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Great Northern War - I: When Sweden Ruled the World - Extra History (Patreon)

Published:
2017-08-18 17:00:01
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

The great Swedish Empire has fallen into the hands of a fourteen year old boy king. Sweden looks like an easy target. 

Files

Previews only

Great Northern War - I: When Sweden Ruled the World - Extra History

A young boy king had inherited the crown of the Swedish Empire, and his neighbors saw an opportunity to attack. To their surprise, young Charles XII of Sweden turned out to be a fearsome opponent who quickly repelled their assaults - and then sought revenge. Support us on Patreon! http://bit.ly/EHPatreon (--More below) Grab your Extra Credits gear at the store! http://bit.ly/ExtraStore Subscribe for new episodes every Saturday! http://bit.ly/SubToEC Play games with us on Extra Play! http://bit.ly/WatchEXP Talk to us on Twitter (@ExtraCreditz): http://bit.ly/ECTweet Follow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/ECFBPage Get our list of recommended games on Steam: http://bit.ly/ECCurator ____________ ♪ Get the intro music here! http://bit.ly/1EQA5N7 *Music by Demetori: http://bit.ly/1AaJG4H ♫ Get the background music here! The Land of Vana'diel (Album): http://bit.ly/1t2OT9L *Music by Tweex ♪ Get the outro music here! http://bit.ly/23isQfx *Music by Sean and Dean Kiner: http://bit.ly/1WdBhnm

Comments

Martin Verran

If Soraya and the rest of the EH Crew have no Objections, I will Consider this Episode a late Birthday Present from them to me. :-) That and I just want to say it's now 6:00 PM BST.

Astrid Stormborn

FYI, the end music is still being credited as "The Collapse".

Alex Purchase

I know it is your standard artwork but you completely ruined the sabaton songs for me now :P

themunck

I keep waiting for the words "Carolus Rex" to show up, now >.

Alex Purchase

Yes why don't you call him Carolus Rex?

Jason Youngberg

And a lovely crossover with Catherine the Great. :)

Cap_RedJack

"See the Caroleans standing tall All for one and one for all Enemies fall at their feet Begging for their mercy"

Michael Jebbett

I bet Charles is gonna regret not brokering that peace.

Jim McGeehin

This war has some of the greatest cast members you'll see since the Justinian series. It's good that you'll be going to talk about them. Peter was the latest in a long (but broken) line of reformers to include his grandfather Mikhail and his father Alexei. Alexei is one of Russia's great unsung reformers, after expanding into Ukraine, he would begin exporting its knowledge back to Russia. Alexei hired foreign tutors to include two Scottish Catholics and encouraged Pyotr (Peter) to meet and befriend travelers from Moscow's foreign quarter. Peter's designs on the ports of the Baltic Sea were to give him warmer ports that were open for more of the year (a warm water port would drive Russian foreign policy), and Peter explicitly desired a sleek, modern navy the way the Western countries he so idolized did. Augustus the Strong, the king of the Polish-Lithuianian Commonwealth, was infamous for two reasons. The first is his great strength, it would be a parlor trick of his to straighten horseshoes with his bare hands, but the second was his legendary appetite for women. He had eleven known mistresses, including three countesses, a lady from Africa named Frederika, and a lady from the Ottoman Empire named Fatima and given the German name Maria Aurora, and he was rumored to have somewhere between 350 and 382 illegitimate children. Narva too, was an exceptional demonstration of Charles's philosophy of war. Charles believed deeply in the power of superior training and superior weaponry. Quick, aggressive maneuver with well-trained (and well-paid) troops was a hallmark of Charles's idol, Gustavus Adolphus, who built the Swedish Empire. Charles was outnumbered 3 to 1, but he still attacked, using the cover of the snow to his advantage.

Jonathan Luoto

Sweden actually held land in Pommerania in Northern Germany too, not shown on the map.

Jonathan Luoto

Another thing worth mentioning is that August of Poland- Lithuania also was the Elector of Saxony, and yes he was stronger in his position as ruler of Saxony, than he was as king of the mighty Polish- Lithuanian Commonwealth, since the kingship in the Noble Republic was mostly symbolical at this time.

David Burdon

So how exactly could Charles influence the War of Spanish Succession?. By distracting a potential belligerent? By creating a new powerful Empire to rival France or Spain? That part went over my head

SpoonofEvil

Commence putting "Carolus Rex" on loop for the next six hours.

Jonathan Dowding
>>6759100

I'm not certain, but I think by acting as a peace broker and arbiter between the warring powers, or by joining one side or another.

Moarice
>>6755864

Another fun fact about Augustus - it's quite likely that no other monarch in Europe's history had as many bastards as he had.

Joo-Hwan Jun

Sheesh! Young and already hands bloodied by war victories.... I don't see a good outcome on his end.....

Nessf
>>6759100

I could be wrong, but what I get out of this is that Sweden is a powerful empire. It was busy with it's own wars at the moment, but were it to make peace (and possibly even ally with some of it's neighbours) they would be a potent powerblock that could influence the spanish war either via diplomacy and peace-making... ...or by just weighing in on one side with a huge influx of troops.

David Burdon
>>6759100

Who would have thought 17th century European warfare would be such a cluster?

Christina Maria Jessen
>>6759100

That's exactly it. This was just a few decades after the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus had revolutionized European warfare and in a lot of ways, Sweden was a chillier Prussia in terms of how much it was a state existing for the sake of the military. It probably wasn't one of the greatest powers in Europe, like France or the declining but still mighty Ottoman Empire, but it was still a great power. In fact it was almost certainly more powerful than either England or Spain itself at this point.

Sara Samaletdin
>>6759100

Apart from military and territory Sweden was not powerful. It had a tiny population compared to the territory and the populace was poor and there wasn't anything else really notable about the country.

Anonymous

I just hope I will register myself as a $8 patreon as soon as possible so that I can suggest that Extra Credits to do videos on the topics I have chosen, such as Zheng He, King Naresuan, etc.

Times Chu

I am so excited for this series. Charles XII, Carolus Rex, is one of the coolest monarchs in all of history. He had it all. He was brave, noble, youthful, ruthless and cunning. The wars he'll wage are some of the most important in western history, and they get so little attention.

Times Chu

Did you know that while he was alive, there was a myth that he was protected by divine providence. He could wade through fire and sword and come out untouched. This myth became so powerful that it became a deep set ideal of the Caroleans. They were known for their steely resolve in the face of death, which came in non small part because they were ordered not to fire their rifles or charge until the enemy force was much closer than was standard for armies of the time. This meant that a lot of the enemies shots would go wide, and by the time they reached the Caroleans, they were down to swords and bayonets, while the Swedes still had their first volley primed and... Gah, I could go on for an hour like this but I shouldn't flood the comments section.

Christina Maria Jessen
>>6759100

Military, defensible territory and good logistics base seem like pretty important factors in being powerful internationally. Especially when talking about power in war.

Norraya
>>6785249

After the Battle of Narva (Where one of his bodyguards was shot 13 times, but Charles magically escaped unscathed) the Swedish Soldiers started to joke that after every battle, Charles had to turn his boots upside down to pour out all the bullets that simply bounced off him.

Sara Samaletdin
>>6759100

Not when the military is very small due to the population numbers. The economy being small means the country can't use money they influence the world and the wars are really bad long term. And I don't know where do you get defensible territory form. Modern Sweden territory might be (but there are the Danes). But the rest in Germany (not shown in this map), Finland, Estonia and the rest most certainly are not.

David Burdon
>>6759100

Hold up, hold up. Spain was declining but it still had a massive overseas empire during this time. It was a Great Power beyond a doubt. But what I'm thinking now is this. The Holy Roman Empire, the Low Countries, Baltic Sea Ports and Central Europe are accessible if The Swedish Empire is on your side. Not conquered but accessible. Anyone wanting to wage a large scale war in Europe would want to consult Sweden. Get them on your side, get them neutral or get them knocked out real quick. That's my takeaway from all this. The War of Spanish Succession brewed for a long time because the leaders of Europe knew the Habsburg heir was totally unsuitable (mentally disabled and not able to produce an heir) so this new power in the North (Sweden) was a like a dagger from above, they had to keep them sweet for when war inevitably broke out over the Spanish throne

ExtraCredits
>>6852285

Oooh, probably on Twitter if you have one, and tag @ExtraCreditz so our community manager sees it! Or you can send it to her more directly with the email: contact@extra-credits.net