ABSTRACT

Gustavus Adolphus (1594--1632) dominated his age: he made Sweden the leading power of Northern Europe, was the principal upholder of the Protestant cause in the Thirty Years War, and was a great administrator as well as a brilliant soldier. His toleration and reforms helped define the development of the modern state. This concise study of his career, by the doyen of modern historians of the North, appeared in 1973. Long unavailable but now revised, expanded, updated and reset, it makes a welcome return in Profiles in Power.

chapter 1|18 pages

Background

chapter 2|13 pages

The Accession Crisis and its Consequences

chapter 3|14 pages

Recovery (1612–20)

chapter 5|14 pages

The Great Decision (1628–30)

chapter 6|17 pages

Reforms: Domestic

chapter 7|19 pages

Reforms: Naval and Military

chapter 8|18 pages

The Sinews of War

chapter 9|17 pages

The Path to the Summit

chapter 10|18 pages

The Plenitude of Power

chapter 11|19 pages

Finale

chapter 12|11 pages

Prospect and Retrospect