Could Sweden have remained a European superpower on the level of Britain and France if they hadn't gone full retard and...

Could Sweden have remained a European superpower on the level of Britain and France if they hadn't gone full retard and invaded Russia?

Yeah if they stayed aligned with poland against russia and invaded

Let me guess, >muh protestantism got in the way of that?

>Sweden
>European superpower
OP plz, if they had totally defeated Polen they would maybe have become stronger enough to attack russia
OR ally with Poland maybe, but there was that fucked up vasa stuff

Naturally, but they weren't really aligned with any protestant powers either. I just say its the germanic disease where you have terrible diplomacy and territorial ambitions

They were at an extreme disadvantage population wise. France and Germany had something like 15-20 times their population. They made up for it with their god-tier army, but it couldn't last forever.

I think this is true. Sweden probably would have had to conquer something else and make it a major part of their country in order to be more viable.

It was 7-8 times since they had norway, finland, ingria, estonia, and litivia

>on the level of Britain and France
They were never comparable to fucking France which was the biggest kid of the neighborhood till the 19th century

Sweden was strong for sure and easily a great power but France would've slapped it around

No. Sweden is a tiny country compared to Britain. It has less than a sixth of the population of Britain.

also remember British colonial power. Sweden had its chance only in the middle of 17th century

Easily the greatest power with its industrialization, if it kept prussia

Could be, but it seems to me their kings had a feudal mindset. A swedish Peter The Great would have made a difference

Are you joking? Britain industrialised first if any nation.

No, France subsidized Sweden, so not at their level.

these aren't two contrasting statements

>Swedish serfs
>Peter the first was a great leader

Obviously claiming that Sweden was the greatest power in the world due specifically to industrialisation when there was a much larger power that was more advanced industrially is ridiculous.

They would need rich agricultural land supporting large manufacturing and trade centers. They might accomplish this by forming a union with Denmark and directing their combined military might towards taking Schleswig-Holstein for Denmark and Prussia and Pomerania for Sweden then making it a policy to hold onto these lands while maintaining good relations with the Germans. They stood a chance of filling the role taken up by the later Kingdom of Prussia.

epic

Nah, Sweden became a "superpower" by lending money for wars they lost in the end. Became bankrupt until Bernadotte, a french man "bought" the country and became king, which his family still is today

>Italy
>bonded peasantry
The fuck? Northern italian communes were literally the first emancipators in Europe.