Nordic, traditionally a politically geographical term, refers specifically to the five sovereign states of the Nordic Council: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland. These five countries are basically synonymous with the "ideal state" in contemporary times - beautiful environment, perfect welfare, social equality, and seem to have nothing to do with all the conflicts and upheavals in the world, and only live their own peaceful and happy little lives.
▲ Five Nordic countries (excluding Greenland and Svalbard)
But today's calm and indifference do not conflict with the storms of the past. In addition to Finland, which originated from the Urals, the main ethnic groups of the other four countries are the descendants of the famous Vikings in history, of which Denmark and Sweden have not lived up to the prestige of their ancestors, not only achieving Nordic hegemony, but also challenging European hegemony many times.
So how did the Nordic hegemony come to be held by two brothers, Denmark and Sweden?
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >, Viking Legends</h1>
In the late 8th century, the northeast coast of England began to be attacked and plundered from the sea, and then a large area including the northern coast of France and the southern shore of the Baltic Sea inhabited by the Germans also began to be disturbed by the sea, and the initiators of these raids were the ancestors of the Danes and Swedes, the Vikings.
▲ Modern restored viking figures
The Vikings usually refer to a Nordic people that originated in Scandinavia. Subject to the natural geography of Scandinavia – the climate is cold, the soil is poor, the mountains are hilly and hilly – and it is not suitable for the development of agricultural civilizations, but on the other hand, Scandinavia has a long coastline, many natural harbors and dense forests that can provide raw materials for shipbuilding. When the peninsula could no longer support its growing population, the Vikings naturally embarked on a journey to the sea for a living.
▲ The scenic fjord is also a natural harbor suitable for shelter from the wind and waves
At first, the Vikings were only fishing and hunting near shores, but perhaps the violent North Sea inspired the fearless and adventurous spirit in the blood of the Vikings, or perhaps they were tempted by the wealth of merchant ships on the sea that traveled across Europe. Beginning in the 8th century, many Vikings began to plunder merchant ships, and soon this plundering changed from spontaneous to organized plunder by tribes, and the scope of the plunder also expanded to coastal towns in Europe.
▲ Viking longship
The Vikings often resorted to guerrilla tactics of snatching and running away from the coast, and the European countries were mostly divided and unable to organize effective defenses, and for a long time from the 8th to the 10th century, the Western European countries could not do anything about the Viking invasions, especially the British Isles across the sea from Scandinavia, which also inspired the Fear and Hatred of the Vikings in the English people - there is a sentence in Shakespeare's Hamlet: (The world is) a big prison, There were many cells, cells, dungeons; Denmark was the worst of them.
▲ The trajectory of viking activity in Europe
On the other hand, however, such raids also facilitated exchanges between the Vikings and other peoples of Europe. During the process of plundering, the Vikings came into contact with Christianity and began to establish their own feudal states under the influence of the political systems of other countries. Among Denmark, Sweden and Norway, Denmark, which is the closest and most closely exchanged between the European continent, took the lead in establishing a unified country and forced Norway to submit under the leadership of the famous Bluetooth king Harald, laying the foundation for the union of the two countries for more than 800 years.
▲ Harald era territory (red) and vassals (yellow)
But even with their own state, the early Danes did not abandon the tradition of plunder, but raised it to the national level - pirates pledged allegiance to the king, and the lands they occupied were owned by the state and became part of the national territory.
In this way, Denmark seized a considerable amount of land and population outside the homeland, and even half of England, which was the most invaded, fell into the hands of the Danes, and Harald's son Svan even gave himself the title of King of England. In the generation of Harald's grandson Cnut, he conquered the entire region of England and controlled southern Sweden, establishing a huge empire that included Denmark, England, Norway and Scotland, and most of Sweden, and Denmark's power also reached its peak, becoming the hegemony of Northern Europe.
▲ North Sea Empire
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > two, Nordic three knots</h1>
Although Cnut's remarkable talents helped him establish the "North Sea Empire" that had never been seen before or since, even the most remarkable talents could not help him deal with things after death. After cnut's death in 1035, the "North Sea Empire" soon fell apart, and the crown of England returned to the Hands of the Anglo-Saxons in 1042, leaving only Denmark in the area under the direct control of the Danish king.
▲ Edward the Confessor who took the Throne of England back from the Danes
At this stage, the image of the Vikings also began to change from pirates to nobles, merchants, farmers and craftsmen, and since dragon ships could be used to carry looted booty, they could also transport normal trade goods. The Danes still sailed their ships, transporting timber, furs and ores from Scandinavia across the Baltic sea to the European continent, exchanging them for precious metals and other goods before returning to Denmark. At the same time, Denmark will also carry out some external expansion, but only on the baltic coast, and its purpose is only to ensure the safety of its own sea routes and trading positions.
At this time, Denmark no longer had the prestige of its former hegemon, but it was also strong in the Baltic Sea. But the Baltic Sea was not as vast as the North Sea, which could accommodate all kinds of forces, and the Danes' position here was soon challenged.
From the 13th century onwards, in response to the threat of piracy and the obstruction of trade by feudal lords, some German city-states began to form commercial alliances, and the scope of the alliance was expanded, eventually forming a Hanseatic Alliance with more than a hundred city-states. The rise of the Hanseatic League seriously threatened Denmark's trade position, and from the very beginning, German merchants continued to eat away at the Danish share of trade with their kirk sailboats, which were better than Viking dragon ships.
Faced with a commercial defeat, the Danes chose to use military force, and in 1361 sent troops to occupy Visby, a major commercial town belonging to the Hanseatic League, and defeated the Confederate navy. But the Hanseatic League, with its deep pockets, reorganized its fleet, launched a counterattack in 1367, and finally completely destroyed the Danish fleet in 1370, forcing Denmark to sign a treaty recognizing the Hanseatic Alliance's monopoly in the Baltic Sea.
Cities and trade routes of the Hanseatic League
After this bitter defeat, the Danes remembered the splendor of the North Sea Empire and of their two brothers, Norway and Sweden. In 1376, after a political struggle, The Danish Princess Margaret's son Olaf (Margaret married King Haakon of Norway, whose son Olaf also had the right to inherit the Norwegian throne) succeeded to the Danish throne. Four years later, King Haakon of Norway died, and Olaf naturally succeeded to the Norwegian throne.
Although Olaf, who was still a minor seven years later, suddenly fell ill and died, Margaret succeeded in convincing the nobles of the two countries through excellent political skills to let her take power in both countries. In 1395 Margaret became regent of Sweden through war, becoming co-lord of the three kingdoms.
▲ Queen Margaret I of Denmark
In 1397, under the auspices of Margaret, the nobles of the three kingdoms met in the Swedish city of Kalmar, and Eric, the grandson of Margaret's sister, was made the co-lord of the three countries, of which Denmark dominated, while Norway and Switzerland retained the title of kingdom and had greater autonomy.
Once established, the Kalmar Alliance, which had integrated the forces of the three states, began a new round of competition with the Hanseatic League, and the Hanseatic League went downhill and declined. By the middle of the 15th century, the Danes had successfully taken control of the Schleswig-Holstein region, which belonged to the German region, and regained control of trade in the Baltic Sea.
Denmark also controlled the vast territory of Jutland, Norway, Sweden, southwestern Finland and the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland through the Kalmar Alliance, and dominated Northern Europe as the second North Sea Empire.
▲ The Kalmar League around 1400
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > third, northern lions</h1>
The Kalmar League is indeed a temporary beauty, but if you look closely, the interior of the league is not monolithic. Although the Swedes were descendants of the Vikings as the Denmark and Norway, they did not have close relations with the two countries in history, and they were willing to form an alliance only against the common enemy, the Hanseatic League.
Now that the Hanseatic League was no longer a threat, and the Danish royal family's attempt to strengthen its control over Sweden seriously hurt the interests of the Swedish nobility, the contradictions between the two countries quickly intensified, and finally in 1523 Sweden became officially independent, the Kalmar Union was dissolved, and it was also announced that Denmark had withdrawn from the ranks of first-class powers, and never returned to this rank.
For nearly a hundred years at the beginning of Sweden's independence, it was only a sparsely populated and weak country, not only lost to Denmark in many wars, but even the throne was seized by the Polish king for a long time, but during this period Sweden carried out the Reformation, Protestantism became the state religion, and its economy also developed to a certain extent, laying a foundation for the future rise, until 1611, the founder of Swedish hegemony, Gustav II, succeeded to the throne.
▲ Gustav II, Lion of the North
Immediately after his accession to the throne, Gustav carried out drastic reforms in Sweden. Gustav was keenly aware that the biggest shortcomings that constrained Sweden were its sparse population and cold climate. So he made decrees to protect the peasants' autonomy and to avoid excessive exploitation by the nobility and landlords, so that every Swede could contribute more to the country. At the same time, Gustav used Sweden's rich copper and iron resources to vigorously develop metallurgy and handicrafts, which made Sweden's economy prosper quickly.
The most important of Gustav's reforms was the military reforms. He first abandoned the mercenary system popular in European countries at that time and adopted the conscription system, stipulating that adult men in the country are obliged to serve the country; at the same time, Gustav emphasized the quality and discipline of the army, attached great importance to the daily training of the army and restrained the army with strict military discipline, so that the combat literacy and discipline of the Swedish army had a basic guarantee; and in that era when cold weapons were still the mainstay, Gustav clearly realized the great power of gunpowder weapons in war, relying on Sweden's developed metallurgy and handicrafts. Gustav equipped his army with a large number of muskets and formed an independent artillery unit.
▲ Gustav's modified Swedish army battle formation
These military reforms earned Gustav II the title of father of modern warfare, and his army did show its strength on the battlefield. After the Outbreak of the Thirty Years' War, which swept across Europe in 1618, Sweden initially took a neutral stance.
But as a Nordic country, the Baltic Sea was a key place both economically and militarily, so when the Habsburgs were victorious on the battlefield and extended their power to the Baltic Sea, Gustav, who felt threatened, could no longer stand idly by and watch the Habsburgs continue to expand. In 1630, Sweden, with the support of France, joined the Protestant Confederation and waged war against the Habsburgs.
As soon as the Swedish army entered the war, the entire situation was changed, and the well-equipped and well-trained Swedish army defeated the Habsburg army several times, from the Baltic coast all the way to the city of Munich in the south German region, sweeping through the whole of Germany, and nearly half of the Habsburg territory was occupied by Sweden. Although Gustav II was killed at the Battle of Lützen in 1632, the Swedish army was forced to retreat to the Baltic region. However, after a break, the Swedish army made a comeback and was finally signed as the victorious party to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.
▲ The modern Swedish army is still a small but elite division, and it also attaches great importance to national defense autonomy (Sweden's self-developed Griffin fighter)
After thirty years of war, the Swedes not only gained prestige, but also extracted many practical benefits from the post-war contracts - Pomerania, Bremen, Wismar and Weldon, which originally belonged to Germany, plus the previously acquired Livonia and the southern part of Sweden recovered from Denmark in 1658, the Baltic Sea has become the swede's inland sea, and the Swedes have also opened overseas colonies in North America, the Caribbean, Ivory Coast and other places.
It can be said that Sweden at this time is not only a Nordic hegemony, but also a European power that can compete with Britain, France, Austria, Russia and other countries for Europe.
▲ Sweden's expansion in northern Europe and the Baltic Sea region (orange is Swedish territory at the time of succession)
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > fourth, congenital deficiency</h1>
The Swedes didn't stay at the top long. In 1700, in order to obtain access to the Baltic Sea, the newly rising Russian Empire united with Denmark, Poland and other countries to launch a war against Sweden, known as the Great Northern War.
▲ Situation map of the Great Northern War
In this war that lasted for 21 years, the Swedes, like Denmark had experienced in the war with the Hanseatic League, won first and then lost. The Swedes defeated the Russians in Narva, forced Poland to withdraw from the war twice, and approached Moscow, but the war ended with a treaty of Nistad, in which Sweden ceded all the territories occupied by Russia in the Baltic Sea except Finland in the war to Russia, and ceded Pomerania to Prussia, and Bremen and Verdon to Hanover in exchange for an armistice.
▲ Territory ceded by Sweden to Russia after the war (slash)
After the end of the Great Northern War, Sweden lost all the benefits it had gained in the Thirty Years' War, gradually withdrew from the ranks of the great powers, and its hegemony in northern Europe and the Baltic Sea was left to the Russians, and by the time Russia annexed Finland in 1809, Sweden was able to resist with little force.
Looking back at the reason for Sweden's failure, it is not that there are any major strategic decision-making mistakes, or domestic turmoil, natural and man-made disasters, but more simply because Sweden's innate deficiencies are too much, and the country's hard power is difficult to support long-term hegemony. The same is true for Denmark.
By the time of the 18th century, the confrontation between countries had become more and more a confrontation between the comprehensive national strengths of the two countries, not just a victory or defeat on the battlefield. The Swedish army is not unstretched, but when fighting the Russians, this is the only hole card for the Swedes.
Russia's vast territory and large population can withstand several defeats on the battlefield, and even the capital can be abandoned for strategic reasons, but neither the Swedes nor the Danes have such strength, and any defeat on the battlefield may become the last straw that crushes the country.
Even a strategic genius like Napoleon could not stand up to the forces of europe as a whole
The fact that the Nordic countries now live rich and uneventful lives does not mean that they have not pursued the dream of conquering the wider world. But the cold climate and the scarcity of the population (the Kalmar Union has only about 1.5 million people in 1.24 million square kilometers) make it difficult for them to take advantage of other countries with larger populations and larger lands, after all, such things do not happen every day.
But then again, you can't conquer everything, and it's not a bad idea to enjoy and use everything you already have.
▲ The Oresund Bridge connecting Sweden and Denmark, the two countries' former glory days have long been sunk under the waves
Author: Evening Dawn
Editor: Thomas (Don)