Historical Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 47

[cahn]

We haven't had a new post since before December 25, so obligatory Yuletide link to this hilarious story of Frederick the Great babysitting his bratty little brother, with bonus Fritz/Fredersdorf!

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1764-1772 Foreign policy: Sweden: Overview

[mildred_of_midgard]

A 4-part series on Sweden, dedicated to luzula!

It's going to be a little more domestic policy and a little less foreign policy than the other countries' installments, because we're building up to the end of the Age of Liberty in Sweden (namely Gustav's coup and the restoration of absolutism), and it'll be a little less closely related to the events of the First Polish Partition than most of the other installments. But it's still interesting, and understanding the events in Poland helps provide context for understanding the events in Sweden, which is why we're doing them in this order.

Since we're introducing some new characters here, I'll introduce the most important envoys in Stockholm:

Osterman: Russian envoy
Goodricke: British envoy
Vergennes: French envoy (and future French foreign minister, although we'll stop before he comes to power in 1774)

And we'll have the map so we can remind ourselves that Finland isn't an independent country in this period, Sweden and Russia are neighbors, and that's why Sweden and Russia care so much about what the other one is doing.



We'll also have a map from before Peter the Great, showing that St. Petersburg used to not exist, and that Sweden used to control all the Baltic coast that now belongs to Russia, and very much wants it back. Which is why the prospect of Sweden becoming a military power again under an absolute monarch (like Gustav) worries Catherine so much.



With all that under our belts, the key to understanding Swedish politics during the Age of Liberty (1719-1772) is that it's like a less dysfunctional version of Poland. You have a monarch who is elected, nobles that run the country, foreign powers interfering in who gets elected (the current king, Louisa Ulrike's husband, was chosen by Elizaveta), foreign powers bribing the nobles, and a two-party system: the pro-Russian party (Caps/Czartoryskis) and the pro-French party (Hats/Potockis).

Foreign powers generally want two things from Poland and Sweden: a foreign policy that benefits their country, and preserving the constitution so that the monarch stays too weak to do anything.

This is relevant because it's no accident that Gustav's coup to end the Age of Liberty in Sweden and restore autocracy in 1772 was the same year the Polish Partition took place. Gustav took one look at what Catherine was doing in Poland and went "Oh, shit. That's us next if I don't do something." And he had to act quickly, while she was still at war with the Turks. (When he later invades Russia in 1788, it will be because she's at war with the Turks again.)

So even though the reason Fritz and Heinrich freaked out was because Catherine would very much disapprove of what their nephew had done, it was precisely the consequences of her own actions.

Now that you understand that, we can get into the nitty-gritty of Swedish politics.

Re: 1764-1772 Foreign policy: Sweden: Overview

[luzula]

Oooh, for me! : D Much looking forward to the rest of this.