe tomorrow. Good bye, Wallenstein."

As he went to his tent, he saw a soldier begin to try to rape a local barmaid. As his rules required, he took a nearby soldier's gun and shot the man.

Axel Oxenstierna was waiting for King Gustav in his tent.

"Did you find out anything useful from Wallenstein?"

"Not yet, but there will be other days."

"That's a shame, but for now we must plan ahead. What will we do next?"

"Well, we could march down to the emperor's doorstep at Vienna."

"Too risky, we don't know what forces the emperor has. He may have a million troops as far as we know."

"What about Bohemia? I'm sure we could take it."

"It seems as good an option as any. If the emperor has any troops, he won't use them all to defend Bohemia as opposed to his capital. The only drawback I see is that another foreign power, Spain, might get involved directly if we attack Habsburg lands."

"Aren't they busy with the Netherlands?"

"For now. It may not remain that way. Spain may conquer the Dutch or the Dutch may successfully win independence. However, France may enter the war on our side if the Spanish get involved too deeply."

"They're already funding us. I only wish we were allowed on our treaty to make peace without French approval. They only wish to have the Holy Roman Empire bled dry by us, not have us conquer it."

"Perhaps its for the better, the Holy Roman Empire may be too big for us to effectively manage it."

"Perhaps. At the very least we'll take the protestants under our rule, that will definitely please the French. It would almost split the empire in half."

"Or they may approve of you becoming emperor to weaken the Habsburgs."

"No, because then we'd be too powerful."

"True enough. You nearly died in the last battle."

"I did?"

"Yes, there was a group of enemy cavalry approaching you, but some of your men caught and killed them before they had a chance to shoot you."

"Huh, I didn't know that."

"We need to look at your succession. We already know Christina will succeed you. She'll probably be a great ruler, but we need to pick a spouse for her, just in case you die on the field."

"I won't die on the field, God won't allow it."

"I don't doubt that. I just think we must prepare if God wishes to personally meet with you sooner than expected."

"Fair enough. I can already think of a few options. First is Ulrik of Denmark."

"Him? Why?"

"He'd make Denmark friendly to us and may end up as king of Denmark when Christian IV dies if he's married to Christina."

"A friendly Denmark could solidify us as the ruling power of the Baltic. But what about their heir. Will he rule from Copenhagen or Stockholm?"

"There can be a compromise. Half of the time in Stockholm and the other half in Copenhagen."

"What about other candidates?"

"There's Frederick William, son of George William."

"Elector of Brandenburg and duke of Prussia? Why him?" Oxenstierna asked more of curiosity than any negative opinions on the idea.

"It would give us more German territory and the loyalty of Brandenburg-Prussia. Its downside is that Denmark isn't kept happy and we don't inherit Denmark-Norway," Gustav explained to the intrigued chancellor.

"I can see advantages to both. Is there a downside to Ulrik?" Oxenstierna asked.

"He's in our army and may die in our service. We'd also need to bribe his older brother with land if Ulrik is favored by his father for throne of Denmark," the king clarified.

"That is a downside. Have you met both of them?" The chancellor inquired.

"My nephew is very intelligent and quite skilled. He'll probably be a far better ruler than his father. Ulrik doesn't seem quite as skilled but again, he causes our oldest enemy to fall under our sway," the king explained, looking quite tired.

"Any other choices?" The chancellor was genuinely curious.

"John George II, but I prefer the other candidates," Gustav rushed to say.

"I agree, the elector of Saxony seems quite incompetent. I'm not sure who to pick between your two choices. Brandenburg-Prussia is useful if we ever are at war with Poland again, while Denmark would remove a knife in our back. Either way, it increases our domination of the Baltic. Either we gain the Öresund toll or we gain an oppurtunity to take more German territory. I prefer the Sound Toll. We'll need to be able to fund ourselves in case the French ever turn on us."

"Sound reasoning, Axel. I just think that we'll need a competent king in the future. With Brandenburg-Prussia under our rule we'd have an easy point to conquer Polish and German territory around the Baltic. It would also be relatively easy to conquer Danish territory such as Bornholm, Skåne, and Norway. Armies from the German part of the empire would attack from the south while Swedish armies would invade Norway and Skåne," Gustav imagined out loud.

"While with Denmark we could simply not worry about our southern and western borders nearly as much. Therefore we could send more troops east as Denmark would otherwise happily attack us while we're at war with anyone else, adding another front for the war," Oxenstierna replied.

"True, but I don't need to decide this yet. We are not attacking for the rest of the year at least. We'll gather supplies over winter and attack Prague in the spring. By then, we'll have learned something about imperial numbers and have done some recruiting of our own."

"Fair enough. As long as you don't die, your succession can be picked later."

"Now I'm going to sleep alongside the troops, after all, it's quite late and I'm tired. Good night, Axel."

"Good night, your majesty."
 
The Campaign Through the Germanies Continues
Many Months Later...

It was a stormy night in March, rains were falling heavily upon most of Northern Europe. A figure in the dark hurried from his horse towards the nearby castle. Each step echoed throughout the empty town. Even though the cloaked man attempted to avoid stepping in puddles, he couldn't avoid them entirely, making even more noises with certain steps. The crackling of thunder terrified the poor soul, encouraging him to hurry faster towards the local castle. Eventually, he made it to the castle.

"Bring this letter to your lord. It comes directly from King Gustav of Sweden."

"Right away, my good sir. Now, would you like to spend the night here?"

"I would, but duty calls me to the United Provinces."

"Then goodbye it is."

The messenger sprinted back to his horse afterwards, and bolted off, to get as close as he could in a few hours to the United Provinces. The lowly servant at the castle then ran off to find his lord and finish the task of delivering the letter.

"My liege, this letter has arrived from King Gustav II Adolf's army. It is directed towards you."

"Have you opened it yet?"

"No, but I can now, if you desire as such."

"Don't bother. I'll do it myself. Hand me the letter."

"Yes, my liege."

"Now, let us see why the king of Sweden sent me a letter."

As the ruler of the castle read the letter, his eyes widened further and further.

"Give me a quill and paper. I need to respond instantly to this letter."

"What is it, my liege?"

"My son is getting married to the heir of Sweden."

***

Bavaria was drier than the northern parts of Europe, but that wasn't saying much. A small army led by general Lennart Torstensson was camped in a forest a few days away from Prague. Soon Prague would fall under protestant control. A scream erupted outside the camp.

"Ugh, did someone provoke a wolf pack again?"

Safe to say, Lennart Torstensson didn't enjoy babysitting his troops.

In this case, the soldier had been tasked with scouting out and making sure no enemy troops would discover the protestant encamped troops. Evidently he wasn't very brave. Lennart then remembered an earlier conversation with the scout.

"Remember, there may be terrifying creatures such as wolves, or predatory eagles."

"Bah. I am not scared of any such puny things."

"If you say so."

The general soon mocked him over it.

"I thought you weren't afraid of such puny beasts."

"Heh heh. I was clearly wrong sir."

"Clearly. Now go do your job. I don't want any more screams for the next few days until we attack Prague with King Gustav."

"Yes sir," the young officer gulped. He hadn't thought of King Gustav when screaming, and he liked his head where it was.

Imbecile. Either way, the siege of Prague was being led from three fronts. King Gustav would attack from the west, Lennart would distract the defenders with a feint attack from the east, and Wallenstein would attack after getting inside the city walls. In February Gustavus had promised Wallenstein the kingdom of Bohemia in exchange for his conversion to Lutheranism and joining the Swedish side of the war. Wallenstein would have had to be a fool not to accept, and Albrecht Wallenstein was no fool. He had, after all, only converted to Catholicism to further his social status in Catholic-controlled Bohemia. Now that he would be king of Bohemia, that hardly mattered. He didn't care much for the religious squabbling and the emperor had never offered him a kingdom. Instead he'd been ridiculed and forced to resign from his post. Soon, Bohemia would fall.
 
Victory at Prague
Libera et impera:

The Battle for Prague...

Prague was silent. The first phase of the Swedish plot was for that to be rectified by shooting cannons toward the city. Its intent was to alert the city of Swedish presence in the area. This process began at 11:00 when the first cannons were fired. It had the intended effect on the city. The Swedes could see exactly what forces they were dealing with. It was a pitiful number in comparison to their army, with only 2000 soldiers alongside militia and students. The Swedes had around 25000 when counting Wallenstein's troops. The plan was for Torstensson's troops to shoot at the city and see their numbers, be "driven off" by Wallenstein, and then have Gustav himself lead a force twice as large as Wallenstein's to "chase" Wallenstein into the city where he would surprise the defenders and seize the city for the protestants.

At 1:15 Wallenstein arrived with a force twice as large as the defenders and "routed" the cannoneers, much to the defenders' pleasure. Unknown to them, the cannoneers were just moving north to where the Swedish king was waiting for their reports.

"The city is less defended than we thought, my king. It has only 2000 soldiers, alongside students and militia. We should easily take it."

"Excellent work Torstensson. Where's Wallenstein?"

"He'll be here soon, he was delayed slightly in arriving to 'rout' us."

"That is unfortunate, but understandable."

Then Wallenstein arrived. The next phase of the plan began after a short meal. Swedish troops shouted "Gott Mitt Uns" once arriving within earshot of Prague. Wallenstein was then leading his troops in a feint retreat into Prague with the large Swedish army in pursuit retreating themselves once he entered the city.

"That was close, wasn't it?" The man in charge of Prague's defence had no clue of Wallenstein's new allegiance to the protestants.

"Yes it was, now we have to recruit an army to beat those dastardly Swedes," Wallenstein replied.

"Yes sir, anything else?"

"Get all of the city's defenders to the castle for their orders, I'm taking command of the defence."

"Understood."

By 3:30, the militia, student legion, and soldiers had all gathered at the castle, with only the soldiers knowing what was going to happen. They had been mercenaries and were now under Wallenstein's payroll. Once they all arrived, Wallenstein had all of the militia and student legion executed in the final phase of the plan. Swedish banners flew over Prague that night, as the Swedish army moved into Prague. The castle's treasure was untouched, save for the Codex Argenteus, which was moved to Stockholm for reasons of the perceived Gothic heritage of Sweden. Prague was made into the logistical centre of the protestant war effort in the south due to being near Austria, but not as easy to take as Bavaria. It was also a symbolic victory for the protestants, as Bohemia was the cause of the war.
 
What a victory for the Protestant cause! Becoming King Albrecht of Bohemia is a fit reward for such a larger than life figure as Wallenstein, I hope he is not assassinated or otherwise ousted and manages to found a dinasty.

I have to say though that maybe things are going a bit too smoothly for Sweden: for example it might be difficult to convince Christina to marry and in future inheriting eitger Denmark or Brandenburg might be very difficult and entail some difficult succession war, as well as integration problems between sweden and its new tereitories.

I liked the dialogue between Gustav and Oxenstierna: the tone is maybe not what would be used between a xvii century momarch and his chief minister, but it serves a good purpose to explaim things to us readers in a more lively way.

Keep up your good work!
 
Aaaw yeah, Gustavus Adolphus living on and going strong!

A unified Scandinavia probably won't last long, but would be fun to see Sweden keeping Norway and the Atlantic territories. Might make Denmark look elsewhere for territory.
 
Aaaw yeah, Gustavus Adolphus living on and going strong!

A unified Scandinavia probably won't last long, but would be fun to see Sweden keeping Norway and the Atlantic territories. Might make Denmark look elsewhere for territory.

A united Scandinavia at this point would last, they have a common identity (the Lutheran faith) uniting them, and they have for once shared interests.
 
Isnt Bohemia majorly Chatoliv its not a good idea for him to convert to Lutheranism.
 
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Isnt Bohemia majorly Christian its not a good idea for him to convert to Lutheranism.
I think you mean Catholic, and to answer your question, it was whatever its ruler said it was. Prior to the protestant conquest, it had switched hands from Catholic to protestant and back to Catholic. Protestants in Prague usurping Bohemia from the Habsburgs was even the start of the Thirty Years' War.
 
Wouldn't it have been better to have the POD just after Breitenfeld, Gustav going for the Vienna directly, shortening the thirty years war to the fifteen years war??
otherwise a start to a interesting alternate history
 
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