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A Warrior Dynasty: The Rise and Decline of Sweden as a Military Superpower Kindle Edition

by Henrik O. Lunde (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 115 ratings
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A historian reveals the surprising role that seventeenth-century Sweden played in shaping Western history.
 
There has been a recent trend in history to interpret the rise and fall of great powers in terms of economics, demographics, or geography. But sometimes, pure military skill can propel a nation to prominence if it is simply able to crush all its opponents on a battlefield. No better example arises than that of Sweden beginning in the seventeenth century, holding supremacy over northern Europe for a century without any technological, geographic, or demographic advantages at all.
 
This fascinating book describes how the Swedes first arrived in continental Europe during the Thirty Years’ War, under their king Gustavus Adolfus. Just in time to roll back the reactionary Catholic tide and buttress the Lutherans, the Swedes proved more innovative in battle than their opponents, using the new arm of artillery, plus tactical formations, to establish supremacy on the battlefield. This horrific war still exists in collective memory as the worst travail in German history, even worse than the world wars; however, along with the salvation of Protestantism, the emergence of the Swedes as a power to be reckoned with meant new geopolitical complications for the existing powers of Europe.
 
Adolfus was eventually killed in battle, but a successor, Charles XII, renewed Swedish aggression—this time for the object of conquest—as he found that no army on the continent could stand against his legions from the north. As later military leaders would find, however, the conquest of Russia comprised a considerable overreach, and Charles was eventually trapped and defeated deep in Ukraine, at Poltava.
 
In this work, renowned military historian Henrik O. Lunde unveils a fascinating chapter in the foundation of Western history that is often overlooked by English-speaking readers.
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  1. Print length
    427 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
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  4. Publisher
    Casemate
  5. Publication date
    September 10, 2014
  6. File size
    6956 KB
  7. Page Flip
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The idea that Sweden has played a key role in shaping European history at first seems unlikely. But by telling that history from an entirely Swedish perspective, Lunde demonstrates how his country both broke the Holy Roman Empire, and then woke Russia from sleeping-giant status. An intriguing read: file under “surprisingly insightful”."
History of War

"...delivers insights such as how Sweden's reliance on its military skill was notable because it established the modern concept of making wars pay through conquest. The author also shows how important lessons can be learned from Sweden's ascent to superpower and downfall"
Toy Solder & Model Figure

A very readable and informative introduction to military developments in Sweden and the careers of its two famous soldier-kings that may inspire wargamers to explore the Thirty Years’ War and/or the Great Northern War in more depth and to refight battles such as Breitenfeld, Lutzen and Poltava on the tabletop.
Miniature Wargames

"…a solid survey of Sweden’s most glorious century, militarily speaking. […] an interesting and engaging book that made me want to dig deeper into the warrior kings. Other readers of 17th Century warfare will certainly want this on their shelves."
Wargames Illustrated

About the Author

Henrik Lunde, US Army (ret.) was born in Norway and came to the United States as a child following World War II. After graduating from the University of California he accepted a US Army commission, and in addition to earning a degree in international relations from the University of Syracuse, he is a graduate of the Army’s Airborne, Ranger, and Pathfinder courses as well as the Command and General Staff College and the US Army War College. Much of Colonel Lunde’s troop assignments were in airborne divisions or in Special Forces. Highly decorated on the battlefield, he served three combat tours in Vietnam, and afterward in the Plans and Policy Branch of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. His last Army assignment was Director of National and International Security Studies at the US Army War College. Lunde currently lives in Florida.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00MZKAUDA
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Casemate (September 10, 2014)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 10, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 6956 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 427 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 115 ratings

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Henrik O. Lunde

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Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
115 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

David Scott Longstreth
5.0 out of 5 stars Most excellent : Presentation, Organization, clarity,, Resources.
Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2020
Verified Purchase
This book makes a most excellent combination of overall view and details of the subject.

Mr. Lunde is very clear from the beginning of the book what his objective is and at the end of the book he reviews that. :He has summaries for each chapter as well.

He is very clear on his resources. The main references are listed at the back of the book soon followed by a further list of the many volumes of his resources. At the end of each chapter notes are listed of resources used for that chapter. This is especially useful for those who desire further reading.

He repeatably mentions he sources and compares information from different sources. He does provide his own conclusions - however ( as opposed to many other authors, the bad ones ) he then provides his logic and alternatives, their possible results and provides further information and mentions the resources he uses to form those ideas.

The chapters are to the point, in summary form followed by more details for the most relevant ( to the book ) events. The battles and political details provide the reader with enough information to understand and know what occurred.

An most Excellent history.
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Walter Lee Campbell
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent overview of warfare in northern and central Europe that relies on second a r y sources
Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2015
Verified Purchase
Linda provides an excellent overview of Sweden's rise to great power status in 17th century Europe. The book has a wealth of information about dynastic diplomacy and war in the Baltic and central European regions. He gives particular attention to Vasa dynasty kings Gustav Adolph and Karl Xii. he argues that Sweden's economic base was too narrow to sustain great power ambitions. He is less convincing in attributing Sweden's rise to Gustav' s early adoption of linear infantry tactics combined with shock heavy cavalry formations. (Much of the credit for innovation should really go to the Dutch, especially Maurice of Nassau) Linde does little original research, and relies on previously published sources_ to whom he scrupulously attributes arguments. Overall, this was a fascinating treatment of a region that usually gets little attention beyond the thirty years war and Charles' failed invasion of Russia. I would highly recommend this for any reader interested in 17th century history, or the challenges of maintaining great power status. Paul Kennedy would relate to this book.
4 people found this helpful
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Donald Clancy
3.0 out of 5 stars Useful overview but flawed
Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2021
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A student of history expects text heavy with military action. The author does achieve his goal, set forth in the introduction, with a focus on military matters. A Warrior Dynasty was an intro for me to the very complicated 30 Years War from Sweden's perspective. If you want a moderate overview, this might meet your needs. But the time span covered is overly ambitious for only 320 pages. For in-depth handling, I will check out other sources. In "Peter the Great", Robert K. Massie provides a vastly better description of the events leading up to Poltava - not only from the Russian perspective but the Swedish too.

The author's prose is to-the-point as one would expect from a career military officer, and is not overly-academic. However, the sloppy editing in places significantly interrupts the flow. Grodno is misspelled as Grondo in every single instance, except on one of the maps. Unfortunately this situation leads to questioning whether the lack of attention to detail affected other aspects of the text. This may be unwarranted but I'm not enough of an expert to judge.

The author's handling of women's contribution to this period was sparse which was not unexpected given the book's military theme. Yet the brief description of both Sweden's Queen Christina and Russia's Catherine I were only negative. Surely one positive thing could have been written about Christina? Bizarrely, the author focused Catherine I's single paragraph on her humble origins and alleged status as "concubine" to several men before marrying Peter the Great. (No other person's sexual history was mentioned in the entire book except for Karl XII's exceptional abstinence from alcohol and women.) A balanced approach to Catherine I would have discussed her fortitude and stamina as she campaigned with Peter, not to mention the important effect she had on calming and soothing Peter during his many seizures. --S.R. Clancy
11 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

GREG SCOTT
4.0 out of 5 stars A history of ths Swedish monarchy at war.
Reviewed in Australia on September 23, 2022
Verified Purchase
An account of the various monarchs of Sweden & their part in the wars that Sweden fought.
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Martyn Burns
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent account of a largely unknown period of European history ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 25, 2016
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Excellent account of a largely unknown period of European history here in Britain. The author demonstrates in incredible detail how Sweden achieved so much with little resources and the campaigns of King Gustav II Adolf are just magnificent.
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ant
4.0 out of 5 stars Works well in blending the strategic issues with what was ...
Reviewed in Australia on June 6, 2015
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Works well in blending the strategic issues with what was happening on the ground but carries a lot of information and cross references to other authorities which makes it rather dense.
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Amazon Customer
2.0 out of 5 stars I really dislike the format of the book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 16, 2018
Verified Purchase
I have to agree with a lot of other posters. The book is very sloppy. I really dislike the format of the book, the authors writing is often not engaging and is just spewing facts while sometimes just copying from other works.

What i like is that the author doesn't pretend he is coming up to these conclusions himself, but states that he is basically just writing down what he has read from other authors.

Still, the book, especially at the start, is really poorly written; you have to google stuff in each page to try and make sense what the author is trying to tell you. Thankfully the book picks up after a terrible start, so it doesn't deserve a 1 star in my mind
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CHRISTIANKOP
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 16, 2016
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GOOD READ
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