According to itypeusa, Denmark, Russia and Poland concluded a coalition directed against Sweden, and in the 1700s war broke out. Charles first headed against Denmark and forced it to the peace of Traventhal, then turned against the Russians who he defeated in 1700 near Narva. The third enemy, Augustus of Saxony-Poland, was defeated in 1701 on the banks of the Dvina and after other military operations forced to lay down his Polish crown in 1706. The new king, Stanislao Leszczyński, appointed by Charles, was to lead the Poles, united in alliance with the Swedes, against Russia. In 1708 Charles XII began his great campaign against Moscow, with the aim of definitively defeating Peter the Great of Russia, who had conquered the Swedish provinces of the Baltic Sea. But the undertaking was unfortunate. Carlo had to go to Ukraine and was beaten here near Poltava in 1709; he himself was wounded and took refuge in Turkey, his army capitulated near Perevolost ′. In Turkey, Charles twice persuaded the sultan to a war against Russia, but did not achieve definitive success. Sweden was faced with new enemies: Augustus was again recognized king in Poland and renewed the war; the Danes broke the peace and tried to retake Scania, but were defeated at Hälsingborg in 1710 by Magnus Stenbock. When he passed to Germany in 1712 he won the Danes at Gadebusch, but he had to capitulate with his army in 1713 at Tönning.
With the Russian conquest of Finland the situation worsened. Voices of the opposition made themselves heard in Sweden in 1713 in parliament. In 1714 the king went to Swedish Pomerania; and in 1715 – after this too had been lost and after Brandenburg and Hanover had joined forces with the enemies of Sweden – he returned to Sweden. Charles, who had found an energetic coadjutor in GH v. Görtz, minister of Holstein in Stockholm, knew how to stretch all the forces of Sweden for new hardships, despite the misfortunes. Administration was organized even more rigidly, economic life severely subjected to the state, taxes were increased. The king managed to muster a new army, with which he began military operations against Norway, while the Görtz conducted peace negotiations with Russia. In this’ the question of succession to the throne had begun to acquire importance both for domestic and foreign politics, as Charles XII was celibate there were two suitors: the younger sister of the king, Ulrica Eleonora, who was married to Prince Frederick of Hesse, and the son of an older sister, already deceased, Duke Charles Frederick of Holstein. While the party of Hesse wanted peace with the western states, the party of Holstein wanted to make peace with Russia. It seemed that the king wanted to grant the wishes of Holstein’s party; but in 1718 he was shot dead at the gates of Fredrikshald in Norway. When the news of the king’s death reached Stockholm, Ulrica Eleonora (1718-20) had the council pay homage as queen by right of inheritance and took over the government. The parliament, which met in 1719 in Stockholm, refused to recognize her queen by right of inheritance and elected her queen only on the promise of reigning according to a constitution approved by parliament. Ulrica Eleonora abdicated in 1720 in favor of her husband Federico I (1720-51).
After the death of Charles the negotiations with Russia were broken, and peace was concluded in 1719 with Hanover, in 1720 with Brandenburg and Denmark. Hanover got Bremen and Verden, Brandenburg the most important part of Swedish Pomerania. England promised to help Sweden against Russia; but, when this aid proved inconsistent, in the Nystad peace of 1721 Sweden had to renounce the Baltic provinces, England, where Petersburg had already been built, and Southeast Karelia in favor of Russia. The era of the Swedish great power was over.
No less important were the consequences in domestic politics. Gortz was executed, Charles XII’s innovations were abolished, royal power was reduced, the council of state once again became the center of government. All political matters had to be decided by the vote of the council of state, where the king had two votes: this strong and effective limitation of his authority. But the council of state itself depended on the parliament, which was controlled by the nobility of the offices: this had a great influence in the appointment of senators and could even dismiss them. So during the century. XVIII in Sweden a perfect parliamentarism develops, independent but parallel to the English one. The more the so-called “liberal era” progressed, the more prominent was the dominance of parliament.
During the first two decades of the new constitution the president of the chancellery Arvid Horn was the predominant statesman of Sweden; he conducted a blatantly moderate policy, both at home and abroad. The wounds of war were soon healed; the economic policy was conducted with a moderate mercantilist spirit. The Horn tried to protect Sweden from Russia, which from that time on was considered the capital enemy of Sweden, by joining the alliance with Hanover. But it met with violent opposition; between 1720-30 he was fought by the so-called “Holstein party”; between 1730-40 the party of the so-called “hats” (Swedish hattar), which pronounced itself in favor of an active foreign policy against Russia and a more energetic economic policy in the mercantilistic sense. In 1738 the Horn left the office of president of the chancellery, 6 members of the council of state were dismissed and in their place they were appointed adherents to the party of the hattar. Already in 1741 war was declared on Russia; the war, badly prepared and conducted, ended in defeat. However, in the peace of 1743 Sweden only had to cede a small part of Finland, since in 1742 Adolfo Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp, a favorite of the Russian Empress Elizabeth, was elected successor to the Swedish throne. The position of the hattar party had been weakened by the war; but the opposing party, the so-called mössors (“caps”) formed close relations with the Russian minister in Stockholm, who was engaging in a provocative and domineering policy, and lost popular sympathies. The hattar remained in power, even after the accession to the throne of Adolfo Federico (1750-71). These tried in vain to increase the royal power. When he refused to sign decrees of the council of state, a stamp was used with his name. An attempt for a coup in 1756 (by the new court party) failed completely. In foreign policy, the hattar provoked the conclusion of a close alliance with France. In the economic field, where they operated with great alacrity, with protectionism, with public subsidies and state loans, it was possible to create a flourishing industry. But when it became evident that prosperity had been artificially brought about, the end of the power of the hattar was marked; all the more so that they led Sweden, as an ally of France, to take part in the Seven Years’ War against Prussia (1757-62), as inglorious and fruitless as it was costly. In 1765 the Mössor party took power and took advantage of it to pursue a pro-Russian foreign policy and to adopt financial measures, which aggravated the economic crisis. When the king intervened, a parliament was summoned, in which the government of the mössors was brought down; the hattars took power again; but the king’s privileges were not increased. to take part in the Seven Years’ War against Prussia (1757-62), as inglorious and fruitless as it was expensive. In 1765 the Mössor party took power and took advantage of it to pursue a pro-Russian foreign policy and to adopt financial measures, which aggravated the economic crisis. When the king intervened, a parliament was summoned, in which the government of the mössors was brought down; the hattars took power again; but the king’s privileges were not increased. to take part in the Seven Years’ War against Prussia (1757-62), as inglorious and fruitless as it was expensive. In 1765 the Mössor party took power and took advantage of it to pursue a pro-Russian foreign policy and to adopt financial measures, which aggravated the economic crisis. When the king intervened, a parliament was summoned, in which the government of the mössors was brought down; the hattars took power again; but the king’s privileges were not increased. the hattars took power again; but the king’s privileges were not increased. the hattars took power again; but the king’s privileges were not increased.
The Swedish constitutional question had now become an international problem; while Russia, Prussia and Denmark agreed not to tolerate any changes to the Swedish constitution, France withdrew its financial assistance from the hattar party and worked to strengthen the king’s power. Gustav III (1771-92) was from the beginning firmly determined to increase his power, and with this – as he believed – to save Sweden from a situation similar to that of Poland. Having failed in his attempt to reconcile the parties, he prepared a coup d’etat; his projects were favored by the fact that class struggles began to develop from the struggles of the parties, which led many nobles to follow the king. In 1772 the coup was carried out: without bloodshed the constitution of 1720 was abolished and a new one was issued, which gave the king the position of a reigning monarch, but not a sovereign: representative of the Enlightenment, Gustavo introduced several important reforms; his court was organized according to the French model; cultural and literary life flourished like never before. But for various reasons in the years between 1780-90 a current of opposition grew against the king, especially in various aristocratic circles; Gustavo believed that a war, with a happy outcome, was the best remedy to stave off discontent and attacked Russia in 1788. Many army officers operating in Finland mutinied and ended the so-called Anjala league, which asked Catherine for peace. Russia and to Gustavo III the convening of the parliament. In various Finnish circles, efforts were made to detach Finland from Sweden; and the news came that Denmark too was preparing for war. The king immediately abandoned the revolted Finnish army and went to Sweden to organize the defense of the country against the Danes. At the same time the parliament was convened. The king, around whose person the non-noble classes gathered, completely mastered parliament; and this accepted an “act of reunion and security,” which so greatly increased the power of the king, that one often speaks of a new Gustavian autocracy. The aristocratic privileges were also modified in favor of the non-noble classes. Shortly after the parliament meeting, the old council of state was totally dissolved. The war with Russia continued; status quo ante. The opposition of the nobles, who in parliament had fought the king in vain, continued to exist, and a conspiracy was hatched within it, which took the life of the king in 1792. During the minority of Gustavo IV Adolfo (1792-1809) he had to to rule the government by his uncle, Duke Charles; but he was dominated by his favorite, GA Reuterholm, who dismissed the former king’s partisans from all high positions. Only in 1800 Gustavo Adolfo personally took over the government.
