Post by Tipsyfish on Mar 10, 2016 17:03:07 GMT
Hi, I'm currently writing up a scenario about how the Kalmar Union could have survived and since I make videos about these scenarios I prefer to keep them shorter and a little more to the point. I would like some feedback on how to make it better and more accurate. It is not done, I only have about half of what I want to put in it, but just having the first part already proof-read would be nice.
Scandinavia is generally seen today as a pure geological term of the five independent Nordic nations. However, the term also brings about images of the entire region being under the territory of one large union. A single Nordic state. This idea isn't a new one, from the late 14th century to the early 16th century, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland were united into a single entity. The Kalmar Union. This Union was very powerful to Mid-evil Europe, when anything was agreed on, Constant wars in Pomerania, Holstein, Mecklenburg and Schelswig, caused the shaky union to finally collapse after a Swedish rebellion in 1523. So in this video, I will try to theorize, what if the Kalmar union never ended? But first some history.
What was the main factor that ended the union? The Hanseatic war. The Hanseatic league (otherwise known as Hanza) was a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant builds and their towns that was spread along the Baltic Sea, and the league dominated Baltic sea trade for four centuries. Denmark had previously fought the league in 1370 and was defeated, giving them the island of Visby, but also giving them free trade within the Baltic sea. During the early 15th century, Eric of Pomerania and Magret the first of Denmark until her death waged constant wars aimed at Holstein and other states along the Baltic coast. This constant warring meant that trade disruptions were constant, and that the taxes within the union rose, while trading declined. During the Hanseatic war, Swedish exports were ground to a halt, even though the collection of taxes continued, not only did this anger the peasantry, but the centralization of the government in Denmark gave suspicion to the governing council in Sweden, fearing that their degree of self-governing might be jeopardized. This caused the Swedes to rebel and they ousted Eric from power, creating a power vacuum after his successor died childless in 1448, this created a series of rebellions and wars against Denmark and Sweden for the rest of the 15th century, the union finally fell when Sweden declared and gained independence in 1523 and Norway became listed as a Danish province in 1536.
So what if the Kalmar Union never ended? Well, the main problem that would need to be over-come would be the different ambitions between Denmark and Sweden. Denmark's interests were south in North Germany, while Sweden's interests were focused to the east. Norway's interests were to it's possessions to the west such as Greenland, Iceland, and the Scottish islands and retaining them but since Norway was hit rather hard with the black death, it's nobility pretty much ceased to exist. The union would need to find some way to have a balance of direction towards their ambitions, and having it be fully away from Northern Germany, this however, is extremely unlikely. If they managed to be able to do this for the long-term, you could see a much larger expansion into Finland then in OTL, you could even see a complete take-over of what is today Kola and Karliea, even though these locations would be incredibly bare and unable to sustain much population. A greater focus might also be shifted towards the Baltic coast. In OTL, The English and Dutch prevented any one power (mainly Sweden) from having control over the Baltic trade routes. But if the union manages to gain these lands and profit from the trade wealth, then you have created a very economically strong union, alleviating many of it's problems.
I planned to talk about the different ways that Denmark and Sweden treated it's peasantry as another main factor to over-come. Would it be conceivable for them to adopt the army raising style used by Sweden during the 17-19 century?
Scandinavia is generally seen today as a pure geological term of the five independent Nordic nations. However, the term also brings about images of the entire region being under the territory of one large union. A single Nordic state. This idea isn't a new one, from the late 14th century to the early 16th century, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland were united into a single entity. The Kalmar Union. This Union was very powerful to Mid-evil Europe, when anything was agreed on, Constant wars in Pomerania, Holstein, Mecklenburg and Schelswig, caused the shaky union to finally collapse after a Swedish rebellion in 1523. So in this video, I will try to theorize, what if the Kalmar union never ended? But first some history.
What was the main factor that ended the union? The Hanseatic war. The Hanseatic league (otherwise known as Hanza) was a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant builds and their towns that was spread along the Baltic Sea, and the league dominated Baltic sea trade for four centuries. Denmark had previously fought the league in 1370 and was defeated, giving them the island of Visby, but also giving them free trade within the Baltic sea. During the early 15th century, Eric of Pomerania and Magret the first of Denmark until her death waged constant wars aimed at Holstein and other states along the Baltic coast. This constant warring meant that trade disruptions were constant, and that the taxes within the union rose, while trading declined. During the Hanseatic war, Swedish exports were ground to a halt, even though the collection of taxes continued, not only did this anger the peasantry, but the centralization of the government in Denmark gave suspicion to the governing council in Sweden, fearing that their degree of self-governing might be jeopardized. This caused the Swedes to rebel and they ousted Eric from power, creating a power vacuum after his successor died childless in 1448, this created a series of rebellions and wars against Denmark and Sweden for the rest of the 15th century, the union finally fell when Sweden declared and gained independence in 1523 and Norway became listed as a Danish province in 1536.
So what if the Kalmar Union never ended? Well, the main problem that would need to be over-come would be the different ambitions between Denmark and Sweden. Denmark's interests were south in North Germany, while Sweden's interests were focused to the east. Norway's interests were to it's possessions to the west such as Greenland, Iceland, and the Scottish islands and retaining them but since Norway was hit rather hard with the black death, it's nobility pretty much ceased to exist. The union would need to find some way to have a balance of direction towards their ambitions, and having it be fully away from Northern Germany, this however, is extremely unlikely. If they managed to be able to do this for the long-term, you could see a much larger expansion into Finland then in OTL, you could even see a complete take-over of what is today Kola and Karliea, even though these locations would be incredibly bare and unable to sustain much population. A greater focus might also be shifted towards the Baltic coast. In OTL, The English and Dutch prevented any one power (mainly Sweden) from having control over the Baltic trade routes. But if the union manages to gain these lands and profit from the trade wealth, then you have created a very economically strong union, alleviating many of it's problems.
I planned to talk about the different ways that Denmark and Sweden treated it's peasantry as another main factor to over-come. Would it be conceivable for them to adopt the army raising style used by Sweden during the 17-19 century?
