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Swedish Great Power period in the 17th century was
made possible because of both internal and external
causes. In the middle of the 16th century, when
the German Order State ceased to exist, Sweden,
Denmark, Russia and Poland competed for influence
over territories in the Baltic area; territories
that earlier belonged to the German Order. Sweden
managed to conquer the northern part of Estonia
and this was the beginning of a very expansive Swedish
foreign policy. The expansion was made easier by
the Civil War that raged in Russia in the early
years of the 17th century. Sweden took part in this
war, trying to take advantage of the chaotic situation.
The peace treaty added new territory to the Finnish
part of Sweden.
The reason why the states
surrounding the Baltic Sea were so eager to take
control of the Baltic states, was their importance
in being able to control the trade from Russia
to western Europe. The collapse of the German
Order State created a political vacuum that constituted
a threat to trade relations. Because of the political
turbulence in the Baltic area, the English established
a new trade route north of Scandinavia, to Russia.
When Sweden, because of this, tried to take control
of the northern coastal regions of Scandinavia,
it led to conflict with Russia and Denmark. When
King Gustav II Adolf, who "inherited"
the conflict, realised that it would be very difficult
for Sweden to control the northern route, he concentrated
the Swedish interest to the Baltic Sea. Sweden
now strove to create a "dominium maris baltici",
i.e. supremacy of the Baltic Sea.
The first problem was the
trade from Russia to western Europe. Most of it
went from Russia over "Livland", i.e.
modern Latvia, to cities in western Europe. In
the early 17th century "Livland", and
the coastal areas in the south-west of the Baltic
Sea, were controlled by Poland. This meant important
customs revenues from the commerce relations with
Russia. The Swedish king was, of course, interested
in getting his hands on these revenues. The supremacy
over "Livland" and other important harbour
cities in polish Prussia, meant massively increased
revenues for the Swedish state. The customs revenues
alone, amounted to over 25 percent of the Swedish
state income.
Internal
factors that had an impact on the development
towards a great power were, among other things,
a fairly well managed economy, a growing domestic
iron and weapons industry, a, for the time, very
well-administrated state and a slightly increasing
population. However, the external factors, a weak
Russia and social and economic problems in other
European countries that competed with Sweden,
are regarded by most scholars as the main explanation
as to why Sweden, with its limited resources,
could become so powerful.
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