瑞典是如何变得如此强大，然后又走向衰落的？
How did Sweden become so powerful and then go into decline?
译文简介
通过一个巧妙的庞氏骗局。
正文翻译
How did Sweden become so powerful and then go into decline?
瑞典是如何变得如此强大，然后又走向衰落的？
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, lives in Sweden
Through a skilfully executed Ponzi scheme.
In the late 1620s, the king of Sweden, known in English as Gustavus Adolphus, landed in northern Germany with a small force. Sweden was, at the time, almost broke and didn’t have the population to field even a moderate-sized army.
He proceeded to hire absolutely every mercenary he could get in touch with, at truly handsome salaries. At the time, Europe had been at war for quite some time, and the number of mercenaries available was massive.
In a very short time, he had one of the largest armies on the continent, at a cost of the entire Swedish GDP.
So before the salaries became due, he attacked and looted a major city. He was helped by a number of tactical inventions, which he coordinated into a new and highly mobile battlefield army.
With a major victory under his belt, and with the surviving soldiers paid off, he attracted even more mercenaries, and attacked another city.
It didn’t stop until he was halfway to Italy.
And of course, all Ponzi schemes run down. Gustavus had fallen in battle, but the remaining Swedish leadership managed to extract themselves from the situation without going completely bankrupt, a feat almost as big as the military exploits in the first place.
通过一个巧妙的庞氏骗局。
16世纪20年代末，瑞典国王，英文名古斯塔夫-阿道夫，带着一支小部队在德国北部登陆。当时，瑞典几乎已经破产，也没有足够的人口来组建一支中等规模的军队。
但是他一开始就以极其丰厚的薪水雇用他所能接触到的每一个雇佣兵。当时，欧洲已经打了很长时间的仗，可用的雇佣兵数量非常多。
在很短的时间内，他就拥有了欧洲大陆上最大的军队之一，其费用相当于整个瑞典的GDP。
因此，在这轮工资到期之前，他袭击并抢劫了一个大城市。他得到了一些战术发明的帮助，这些发明被他用于协调一支新的、高度机动的战场军队。
在取得重大胜利后，随着幸存的士兵真的得到报酬，他吸引了更多的雇佣兵，并袭击了另一个城市。
直到他走到意大利的一半才停下来。
当然，所有的庞氏骗局都会破灭。古斯塔夫在战斗中倒下了，但剩下的瑞典领导层设法在没有完全破产的情况下抽身而出，这一壮举几乎和当初的军事行动一样牛逼。
I think all expansionist empires run on this precise Ponzi model. Sweden is just one of the few to execute it without catastrophic failure when the limits to expansion are reached.
我认为所有的扩张主义帝国都在这种精确的庞氏模式下运行。瑞典只是为数不多的在达到扩张极限时没有发生灾难性失败的国家之一。
Some succeed. It is, broadly speaking, how Russia and China came about.
有些人就成功了。大体上，俄罗斯和中国就是这样产生的。
British empire?
大英帝国：？
Actually most of the “overseas” empires of European powers were not built like this. They were certainly about exploiting the territories, but not in a slash and burn way. They were about creating a bigger economy whether by settlement or trade with puppet rulers, and hence relatively sustainable.
That’s not to pretend they were somehow benign towards the conquered areas and people, just that this sort of Ponzi funding was not how they worked.
事实上，欧洲列强的大多数"海外"帝国都不是这样建立的。它们当然是为了开发领土，但不是以刀耕火种的方式。它们是通过定居或与傀儡统治者的贸易来创造更大的经济，因此是相对可持续的。
这并不是说他们对被征服的地区和人民有多么仁慈，只是这种庞氏骗局不是他们的运行方式。
The treatment of native populations was not uniform. Rather than stereotypes and propaganda we could see wether the native peoples survived in significant numbers or not, if those who did survive were allowed to live freely or put in reservations, if their cultures and languages were respected or if there was a politically conscious attempt to restrict any trace of their civilization to museums and tourist shows. Also, whether or not the colonisers and the colonised mixed and intermarried despite the racism they suffered or if that racism was so overwhelming that no significant mixing took place in the first place.
You may also find that the independent countries after colonial times were oftentimes much harsher than the colonial status quo that preceded them. This happened in both English and Spanish North America. However, it’s always the offspring of Empire, the same people with the same ideology adapting to new circumstances.
有殖民地的国家对原住民的处理并不是都是一致的。与其提起那些刻板印象和宣传，不如让我们看看实际上原住民是否大量存活，以及那些存活下来的人是被允许自由生活还是被安置在保留地，还有他们的文化和语言是否受到尊重，或者是否有政治意识地试图将他们的文明痕迹限制在博物馆和旅游表演中。此外，尽管存在种族主义，也可以看殖民者和被殖民者是否进行了混居和通婚，还是说种族主义是如此的压倒性，以至于一开始就没有发生大规模的混居。
你可能还会发现，殖民时代之后的独立国家往往比之前被殖民时候的现状要严酷得多。这种情况在英语和西班牙语的北美地区都发生过。然而，他们总归是帝国的后代，同样的人种，同样的意识形态，去适应着新的环境。
It’s certainly true that the independent successor states often behaved worse that when part of the old country. The USA treated native Americans worse than the British and French colonies to the north (that eventually became Canada) did. Not to say Canada and its predecessor colonies were perfect either of course, just not as bad as south of the border.
The other thing that often gets forgotten is that none of the empires was the same over time. The early British and Dutch empires in Asia were almost accidental empires with trading companies becoming more powerful than states and effectively ruling vast areas through complex webs of trade, patronage, alliances and simple conquest (but in the name of trade rather than ideology) which was very different from what they became once those trading companies were nationalised (to use a modern term), but also vastly different from the empires in the Americas and later Africa.
确实，独立之后的继承国的所作所为往往比作为旧帝国的一部分时更糟糕，这是事实。美国对待美国土著的态度比北方的英国和法国殖民地（最终成为了加拿大）更差。当然，这并不是说加拿大及其殖民地前身是完美的，只是没有他们边境以南的那么糟糕。
另一件经常被遗忘的事情是，随着时间的推移，没有一个帝国是相同的。亚洲早期的英国和荷兰帝国是极其偶然的帝国，贸易公司变得比国家更强大，并通过复杂的贸易网络、赞助、联盟和简单的征服（但以贸易而非意识形态的名义）有效地统治了广大地区，这与这些贸易公司被国有化（用现代术语来说）后的情况非常不同，但与美洲和后来非洲的帝国也有很大不同。
The Dutch and British East Indian companies were noted for their cruelty and callousness towards the natives, and once nationalized, relations began to improve. It took awhile, though. For example, in Company-ruled India, famines were notoriously bad. Under the British Raj, the famines continued, but due to reforms, after about 40 years famine was brought under control.
荷兰和英国的东印度公司因其对当地人的残忍和无情而闻名，被国有化之后，和当地人关系才开始改善。不过，这需要一段时间。例如，在公司统治下的印度，饥荒是出了名的糟糕。在英国统治时期，饥荒也是持续不断，但由于改革，大约40年后饥荒得到了控制。
Does the Belgian Congo fit that model?
比属刚果属于这种模式吗？
That was personal property, not exactly a colonial land.
那是国王的个人财产，不是殖民领地。
Congo Free State, 1885–1908, was the personal property of Leopold and where the genocide happened. The Belgian Congo was the name it received after the Belgian government seized it from Leopold after reports of what was happening there reached Europe.
The expose started when one journalist noticed how vast resources were being deposited at Belgian docks and only chains were being sent back…
刚果自由邦，1885-1908年，是利奥波德的个人财产，也是发生种族屠杀的地方。比属刚果是在有关那里发生的事情的报道传到欧洲后，比利时政府从利奥波德手中夺取之后给的名称。
当时一位记者注意到大量的资源被存放在比利时的码头上，返航送回去的只有锁链，这一事件才逐渐被揭露......
Ah, semantics… I like how they called it “free state".
啊哈，真讽刺......我喜欢他们把它叫作"自由邦"。
Modern politics is all about misleading or ironically titled names. All the way back to the French Revolution and the Committee of Public Safety, which was responsible for the Terror
现代政治都是误导性或讽刺性的名称。这可以一直追溯到法国大革命时候的法国革命和公共安全委员会，而该委员专门干那些恐怖事件。
Nazi Germany, too. Nothing about that, in any way, was "sustainable." Just a huge scam that hurt (and killed) many people.
纳粹德国也是如此。关于这一点，它无论如何都不是"可持续的"。这只是一个巨大的骗局，伤害（和杀害）了许多人。
I don’t know about that W.B.,, If Japan hadn’t attacked Pearl Harbor,, would we have been as quick to go to war in Europe? And had we delayed a year,, Europe would be vastly different than it is, today. History turns on very fine points and who’s to say things wouldn’t have been far different had our POTUS, at the time, favored Hitler?
不好说啊，如果日本没有袭击珍珠港，我们会不会像现在这样迅速地在欧洲开战？如果我们推迟一年，欧洲将与今天大不相同。历史总是由非常细微的地方的推动的，谁能说如果我们的总统当时偏爱希特勒，当今的事情就不会有很大的不同？
Well, no. Great Britain wasn't about to fall, the Soviet unx wasn't about to surrender…
Without direct US involvement, the war in Europe would have been longer, and bloodier. Potentially quite a bit longer and a lot bloodier.But there really wasn't a way for Nazi Germany to win by that point.
这是不可能的。当时英国还没有垮台，苏联也不打算投降......
如果没有美国的直接参与，欧洲的战争会更长，更血腥。可能会持续相当长的时间和流更多的血。但回到那时，纳粹德国真的没有办法取胜。
I don’t know that I agree, Tilman. Thankfully, we weren’t forced to find out which way it would have gone. My point was, and is, that Europe would be much different than it is. If more of the “powers that were” had agreed with Lindbergh or even Ford, we might have ended up on the opposite side.
我不知道我是否同意，蒂尔曼。值得庆幸的是，我们并没有被迫去走已经消失的路。我之前以及现在的观点是：欧洲将与现在大不相同。如果有更多的"当权者"同意林德伯格甚至福特的观点，我们可能就会站在对立面。
The likelihood is most of the continent would have ended up speaking Russian not German.
那大陆大部分地区最终都会说俄语而不是德语。
So, we could repeat this procedure and “Make Sweden Great Again” :-D
所以，我们可以重复这个步骤，"让瑞典再次伟大" :-D
…but Swedish dominance in the Baltic continued well beyond the death of Gustavus, which suggests, at worst, that this “Ponzi Scheme” was either sustainable for close to a century, or was in reality based on secular attributes of the Swedish kingdom and army which didn’t actually rely on robbing new people to pay off old ones.
...但瑞典在波罗的海的统治地位一直持续到古斯塔夫死后很久，这表明，在最坏的情况下，这种"庞氏骗局"要么可以持续近一个世纪，要么实际上这是基于瑞典王国和军队的世俗属性，而不是依靠不断抢劫新人来偿还旧人的费用。
It´s a brilliant, but not totally original scheme. Muhammad ibn Abu ‘Amir (b. ca 938-d 1002), better known by his honorific title al-Mansur (meaning “the Victorious, the powerful vizier of the Córdoba Umayyad kingdom, played it with dramatic, but totally unanticipated consequences. al-Mansur is best remembered for the numerous, devastating raids (razzias) –some 57 in all– directed against the Christian north. He swept across Christian lands, from Barcelona (985) to Coimbra (987); he attacked León and Zamora (988), and numerous smaller places. The high point was the raid on Santiago de Compostela (Galicia) in 997, in which the town was razed, the church destroyed and its bells taken to Córdoba –on the backs of prisoners-of-war– to be used as lamps in the Great Mosque. All that remained apparently was the tomb of Santiago which was spared because it was a holy place, and because al-Mansur was impressed by the courage of an old priest who refused to abandon it.
The fact that in many instances churches and monasteries were the victims of the expeditions probably has less to do with religion than it does with the riches they contained; the Church very simply was probably the wealthiest institution around.
Under al-Mansur´s leadership, al-Andalus reached the pinnacle of its power, with its influence stretching from the Pyrenees well into North Africa.
However, one should not assume that these raids were inspired solely by religious zeal. They were also a practical source of booty and served as an important incentive, especially to the mercenaries, with promises of wealth, slaves, livestock etc. al-Mansur recruited mercenaries, especially Berbers from the Maghreb –and even Christian soldiers– to provide the manpower that the raids required.
Al-Mansur’s death in 1002 when returning from a successful expedition in the Rioja area effectively marks the end of Córdoba. His older son, Abd al-Malik, succeeded to the same authority but died in 1008, possible assassinated. After them, there was nobody left who could play the dangerous game of hiring Berbers mercenaries and use them to pay their own salaries. The Berbers mercenaries eventually rebelled and al-Andalus fell in a political and military anarchy that ended with the collapse of the nearly two-century old Umayyads dynasty in 1031 and its total effacement from history.
The small Muslim kingdoms – taifas – that resulted from the dissolution of the Córdoba kingdom were no match for the Christian polities and Islam was doomed in Spain.
这（古斯塔夫的）是一个出色的，但并非完全原创的计划。穆罕默德-伊本-阿布-阿米尔（Muhammad ibn Abu 'Amir，约生于938年-1002年），以其荣誉称号al-Mansur（曼苏尔，意为"胜利者"，科尔多瓦倭马亚王国强大的宰相）而闻名，他的行动具有戏剧性，并且难以预料后果。曼苏尔最令人难忘的是对基督教北部的众多破坏性袭击（razzias），总共有57次。他横扫了基督教的土地，从巴塞罗那（985年）到科英布拉（987年）；他袭击了莱昂和萨莫拉（988年），以及许多小地方。最高潮是997年对圣地亚哥-德孔波斯特拉（加利西亚）的袭击，在这次袭击中，该镇被夷为平地，教堂被毁，其钟被带到科尔多瓦--放在战俘的背上--用作大清真寺的灯。剩下的显然只有圣地亚哥的坟墓，因为它是一个圣地，而且曼苏尔被一位拒绝放弃守护它的老牧师的勇气所打动，所以得以幸免。
在许多情况下，教堂和修道院成为远征的受害者，这可能与宗教无关，而与它们所包含的财富有关：教会很可能是周围最富有的机构。
在曼苏尔的领导下，安达卢西亚达到了其权力的顶峰，其影响力从比利牛斯山脉一直延伸到北非。
然而，人们不应认为这些突袭仅仅是出于宗教热情的激励。它们也是一个实用的战利品来源，并作为一个重要的激励措施，特别是对雇佣兵而言，对这些地方的劫掠可以提供财富、奴隶、牲畜等。曼苏尔招募雇佣兵，特别是来自马格里布的柏柏尔人--甚至还有基督教士兵--来提供突袭所需的人力。
1002年，曼苏尔在从里奥哈地区的一次成功远征返回时去世，这实际上标志着科尔多瓦王国的终结。他的大儿子阿卜杜勒-马利克继承了同样的权力，但在1008年去世，可能是被暗杀的。在他们之后，再也没有人可以玩雇用柏柏尔人雇佣兵去劫掠来支付他们的薪水的危险游戏。柏柏尔人雇佣兵最终反叛，安达卢西亚在政治和军事上陷入无政府状态，最终于1031年近两个世纪的倭马亚王朝崩溃，彻底从历史上消失了。
科尔多瓦王国解体后形成的小型穆斯林王国--塔伊法斯--无法与基督教政体相比，于是伊斯兰教在西班牙注定了要失败。
“Use berbers to pay their own salaries"
Capitalism in a nutshell. That man was an entrepeneur.
"利用柏柏尔人去劫掠，再用劫掠的财富支付他们的工资"
这不就是资本主义吗。看来那个人是个企业家。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
A history prof someone I know had once joked that Sweden pretended to be a Great Power so hard that it managed to convince the rest of Europe.
我认识的一个历史教授曾经开玩笑说，瑞典如此努力地去装成一个大国，以至于它真的说服了欧洲其他国家。
Very clever, building a Ponzi scheme among people, knowing that a large number of them will not live to collect.
他很聪明，知道这一批人大部分不能活到最后，从而在他们之中建立庞氏骗局
Sweden became rich by robbing.
the payroll etc are just details.
瑞典是通过抢劫致富的。
付点工资等不过是细枝末节。
Brilliant. Can you tell me- I know someone called Gustavo Adolfo but he is Nicaraguan. Why?
很好的回复。我认识一个叫古斯塔沃-阿道夫的人，但他是尼加拉瓜人。你知道为什么吗？
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
he bears the name of a Spanish poet named in honour of the Swedish conqueror.
他的名字是为了纪念这位瑞典征服者而命名的西班牙诗人。
And don’t forget that Sweden settled the New World in 1638 with it s colony, New Sweden ,in the Delaware River Valley. My ancestors arrived in 1644.
不要忘记，瑞典于1638年在特拉华河流域（北美）的新瑞典殖民地定居。我的祖先于1644年抵达。
I think you simplyfied the situation during the thirty years war. It was a war between katolic and protestant. However, pragmatic it was a war about trade and the dominante trade unx for 150 years or so was the Hansa. Denmark and Sweden gained help from the Duch to trade in the Baltic. That pissed the Bömian emperor off (katolic) so he tryed to for Naval superior in the Baltic and help the Hansa wich was in decline. By doing so, he unfortually manage to unite Denmark and Sweden in a join action to beat his Naval forces in the Northern Germany. That lead to the treaty of Stralsund and the Danes was Happy about that and was out of the war. Sweden however get payed from France to continuie to fight and they do so. Later in the war France joined Sweden becourse Spain interviend and almost run over France. So the fight go on and on and no Peace where to find due to the fact that all nations involved could not pay their armys if a treaty where in in fact. When that finally happend in Westfalia 1648 most of central Europe was in ruin. However the sneaky Swede attac Prag after the treaty and plunder the city before they went back home. The Silver Bible was stolen then.
Codex Argenteus - Wikipedia
我认为你把三十年战争期间的情况过于简化了。那是一场天主教和新教之间的战争。当然，务实地说的话，这是一场关于贸易的战争，在150年左右的时间里，占主导地位的贸易联盟是汉萨同盟。丹麦和瑞典在波罗的海的贸易中得到了公爵的帮助。这激怒了波米亚皇帝（卡托利克），所以他试图在波罗的海获得海军优势，并帮助正在衰退的汉萨。通过这样做，他最终成功地使丹麦和瑞典站在了同一战线，共同在德国北部击败了他的海军部队。这导致了《斯特拉松条约》的签订，丹麦为此感到满意，并退出了战争。然而，瑞典从法国那里得到了继续作战的报酬，他们也这样做了。在战争的后期，法国加入了瑞典，因为西班牙插手了战争，并几乎要超过法国了。因此，战斗一直在继续，而且没有和平可言，因为如果要签条约的话，所有参与的国家都无法支付他们军队的军费。当1648年威斯特伐利亚战役结束时，欧洲中部的大部分地区都被毁了。然而，狡猾的瑞典人在条约签订后袭击了布拉格，并在回国前掠夺了该城市。银色圣经当时被盗。
阿根泰斯法典 - 维基百科
You are doing great injustice to King Charles XII by not giving the credit that he deserves. His bravery was legendary. With a smaller army, he defeated the Peter the Great’s armies a number of times and chased them across the plains until he was finally defeated at Poltava by a much bigger Russian army. If he was not so ambitious, Sweden could hang on to some of her gains south of the Baltic. Let’s call it a lapse of judgement.
你没有给予国王查理十二世应有的荣誉，这是对他的极大不公。他的勇敢是传奇般的。他用一支较小的军队多次击败了彼得大帝的军队，并在平原上追赶他们，直到最后在波尔塔瓦被一支更大的俄国军队击败。如果他没有那么大的野心，瑞典可以在波罗的海以南的一些成果中坚持下去。让我们称其为判断失误就行了。
, lives in Sweden (1995-present)
Martin Cohen
, Student of economic history and history of technology
Sweden's Stormaktstid (Era of Great Power), which began with the crowning of Gustavus Adolphus in 1611 and ended with the loss of the Great Northern War in 1721, was the result of several Swedish monarchs being brilliant military strategists.
Gustavus Adolphus, who is sometimes credited as the father of modern warfare, brought several strategic ideas which at the time where in their infancy to the forefront — most notably the tactic of combined arms. While Europe largely still utilized regiments separated by unit types — cavalry being pure cavalry, infantry being pure infantry, and so on — Gustavus Adolphus supplemented his cavalry with musketeer support and his infantry with cannoneer support, which proved so successful that it made the tactic of combined arms into a must across Europe, and from there it has remained the dominant tactic of warfare to this day. It is said that if you brought Gustavus Adolphus back to life and dropped him off on the frontlines of World War 1, he would have a fundamental understanding of the tactics being used.
Gustavus Adolphus would bring Sweden into the 30 years war, the major war between the Catholics and Protestants of the Holy Roman Empire, and nearby nations that likewise involved themselves. Despite Sweden not fielding a particular huge army, Gustavus Adolphus would through his strategic brilliance bring the losing protestant side to a position where a peace could be signed where Protestants would be allowed to remain Protestant, known as the Peace of Westphalia, bringing an end to Catholic dominance of the Christian faith in central Europe.
The tactics of Gustavus Adolphus would remain the default for Sweden after his death for several monarchs until we reach father and son Charles XI and Charles XII, who would further revolutionize Swedish warfare, bringing the Swedish Empire to its peak, but also cause the end of Sweden's Stormaktstid.
Under Charles XI, and later solidified by Charles XII, Sweden would field an army known as the Carolean Army. The Caroleans were, by design, a small army to minimize manpower costs, were heavily disciplined, and utilized shock tactics; overwhelming and terrifying their enemies into retreat; a strategy known as Gå-På (Go-On).
Gå-På had the Caroleans walk calmly, braving musketeer fire upon them, until they “could see the whites in the enemies eyes", after which musketeers would line up to fire, followed by portions of the musketeer regiment drawing their swords and charging, more musketeer fire followed by more charging until the entire regiment had charged, after which the rest of the force would join the charge — notably with heavy use of pikes and rapiers, both used offensively. Charles XII would embed himself into the front of this main charge, surrounded by the elites of the elites of the Carolean army — some of the most disciplined, trained and experienced soldiers in the world at that time.
This tactic was so brutally effective that Sweden could make armies several times larger than the Carolean army retreat out of absolute terror. It perfectly sent the message of “We're not scared. Flee or die.”.
Then come the Great Northern War. Russia, in a coalition with Denmark-Norway and Saxony-Poland-Lithuania declared war upon Sweden. Sweden now fighting a 1v3 (or 1v6, arguably) war, although other nations would intervene on both sides periodically. Sweden quickly routed Denmark-Norway and peaced them out of the war, then decimated the Saxony-Poland-Lithuanian army before going on a campaign through Poland to install a puppet king. Then it was time for Russia.
The Caroleans served a decisive victory over the Russian army, causing it to go into retreat into the Russian mainland. Russia at this point offered peace, but this was rejected by Charles XII who wanted to completely destroy Russia for declaring the war. The Russians would scorch the earth behind them, utterly destroying the supply of the Carolean army, yet Charles XII refused to stop giving chase. And this single decision would cause the end of Stormaktstiden.
The Carolean army, becoming severely undersupplied and overextended, would be met by a fresh Russian force coming from the Ukraine, and was utterly defeated, having to retreat to Ottoman territory.
Denmark-Norway and Saxony-Poland-Lithuania would rejoin the war in response to this, and Sweden couldn't recover. Charles XII would return with the remaining forces he had to Sweden in attempt to salvage the war effectively by redoing everything, however his decision to negotiate an alliance with the British Jacobite party would cause Great Britain to join the war against Sweden.
In the preparations of a siege of Fredriksten, Norway, in 1718 Charles XII would be shot in the neck by a Norwegian soldier, from which he died, after which Sweden would immediately retreat and the war was, effectively, over.
Karl XII:s Likfärd (roughly, Charles XII's corpse's travel), Gustav Cederström 1878.
For three years Sweden would try its best to return to a position where they could sign a peace without territorial changes, to no avail. Sweden would in 1718 and 1719 accept peace deals with Great Britain and Brandenburg-Prussia (who joined the war, by the way), ceding Sweden's German lands to Brandenburg-Prussia and Hanover, and in 1721 would cede its Baltic lands to Russia, reducing Sweden to its modern borders plus Finland.
You'll have to excuse me for omitting a lot and simplifying even more when it comes to the Great Northern War; it was an absolute mess and countries joined and left the war left and right. Great Britain even fought on both sides of the war. It's simply impossible to accurately detail the war without effectively writing seven Wikipedia articles.
I also simplified the Caroleans, as a significant part of their strength came from specific formations, but i simply do not know how to detail formations.
Edit: i had mistakingly written that Russia annexed Finland in the Great Northern War, which is just false. That occured in 1809 after the Finnish War.
瑞典的Stormaktstid（大国时代），从1611年古斯塔夫-阿道夫加冕开始，到1721年大北方战争的失利结束，是连续几个瑞典君主都是杰出的军事战略家的结果。
古斯塔夫-阿道夫有时被誉为现代战争之父，他将当时处于萌芽状态的一些战略思想带到了前台--最引人注目的是联合武器的战术。当欧洲在很大程度上仍然使用按单位类型划分的军团--骑兵是纯粹的骑兵，步兵是纯粹的步兵，等等--古斯塔夫-阿道夫用火枪手支援来补充他的骑兵，用大炮手支援来补充他的步兵，这被证明是非常成功的，它使联合武器的战术成为整个欧洲的必须品，并从那时一直到今天都是战争的主导战术。据说，如果你让古斯塔夫-阿道夫复活，并把他扔到第一次世界大战的前线，他对正在使用的战术都还会有一个基本的了解。
古斯塔夫-阿道夫将把瑞典带入30年战争，这主要是神圣罗马帝国的天主教徒和新教徒之间的战争，附近国家也同样参与其中。尽管瑞典没有派出特别庞大的军队，但古斯塔夫斯-阿道夫斯将通过他的战略才能将失败的新教徒一方带到了一个可以和对手签署和平条约的位置，允许新教徒继续保留新教，这就是所谓的威斯特伐利亚和平，结束了天主教在中欧基督教信仰中的统治地位。
古斯塔夫-阿道夫的战术在他死后的几个君主中仍然是瑞典的默认战术，直到查理十一世和查理十二世父子，他们将进一步革新瑞典的战争，使瑞典帝国达到顶峰，但也导致了瑞典的大国时代的结束。
在查理十一世的领导下，以及后来查理十二世的巩固下，瑞典派出一支被称为“卡洛林”的军队。根据设计，卡洛林是一支小型军队，以尽量减少人力成本，他们纪律严明，并采用冲击战术；压倒性地将敌人吓退；这种战略被称为Gå-På（Go-On）。
Gå-På让卡洛林步兵冷静地冒着敌军的枪火前进，直到他们"能看到敌人的眼白"，然后火枪手排队开火，接着部分火枪手拔剑冲锋，更多的火枪手开火，接着是更多的冲锋，直到整个军团冲锋，然后其他部队加入冲锋--特别是大量使用长矛和马刀，两者都用于攻击性。查理十二世将自己嵌入这个主要冲锋的前部，周围是卡洛林军精英中的精英--一些当时世界上最有纪律、训练有素、经验丰富的士兵。
这种战术是如此的残酷有效，以至于瑞典可以让比卡洛林军大几倍的军队因绝对的恐惧而撤退。它完美地传递了一个信息："我们并不害怕。你要么逃跑，要么死。"。
然后是大北方战争。俄罗斯与丹麦-挪威和萨克森-波兰-立陶宛组成联盟，向瑞典宣战。瑞典现在正在进行一场1V3（或1V6，可以这么说）的战争，尽管其他国家会定期对双方进行干预。瑞典迅速击溃了丹麦-挪威，使其退出了战争，然后消灭了萨克森-波兰-立陶宛的军队，然后在波兰进行了一场安插傀儡国王的行动。接下来就到俄罗斯了。
卡洛林军对俄罗斯军队取得了决定性的胜利，使其撤退到俄罗斯本土。这时，俄国提出了和平建议，但这被查理十二世拒绝了，他想彻底摧毁宣战的俄国。而俄国人把他们身后的土地烧焦，彻底摧毁卡洛林军的供应，然而查理十二世依然拒绝停止追击。而这一决定将导致瑞典强权的结束。
卡洛林军在后勤供应严重不足和过度扩张的情况下，遭到了来自乌克兰的一支新的俄罗斯军队的袭击，被彻底击败，不得不撤退到奥斯曼帝国境内。
丹麦-挪威和萨克森-波兰-立陶宛因此重新参战，而瑞典则无法恢复。查理十二世带着他剩下的部队返回瑞典，试图通过做一切事情来挽救战争，然而他与英国雅各布党谈判结盟的决定导致了英国加入对瑞典的战争。
1718年，查理十二世在准备围攻挪威的弗雷德里克斯滕时，被一名挪威士兵射中了脖子，并因此而死亡。
Karl XII:s Likfärd（大概是指查理十二世的尸体的运送），古斯塔夫-塞德斯特伦1878年作。
三年来，瑞典竭力想回到他们可以在不改变现有领土的情况下签署和平协议的位置，但没有结果。瑞典在1718年和1719年接受与英国和勃兰登堡-普鲁士（顺便说一下，他们加入了战争）的和平协议，将瑞典在德国的土地割让给勃兰登堡-普鲁士和汉诺威，并在1721年将其波罗的海土地割让给俄罗斯，将瑞典缩小到其现代边界加上芬兰。
请原谅我在谈到大北方战争时省略了很多，甚至简化了很多；这绝对是一场大混乱，各国纷纷加入或退出战争。大不列颠甚至在战争的两边都打过仗。如果不高效地写七篇维基百科文章，根本不可能准确地详述这场战争。
我还简化了卡洛林步兵，因为他们的实力有很大一部分来自特定的编队，但我根本不知道如何详述编队。