Talk:Swedish Empire

A book (series) people who are into this part of history might like
Is "1632" by Eric Flint which is about a small West Virginia town being transported into 1631 Thuringia and allying with Gustavus Adolphus (who doesn't die at Lützen) to create a new Europe... Hobbitschuster (talk) 12:52, 30 August 2020 (UTC)


 * What about w:Zacharias Topelius: The Surgeon's stories : Gustave Adolf, and the thirty year's war : an historical novel (and the rest of the series)? –LPfi (talk) 15:06, 30 August 2020 (UTC)
 * (WP seems to use Tales of a Barber-Surgeon –LPfi (talk) 15:08, 30 August 2020 (UTC))

Destinations to add

 * Breitenfeld

Finnish nationalism
I am surprised by the wording
 * " Writers such as Johan Ludvig Runeberg and Zacharias Topelius commemorated the Swedish times, creating a new Finnish identity where Swedish heritage was integral."

My impression is that the Finnish nationalist, such as indeed Runeberg and Topelius, worked on creating a new Finnish identity, full stop. Of course, these nationalists, many of them scholars of the Swedish-speaking minority, many born in the Swedish time, had a Swedish heritage – but they tried to find and formulate the uniquely Finnish, building on Finnish myths, the Finnish nature (which of course happens to be not too different from the Swedish, but still), and the Finnish culture and language.

I am also not sure about "mid-19th century": the interest in the Finnish culture arose already in the 18th century, with people such as Henrik Gabriel Porthan. The first edition of Kalevala was published in 1835. I suppose the nation-building started quite soon after 1809 (although, of course, it did not get up steam until after some time).

More important for the Swedish heritage, I think, is that Alexander promised to let Finland keep its "law, language and religion" (the Gustavian law, from after his coup; Swedish; and Lutheran Christianity). These were instrumental in avoiding Russification – and for Finland staying a Nordic country.

–LPfi (talk) 22:37, 18 November 2020 (UTC)


 * I should have figured that I left out too much. This article hardly mentions Finland beyond the trivial statement that it was part of the Swedish realm. / Yvwv (talk) 23:19, 18 November 2020 (UTC)


 * I made a try to include those views. To keep it short I left out the namedropping. Feel free to revert or rewrite. –LPfi (talk) 00:07, 19 November 2020 (UTC)