Sweden as a great power

Sweden as a great power

Significant events took place around the world in the 16th century.

Columbus travelled to America.

Gutenberg invented the printing press.

The Pope, who leads the Catholic Church from Rome, lost control of a large part of his church.

Many people in Sweden were unhappy with how the Union was governed by the Danish king.

The Stockholm Bloodbath, when the Danish king beheaded 100 nobles in Stockholm, is a famous incident from this period.

This incident led to a Swedish rebellion. Gustav Vasa assembles a Swedish army and took power from the Danish king. He then became King of Sweden on 6 June 1523. There was peace in Sweden and the king successfully unified the country. Sweden's national day is therefore 6 June.

The church was changed while Gustav Vasa was king.

The German priest Martin Luther had a major influence on the Swedish Church.

Martin Luther has many new ideas about how the church should be.

The Swedish Church, having been Catholic, now became protestant.

The Church was forced to give up land and had to pay taxes to the increasingly powerful state.

At the same time, the Riksdag also gained more power.

From the middle of the 16th century until the beginning of the 18th century, Sweden was involved in many wars in the Baltic region.

The Baltic Sea provided important trade routes, and the wars were about control of the Baltic.

Sweden also became involved in a religious war that lasted thirty years, from 1618 to 1648.

Sweden warred with Denmark, Russia, Poland and Germany, and took control of large parts of the Baltic.

In the middle of the 17th century, Sweden also occupied parts of northern Germany and Poland, thus becoming one of the major powers in Europe.

As well as Sweden itself as it is today, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and parts of Russia and Germany also belonged to Sweden.

Sweden's King Charles XII was later forced to give up the land outside of what is now Sweden as he lost several wars.

In 1721, Sweden was at peace again and the country's period as a great power over the Baltic had come to an end.