Northern Seven Years' War

Northern Seven Years' War
Fredrik II conqueres Älvsborg 1563.jpg
Frederick II of Denmark attacking Älvsborg, 1563.
Date 1563–1570
Location Scandinavia
Result Status quo ante bellum
Belligerents
Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark-Norway

Flag of the Free City of Lübeck.svg Lübeck
Herb Rzeczpospolitej Obojga Narodow.svg Poland–Lithuania

 Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden
Commanders
Frederick II Eric XIV, John III
Dano-Swedish wars

Swedish Liberation – Northern Seven Years' – Kalmar – Torstenson – Northern – Scanian – Great Northern – Theater – Napoleonic

The Northern Seven Years' War (also known as the Nordic Seven Years' War, the First Northern War or the Seven Years War in Scandinavia) was the war between Sweden and a coalition of Denmark-Norway, Lübeck and Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, fought between 1563 and 1570. The fighting continued until both armies had been exhausted, and many men died. The resulting peace was a stalemate, with neither party gaining any new territory.

Contents

The Context of the Northern Seven Years' War

The Nordic Kalmar Union, which lasted on and off from 1397 to 1523, collapsed as the result of Swedish resentment of Danish domination. Successful rebellions in 1471, led by the Bonde-Sture nobles, had firmly established Swedish independence by 1503. But on 1520 Christian II of Denmark easily reconquered Sweden, and took a bloody revenge for the rebellion from the Kalmar Union. Although the exact events are not certain, a number of noble men and ladies, as well as leading citizens of Stockholm, were executed in the so called Stockholm Bloodbath, and the corpse of recently deceased Regent Sten Sture the Younger was allegedly dug up and burnt as a heretic. The unwarranted violence was condemned by the Pope, and repugnant even to the Danes, and on returning home Christian II was forced off the throne by his own councilors. He was replaced by Frederick I, who was crowned in March of 1523.

In Sweden the power vacuum combined with the revolt within Denmark against Christian II provided the opportunity for Gustav Vasa, with the support of peasants and the Hanseatic towns of Lübeck and Danzig, to consolidate control of Sweden and claim the throne in June 1523.

Gustav Vasa’s Sweden was weak in 1523. Access to the west was virtually blocked by Denmark-Norway which continued in union. Sweden’s access to the North Sea was limited to a 20 kilometer stretch on the Kattegat at vicinity of Älvsborg Fortress, where modern Gothenburg was later founded. Further, Denmark controlled the Baltic, limiting Swedish movement there.

Gustav Vasa took an action which did not bear immediate fruit in the Nordic Seven Years' War, but was to have a lasting impact on Sweden’s fortune; he changed the military structure in Sweden. In 1544 he used the old Scandinavian concept of Uppbåd (levy or the prerogative to call up some fraction of men from each district in an emergency) to establish the first native standing army in Europe. The men served in standby, remaining at home in peacetime, and being paid by tax concessions, but were required to assemble and drill. This system was later expanded. By 1560 when Gustav Vasa died, every ten peasants were required to provide one soldier who must serve anywhere domestic or foreign as required by the king.

The Immediate Cause of the War

Erik XIV (1533-1577), King of Sweden 1560-1568
Frederick II (1534-1588), King of Denmark and Norway 1559 - 1588

The outbreak of the war has been attributed mainly to Denmark's displeasure over the Kalmar Union being dismantled. This displeasure was expressed several times during Gustav Vasa's reign of Sweden, for example when Danish King Christian III included the traditionally Swedish insignia of three crowns into his own coat of arms. The Swedish interpretation was that Denmark continued to claim Sweden.

This and other events created considerable friction, especially after the deaths of Gustav Vasa and Christian III – both countries now had young and hawkish monarchs, Erik XIV in Sweden and Frederik II in Denmark. In the beginning of his reign Erik XIV obstructed Danish plans to conquer Estonia.

In February, 1563 Swedish messengers had been sent to Hesse to negotiate Erik's marriage with Princess Kristina. The messengers were restricted in Copenhagen. Erik added the insignia of Norway and Denmark to his own coat of arms, and refused Danish requests to remove these symbols. Lübeck, upset over obstacles of trade that Erik had introduced to hinder the Russian trade and withdrawn trade privileges, joined Denmark in a war alliance. Poland also joined, desiring control of the Baltic trade.

The War

Initial phase

In May, the first movements of the war started. A Danish fleet under Jakob Brockenhuus sailed towards the Baltic. At Bornholm, on May 30, the Danish fleet fired on the Swedish navy under Jakob Bagge even though war had not officially been declared. A battle arose that ended with Danish defeat.

German royal emissaries were sent to negotiate a peace, but at the meeting place of Rostock no Swedes appeared. On August 13, 1563, war was declared by emissaries from Denmark and Lübeck in Stockholm. That month, Danish king Fredrik II attacked Älvsborg. At the beginning of the war the Danes advanced from Halland with an army of professional mercenaries of 25,000 strong and captured Sweden's gateway to the west, Älvsborg fortress, after only three days of bombardment and a 6 hours assault, on September 4th.

This achieved the Danish aim of cutting off Sweden from the North Sea, blocking the all-important salt imports. Erik then attacked Halmstad, without result; the Swedish counterattack was driven back by the professional Danish army. After the king's departure from his army, Charley de Mornays stepped in as the commanding officer and was beaten by the Danish at Mared.

At sea a battle broke out near Öland on September 11th, whereafter the war took a pause.

Attacks by land

Sweden occupied the undefended Norwegian province of Jämtland, which was quickly reconquered by a counterattack by forces under command of the Norwegian governor of Trøndelag.

In 1564 the Swedes marched under Claude Collart and occupied the Norwegian provinces of Jämtland, Härjedalen and Trøndelag, including the city of Trondheim. Initially welcomed in Trøndelag, their ill treatment of the Trøndelag natives laid the groundwork for the later resistance to Swedish invasion. Although repelled from Trøndelag, they continued to occupy Jämtland and Härjedalen. These provinces were later recaptured by Norwegian forces.

The Danish mercenary army was superior to the Swedish peasant army in all but one respect; the professional army would not fight until their pay was current. Because only a fraction of the army would march, Denmark had to give up the plan to take the fortress of Kalmar and settle for an attack on Stockholm instead. In August, Erik attacked Blekinge and his army occupied it cruelly, the Danish soon reclaimed this though.

New battles

On May 30 a battle broke out between the Swedish navy and the Danish navy (now under the direction of Herluf Trolle) between Gotland and Öland. The Swedish commander Jakob Bagge was captured, but the battle was a draw. August Klas Kristersson Horn became the new commander and beat the Danish fleet at Ölands north tip August 14th.

Horn attacked the provinces Halland and Skåne in 1565, and made several attempts at Bohuslän and Uddevalla. The Danish burned old Lödöse in the province of Västergötland. Against the Danish army, Erik led the army himself at first, but then again turned over command to someone else, this time to Nils Boije, who on August 28th took Varberg. The Danish army under Daniel Rantzau beat the Swedish army at Axtorna on 20th October.

At sea the Swedes fared better. Horn – commanding the Swedish navy – pursued a Danish-Lübeck fleet onto the German coast where most of it was destroyed. After this victory Horn steered for Öresund and levied a toll on passing ships. A while later he delivered a successful battle on the Mecklenburgish coast, at Buchow. The Danish were beaten again at sea by Bornholm on July 7. This ensured the command of the Baltic to the Swedes.

In January 1566 Sweden unsuccessfully laid siege to Båhus Fortress in Norway’s Bohuslän province. Daniel Rantzau moved his forces into Västergötland. At sea the Swedes continued their success, Horn returned to take toll charges in the Baltic without any interference from Denmark. Another battle at sea outside of Öland occurred on the 26th of July. It resulted in the complete destruction of the Danish navy in a storm. Horn was now called to command troops on land, where he died September 9th.

Swedish attacks on land

Sweden invaded the Norwegian Østerdal, crossing Hedmark and occupying Norwegian territory as far west as Skiensfjord. They devastated the country districts, burnt Sarpsborg and massacred the military garrisons.

On 1567 the Swedes continued the attack against Norway. Sweden invested Akershus Fortress in Oslo. When they were defeated, they retreated north into Hedmark and the Opplands, burning Hamar Cathedral and destroying the bishop’s fortified palace Hamarhus.

Danish attacks on land

Spring time came, and Erik XIV turned insane. This paralyzed the Swedish warfare. The Danish were exhausted and made no serious attacks until October when Rantzau attacked Småland and Östergötland with about 8,500 men. He arrived in November and burned every field and house and destroyed every head of livestock he could. An attempt to cut off his retreat over the Holaveden failed, and in the middle of February 1568 he returned to Halland. This same year Erik was dethroned and another pause occurred in the war.

Attempts were made to make peace between the fighting nations during these years. Negotiators who attempted this included dukes of Pommern, French messenger Charles Dancay, Emperor Ferdinand I and Emperor Maximilian II.

But since Eric XIV and Fredrik II showed no love for peace, the attempts failed. In 1568, the Swedish duke John, having succeeded his brother as king of Sweden, began negotiations with Denmark and on November 18th 1568 this led to a draft peace agreement in Roskilde. This however was turned down by the Swedes. In 1569, war stirred again. The Danes attacked Varberg and reclaimed it on November 13th. The Swedes on the other hand now had great success in Skåne.

Peace negotiations

Main article: Treaty of Stettin

At this point, both armies were exhausted. This led to further negotiations toward peace. In September 1570 a peace negotiations meeting began in Stettin and peace was finally reached on December 13, 1570. The Swedish king withdrew the claims to Norway, Skåne, Halland, Blekinge and Gotland, while the Danes withdrew their claims to Sweden as a whole. In addition, the Kalmar Union was declared dissolved.

The Swedes ransomed Älvsborg with 150,000 riksdaler (currency of the time). The disputes concerning the three crowns insignia was unsolved and source for future conflicts.

The Consequences

Perhaps the most significant consequence of this war was initiation of a standing Swedish army. This war, followed by a virtually continuous involvement of Sweden over the next century in other wars, produced a military capability which made Sweden, for a period, the greatest military power in northern Europe.

This war, with its extreme destruction and wanton civilian casualties strengthened the hatred between Swedes and Danes, while polarizing the until-then ambivalent Norwegian opinion to one of fear and resistance to Sweden.

The invasion routes of Norway also presaged the attacks on Norway in the next century and defined Norwegian defensive policy.

See also

References