Was he one of the greatest leaders of all time?

He turned a shitty kingdom into a great power. He won great victories against Russia, Poland, Denmark and HRE and expanded the borders greatly.

Other urls found in this thread:

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_Livonia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Karksi_(1600)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wenden_(1601)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kokenhausen
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Wolmar
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Fellin
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Reval_(1602)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Weissenstein
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Rakvere_(1603)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Weissenstein
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kircholm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Pärnu
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Salis
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Daugavgriva_(1609)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish–Swedish_War_(1617–18)
twitter.com/NSFWRedditGif

Really? Great victories?

literally who?

>He won great victories against Poland
Where and when?

Um, who is this again? I don't remember historical failures.

swedes are so pathetic

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_Livonia
Ingria, Livonia, Controll of all main german rivers. Hardly a failure
Butthurt pole/finn/dane/norwegian/russian/kraut/burger detected

He was pretty great. Been reading up on the 30 years war and he turned it around when everything seemed lost and defeated HRE like it was nothing.

He won to such extend that France, his ally, tried to hamper his march into Germany and one of the books Im reading even mentions how Richelieu was relieved to hear of his death..

>little pieces of land
>success

poles, danes, russians and krauts all had empires that far exceeded the swedish "empire"

The suez or panama canal are small. They're still really valuable pieces of land

>it's not the size of the land that matters, but how you use it
You sound like a small dick cuck

off topic but why do Veeky Forums seem to dislike Swedish Empire and Sweden in general?

Damage controll

Butthurt poles/finns/danes/norwegians/russians/krauts and retarded americans that try to paint history as swedes always being weak cucks

Because Swedes keep forcing it as the greatest thing on earth and its getting annoying

>poles
Very arguable
>danes
Objectively wrong
>russians
Huge population and natural resources
>krauts
Huge population and weakened France

I don't know if it's just Swedes but I keep seeing this face and nothin about him seems all that impressive by European standards of the day.

>en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_Livonia


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Karksi_(1600)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wenden_(1601)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kokenhausen
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Wolmar
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Fellin
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Reval_(1602)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Weissenstein
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Rakvere_(1603)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Weissenstein
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kircholm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Pärnu
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Salis
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Daugavgriva_(1609)

>Very arguable
Not at all.

>Huge population and natural resources
Why didn't Sweden have huge population? Why didn't they conquer land abundant in resources? Those things don't exist in a vacuum, brainlet.

m-muh population

>great victories against Poland

>He won great victories against Russia, Poland, Denmark and HRE
True
>and expanded the borders greatly
"""Greatly"""

>>He turned a shitty kingdom into a great power
Cardinal Richelieu did that for him. No Richelieu no Swedish Empire, as France wouldn't create a mad dog to throw around and Swedes could not become one themselves without external economic funds. In a world with Gustavus but no Richelieu the Swedish Empire doesn't exist. In a world with Richelieu but no Gustavus it probably does, albeit in a different shape.

Because it's kinda average (as much as european empires can be) but has a very loyal fanbase on the internet (probably thanks to Europa Universalis and Sabaton). Also it's not really hate but contempt.

Spain had a very small population and managed to be the first european power until the 30 years war and a major one until the Napoleonic wars. Their Empire being bigger is no excuse because 1)Not all lands provided men, in fact some required to waste them 2)they literally conquered most of the lands while having low population

Swedes still won the war
Spain controlled most of the new world. Which made them very rich

More like no Oxenstierna no Swedish Empire. Richelieu even praised him as the greatest statesman of his time.

>Swedes still won the war
Only because the Poles had a bigger fish to fry.

>On September, 1618, a truce between the Commonwealth and Sweden was signed. Polish–Lithuanian side demanded the return of Pärnu,[1] but since the war between the Commonwealth and Muscovy continued, Sigismund agreed that the city would temporarily remain in Swedish hands. The truce was valid for two years, expiring in November 1620.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish–Swedish_War_(1617–18)