History

h im po l i t i cal p r esen ce i n nor ther n Germ any. L i ke Br andenbu r g and Saxony, D enm ar k was a Pr otestan t coun t r y. T he Dan i sh advan ce i n to Catho l i c hear t l ands m et w i th l i t t l e success, however , and when i t becam e appar en t that the ef f or t was f ai l i ng, Ch r i st i an was abandoned by Saxony, wh i ch d i d not v i ew Dan i sh dom i nat i on as any bet ter than Im per i al dom i nat i on . I n h i s of f en si ve agai n st D enm ar k , Gener al Wal l en stei n (sup r em e com m ander of the arm i es of Em per or Fer d i nand I I ) at tacked the por t of St r al sund , whose sh i p - bu i l d i ng f aci l i t i es wou l d hel p f aci l i tate an at tack on m ai n l and D enm ar k . Sweden en ter ed the war i n St r al sund?s def en ce, and caused Wal l er stei n to qu i ck l y m ake peace w i th D enm ar k i n 1629, desp i te m or e def eat s on the par t of the Dan i sh , as con cer n s wer e r ai sed over f u r ther Swed i sh i n ter ven t i on , as wel l as over st r et ched Aust r i an r esou r ces. a si gn i f i can t

r eal i sed , as Sweden f u l l y en ter ed the con f l i ct , par t l y ou t of a desi r e to ai d f el l ow Pr otestan t nat i on s agai n st Catho l i c opp r essi on that substan t i al l y i n cr eased af ter the Ed i ct of Rest i tu t i on , wh i ch dem anded that al l chu r ch p r oper t i es that had been sei zed by Pr otestan t f or ces be r etu r ned to Catho l i c hands. T h i s al i enated al l the Pr otestan t states wh i ch had so f ar t r i ed to m ai n tai n a posi t i on of neu t r al i t y (Saxony and Br andenbu r g). T he other r eason f or the f u l l - scal e Swed i sh i n ter ven t i on was the p r ospect of becom i ng the dom i nan t Bal t i c power , as m uch of Sweden?s i n com e was based of f t r ade tar i f f s. T he Swed i sh k i ng, Gustavus Ado l phus, used St r al sund as a l and i ng po i n t f or h i s arm y, wh i ch con si sted of 18,0 0 0 so l d i er s. H e was backed by Fr en ch f i nan ci ng, desp i te Fr an ce possessi ng an opposi te con f essi onal i den t i t y to Sweden . I t was, i n f act , Car d i nal Ri chel i eu who was r espon si b l e f or the f orm at i on of the coal i t i on Swed i sh coal i t i on , wh i ch

I n 1630 , Wal l en stei n?s f ear s wer e

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