For a century, the Baltic was a Swedish lake — then came Poltava. Sweden, a poor northern kingdom of barely a million people, built one of the most formidable military machines in European history, dominated the Baltic, humbled Denmark and Poland, and then lost it all in a single afternoon in Ukraine.
Stockholm ★ Finland Scania Narva Poltava Greatest extent — stylized map 1611 Gustavus takes the throne 1632 Lützen 1658 Treaty of Roskilde 28 June 1709 Poltava 1721 Treaty of Nystad Rise · zenith · fall The rise The architect was Gustavus Adolphus, who took the throne in 1611 at seventeen and revolutionized warfare. He made artillery light and mobile, drilled his infantry to fire in coordinated volleys, and combined arms — pike, shot, and cavalry — into a single shock weapon. When he landed in Germany in 1630 to intervene in the Thirty Years' War, the Swedish army cut through the great mercenary hosts of the age like a scythe.
