4.30 Europe: a.d. 1601 to 1700  (Page 23/30)

It may have been that frequent harvest failures from cold may have, in part, stimulated the swings of the Swedish kings into Germany and Poland. (Ref. 224 ) At any rate, Karl X Gustavus found it easy to invade Poland, but difficult to subdue it. When Frederick William of Brandenburg tried to steal West Prussia, while Poland was under duress, Karl turned on him and forced the Treaty of Konigsberg, which gave East Prussia to Sweden. Finally, when the Catholic powers on the continent rose up against him, he turned his forces against Denmark with his army crossing the ice of the frozen Kattegut (1658). Only a valiant defense of Copenhagen saved the Danish throne. Although the open sea in the center of the Baltic did not freeze in winter, the shore line and the northern ½ of the Gulf of Bosnia did freeze from November until early May, shutting down all merchant shipping and in some years, as in that just mentioned, even the Kattegut froze solid. Finally, Karl Gustavus was defeated on the sea by the combined efforts of England and Holland, who wanted no nation to exclusively control access to the Baltic.

Karl (Charles) XI (1660-1697) was not as successful militarily as his predecessors. He was defeated in 1675 in the battle of Fehrbellin by the Great Elector of Brandenburg-Prussia, but later by treaty and through the help of Sweden's new ally, France, he was able to recover Swedish Pomeria. (Ref. 119 ) At home, however, Karl XI was determined to reduce the power of the aristocracy and one way was to demand the return to the crown of various lands previously given to the nobles, a measure which brought much disfavor to him, not only at home but in the possessions south of the Baltic. When he died in 1698 of cancer of the stomach, he was succeeded by his 15 year old son, Karl (Charles) XII, a frail boy, slender and wiry, but already a superb horseman, hunter and avid student of military science. He did not care for the Swedish language and spoke and wrote it poorly, but used German, which was the court language of all the northern kingdoms. He also had a knowledge of Latin and French and was a student of the campaigns of Caesar, Gustavus Adolphus and particularly of Alexander the Great. Even at his young age he ref used to have a regent and crowned himself king immediately and took over the reign. He participated in dangerous sports such as fighting a bear using only a wooden pitchfork, etc. and played at war as did his contemporary, Peter of Russia. (Ref. 131 ) (Continue on page 978)

Denmark

Although Denmark had a king the actual power was in the hands of noblemen who lived well, although not on the scale of other European countries. In large areas of the nation the old Danish "free" peasants had fallen into a dependent state, roads were poor and heather began to take over fields, because farmers did not know how to control it. (Ref. 117 ) Even then, the Danes were able to send some 80,000 head of cattle to Germany each year.

The most renowned Danish king, Christian IV, was crowned in 1596 and in spite of continued war with Sweden, he was a builder, constructing Europe's largest naval arsenal at Copenhagen and also a new Stock Exchange. He got into a disagreement with the great Tyco Brahe, living on an island in the sound by previous royal decree and Brahe went to Prague where he soon died. During Christian IV's reign, Copenhagen doubled in size. He made the sad mistake of entering the Thirty Years War on the side of the Protestants and after being defeated by Tilly he retreated, only to have the German troops move up and ravage Jutland. Just a few years later, the Swedish troops also came up from Germany into Jutland and then down from Sweden into Scania, thoroughly defeating the Danes.