Gustavus Adolphus (9 December [N.S 19 December] 1594 – 6 November [N.S 16 November] 1632), also known in English asGustav II Adolf orGustav II Adolph,[1] wasKing of Sweden from 1611 to 1632, and is credited with the rise ofSweden as a great European power (Swedish:Stormaktstiden). During his reign, Sweden became one of the primary military forces in Europe during theThirty Years' War, helping to determine the political and religious balance of power in Europe. He was formally and posthumously given the nameGustavus Adolphus the Great (Swedish:Gustav Adolf den store;Latin:Gustavus Adolphus Magnus) by theRiksdag of the Estates in 1634.[2][3][4]
He is often regarded as one of the greatest military commanders in modern history, with use of an early form ofcombined arms.[5][6] His most notable military victory was theBattle of Breitenfeld in 1631. With his resources, logistics, and support, Gustavus Adolphus was positioned to become a major European leader,[7] but he was killed a year later at theBattle of Lützen. He was assisted in his efforts byCount Axel Oxenstierna, theLord High Chancellor of Sweden, who also acted asregent after his death.
Coming to the throne at the age of 16, Gustavus Adolphus inherited three wars from his fatherCharles IX of Sweden: border conflicts withRussia andDenmark–Norway, and a dynastic struggle with his first cousin, KingSigismund III Vasa ofPoland.[8] Of these, the Danish war was the most serious.[9] During his reign, Sweden rose from the status of aBaltic Sea basin regional power to one of thegreat powers of Europe and a model ofearly modern era government. Gustavus Adolphus is known as the "father of modern warfare",[10] or the first modern general. He taught a number of other military commanders, such asLennart Torstensson, who would go on to expand the boundaries and power of the Swedish Empire after Gustavus Adolphus's death. Spoils meant he became a successful bookraider in Europe, targetingJesuit library collections.[11]
His contributions to Sweden's rise in power included reformation of the administrative structure. For example, he beganParish Registration of the population, so that the central government could more efficiently tax and conscript the people.[12] He is also widely commemorated by Protestants in Europe as the main defender of their cause during the Thirty Years' War, with multiple churches, foundations and other undertakings named after him, including theGustav-Adolf-Werk.[13][14]
Gustav Adolf's parents, King Charles IX and Queen Christina
Gustavus Adolphus was born inStockholm on 9 December 1594, eldest son ofDuke Charles of theHouse of Vasa and his second wife,Christina of Holstein-Gottorp. At the time, his cousinSigismund was both King of Sweden and Poland. The Protestant Duke Charlesforced the Catholic Sigismund to abandon the throne of Sweden in 1599, part of thepreliminary religious strife before theThirty Years' War, and reigned as regent before taking the throne asCharles IX of Sweden in 1604. Crown Prince Gustav Adolph had Gagnef-Floda inDalecarlia as a duchy from 1610. Upon his father's death in October 1611, a sixteen-year-old Gustavus inherited the throne, being declared of age and able to reign himself at seventeen as of 16 December.[15] He also inherited an ongoing succession of occasionally belligerent dynastic disputes with his Polish cousin, Sigismund III, who persisted in his effort to regain the Swedish throne.[16] He also briefly assumed the title of tsar of Russia in the beginning of his reign.[17][18]
In a round of this dynastic dispute, Gustavus Adolphus invaded Livonia when he was 31, beginning thePolish–Swedish War (1626–1629). In the course of it he won avictory at Wallhof, fought atGniew,Dirschau, and suffered adefeat at Trzciana. In April 1627, he was made a knight of theOrder of the Garter by KingCharles I of England.[19] His reign became known from his actions a few years later when, in June 1630, he landed in Germany, marking theSwedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War. Gustavus Adolphus intervened on the anti-Imperial side, which at the time was losing to the Holy Roman Empire and its Catholic allies; the Swedish forces would quickly reverse that situation.[20]
Historian Ronald S. Love wrote that in 1560–1660 there were "a few innovators, notablyMaurice of Nassau and Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, whom many scholars credit with revolutionary developments in warfare and with having laid the foundations of military practice for the next two centuries."[22] Scholars consider him an extremely able military commander.[23] His integration of infantry, cavalry, logistics, and particularly his use of artillery, earned him the title of the "Father of Modern Warfare".
Future commanders who studied and admired Gustavus Adolphus includeNapoleon I of France andCarl von Clausewitz. His advancements in warfare helped make Sweden the dominantBaltic power for the next hundred years (seeSwedish Empire). He is also the only Swedish monarch to be styled "the Great". This decision was made by the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates in 1634, making him officially called Gustavus Adolphus the Great (Gustavus Adolphus Magnus).[citation needed]
Gustavus Adolphus was the main figure responsible for the success of Swedish arms during the Thirty Years' War and led his nation to great prestige. As ageneral, Gustavus Adolphus employed mobile artillery on the battlefield, as well as very aggressive tactics, where attack was stressed over defense, and mobility and cavalry initiative were emphasized.
Among other innovations, he installed an early form ofcombined arms in his formations, where the cavalry could attack from the safety of an infantry line reinforced by cannon, and retire again within to regroup after their foray. Inspired by the reform ofMaurice of Nassau, he adopted much shallower infantry formations than were common in thepike and shot armies of the era, with formations typically fighting in 5 or 6 ranks, occasionally supported at some distance by another such formation—the gaps being the provinces of the artillery and cavalry as noted above.[24][25]
His artillery were themselves different—in addition to the usual complements of heavy cannon, he introduced light mobile guns for the first time into the Renaissance battlefield. These were grouped in batteries supporting his more linearly deployed formations, replacing the cumbersome and unmaneuverable traditional deep squares (such as the Spanishtercios that were up to 50 ranks deep) used in other pike and shot armies of the day. In consequence, his forces could redeploy and reconfigure very rapidly, confounding his enemies.[24][25] He created the modernSwedish Navy, which transported troops and supplies to the Continental battlefront.[26]
Carl von Clausewitz and Napoleon Bonaparte considered him one of the greatest generals of all time, an evaluation agreed with byGeorge S. Patton and others. He was also renowned for his constancy of purpose and the equality of his troops—no one part of his armies was considered better or received preferred treatment, as was common in other armies where the cavalry were the elite, followed by the artillery, and both disdained the lowly infantry. In Gustavus Adolphus's' army the units were extensively cross-trained. Both cavalry and infantry could service the artillery, as his heavy cavalry did when turning captured artillery on the opposing Catholic tercios atFirst Breitenfeld.[26]
Pikemen could shoot—if not as accurately as those designated musketeers—so a valuable firearm could be kept in the firing line. His infantrymen and gunners were taught to ride, if needed. Napoleon thought highly of the achievement and copied the tactics. However, recent historians have challenged his reputation.B. H. Liddell Hart says it is an exaggeration to credit him with a uniquely disciplined conscript army, or call his the first military state to fight a protracted war on the continent. He argues that he improved existing techniques and used them brilliantly. Richard Brzezinski says his legendary status was based on inaccurate myths created by later historians. Many of his innovations were developed by his senior staff.[26]
Gustavus Adolphus' politics also show progressive tendencies:[citation needed] for example, in 1631, in the conquered territory of Estonia he forced the local nobility into granting more individual rights to the commoners. He also encouraged education, opening a school inTallinn in 1631, today known asGustav Adolf Grammar School (Estonian:Gustav Adolfi Gümnaasium).[27] On 30 June 1632, Gustavus Adolphus signed the decree for the foundation of Academia Dorpatensis in Estonia, today known as theUniversity of Tartu.[28]
Despite significant hardships for the common people, the period of Swedish rule over Estonia has been idealized in local folklore as the "good old Swedish times", which has been attributed to comparisons with the harder times that followed under the Russian rule.[29]
On 27 August 1617, his speech before hiscoronation included the following statement:
I had carefully learned to understand, about that experience which I could have upon things of rule, how fortune is failing or great, subject to such rule in common, so that otherwise I would have had scant reason to desire such a rule, had I not found myself obliged to it through God's bidding and nature. Now it was of my acquaintance, that inasmuch as God had let me be born a prince, such as I then am born, then my good and my destruction were knotted into one with the common good; for every reason then, it was now my promise that I should take great pains about their well-being and good governance and management, and thereabout bear close concern.[30]
Gustavus Adolphus inherited three wars from his father when he ascended the throne: againstDenmark–Norway, which had attacked Sweden earlier in 1611; against Russia, due to Sweden having tried to take advantage of the RussianTime of Troubles; and againstPoland-Lithuania, due to King Charles's having deposed King Sigismund III, his nephew, as King of Sweden.
The war against Denmark–Norway (Kalmar War), during which Gustavus Adolphus fought in minor military actions, — the victorious for SwedenStorming of Kristianopel and the unsuccessfulBattle of Vittsjö, — was concluded in 1613 with a peace that did not cost Sweden any territory except for Älvsborg Castle, which Sweden had topay to get back,[31] but it was forced to pay a heavy indemnity to Denmark–Norway (Treaty of Knäred). During this war, Gustavus Adolphus let his soldiers plunder towns and villages, and as he met little resistance from Danish forces inScania, they pillaged and devastated twenty-four Scanian parishes. His memory inScania has been negative because of that fear.[32] The largest destroyed settlement was the TownVæ, which two years later was replaced by Danish–Norwegian KingChristian IV as the nearbyChristiansted (after the Swedification process, spelled Kristianstad), the last Scanian town to be founded by a Danish king.[33][34]
Gustavus Adolphus atBreitenfeld in 1631Gold coin of King Gustav Adolph, 1632
The electorate ofBrandenburg was especially torn apart by a quarrel between the Protestant and Catholic parties. The Brandenburg minister and diplomat baronSamuel von Winterfeld [de] influenced Gustavus Adolphus to support and protect the Protestant side in Germany. When Gustavus Adolphusbegan his push into northern Germany in June–July 1630, he had just 4,000 troops. He was soon able to consolidate theProtestant position in the north, however, using reinforcements from Sweden and money supplied by France at theTreaty of Bärwalde.[35]
In March 1632, Gustavus Adolphus invadedBavaria, an ally of the Emperor. He forced the withdrawal of his Catholic opponents at theBattle of Rain, marking the high point of the campaign. In the summer of that year, he sought a political solution that would preserve the existing structure of states in Germany, while guaranteeing the security of its Protestants. But achieving these objectives depended on his continued success on the battlefield.
Gustavus Adolphus is reported[according to whom?] to have entered battle without wearing any armor, proclaiming, "The Lord God is my protector!" However, it is more likely that he simply wore a paddedcuirass rather than going into battle wearing no battle protection whatsoever. In 1627, near Dirschau in Prussia, a Polish soldier shot him in the right side of the neck almost in his throat. The bullet made its way into the muscles above and behind his right shoulder blade. Though he was initially convinced the wound was fatal he survived, but the doctors could not remove the bullet, so from that point on, he could not wear iron armor and two fingers of his right hand were paralyzed.[36][37] Gustavus Adolphus would suffer the effects of the wounds for the rest of his life. Among the minor effects were on his handwriting.[36] Due to the bullet wound the plate cuirass, (normally worn by important officers at that time), was replaced by abuff coat made of moose hide, which would have serious consequences later.[38]
The Battle of Lützen. Cornelis Danckerts:Historis oft waerachtich verhael.., 1632. Engraving byMatthäus Merian.Death of Gustavus Adolphus at Lützen byCarl Wahlbom (1855)
On 6 November 1632, Gustavus Adolphus encountered the Imperial Army underAlbrecht von Wallenstein atLützen, in what would prove to be one of the most significant battles of the Thirty Years' War. Gustavus Adolphus was killed when, at a crucial point in the battle, he became separated from his troops while leading a cavalry charge on his wing.[39] Lützen was a victory for the Protestants, but cost them their leader, which caused their campaign to lose direction and finally suffer a crushing defeat atNördlingen.
Towards 1:00 pm, in the thick mix of gun smoke and fog covering the field, the king was separated from his fellow riders and suffered multiple shots. A bullet crushed his left arm below the elbow. Almost simultaneously his horse suffered a shot to the neck that made it hard to control. In the mix of fog and smoke from the burning town of Lützen the king rode astray behind enemy lines. There he sustained yet another shot in the back, was stabbed and fell from his horse.
Lying on the ground, he received a final, fatal shot to the temple. His fate remained unknown for some time. However, when the gunnery paused and the smoke cleared, his horse was spotted between the two lines, Gustavus Adolphus himself not on it and nowhere to be seen. His disappearance stopped the initiative of the hitherto successful Swedish right wing, while a search was conducted. His partly stripped body was found an hour or two later, and evacuated from the field in a Swedish artillery wagon.
As late as the 19th century several stories were retold about Gustav Adolphus's death. In most of them the assassin was named as PrinceFrancis Albert of Saxe-Lauenburg [de], who was next to the king on the occasion and was thought to be acting on behalf of the enemy. When KingCharles XII of Sweden was shown purported evidence in 1707 he dismissed the theory out of doubt that"any prince could be so ungrateful".[40]
In February 1633, theRiksdag of the Estates gave him the title "Gustavus Adolphus the Great", orGustav Adolf den Store inSwedish, the only Swedish monarch to be so honoured.
As those Vasa princes who descended from deposed monarchs were excluded from the throne and Gustavus Adolphus's younger brother had died ten years before, his young daughterChristina became his successor, with Maria Eleonora and other ministers governing on her behalf. He left one other known child, his illegitimate sonGustav, Count of Vasaborg.
Gustavus Adolphus is widely commemorated by Protestants in Europe as the main defender of their cause during the Thirty Years' War, with multiple churches, foundations and other undertakings named after him. He became a symbol of Swedish pride, and his name is attached tocity squares in major Swedish cities likeStockholm,Gothenburg andHelsingborg.Gustavus Adolphus Day is celebrated in Sweden each year on 6 November, the day the king died at Lützen. One of the traditions on this day is theGustavus Adolphus pastry. In Finland, the same day is celebrated as "Finnish Swedish Heritage Day".Gustavus Adolphus College, aLutheran college inSt. Peter, Minnesota, is also named for him.
A GAW flag in the Protestant church ofSopron, Hungary
TheGustav-Adolf-Werk (GAW) of theEvangelical Church in Germany, founded on the bicentennial celebration of theBattle of Lützen, has as its object the aid of other churches and commemorates Gustavus Adolphus's legacy. It is responsible for taking care of theDiaspora work of the EKD and has separate branches internationally. The organization in Austria is called the Gustav-Adolf-Verein. The project of forming such a society was first broached in connection with the bicentennial celebration of theBattle of Lützen on 6 November 1832.[41]
A proposal to collect funds for a monument to Gustavus Adolphus was agreed to, and it was suggested by SuperintendentGrossmann that the best memorial to Gustavus Adolphus would be the formation of a union for propagating his ideas. It quickly gained popularity in Germany. The lack of political correctness received some criticism; however, the organization used GAW as its brand in the meanwhile. The Swedish royal family visited the GAW headquarters in Leipzig on the 400th birthday of Gustavus Adolphus, in 1994.[41]
In military organization and strategy, Gustavus (sic) was ahead of his time. While most powers relied on mercenary troops, he organized a national standing army that distinguished itself by its discipline and relatively high moral standards. Deeply religious, the king desired his soldiers to behave like a truly Christian army; his stern measures against the common practices of looting, raping, and torture were effective until his death. His successes were due to this discipline, his use of small, mobile units, the superiority of his firearms, and his personal charisma. Although he was deeply interested in the internal progress of his kingdom, much of the credit for the development of Swedish industry and the fiscal and administrative reforms of his reign belongs to Oxenstierna.[42]
The German SocialistFranz Mehring wrote a biography of Gustavus Adolphus with aMarxist perspective on the actions of the Swedish king during the Thirty Years' War. In it, he makes a case that the war was fought over economics and trade rather than religion. The Swedes discovered huge deposits of copper, which were used to build brass cannon. The cottage-industrial growth stimulated an armaments industry.[citation needed]
In his book "Ofredsår" ("Years of Warfare"), the Swedish historian and authorPeter Englund argues that there was probably no single all-important reason for the king's decision to go to war. Instead, it was likely a combination of religious, security, as well as economic considerations. This view is supported by German historian Johannes Burkhardt, who writes that Gustavus Adolphus entered the 30 Years War exactly 100 years after the publication of theConfessio Augustana, the core confession of faith of theLutheran Church, and let himself be praised as its saviour. Yet Gustavus Adolphus's own "manifesto of war" does not mention any religious motivations at all but speaks of political and economic reasons.[43]
Sweden would have to maintain its integrity in the face of several provocations and aggressions by the Habsburg Empire. The manifesto was written by scholar Johann Adler Salvius in a style common of the time that promotes a "just war". Burkhardt argues that traditional Swedish historiography constructed a defensive interest in security out of that by taking the manifesto's text for granted. But to defend Stockholm, the occupation of the German Baltic territories would have been an extreme advance and the imperial Baltic Sea fleet mentioned as a threat in the manifesto had never reached more than a quarter of the size of the Swedish fleet.[43]
Moreover, it was never maintained to challenge Sweden but to face the separatist Netherlands. So if ruling the Baltic Sea was a goal of Swedish strategy, the conquests in Germany were not a defensive war but an act of expansion. From Swedish Finland, Gustavus Adolphus advanced along the Baltic Sea coast and eventually to Augsburg and Munich and he even urged theSwiss Confederacy to join him. This was no longer about Baltic interests but the imperial capital of Vienna and the alpine passes that were now in close reach of the Swedish army.[43]
Burkhardt points out that theGothic legacy of the Swedes, coalesced as a political program. The Swedish king was also "Rex Gotorum" (Latin:King of the Goths), and the list of kings was traced back to the Gothic rulers to construct continuity. Prior to his embarkment to northern Germany, Gustavus Adolphus urged theSwedish nobility to follow the example of conquests set by their Gothic ancestors. Had he lived longer, it would have been likely that Gustavus Adolphus had reached out for the imperial crown of the Holy Roman Empire.[43]
The Swedish composer Franz Berwald composed the choral workGustaf Adolph den stores seger och död vid Lützen (Gustav Adolf the Great's Victory and Death near Lützen) in 1845.[44] He is also the protagonist ofMax Bruch's 1898 choral workGustav Adolf.[45]
^Stephen J. Lee,Aspects of European History 1494–1789 (2nd ed. 1984), pp. 109–14.
^Svensk Uppslagsbok, 1950,vol 5,column 353, article "Gustav; 2. Gustav II Adolf" Quote: (Swedish) "Av de tre krig, det danska, det ryska och det polska, G. ärvde..." In English "Of the three wars, the Danish, the Russian and the Polish, Gustav II Adolphus inherited...
^Same source, and the quote continues "hotade det första rikets existens". English "... did the first one endanger the existence of the realm."
^Ålund, Otto Wilhelm (1894).Gustaf II Adolf: Ett 300-årsminne berättadt för ung och gammal : Med öfver 100 illustr. och flera kartor (in Swedish). Stockholm: Alb. Bonnier. p. 12.SELIBR1627779.
^Essen, Michael (2020).The Lion from the North: The Swedish army during the Thirty Years War. Helion & Company. p. 20.ISBN9781804511060.Indeed, Novgorod land grants from 1612 show that Gustavus Adolphus by then, briefly, had assumed the title of Tsar, with the support of Moscow.
^Göransson, Göte (1994).Gustav II Adolf och hans folk (in Swedish). Höganäs: Bra böcker. p. 176.ISBN978-91-7119-128-1.
^Swedish National Archive (the original document can be seen there in Stockholm, and a copy at the same institution at Lund), Kungsbrev 1600-tal, Kings' Letters, 17th Century
^abPrinz, Oliver C. (2005).Der Einfluss von Heeresverfassung und Soldatenbild auf die Entwicklung des Militärstrafrechts. Osnabrücker Schriften zur Rechtsgeschichte (in German). Vol. 7. Osnabrück: V&R unipress. pp. 40–41.ISBN3-89971-129-7. Referring toKroener, Bernhard R. (1993). "Militärgeschichte des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit bis 1648. Vom Lehnskrieger zum Söldner". In Neugebauer, Karl-Volker (ed.).Grundzüge der deutschen Militärgeschichte (in German). Vol. 1. Freiburg: Rombach. p. 32.
^abGöransson, Göte (1994).Gustav II Adolf och hans folk (in Swedish). Höganäs: Bra böcker. p. 177.ISBN978-91-7119-128-1.
^Kuosa, Tauno (1963).Jokamiehen Suomen historia II. Sata sotaista vuotta [Everyman's Finnish History II: Hundred Warlike Years] (in Finnish). Helsinki: Werner Söderström Publishing Ltd.
^Jeremy Murray, "The English-Language Military Historiography of Gustavus Adolphus in the Thirty Years’ War, 1900–Present."Western Illinois Historical Review 5 (2013): 1–30onlineArchived 31 March 2022 at theWayback Machine.
^ab"Die Chronik" [The chronicle].www.gustav-adolf-werk.de (in German).Gustav-Adolf-Werk.Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved14 December 2014.
^abcdBurkhardt, Johann. "Ein Gotenkönig als Friedenskaiser? (lit.: A King of Goths as Emperor of Peace?)".Damals (in German). Vol. 42, no. 8/2010.Abstract in GermanArchived 18 July 2011 at theWayback Machine.
^Hackenberg, Albert."Gustav Adolf, op. 73".repertoire-explorer.musikmph.de. Musikproduktion Hoeflich.Archived from the original on 14 August 2022. Retrieved10 December 2022.
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Dupuy, Trevor Nevitt.The Military Life of Gustavus Adolphus: Father of Modern War (Franklin Watts, 1969).
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Grönhammar, Ann; Nestor, Sofia (2011).The Royal Armoury in the cellar vaults of the Royal Palace. HathiTrust Digital Library.ISBN978-9187594304.
Grundberg, Malin[in Swedish] (2005).Ceremoniernas makt: Maktöverföring och genus i Vasatidens kungliga ceremonier (in Swedish). Nordic Academic Press.ISBN91-89116-73-9.
Murray, Stuart (2009).The Library: An Illustrated History. War and a Golden Age: Skyhorse Publishing.
Murray, Jeremy. "The English-Language Military Historiography of Gustavus Adolphus in the Thirty Years’ War, 1900–Present,"Western Illinois Historical Review (Spring 2013) vol 5.online
Thomson, Erik. "Beyond the Military State: Sweden’s Great Power Period in Recent Historiography."History Compass 9.4 (2011): 269–283.online[dead link]
1Also prince of Norway 2Also prince of Poland and Lithuania 3Lost his title due to an unequal marriage 4Not Swedish prince by birth, but created prince of Sweden
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