Karl moved his main army into Royal Prussia, trying to hold the territory and press the siege of Danzig. De la Gardie was in Ducal Prussia with 7,000 men which left the eastern Baltic provinces vulnerable to Russian attack. The Livonian field army was only 2,600 strong with another 7,000 troops in garrisons spread over Livonia, Estonia and Ingria.
Alexis put his army in motion, though, as usual, it took half the campaign season to get organized and moving. By midsummer he was invading the Swedish Baltics. He used the three-prong strategy that had worked so successfully in Lithuania. The smallest force was the most northern wing which raided Estonia, Ingria and Kexholm, causing devastation, but accomplishing little. To the south a 15,000 man army invested Dorpat. Further south the main army of 35,000 troops advanced down the Düna. The 3,000 man Swedish field army in Livonia gave way leaving the garrisons to fend for themselves. Dünaburg fell in July and Kokenhausen in August. A month later the Russian army was at Riga.
Riga’s fortifications were modern and stronger than anything the Muscovites had run into until then. Its 5,000 man garrison easily held off the Russians even though the Muscovite heavy siege guns were employed, causing a great deal of damage. The city was open to the sea and could obtain all the supplies it needed. Eventually, the Russians gave up the assault.
At Dorpat, however, the Russians were successful. Here the medieval fortifications had been allowed to crumble and the 520 man garrison could not hold out. In October 1656 the city surrendered and Russia again had a foothold in Livonia after almost a hundred years’ absence.
In 1657 Alexis mounted another attack on Livonia, but on a much smaller scale and with no success. An 8,000 man army was defeated at Walk on June 18, ending the Muscovite campaign of that year. A Lithuanian army under Gosiewski also invaded, attacking Riga and Pernua, but accomplished nothing. In early 1658 the Russians and Swedes agreed to a temporary truce. Both countries had other problems to deal with. Alexis had a new Cossack revolt on his hands and Karl’s Polish-Prussian campaign was deteriorating rapidly.
After the battle of Warsaw, John Casimir regrouped at Lubin. Karl again moved north into Royal Prussia. Gosiewski led a Lithuanian army of 13,000 cavalry including a large contingent of Crimean Tartars on an invasion of Ducal Prussia. This was meant to punish Frederick William for his betrayal. He purposely spread a wide path of devastation through the countryside, something at which the Tartars were particularly adept. In addition to killing, looting and burning, they took large numbers of captives from the towns and villages which compounded the fear spread by their pillaging. On October 8, 1656, Gosiewski defeated a smaller Swedish force at Prostki, killing perhaps 5,000 allied troops. But the Lithuanian hetman was then deserted by his Tartars. After the battle they took their Prussian captives back to the Crimea to be kept or sold as slaves. On October 22 Gosiewski was himself defeated by an army of 9,000 Swedes and forced to retreat back into Lithuania.
Meanwhile, John Casimir with his reconstituted army drove into Wielkopolska, taking Ldczyca on October 4, 1656. Then he moved into Royal Prussia, taking Brombergand and Konitz. Casimir’s fortunes were high as he rode unmolested into Danzig on November 15, completing the destruction of the Swedish siege. Other Polish units captured Kalisz and raided Brandenburg, further payback for the elector’s duplicity.
The summer of 1656 Karl was camped at Elbing trying to maintain the Swedish position in Poland and Prussia. The blockade and siege of Danzig had been broken. Warsaw had reverted to Polish control and Krakow was under siege by Lubomirski. Karl was having trouble even maintaining control of the large cities and the small garrisons scattered across the country were quite vulnerable. Sweden could win the battles, but couldn’t enforce an occupation. Karl had raised 26,400 new recruits in the last couple of years, but lost that number in Polish troops defecting to Casimir at the same time. To bring this war to a conclusion he would need allies.
In the Treaty of Labiau, November 20, 1656, Karl recognized Frederick William as sovereign over Ducal Prussia in exchange for troops. A month later he signed the Treaty of Radnot promising to back Rádkóczi of Transylvania as king of Poland, grand duke of Lithuania and recognize his control of Little Poland in exchange for entering the war.
In January 1657 Rádkóczi invaded Poland with an army of 25,000 men. He broke the siege of Krakow forcing Lubomirski to retreat. Karl and Rádkóczi joined forces along with four regiments from Brandenburg. He tried to bring Czarniecki, Lubomirski and Sapieha to a decisive battle, but the hetmans evaded any situation that would bring about a major engagement. Karl did take Brest-Litovsk in May and Rádkóczi retook Warsaw in June.
John Casimir had also been looking for allies and had succeeded in getting support from Emperor Ferdinand III by the Treaty of Vienna, December 1, 1656. However, the emperor died in April 1657 before actually supplying any troops. The next emperor, Leopold, though engaged in a contentious election, was worried about Sweden’s proximity and Transylvania’s aggression and agreed to send 12,000 troops. By the second Treaty of Vienna, May 27, 1657, he also promised to rush Austrian forces to take over Krakow and Poznán. Just as all these new combatants began to cross the border, redefining the war, Karl received news of hostilities at the other end of the Baltic.
Frederick III of Denmark, who had been chafing at the humiliating terms of the Brömsebro Treaty, saw the Treaty of Vienna as his opportunity. In June he declared war on Sweden and signed an alliance with the Commonwealth. Danish armies marched into Bremen from Holstein and by July his forces were in Jämtland and Västergötland. Again the homeland was threatened by the old Swedish nemesis Denmark. Karl picked 12,750 of his best troops, and marched quickly across Pomerania and Mecklenburg ready to attack Danish Holstein and Jutland. He sent Gustav Wrangel with a small force to clear the Danes out of Bremen.
He had left an 8,600 man army to defend Prussia with another 4,000 scattered in garrisons across Poland. Rádkóczi, left on his own, was no match for the Polish forces. He retreated across Poland into the Ukraine where he was surrounded and forced to surrender. Much of his army was butchered by marauding Tartars. Krakow capitulated to the Polish-Austrian siege army in August. Frederick William switched sides again, acquiring Polish recognition of his sovereignty over Ducal Prussia by the Treaties of Wehlan (September 19) and Bromberg (November 9). Elbing and Marienburg stayed in Swedish hands for some time, but by July Polish and Austrian forces had invested Thorn.
Karl, meanwhile, drove through Holstein and Jutland, crushing the inexperienced and poorly organized army Frederick threw at him. By August he was at the formidable fortress of Fredricksodde in Jutland. Modernized and recently strengthened, it was Frederick III’s guardian against invasion from the south, Denmark’s traditional Achilles’ heel.
While Karl invested Fredericksodde, he ordered the Swedish fleet to prepare for an invasion of the Danish islands. The fleet’s first task was to clear the sea and in attempting this it forced a battle with the Danish fleet off Møn which was inconclusive. With winter approaching and without clear dominance, the Swedish navy put in to Wismar. The Swedes stormed Frederiksodde in November, consolidating their control of all Jutland. Swedes and Danes both appeared to settle in for the winter, but by midwinter of 1658 the Little Belt had frozen over. On the night of January 30 Karl led 12,000 men across the ice to take Fyn from a surprised Danish garrison. The king sent scouting parties out to explore the ice over the Big Belt, but the reports were not good. The ice was too thin to support an army. However, an engineer, Erik Dahlberg, reported he had found a solid trail between the southerly islands and on February 5 Karl led 5,000 troops on a daring march from Fyn across the ice to Langeland, then Lolland and Falster to Zealand. By February 15 they were in the suburbs of Copenhagen. Panicked, Frederick signed the peace of Roskilde on March 8. As bad as the Brömsebro treaty had been, Roskilde was infinitely worse. Denmark ceded to Sweden Skåne, Blekinge, Halland (permanently), Bohuslän, Tondheim in Norway and Bornholm Island. Karl withdrew from Zealand to Kiel in Holstien, but maintaine
d forces in Jutland and Fyn.
Europe was shocked at the quick and decisive Swedish triumph. The whole balance of power on the continent was shaken. A Swedish iron grip on the Baltic seemed assured and her efficient, powerful armies were a threat to every country on the continent. In the hands of masterful warrior kings like Gustav Adolf or Karl X, the Swedish war machine seemed unstoppable. Karl had expanded the Swedish Empire to its greatest extent secured by treaties. True, Swedish holdings in Russia under Karl IX, in Germany at the time of Gustav Adolf and Christina, and in Poland under Karl had included more conquered lands at one time or another, but these had been lost once treaties fixed the borders.
European Sweden was now at its height in power and territorial size. Fear of Sweden’s military spread throughout the continent. Only England and France were inclined to side with Sweden and even these two erstwhile allies were fickle friends.
Denmark did its best to stall on her agreement as detailed in the Treaty of Roskilde, procrastinating at every turn. Karl, in the summer of 1658, sat at Kiel with an army that could not be maintained if not used. He could plunge back into Poland-Lithuania where Sweden still held some cities and a share of Prussia or he could land in Livonia and prosecute the war against Russia. Instead, Karl decided to crush the Danes once and for all.
On August 16, 1658, he transported 10,000 men to Korsør on Zealand giving him control of both sides of the Sound. He still held Jutland and Fyn, and had ordered an army be moved into Skåne. By August 11 he was besieging Copenhagen with 5,700 troops. He had the Swedish navy blockading the city, bombarding it from the sea. On September 6 the fortress of Helsingør, 30 miles north of the capital, surrendered. Copenhagen was completely isolated and the extinction of Denmark seemed inevitable.
Europe feared the creation of a Swedish empire stretching from Ingria to Iceland, controlling not only the Baltic Sea, but much of the North Sea. Sweden would be able to control Northern and Central European maritime commerce and thereby dominate Northern Europe politically. The other European nations had to act.
England and the Netherlands had had wars in 1652–54 and 1665–67 in which both sides had built large battle fleets. The two western European countries now employed their naval might to intervene in the Baltic. Denmark had been eclipsed by Sweden as the dominant Baltic Sea power. Now Sweden was about to be challenged by the Atlantic powers. The days of Scandinavian supremacy over the Baltic were drawing to a close.
The Netherlands sent a fleet of 35 warships (some 1,800 guns), 60 cargo ships and 6 troop carriers with 3,000 soldiers to relieve the blockade of Copenhagen. On October 27, 1658, Swedish admiral Wrangel with 45 men-o-war met the Dutch in the Sound. The Swedes did not attack immediately, not sure of Dutch intentions, and thereby lost the initiative. Instead, the Dutch fleet attacked when the wind was favorable to them and a bloody six hour battle ensued. There was no clear winner of the engagement. During the battle the Dutch cargo and troop ships managed to slip past the Swedes and reach Copenhagen where they brought supplies and troops to the isolated Danish capital. The Swedish fleet withdrew to Landskrona after the battle. The Dutch had achieved their purpose. The Swedish blockade was broken.
Meanwhile, a continental army was being assembled at Hamburg to rescue Denmark from the land side. The combined force of 30,000 men included Austrians commanded by Montecuccoli, Brandenburgers under Frederick William and Poles under Czarniecki. The army marched north into Jutland. Against this onslaught Sweden was looking for support from Oliver Cromwell, with whom Karl had good relations, but the English lord protector died in early September 1658. The international army took Als Island and the fortress of Kolding. In September Swedish forces in Jutland were driven back into Fredriksodde fortress. At the end of 1658 Karl held only Fredriksodde in Jutland, which did block the allied army advance into the islands. He controlled the Danish islands except the city of Copenhagen where 10,650 Danes, reinforced by the 3,000 Dutch, held off Karl’s best attempts to close out the war.
On February 10, 1659, Karl prepared to storm the city with 6,250 infantry, 2,800 horse and 1,800 sappers dressed in white camouflage. The attack failed.
On May 16, 1659, the Swedes evacuated Fredriksodden and Frederick convinced the coalition command to launch an attack against Philip of Sulzback, who was defending Fyn and Langeland. Three attempts to take the island that summer failed with heavy casualties. However, on November 24 the coalition finally defeated a Swedish cavalry army at Nyborg, forcing a Swedish evacuation of Fyn and Langeland.
Meanwhile, a Dutch-Danish fleet met the Swedish navy in a battle that could decide control of the Baltic. They were, however, interrupted by the arrival of an English fleet. The Dutch broke off the fight to defend themselves against the English, but the English had no desire to start a war and were there only to prevent further Dutch intervention. The Dutch fleet was thereby neutralized, preventing the destruction of the Swedish fleet.
In Poland Torn fell in December 1658, but the Swedes held out in Elbing and Marienburg. In Pomerania an army of 30,000 Austrians and Brandenburgers settled into a siege of Stettin. In Livonia, Mitau fell to Polubiüski in January 1660.
As in Livonia and Poland, Karl was now on the defensive in Denmark. France joined England and the Netherlands in the first Concert of The Hague urging a peace based on the Treaty of Roskilde. Negotiations were begun with Karl holding out for even more concessions than Roskilde. He returned to Sweden to open a Riksdag at Göteborg.
While conducting the Estates Assembly, Karl fell ill. He died February 13, 1660, before he could conclude any of the peace treaties being negotiated. He left the Swedish Empire at its height territorially. His adventurism in Poland had been unproductive, but he had secured the southern end of the Scandinavian Peninsula for Sweden, extending the border to its present position. Though Sweden was at war with most of Northern Europe, her prestige had never been higher. Sweden was respected and feared by her neighbors, though that fear plus envy had produced a coalition Karl could not possibly defeat.
21. Sweden’s Colonies and New Sweden in America
The reign of Karl X saw the far flung tentacles of Sweden’s empire trimmed away. These were her overseas colonies, the possessions of New Sweden in America and Cabo Corso in Africa. Sweden’s colonization efforts were aimed at developing additional markets for her iron and copper products and providing sources for other marketable commodities: furs and tobacco from America, sugar, ivory, pepper and, perhaps, slaves from Africa. The projects proved to be an overreach for a country sparse in population and still developing its own resources. Unlike Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, England and even France, Sweden-Finland still had large areas of semi-wilderness of its own to be developed. There was little need of an outlet for an overcrowded population. Yet, in mid–seventeenth century Sweden all things seemed possible. So why should Sweden, as one of the major powers of Europe, not have her own colonial empire?
European acquisition of colonies began with Portugal’s search for a route around Africa to reach the East Indies. Prince Henry the Navigator pushed his captains farther and farther along the African coast from his headquarters at Sagres where he had established his School of Navigation. First they passed Cape Bojador just south of the Canary Islands in 1433, the end of the world to Medieval Europe. Then on to Cape Verde and by 1482 the Portuguese had reached the Gold Coast, present day Ghana. Eventually, after Prince Henry’s death, the Portuguese would round the tip of Africa (Dias in 1487) and reach India (Vasco de Gama in 1498) destroying Venetian domination of the spice trade. In the meantime, the Portuguese found a lucrative trade along the African coast in gold, ivory, sugar, wax, pepper, hides and slaves. Commerce was particularly profitable along the Gold Coast. Here they built a series of trading posts and forts, never penetrating far into the interior. Rather, they established trade relations with the native chiefs and kings to acquire products and slaves.
By the 17th century the Portuguese were being challenged in this African trade by the Dutch, Danes
and English. Even the elector of Brandenburg would enter the fray in the late 1600s, establishing a number of trading posts along the coast of Ghana. Sweden determined not be left behind.
An African company was formed at the instigation of Louis de Geer, Sweden’s main industrial developer of the age, to deal in gold, ivory and slaves. The expedition was headed by Henrik Carloff of Rostock who sailed to the Gold Coast in 1650 to plant the flag of Sweden in Africa for the Swedish African Company. Trading posts were established at Jumoree, Takoradi, Anomabu and a fortification at Accra. At Cabo Corso, Carloff purchased land from the Futu king and built his headquarters, Fort Karlsborg, in 1652. When the company did not show an immediate profit Carloff was replaced as governor. He entered Danish service and when the Danish-Swedish war erupted in 1657, he returned with a Danish force and captured the fort that same year. The Swedish African Company then sold its remaining trading posts to Denmark in 1658. In early 1660 Carloff’s lieutenant, commanding the fort, sold it to the Dutch, then absconded with the money. Sweden should have retrieved the fort from Denmark at the Peace of Copenhagen in 1660, but by then it was in Dutch hands.
In December 1660 the Futu attacked Fort Karlsborg, driving out the Dutch. The Africans turned the fort over to Sweden once again. The Swedish flag flew at this African outpost until April 22, 1663, when the Dutch retook it only to lose it to the English a year later. Thus ended Sweden’s bid for colonial expansion and commerce in Africa. She never had the overall commercial presence to make the enterprise profitable. Still, for some thirteen years the Swedish flag flew over the coast of Africa, one more page in the story of Sweden’s Age of Greatness.
Where her colonial efforts in Africa had no permanent impact on either Sweden or Africa, New Sweden in America would have a lasting effect on both. The seeds of the New Sweden colony were planted in 1624 when a Dutch merchant and entrepreneur named Willem Usselinx came to Sweden to visit King Gustav Adolf. He was one of the founders of the Dutch West India Company but had had a falling out with its governors and was looking to establish a competitor. The two men founded the General Trading Company for Asia, Africa, America and Magellanica, also called the Old South Company. The private company raised subscriptions for money and began some initial commercial ventures. But a good share of the pledges for money were never fulfilled, including the king’s 450,000 riksdaler subscription given before he left for the front, and the company foundered.
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