Sweden's Emergence Into A Great Power
Sweden emerged as a great European power under Axel Oxenstierna and King Gustavus Adolphus. As a result of acquiring territories seized from Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as well as its involvement in the Thirty Years' War, Sweden found itself transformed into the leader of Protestantism.
During the Thirty Years' War, Sweden managed to conquer approximately half of the member states of the Holy Roman Empire. The fortunes of war would shift back and forth several times; after the Battle of Nördlingen, the faith for Sweden amongst the Swedish-controlled German states was severely injured, and several of the provinces excluded themselves from Swedish power one by one, leaving Sweden with only a couple of northern German provinces. After France had intervened on the same side as Sweden, the fortunes would shift again. As the war continued, it turned more and more grim; and when it was over, it had led to severe depopulation in the German states. Although exact population estimates do not exist, historians estimate that as many as one-third of the people in the Holy Roman Empire may have died as a result of the war.
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