Relations with Sweden

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Sweden, relations with. Sweden became a great power in northern Europe in the 17th cent., a matter of importance to England on account of both Baltic naval stores and Swedish championship of the ‘protestant’ cause. Charles XII further enhanced Sweden's importance, and the British were soon torn between concern over Russian advances in the Baltic and suspicion of Charles's own ambitions. Under George I (with his Hanoverian interests) the British briefly became the enemy of both. In the end fears of Russian preponderance meant that Britain played a leading role in seeking peace between Sweden and her western enemies, an outcome assisted by the death of Charles XII in 1718. Sweden, however, was soon in decline, and Britain enjoyed only limited success in the bewilderingly complicated rivalries in the Baltic region in the 18th cent. Between 1812 and 1814 she played a leading role in the transfer of Norway from Denmark to Sweden, as a reward for the Swedes casting their lot against Napoleon. In 1814 the British put pressure on the Norwegians to accept the change, while trying to secure for them as much autonomy as possible.

C. J. Bartlett