The Territorial Evolution Of SWEDEN

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▶ In this video I talk about the Territorial Evolution of Sweden. Did you know that at one point - at its territorial peak in 1658 - the Swedish Empire controlled parts of Norway, all of Finland, Ingria (in Russia), Estonia, Latvia, and even parts of Northern Germany? And did you know that from 1814 to 1905 they were in control of all of Norway? Here we will go through all the stages of Sweden's territorial changes; understanding how it emerged as a country, expanding its territory to include all of modern Sweden (with a late addition of Scania which was still under Danish rule), then expanding as they became a Great Power in Northern Europe into the rest of the Nordics, the Baltic, Eastern Europe and Germany. Eventually losing most of this territory and being "reduced" to what we know as Sweden today.

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Intro
01:18 Summarization of Sweden's Territorial Evolution
03:50 The Eras of Swedish History
04:25 The Early Medieval Era (815 - 1397)
05:16 Babbel Language Learning
06:16 The Kalmar Union interregnum (1397 - 1523)
06:39 The Vasa Dynasty Era (1523 - 1611)
07:56 The Swedish Empire (1611 - 1721)
08:37 Thirty-Years War & Peace of Westphalia (1648)
09:44 New Sweden: A Colonial Empire Attempt (1638)
10:10 Second Northern War (1655)
10:42 Scanian War (1675)
11:37 The Great Northern War (1700)
13:09 The Age of Liberty (1721 - 1772)
13:54 The Gustavian Era (1772 to 1809)
15:05 Sixth-Coalition & Swedish–Norwegian Wars (1809-1814)
16:09 Sweden-Norway (1814-1905)
16:34 Modern Sweden (1905 - today)
16:52 Summary

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[General.Knowledge]

*Which country's territorial evolution should I do next?* ps: ignore the crazy map at 16:44, no idea how that legend got past me in the editing.

[pedromenchik]

suggestion: countries with weird independence stories. Examples:
- Singapore: got kicked out of Malaysia
- Kazakhstan: was left alone in the Soviet Union after everyone (including Russia) left
- Brazil: son of the King of Portugal declared independence from his father
- Liechenstein: sent 80 men to war, 81 returned, also gained independence without fighting
- Uruguay: Brazil and Argentina were fighting for it, no one got it, and a new country was created

[likes_too]

Territorial evolution of Austria would be interesting.

[maxmattsson]

Great summary of the territorial history of Sweden. I as a Swedish history-teacher (ages 10-13) I really enjoyed the video and it’s fairly accurate.
Fun Fact during the Liberty era between the Vasa Dynasty and the Gustavian era Sweden was ruled by the monarch and two different parties by the great names The Hats and The Caps. The students always enjoys hearing those names as historic political parties.
Keep up the good work!

[Tounushi]

An interesting thing is that the laws of the land in Finland remained Gustavian, despite being part of the Russian Empire, as the emperor had sworn to uphold their laws. Some Swedish laws are still in effect in Finland.

[thenordiccomrade]

Fun fact: The crown of Norway was first offered to Sweden but Oscar II threw a hissyfit after losing the union and was adamantly against one of his sons taking the norwegian crown

[Tounushi]

Using the modern border for lapland is erronous, especially since it includes the notch that came from territorial sale in 1947 between Finland and the USSR. The border was largely undefined that far up north until the 19th century, and even when it was, it was a straight line.

[ETA]

10:35 For those who love "Scania" it was the name of Skåne and Blekinge.

[mariajoaoferrazdeabreu]

Great video. Always learning with this channel.

[thomasmacdiarmid]

A version of this for Poland and Poland-Lithuania would be interesting.

[MartinAhlman]

Lovely video! If you want, I can help you with the Swedish pronounciation (I know, it's weird) :-)
It's also fun that after all these wars, we are very friendly neighbours, way ahead of the EU we skipped the passports and could travel freely. I still think we could have a union within/without the EU (Norway is not a member). We get along and joke about each other. But when push comes to shove, we're siblings in the cold north, and stand up for each other.
It's cute and lovely!

[neroclaudius]

I'd love to see this same concept applied to Austria, which also had a lot of growth and retraction throughout its history

[OscarPlymouth]

Fun Fact: The first King Charles of Sweden (Karl Sverkersson) called himself Charles VII (or Karl VII) in 1161 because he thought it sounded like he was part of a long dynasty. All the previous ones were fictitious. The French were up to Louis VII at the time and he thought that was a cool number to use. 😁

[montecorbit]

Thank you for making this video!! I have a confession to make:
This is different than your normal format. I am unsure whether I like it or not.

I will need to see at least one more in this format to decide, possibly several more.

Thank you for your time;

[TheIlikecake]

I would love to see this for denmark aswell.

This is pretty cool

[skatemo]

I wonder how different Sweden’s legacy would been if Gustavus Adolphus never died during the Thirty Years War

[knagarnson]

I must say that I’m impressed by your pronunciation of the Swedish counties (Landskap) captured from denmark! Good

[chefpetrie]

Amazing, so thorough so accurate, so easy to understand I wish high school was more like this. Love these videos!

[WhiteLama]

As a Swede, it was funny hearing you deal with all of our umlauts.

But you did a very good job at it!

[SOL]

Nya Sverige aka New Sweden of North America. Though short-lived appx 1638-1655, Nya Sverige had significant impact on the state of Delaware & to a lesser extent but still prominent in southwestern New Jersey & southeastern Pennsylvania. The oldest log cabin still standing in the United States was built by Finnish-Swedes in what is today Gibbstown, NJ, then part of Nya Sverige. Just one town over from Gibbstown is the town of Bridgeport, NJ aka Nya Stockholm, over one more Swedesboro, NJ aka Sveaborg. Even areas of southwest Philadelphia still carry their Nya Sverige estimated names or variations of those names.