Foundation of Modern Sweden

Eric XIV

Main article: Eric XIV of Sweden

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Events were already occurring which ultimately compelled Sweden to depart from her neutrality and lay the foundations of an overseas empire. In the last year of Gustav?s life, 1560, the ancient Livonian Order, amalgamated since 1237 with the more powerful Teutonic Order, had by the secularization of the latter order into the dukedom of Prussia, 1525, become suddenly isolated in the midst of hostile Slavonians. It needed but a jolt to bring down the crazy anachronism, and the jolt came when, in 1558-1560, floods of Muscovites poured over the land, threatening the whole province with destruction.

Related Topics:
1560 - Livonian Order - 1237 - Teutonic Order - Prussia - 1525 - Slavonians - 1558

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In his despair the last master of the order, Gotthard von Kettler, appealed to all his more civilized neighbours to save him, and his dominions were quickly partitioned between Poland, Denmark, and Sweden. Sweden?s original share of the spoils of the Livonian War was Reval, which, driven to extremities, placed itself beneath the protection of the Swedish crown in March 1561. From the moment that Sweden got a firm footing in Estonia by the acquisition of Reval she was committed to a policy of combat and aggrandisement.

Related Topics:
Gotthard von Kettler - Poland - Denmark - Sweden - Livonian War - Reval - 1561 - Estonia

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To have retreated would have meant the ruin of her Baltic trade, upon which the national prosperity so much depended. Her next-door neighbours, Poland and Russia, were necessarily her competitors; fortunately they were also each other?s rivals; obviously her best policy was to counterpoise them. To accomplish this effectually she required to have her hands free. The composition of her long outstanding differences with Denmark by the Treaty of Stettin on December 13, 1570, which put an end to the Northern Seven Years' War of 1563-1570, the chief political event of the reign of Eric XIV of Sweden, 1560-1568, the eldest son and successor of Gustav Vasa, was therefore a judicious act on the part of the new king John III of Sweden, 1568-1592.

Related Topics:
Treaty of Stettin - December 13 - 1570 - Northern Seven Years' War - 1563 - Eric XIV of Sweden - 1560 - 1568 - John III of Sweden - 1592

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Equally judicious was the anti-Russian league with Stephen Bathory, king of Poland, concluded in 1578. The war between Russia and Sweden for the possession of Estonia and Livonia (1571-1577) had been uninterruptedly disastrous to the latter, and, in the beginning of 1577, a countless Russian host sat down before Reval, Sweden?s last stronghold in those parts.

Related Topics:
Stephen Bathory - King of Poland - 1578 - Livonia - 1571 - 1577

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The energetic intervention of Bathory, however, speedily turned the scales in the opposite direction. Six months after his humiliating peace with the Polish monarch, Ivan IV was glad to conclude a truce with Sweden also on a ?uti possidetis? basis at Pliusa, on August 5, 1582.

Related Topics:
August 5 - 1582

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