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The Swedish invasion of the Holy Roman Empire, or the Swedish Intervention in the Thirty Years' War, that took place between 1630 and 1635, was a major turning point of the war often considered to be an independent conflict. After several attempts by the Holy Roman Empire to prevent the spread of protestantism in Europe, King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden ordered a full-scale invasion of the Catholic states. Although he was killed in action, his armies successfully defeated their enemies and gave birth to the Swedish Empire after proving their ability in combat. The new European great power would last for a hundred years before being overwhelmed by numerous enemies in the Great Northern War. ==Background== Although Gustavus Adolphus was well informed of the events transpiring in Europe for some time, his hands were tied because of the constant enmity of Poland. The Polish Royal Family, the primary branch of the Vasa had once claimed the throne of Sweden. However, when Sigismund III Vasa was elected by the Nobles of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, he was elected on the condition that he be a Roman Catholic. Which he was, as he had had a mother who was Roman Catholic and had abandoned the religion of his predecessors, however, lutheranism was the primary religion of Sweden, and had by then established a firm grip on the country. It was not solely the result of religious sentiment that Sweden converted. Notably, one of the reasons that Sweden had so readily embraced it was because converting to Lutheranism allowed the crown to seize all the lands in Sweden that was possessed by the Roman Catholic Church. As a result of this seizure and the money that the crown gained, the crown was greatly empowered. In spite of this, he retained Roman Catholicism as his religion, which his mother had been. Although he guaranteed the rights of this religion to the people in his Swedish domains, this was a subject of great contention for the kingdom. Sigismund's right to the throne became a further subject of contention due to his support for the counter reformation. After Sigismund's defeat in the battle of the Battle of Stångebro, the Swedish nobility demanded that he rule Sweden from Sweden. Despite their demands, Sigismund returned to his Polish Capital, Warsaw, and was deposed from the Swedish throne in 1599. Gustavus Adolphus' Father, Charles IX of Sweden - the uncle of Sigisimund - also a Vasa, was awarded the throne, in part because he was an ardent Lutheran. Soon after, Sweden became engaged in wars with the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway and the Tsardom of Russia. Also, Sigismund III never renounced his claim to the Swedish throne, and for many years the primary direction of Polands' foreign policy was directed at reacquiring it. As a results, Sweden was hard pressed on almost all of its borders. Charles IX died in 1611, without achieving any conclusive result in Sweden's wars during the six years of his reign. At the age of just 17, Gustavus was granted a special dispensation to assume the Swedish crown - and thereby inherited his father's conflicts. The surrounding powers smelled blood, assuming that such a youth could not maintain the gains that the father had won for Sweden. However, Gustavus had first entered the army at the age of 11,〔Dodge 1994, p. 131〕 and had first hand knowledge of how to govern a kingdom. His training at statecraft had begun at the same age, when later that year his father permitted him to sit in on meetings of the council of state. The neighbouring powers had not assessed the new King accurately. The new King was able to bring about conclusive results to the conflicts he had inherited. By 1613 Gustavus had compelled the Danes out of the war after landing on Swedish territory only 6 miles from the capital.〔Harte 1807, p.22〕 By 1617 〔Dodge 1994, p. 63〕 he had forced Russia out of the wars and compelled her to cede territory to Sweden. Gustavus also settled a number of truces with Sigismund – who agreed to them only because of internal strife within Poland. This respite, which lasted 5 years〔Dodge 1994, p. 83〕 gave Gustavus a free hand to act against the two other powers which had designs on Swedish land. In 1617, he sought to establish a permanent peace with Poland. However, all advances by Sweden for a permanent peace were rejected by Sigismund. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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