The Kingdom of Sweden has had a great number of ups and downs in the history of Look to the West. Sweden did rather better in the 18th century than OTL, retaining Swedish Pomerania and more of Finland, and picking up Courland and part of East Prussia. For a time it seemed that Sweden was ready to dominate Scandinavia, but in the Great Baltic War the Swedish ruling dynasty came to an abrupt end. Due to collapses on several fronts, the Swedish government accepted a new personal union with Denmark on relatively mild treaty grounds, only losing their 18th century gains plus Pomerania and part of Scania. Finland remains under Swedish jurisdiction.

Swedish politics in the 18th century was dominated by two parties in the Riksdag (parliament), known as the Hats and the Caps. The Lantmarskalk (Land Marshal), who combined the roles of Speaker and Prime Minister, was elected from the majority party.

The Hats were generally pro-French, anti-British and anti-Russian in policy, and had a revanchist character, wanting to restore Sweden to great power status. They enjoyed rather more success in this endeavour than OTL, at least at first. The more moderate Caps were pro-British, pro-Russian and anti-French, and considered to be the party with a stronger handling of the economy.

The Caps dominated Swedish politics between the War of the Polish Partition and the Great Baltic War, a minor golden age of economic growth. The Hats returned to power and blundered into the Great Baltic War; the fallout from that war resulted in the virtual destruction of the party. The Caps returned to an even greater period of dominance, but soon fractured themselves into pro- and anti-Copenhagen factions. These became known as the Zealanders (or Kalmarites) and the Vasas, the latter called after the dynasty which took Sweden out of the first Union of Kalmar.

1720-1751: Frederick I

1751-1770: Adolf I Frederick

1770-1799: Charles XIII

(October 1799-January 1800: throne vacant)

1800-1813: John IV (also Johannes II of Denmark)

1813-1835: Valdemar II (also Valdemar V of Denmark)

Until the Union with Denmark in 1800, Sweden's flag was the familiar yellow Scandinavian cross on blue:

After the Union, a modified flag was adopted, which used the Union Jack (of Scandinavia) in the canton.

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