TL: Sweden takes Denmark 1658 (may seem a gigant wank, but maybe its just a ruse)

This may seem like a gigant Swedish wank if you belive that what happens in chapter 1 is the tone of the story. But maybe some other part of Europe will get more fortunate. Also, this is just 1600ths and not nationalistic 1800s

Butterflies will come into effect, but i can give you a hint: Peter of Russia, August the strong of Saxony/Poland and Charles XII will be born like OTL.

I will NOT wank Sweden like in my first TL about Sweden winning at Poltava.

Chapter 1.

King Charles of Sweden was nervous. He had managed to reach Sjalland after a risky move by bringing his force over the ice that shielded to Danish capital. Now he hoped it wouldn’t begin to thaw. He was now within striking range of Copenhagen, and yet the Danes hadn’t reacted to him. The storm clouds were over his head and the snow fell. He decided to strike the capital.

Were were the Danish defenders? In shock. The Danish king had sent out two men to get buy time by pretending to negotiate peace, but one of them had died when his horse fell and the other one fell down a cliff.

The ragtag force that was the Swedish army moved fast and soon was soon in sight of Copenahgen. A city covered in fear. To prevent the Swedes from taking the city the king of Denmark, Fredrick III, didn’t have time to ask for volunteers but took what he had, 1000 men and 2 guns from the garrison to put up a fight so that Copenhagen wouldn’t surrender without a fight.

What followed was a fight for a few minutes, but what followed was the end of Denmark as a competitor to Sweden. When the Swedish force saw the defenders in front of the city Charles sent forward the 500 Finnish horsemen and 1500 infantry. As the Finnish horsemen moved to flank the defenders the infantry walked straight towards the Danes. Many defenders threw down their muskets and ran away without a shot. A few of the Danes, those who were closest to the king, tried to fight, but they were cut down by a single volley from the attackers. Among those killed was Fredrik III.

The last defenders crushed and Copenhagen open for plunder and Charles didn’t waste time. The cavalry was sent to burn the ships of the Danish navy as it laid frozen in the harbor. The livgarde(guard) was sent to the royal palace with the dead Danish king. The rest of the troops were to secure the city and take everything they could.

Within a day Copenhagen was plundered, around 5 000 civilians were killed, “They made a desert and called it peace” as a English representative said. Denmark surrendered to the will of Charles X of Sweden. Denmark tried to get help from the Netherlands since they had a pact, but they said that the treaty was a defensive one and Denmark had started the war.

The peacetreaty in the end was quite harsh for Denmark(OTL peace treaty with regards to Skane, Blekinge, Halland, Bohuslan) with their Eastern half given to Sweden, and that Norway would become independent. Everything south of Trondheim was to become the kingdom of Norway along with Iceland, Greenland and the Faeroe islands. The new king of Norway would be the brother of Charles X of Sweden, Adolf Johan.

When the news spread around Europe the enemies of Sweden paused. Poland and Brandenburg had assembled an army to retake Jylland and help Denmark but as soon as the news spread their interest vanished.

Charles wasn’t satisfied even though he had won the war but wanted more. His closest advisors tried to talk him out of going to any more wars and make peace with the enemies Sweden had since the nation was tired of war and the debt was massive. The French ambassador came up with a suggestion. A conference somewere in Germany just as the peace of Westfalia a decade ago. The Swedish king and advisors realized that this wasn’t a bad idea.

In August of 1658 the conference opened in Berlin. Sweden, Norway, Denmark, various German states, Poland and Austria was present. The most important issue was Denmark that was leaderless since the crown prince had died in the struggle for Copenhagen, struck down by an angry mob as the population wanted to get their frustration out of someone and struck down the first person they saw. The younger son Georg, 3 years, was under protection by royal guards mixed with Swedish troops.

Treaty of Berlin
The treaty of Berlin as it was going to be called meant the end of Denmark as a sovereign state. The Duchy of Holstein got the entire Jylland Peninsula. The rest of Denmark was given to Sweden as a wedding present as the children Ulrika Elonora and prince Charles of Sweden was engaged to be married when Ulrika Elonora turned 15 years. In exchange for that Sweden lowered the Oresundtoll by half for all nations, thus avoiding war with the Netherlands who had big trade intrests in Ostersjon. Sweden ceded Swedish Pomerania south of the river Peene and east of the river Peenestrom to Brandenburg, including the islands of Usedom and Wollin, and the towns of Stettin , Damm and Gollnow to bribe Brandenburg to allow them to take Denmark.(happened OTL after the Great Nordic war) Peace between Sweden and Poland, Austria and Russia was as OTL in 1660(but in 1658 instead). Prince Georg of Denmark was given the island of Bornholm and it was renamed Duchy of Bornholm and his mother would be the duchess until he came of age. Little did the winners Sweden know that they created something that eventually would come back to haunt them.

Treaty of Halden
In December of 1658 the treaty of Halden was announced. It was basically that Norway and Sweden were two separate nations and that Norway no longer existed north of Trondheim. Norway and Sweden formed a military alliance. Unfortunally the treaty didn’t specify what would happen if one of the kingdoms suddenly lacked a male heir. This would be a problem later. The trading posts Denmark had in India were handed to Norway to get some income.

On December 24 1658 Charles rode into Stockholm while fireworks shot up in the sky. Denmark was no more and Sweden now had peace. Charles didn’t know what to do next, but he had spent almost the entire time as king in the field. Maybe he should deal with other problems in Sweden. He needed a way to increase the crowns income and he knew how to make it so, reduction of the nobilities holdings.

Situation in Scandinavia on New years eve of 1658 was that Sweden was bigger than ever before and very powerfull. But behind the hard crust was a poor nation. Norway was its own nation for the first time in hundreds of years. The population along the border felt more secure as the treaty of Halden basically ended the wars between Norway and Sweden that had devastated the border region. Denmark was now Swedish territory and when the new laws from Sweden came the lower classes didn’t object to much since farmers had much more to say in Sweden than they had in Denmark. Schleswig-Holstein had gotten Jylland, but it was ravaged by war and would need lots of time to recover.

Please comment
 
Chapter 2. Sweden changes kings(1659 – 1674)

Part 1.

In 1659 Charles began a transformation of Sweden. The gifts he had promised to Danes that helped him take the capital like Corfitz Ulfeldt was changed and he was awarded the island of Fyn to rule as governor and he accepted. Other Danes that had aided in the campaign was given other minor posts A renowned soldier from the Polish campaign, Fabian von Fersen became the governor of the rest of Denmark. General Otto Stenbock was given the task of lieutenant governor of Skane, Blekinge and Halland. Erik Dahlberg was given the task of survey of the fortresses in Denmark and Skane.

Charles gathered the estates in the realm in early 1659 and explained his plan for reduction. Every family that had been given land by the crown since 1632 was to give that back to the crown since the crown had handed out land since the last reduction because of the war. Also all land given in the Baltic provinces were to be handed back to the crown. This was a blow to the family of Otto Stenbeck, but as he was given 1/10 of the Oresundtoll(10,000 daler instead of the 5000 daler he got from his estates both in Livland and Sweden) he didn’t object to much and handed all his estates in Sweden except one to the crown. Little did everyone know this was just the beginning.

The queen became pregnant now that Charles had time for her again but unfortunally the pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.

In the new provinces the nobility that was used to the Danish crowns lack of intrest in their affairs didn’t like the Swedish way of doing business, and to make the population in Skane, Blekinge and Halland to be more Swedish(the king and government felt that it was better to move step by step) priests in those provinces were forced to preached in Swedish. Also a ABC-book was introduced to learn the population to read and write. A new university was to be formed in Skane located in Lund. The resistance against Sweden grew even so because of what people felt was occupation and at first it was only passive resistance that would eventually lead to open revolt.

Charles X rode around in his country and inspected things and told people how to behave. This was in part due to a depression because that his queen had suffered a miss carriage but also that he like to work. He became fatter and fatter because that even though he moved around much he always ate much. In early 1660 rumors began spreading that the queen had told the king that she didn’t want to sleep with him anymore since she felt he would crush her if he tried. History will never know if that was true since the court never said anything. But facts are that the child that was to become Charles XI was the only child they got and that the queens miscarriage was the last recorded pregnancy for them. Charles also wanted his country to be more self-sufficient when war come so that not so much mercenaries were needed. He began to make plans for a standing army. For that the state needed money and he began discussion with his trusted advisors were to get the money.

In January of 1661 Charles had a plan for reduction written down and a copy given to his trusted friend Erik Dahlberg in case something happened before the plan was but into effect. Why the king did so, but its speculated among several historians, for example the historian Peter Forsberg in his bestseller, Charles X, the greatest king Sweden ever had, body and mind, that he felt that his body wouldn’t allow him to live much longer. He also wrote a political will and gave Erik Dahlberg. Charles ordered the parliament and realms of the nation to gather in Stockholm on May 1, he would not live to preside however. On 22 of March 1661 the king suffered a heart attack. He survived barely, but gathered the people he had mentioned in the will just in case. Charles X died on April 1st 1661 after another heart attack.

On April 5th Erik Dahlberg opened the will.

TO BE CONTINUED


ooc: I had the king survive one more year than OTL. OTL he died becauce of complications of pneumonia he suffered during the siege of Copenhagen. From what i have read about him its not that unthinkable that his body would give up within a few years of peace anyway since he was getting more and more obease. For the Swedes following this, you will see a major buttefly when it comes to the will and who was present that werent avalible due to war OTL. I am using Herman Lindqvists history of Sweden as to get basic facts straight. No major changes in European history yet, maybe in the comming chapter.

And just to show some sneak peaks: The war France starts in 1672 might not actually go as OTL. And yes, there will be a Great nordic war even without Denmark. I havent decided who will do what as of now.

And i hope someone helps me make a map
 
This is really interesting. I'm just wondering why Sweden decided to give liberate Norway instead of annexing it and why did Sweden give away Sjaelland.
 
This is really interesting. I'm just wondering why Sweden decided to give liberate Norway instead of annexing it and why did Sweden give away Sjaelland.

I didnt want to wank it to much and i felt that the peace was easier to achive if Norway wasnt totaly annexed but an own nation. It also gives Sweden a buffert in the back, or so it seems.

Sweden gave away Jylland, not Sjaelland. Thats becauce i think that the major powers would have a easier time swallowing that Sweden didnt take all of Denmark. Holstein is at the base of Jylland and now grew a bit stronger.

This is not the end, things can still happen to change all of this
 
I didnt want to wank it to much and i felt that the peace was easier to achive if Norway wasnt totaly annexed but an own nation. It also gives Sweden a buffert in the back, or so it seems.

Sweden gave away Jylland, not Sjaelland. Thats becauce i think that the major powers would have a easier time swallowing that Sweden didnt take all of Denmark. Holstein is at the base of Jylland and now grew a bit stronger.

This is not the end, things can still happen to change all of this

OK thanks. I really meant Jylland but the spellchecker went nuts. Hope you continue this and thanks again for answering.
 

ingemann

Banned
The Gottorps was never dukes of Holstein, they were co-dukes of Schleswig-Holstein with owning around half of the crown estates, had co-dominance of the knigtly estates.

So honestly it would make more sense to make them sole dukes of Schleswig-Holstein.

As for Jutland (in reality only Nørrejylland) anmd Norway, Zealand was the thing the Dutch and English didn't want the Swedes to get, so they could just as well take Norway and Nørrejylland too.

So here my suggestion, the Gottorps are made sole dukes of Schleswig-Holstein, Denmark and Norway are annexed by Sweden (splitting up Denmark are more iffy judicial than annexing it all). Schleswig are made into a independent duchy rather than a Danish vassal and raised to grand duchy, giving the Gottorps the prestige they wanted, the Sønderborg dukes are made their vassal. The Swedes buy the inheritance right of the County of Oldenburg to Frederik III (in OTL he got it in 1667 after bribing the other potential non-Gottorp heir) as compensation for the loss of their part of Schleswig-Holstein. Sweden also make a deal with the emperor to raise Oldenburg to a duchy.

As for Swedification of Scania, it only began after the Scania War, here I can only see it happen if the Danes rise in major rebellion against the Swedes, and I find it doubtful that will happen. The Danish state ios spend, a third of their population are dead, and if the Swedes have any brains, they will give the Danish burghers the same rights as the Swedes, and the Danish peasantry are no worse off under a Swedish king than a Danish one, and no don't suggest removing serfdom, as it didn't exist the Danish were renters not serf, which make changes to their position problematic. At most I could see the removal of the Zealandish Stavnsbånd (it was only extended to the rest of Denmark in 1733).
Of course in the long run, we will likely see a standisation of the written language and one common bible for all kingdoms, but in the start Danish priests will keep running the church in Denmark-Norway using the Danish bible.
 
Thanks for the input Ingman, but i got this idea of having a grand rebellion in Denmark AND then a Swedification that like you said happened OTL after the war in the 1670ths.

And who knows, the duke of Bornholm might suddenly realise that Sweden suddenlly gets to weak and then its the time for the big return(think of Napoleon and Elbe in a larger way).

I have so many plans in my head how this TL will go, but i have to think about reality also.
 

ingemann

Banned
Thanks for the input Ingman, but i got this idea of having a grand rebellion in Denmark AND then a Swedification that like you said happened OTL after the war in the 1670ths.

And who knows, the duke of Bornholm might suddenly realise that Sweden suddenlly gets to weak and then its the time for the big return(think of Napoleon and Elbe in a larger way).

I have so many plans in my head how this TL will go, but i have to think about reality also.

Yes I like the idea, but there are some problems.

England and Netherlands couldn't care less about Swedish ownership of Denmark-Norway, it was the control of Øresund they objected to.

Bornholm are the worst possible possesion to let the Oldenburg house keep, it place a potential navy base for hostile powers in enemy hand, and it also are able to cut Sweden off from it's German possesions.

The Scanian uprising under the Scanian Wars, wasn't caused by Swedish takeover of Scania, but by Sweden cutting Scania off from Zealand which it was economic and social integrated with. Original Rigsdansk (standard Danish) was defined as the dialect spoken in Copenhagen and Malmø, because Malmø was until the Swedish conquest de facto a suburb of Copenhagen. Helsingborg was until the the conquest part of Helsingør.
Here with Zealand and Scania both under Swedish rule there are little reason for a uprising.

If you want a uprising Jutland are a better bet, while Swedish rule will mean little change for a united Scania-Zealand, there are a lot of economic good policies, which may piss off the Jutes to rebel.
One of the main trade in Jutland was the cattle trade, there was few taxes on cattle and they was sold expensive in Hamburg.
Sweden could try to raise taxes on cattle, while also set up tariffs at the Nørrejylland-Schleswigian border. This may result in peasant rebellion in Jutland.

So here's my idea. Sweden make the peace I argued for in the last post. After the taking over Denmark, Sweden begin to raise the taxes and tariffs on cattle trade. The Jutes rise in rebellion (somewhere in 1670ties) and instate Christian 5 as king, the Dutch decides to throw their support behind Christian 5 and he succesfull occupies Bremen-Verden, Schleswig-Holstein and Fuen, there are sporatic uprising on Zealand, Scania and Norway, while Brandenburg occupies most of Vorpommern, but they get little support and the Swedes deal with it, by a mix of force and rewarding the pro-Swedish fraction. The Swedes try to reconquer the lost possession, but fail and finally a peace is made.

Sweden lose Jutland and Bremen-Verden to the Oldenburgs and Strettin to Brandenburg.
The Gottorps lose Schleswig-Holstein to the Oldenburgs, but receive Fuen as duchy under Swedish vassalage.
Vorpommern change name to Rügen and are made part of Denmark (historical it was a Danish fief)
The Swedish king keep the title king of Denmark as permanent heritable position, and the peace treaty streamline the succession to Denmark-Norway, so that the king of Sweden will always be king of Denmark-Norway (they are de facto made into Swedish provinces)
Christian 5 give up his claims to the Kingdom of Denmark, but is raised to king of Jutland.
The kingdom of Jutland are given Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen-Verden and Oldenburg by the kingdom of Germany (purely a legal manoeuvre to remove the rights of the estates in the German duchies) and its estates are disestablished and it's made a absolut kingdom. Flensburg are made the capital of Jutland
The HRE gives up it overlordship to Rügen/Rygen to the kingdom of Denmark.

This is a Swedish loss, Sweden have lost its strong position in north western Germany and their position in north eastern Germany have been weaken too. Sweden have also gotten a strong competor in Jutland, which are almost as strong as Denmark-Norway and in time will grow stronger. On the other hand Scania, Zealand, Norway and Vorpommern/Rygen are now de facto Swedish provinces, Fuen is a Swedish vassal and unlikely to cause trouble. So Swedish prestige have taken a beating, but in the long term Zealand and Norway will be integrated into a Swedish state, as Scania was in OTL.
 
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ooc: Ty Ingeman for your input. You might have noticed i made the toll in Oresund go down with half? That was to make the Dutch less intrested in making a fuss. And this was made were the Danes OTL instead rose the toll.

Part 2 of chapter 2.


The will was the wish of Charles X how he wanted his son to be schooled into being a monarch. The Seneschal of the Realm Per Brahe the younger was present and hoped for a elevated position and according to the will he was to remain in place. The counsil of guardians would be led by queen Hedvig Elonora who would have two votes and the rest would be the five highest ranking grand officials of the realm. Carl Gustav Wrangel would be admiral of the realm in charge of the navy despite never having been onboard a ship as something else than a passenger. Herman Fleming would be the man in charge of the finances of Sweden, still very hated by the nobility for the reduction. Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie would be chancellor. The fifth person would be the king of Norway and the brother of Charles X, Adolf Johan who would be commanding the army, but that was under the condition that he abdicated the Norwegian crown and choosed a Norwegian for a new king. Adolf Johan would be placed in the hierarchy ahead of Per Brahe. If Adolf Johan refused, and he did as soon as he listened to the will Erik Dahlberg would be part of the council and Wrangel would lead the army and Otto Stenbock would lead the navy.

This guardian rule was set up to make Hedvig Elonora a important person if the rest were deadlocked, but she would seldom use her power since she was more interested in arts. And towards the end of the guardian rule when the future Charles XI was 13 and 14 she often voted as he wanted. The council would be deadlocked several times as De la Gardie and Per Brahe almost never agreed on how to run things and Fleming and Brahe often choosing different sides while Erik Dahlberg took the position of voting how he thought the king would want him to vote. The reduction was to take a break during this years Fleming saw that the idea would have trouble getting past the council. If Hedvig Elonora died or remarried Adolf Johan(in effect Dahlberg) would get her votes.

Around an hour after the will was read the council met with the realms of the nation. The nobility would never accept this because their power would not be as great. The burgers, priests and farmers accepted this and also told the council to continue with the reduction. This was because that the rest of the realm of the nation knew that 60-70 % of the farm land in Sweden was in the hand of the nobility, an even higher number in the former Danish provinces and the farmers and priests feared a move towards serfdom. Fleming was ordered to continue with the reduction, much to the anger of the nobility.

In a later discussion within the counsil Fleming and Per Brahe agreed that they would start in Denmark and make it better for the farmers by taking 90 percent of the nobilities land, in effect 90 percent of all land since the nobility owned every farm land in Denmark.

Then another problem showed itself, or more accurate herself. Former queen Kristina had written a letter that she wanted to talk to the realms of the nation.


Authors note: The will was more or less the same as OTL with the exception of Erik Dahlberg. The fact that everyone is present removes OTL coup by Per Brahe to place his men in the council. The letter from Kristina happened OTL also.
OTL the land that was owned by the nobility in Sweden was 60 %, but since Sweden now is bigger and included Denmark that had land that only the nobility owned that number goes up. The reduction will be more hated in the Danish nobility than in Sweden, but since they lack people to make an army they cant rebell as the farmers dont have to listen to them anymore. All historical events from Herman Lindqvist history of Sweden, Greatness and fall and info about serfdom in Denmark from wikipedia and google.
 
Part 3
During the next years the Swedish empire was at peace. The new areas were a hotbed of trouble, especially since the people in Skane wasn’t allowed to send their products to the auctions on Sjaelland and the people on the former islands of Denmark were angry of being forbidden to speak Danish and having the Swedish type of preaching. Sure, the farmers like being free and not treated like slaves by the nobility, but the Swedish king taxed them and drafted men into the army and sent to guard the eastern provinces. Queen Kristina had tried to return to Sweden, but her boat stranded on the north of Jylland and the duke of Hollstein as a Swedish ally returned her to were she came from. This wasn’t her last try though. She would return again, and then she would do more than talk.

The reduction continued and the crown decided to talk half of the land Kristina had got after she abdicated. She started a mail correspondence with Corfitz Ulfeldt and the Duchy of Bornholm and Poland with the intention to regain the crown of Sweden. Corfitz Ulfeldt played both sides since he wanted his territory to become its own nation under him and may in the future the first piece of what was to become the new Denmark. He sent some of her mail to the government while keeping others hidden.

Sweden on the other hand didn’t have a clear picture but guessed that the former queen would come back and present new demands but without war. This went on for most of the 1660ths. In 1669 a friend of Dahlberg overheard Kristina talking at a tavern with the Polish ambassador to the Pope about a possible alliance between Poland, Kristina and Bornholm against Sweden with the goal of putting her back on the throne of Sweden and allowing Denmark to be independent. The friend who sent the mail warned Sweden, but added that both Kristina and the ambassador was a bit drunk.

Kristina had planned together with Poland-Lithuania, the Duchy of Bornholm and Corfitz Ulfeldt to make war on Sweden. Corfitz was to launch a rebellion in his territories and the Duchy of Bornholm were recruiting mercenaries and would invade Skane. Polan-Lithuania would launch an attack towards Livland. Events however would make those plans changed. Corfitz Ulfeldt suffered a heart attack in December of 1669 and after that he believed he would die and wanted to save his soul and wrote a confession about the conspiracy. The Swedish government became very angry and distributed copies to every major country in the world. Poland then signed a treaty with France to guard themselves against Sweden. This made Prussia uneasy and they renewed their alliance with Sweden.

The council of guardians acted and removed Corfitz Ulfeld as the governor of Fyn and the ruling of Fyn became the responsibility of the governor of the rest of Denmark, Fabian von Fersen. However, the groundwork for rebellion had been laid already and soon every island was close to open rebellion. Von Fersen had pleaded the government for reinforcements, but got very little. In Copenhagen there were 4,000 men from Sweden proper as garrison, Fyn had 1,500 men who were part Germans, part Swedish and a few Danes. There were also a few small garrisons on the rest of the islands numbering about 1,000 men.

The thinking that the world would accept the words sent out by the Swedish government wasn’t what really happened. The protestant countries had mixed reactions. Some of them believed that it contained some truths but other thought that Sweden was lied to. The Catholic countries didn’t believe anything and saw it as a plot by the Swedes to compromise Kristina into forcing her to give up her claims in Sweden and Spain went as far as to accuse Sweden to plot to murder Kristina. But the major powers in Europe didn’t have time to think about what Swedens intentions were because the French were stirring up trouble again. Kristina decided to go back to Rome to be as far from eventual Swedish retribution as possible.

France and The Netherlands were rivals when it came to trade and in the war of Devolution that ended in 1668 the Netherlands had supported the French. French had hoped for Swedish help and tried to bribe the nation into an alliance by giving Sweden 1 million Daler. The Netherlands and UK secured a Swedish neutrality when they payed 1,5 million Daler. The Netherlands however played both sides and also signed a treaty of support with the Dutchy of Bornholm.

Kristina saw the winds of war coming and in late 1671 she went to the Neatherlands and started a propaganda war against Sweden. The Swedish government began questioning if she should be allowed to retain any counties in Sweden, but the aristocrats also knew that she still had some popularity among the farming class.

In 1672 Carl XI came of age and took the throne in early June. On July 14 1672 he and Ulrika Elonora became married in a lavish ceremony in Stockholm. The country rejoiced that thought that now at last the Danish territories would be at peace. They were wrong. That same year the French and Dutch started a war. All hopes of a peace in Sweden were lost in August of 1672 when Fyn went into open rebellion and soon joined by the rest of the former islands of Denmark. The Netherland had scraped together 15 ships of the line and transports for 8000 men under the command of general Vasa and sent the force as soon as the news came about the rebellion. General Vasa was really former queen Kristina who had decided to take back the Swedish throne with force and make the country Catholic again. She had promised the Netherlands that they would be given a monopoly on trade if she succeeded.

Next chapter: All out war
 
Chapter 3, war in the north
Part 1. 1672
The Swedish navy had reorganized since the last war so that while the main fleet was still based at Vaxholm, the western navy had been created and was based in Göteborg and consisted of 5 ships of the line and 15 smaller vessels. A small task force was based in Landskrona consisting of 2 ships of the line and 10 minor vessels.

As the Dutch fleet neared the tip of Jylland news had come to Göteborg and commander Eric Ekenskärna along with the garrison commander of Göteborg general Adlercreutz met and decided that while Ekenskärna went out with the fleet, Adlercreutz would send word to Stockholm that the Netherlands were about to declare war and send aid to the rebells.

Commander Eric Ekenskärna took his flagship Kronan along with the rest of the fleet out into Kattegatt to try to stop the Dutch. He knew they were out there, but not were and decided to sail south west and maybe find them. He also wanted to get into contact with the task fleet from Landskrona.

Word from Göteborg reached Stockholm within a week and startled the government. Wrangel who still was head of the navy acted without orders and sent out a majority of the fleet to stop the Dutch. Unfortunaly the fleet was far from ready and many ships lacked the proper crew. Nevertheless Wrangel managed to sail with 10 ships of the line and 5 armed merchants and 9 frigates within a week.

Charles XI was eager for war and wanted to rush down to the rebellion and kill everyone involved. The country lacked regular soldiers and mercenaries were a bit expensive but mobilization started. Within a month Charles would have 8000 infantry and 4000 cavalry under his command.

Out in Kattegat the Swedish and Dutch fleet missed each other mainly due to a massive fog bank. When Ekenskärna couldn’t find the Dutch and two weeks had passed he changed direction and sailed toward Öresund. One day before the mouth of Öresund the fleet saw transports in the distance. Ekenskärna had found the Dutch in a bad position for the Dutch as they had decided to blockade Landskrona with 2 ships of the line and 2 frigates as they passed and the majority of the ships of the lines were in front of the transports and only one ship of the line in the aft.

Ekenskärna had read accounts of war at sea and new a thing or two about warfare at sea. He sent all of his frigates forward as they were faster than the ships of the line with the intention of taking care of the transports. Unfortunally the Swedish captains weren’t as experienced as Ekenskärna had hoped and the Swedish force that started in a position to do harm ended up facing 4 ships of the line and 3 frigates without getting into range of the transports. Ekenskärna ordered an attack and the battle commenced. After pounding on each other for a few hours the forces withdraw. One Swedish frigate and one Dutch were sunk. One of the Swedish ship of the line was captured by the Dutch.

Ekenskärna was furious as he brought his fleet into Landskrona harbor. The Dutch on the other hand was in a excellent mode and a few days later they landed at Bornholm. The dutchy of Bornholm threw away the veil they had created and made a proclamation that they would land in Skane and retake the country of Denmark.

(The reason for the time it took is that i wrote myself into a corner with Ekenskärna managing to sink many transport and thus creating a wank. Oh, and i forgott about the TL)
 
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