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I apologize if this has been brought up before, but I could not find anything relevant with the search function.

As mentioned briefly in another recent thread, Sweden was a second-rate power acting as a great power. What could've happened to make that transition to an actual great power? There are two things that weigh heavily against Sweden:

* Sweden has within Sweden and Finland (Österland) alone neither the population nor economic power base to accomplish this.
* There is a big Russia as neighbour which will make significant trouble for Sweden in the long term.

Much of Sweden's success during the 17th century sprung from the efficient administrative base of Sweden, which allowed it to utilize its resources very good for this period. Its Baltic possessions also helped a lot. For example, the largest city wasn't actually Stockholm, but rather Riga.

It seems to me that control of the Baltic could help a lot with this. Sweden was the power with the best position to do this. A first step would be the subjugation of Denmark. I believe that IOTL, Charles X came pretty close to accomplish this. I don't think it would be impossible. With the toll revenue of Dominium Maris Baltici, I think Sweden would be in a much better position, as it would net enormous riches.

And what about the aspirations of colonies? If Sweden could get at Denmark, having her colonies would perhaps make it easier. A big problem is that Sweden didn't have very much power projection in the Atlantic, leading to problems holding onto its colonies in the Americas. And indeed, IOTL Sweden did lose its colonies to the Dutch. Something like a more committed navy in the Atlantic or sharing a border with the Dutch could perhaps help with this. And IOTL many Swedes did migrate to North America, so I don't think population would be that much of a problem.

What about Russia? Perhaps Russia would be less united. Having to deal with Novogorod would be much easier than the giant that was Muscovy. Or perhaps Russia had more problem with Mongols and such.

Thoughts?
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