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Gustavian era
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==Gustav IV Adolf== {{See also|Gustav IV Adolf}} [[File:Gustav Adolf Vierte Schweden Kind.jpg|thumb|upright|Gustav IV Adolf at the age of 7]] [[File:Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden.jpg|thumb|upright|Gustav IV Adolf at the age of 19]] === Reuterholm === The new king Gustav IV Adolf, still a minor, was brought up among [[Jacobin (politics)|Jacobins]]. During the king's minority, [[Gustaf Adolf Reuterholm|Gustaf Reuterholm]] virtually ruled Sweden. After the execution of [[Louis XVI]] on 21 January 1793, Sweden recognized the new French republic, and secret negotiations for contracting an alliance were begun in May of the same year until the protests of Catherine of Russia, supported by all the other European powers, finally induced Sweden to suspend them.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=209}} The negotiations with the French Jacobins exacerbated the hatred which Gustav's supporters felt for the Jacobin counselors of Charles, the duke-regent, later [[Charles XIII]]. They formed a conspiracy to overthrow the government, led by [[Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt]], which was to have been supported by a Russian fleet and a rising of the [[Dalecarlia]]ns. The conspiracy was discovered and vigorously suppressed.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=209}} ===Rapprochement=== A rapprochement took place between the [[Scandinavia]]n kingdoms during the revolutionary wars. Thus, on 27 March 1794, a neutrality compact was formed between with Denmark and Sweden; and their united squadrons patrolled the [[North Sea]] to prevent their merchantmen from being seized by British ships. The French Republic was officially recognized by the Swedish government on 23 April 1795. In return, Sweden received a subsidy and a treaty between the two powers was signed on 14 September 1795. But an attempt to regain the friendship of Russia, which had broken off diplomatic relations with Sweden, was frustrated by the refusal of the king to accept as his bride the Russian grand duchess Alexandra, whom Reuterholm had provided. This was Reuterholm's last official act. On 1 November 1796, Gustav Adolf at age 18 took the government into his own hands.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=209}} ===Gustavian government=== The government of [[Gustav IV Adolf]] was almost a pure autocracy. At his very first [[Riksdag of the Estates|Riksdag]], held at [[Norrköping]] in March 1800, the nobility were compelled to ratify Gustav III's [[Act of Union and Security]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=209}} A notable change took place in Sweden's foreign policy in December 1800 when Denmark, Sweden and Russia acceded to a [[Second League of Armed Neutrality]] directed against Britain. Hitherto Sweden had kept aloof from continental complications, but the arrest and execution of the [[Duc d'Enghien]] in 1804 inspired Gustav Adolf with such a hatred of [[Napoleon]] that when a general coalition was formed against the French emperor he was one of the first to join it (3 December 1804), pledging himself to send an army corps to link up with British and Russian forces and drive the French out of the [[Batavian Republic]] and [[Electorate of Hanover|Hanover]]. But his quarrel with [[Frederick William III of Prussia]] detained him in [[Swedish Pomerania|Pomerania]], and when at last in December 1805 he led his 6,000 men towards the [[Elbe]] district, the third coalition had already been dissipated by the victories of [[Battle of Ulm|Ulm]] and [[Battle of Austerlitz|Austerlitz]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=209}} In 1806, a rupture between Sweden and Prussia was prevented only by Napoleon's assault upon the latter power. After [[Jena]], Napoleon attempted to win over Sweden, but Gustav rejected every overture. The result was the total loss of Swedish Pomerania, and the Swedish army was saved from destruction only by the ingenuity of [[Johan Christopher Toll]]. At [[Tilsit]] the emperor [[Alexander I of Russia]] had undertaken to compel "Russia's geographical enemy", as Napoleon designated Sweden, to accede to the newly established "Continental Russian System". Gustav Adolf rejected all the proposals of Alexander to close the Baltic to British ships, but he took no measures to defend Finland against Russia. On 21 February 1808, a Russian army crossed the Finnish border. On 2 April, the king ordered a general levy of 30,000 men.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=209}}
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