IndexHistorical Context of Swedish National DayConclusionWorks CitedPeople waving flags paint the sky blue and yellow. In Stockholm, the king and queen can be found at Skansen, an open-air museum, attending a ceremony. Children dressed in traditional peasant costumes present the royal couple with bouquets of summer flowers. An outsider might be confused by all this confusion, it's a seemingly normal day, but for the Swedish people, the day is a reminder of their country's rich history. Today is June 6th and Sweden celebrates National Day. On this day they remember two important dates in their country's history, the rise of Swedish independence and the Riksdag's approval of a new constitution. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Historical Background of the Swedish National Day The Swedish people originate from mostly Germanic settlers who arrived via river and lake systems and, around 2500 BC, agriculture was established around Lake Malar in central Sweden. Christianity arrived in Sweden around 1000 AD, and the foundations of Swedish history were laid in the 8th century AD. The climate stabilized, people and cultures merged, and the social order, as well as customs and beliefs, became well-established and extensive communications networks connected Sweden to Western Europe, the Arabian Islands, Russia, Greece and distant India. Many young Swedes of this period became Vikings, fierce seafaring warriors, and Viking society was governed by things, local representative bodies in which every free man had a voice. Even though the vast majority of the population was not represented, the initiative would serve as a model for subsequent representative democracies. When the first strong monarchical dynasty, the Folkung, came to power in 1250, this representative government fell out of favor. The Folkung ended the system of slavery; slaves were captives held as slaves by the Vikings, although some gained their freedom and created the Riksdag. The Riksdag was a legislative body composed of four social classes, peasants, nobles, clergy and, finally, merchants and landowners made up the fourth class or bourgeois class. In 1347, due to growing German influence, Sweden entered the Kalmar Union. The Kalmar Union united medieval Norway, Denmark and Sweden, which at the time included Finland, while preserving the laws, customs and administration of the separate countries. Between the years 1397 and 1523, Norway, Denmark and Sweden came under the rule of Queen Margaret. The three countries were supposed to be equal in union, but the rulers tended to favor Denmark as it was the strongest of the three. The Danes also had a tradition of strong kings who came into conflict with the traditionally strong Swedish nobility and from 1434 the Swedes often rebelled or set up separate rulers. 1434 would be the beginning of Sweden against the Kalmar Union, a struggle that would last for years to come. Things would come to a head with the arrival of King Christian II of Denmark, who would be the last king of the Kalmar Union. Christian II's rise to power in Sweden was overshadowed by violence. After losing to the Swedes in the war, he took six nobles hostage in Denmark, one of whom was Gustav Vasa, and only became king in Sweden when Sten Sture the Younger, the elected regent of Sweden, was fatally wounded by the Danes during a battle won by Denmark and Christian was recognized as king in exchange for the promise of mercy and a monarchyconstitutional. However, the peasants, led by Kristina Gyllenstierna, widow of Sten Sture the Younger, did not abandon the war and several months passed before Stockholm surrendered. The coronation of Christian II would lead to the Stockholm bloodbath, which would be the straw that broke the camel's back.revolution against Denmark. The new king was crowned king on November 4 and granted amnesty to all those who had fought against him in the previous war. The feast that was organized in his favor was a happy one and had been celebrated for three days, but on the fourth day Archbishop Gustav Trolle presented an accusation that many of the pardoned nobles were kttare or heretics. Gustav Trolle had been the head of the state council and was in favor of the Kalmar Union and thus Christian II during the war that led to his coronation and despite Christian's assistance, Trolle had been imprisoned by the Swedes after the outbreak of the civil war in 1517 and was removed from office. Gustav Trolle crowned Christian as hereditary monarch, breaking the promise made at the end of the war. Trolle's charges centered on the destruction of his house, Almare-Stket, in 1518 and as he was archbishop at the time, this was considered a crime against the Church. The crime of kttare superseded the pardons granted by Christian II, and this was important because the people accused by Trolle were nobles and clergy who had sided with the Stures during the war. The law stated that Ktarre's crime was one of the most heinous crimes and punishable by death. From 7 to 10 November, around a hundred people were murdered in Stockholm Square by Christian II, although the number varies depending on accounts. The king's guests were locked in the castle while representatives of the Church, including Trolle and the Danish bishop Jens Anderson Beldenek, put them on trial. The defendants were found “evidently guilty” and were all sentenced to death. The list of alleged heretics was long and supposedly included Sten Sture the Younger, and his body was removed from the tomb to be burned along with the other heretics. The bodies were left in the town square until 10 November, when they were removed to be burned nearby as people condemned as ktarre could not be buried in church cemeteries which were considered sacred ground. The mass killing of his political opponents marked the beginning of the end for Christian II. Upon hearing this, Gustav I Vasa, related by marriage to the Sture family, rebelled against the Danish crown at the start of the Swedish War of Liberation, also known as the War of the Swedish Succession. He had escaped from his Danish captivity and returned to Sweden in 1520 and went to Dalarna when he heard of the Stockholm bloodbath because Dalarna was where the Stures had the most loyal support and soon there was a rebellion going on. In the spring of 1521, Vasa's army from Dalarna was victorious against Denmark. He needed outside help to evict the Danes and received this help from the wealthy city of Lübeck, whose merchants felt threatened by Christian's economic policies. Soon wealthy nobles allied themselves with Vasa and with their help and Lübeck's assistance, Gustav Vasa was elected king of Sweden on 6 June 1523. Gustav Vasa's crown was precarious due to his dependence on his former supporters and continued to be precarious for the next few years. There was a certain degree of harmony between Sweden and Denmark due to the current king of Denmark, Frederick I, having driven out his nephew Christian II, and Gustav Vasa were mutually frightened by Christian's return. Vasa faced a lot of infighting, from offended members of the old Sture clan who thought he showed too muchfavor to their former enemies and from the men of Dalarna who disagreed with him on matters of economics and religion to the great nobles who found him at ease. to be a much tougher ruler than they expected. Gustav Vasa was a ruthless and demanding ruler known to be suspicious, deceitful, vengeful, and manipulative and, to most of his enemies, appeared to have the traits of a tyrant. Due to the debt to Lübeck and the need to strengthen royal authority, he was forced to impose severe taxes. Vasa had little theological interest, but his desire to exploit the wealth of the Catholic Church for his own means, as well as his resentment of any authority other than his own, would lead to the Reformation coming to Sweden. His desire for a Lutheran Sweden was purely political and it would take until 1544 for Sweden to become a definitively Lutheran country. By far Vasa's greatest success was the creation of a strong monarchy, but by 1800 an incompetent king would threaten this monarchy. . The Instrument of Government, the other epochal event celebrated on this day, would be the result of the Napoleonic Wars. At the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars, Sweden was only a mediocre European power, but would fight in no fewer than four wars, including a phoney war with the United Arab Emirates. The forces involved and casualties suffered would pale in comparison to those on the continent, but the considerable money and manpower required of Sweden would bring the country to the brink of destruction. It was only due to the idiocy and ineptitude of King Gustav IV Adolf that the first two wars were fought; a farce war against France in Swedish Pomerania, which lasted from 1805 to 1807, and an epic struggle against the combined efforts of Russia and Denmark-Norway. The king had kept Sweden out of wars until the arrest and execution of the Duke of Enghien in 1804, which made him view Napoleon as the embodiment of evil and would stop at nothing until he was destroyed . The king managed to fail in every diplomatic and military attempt he made, and when Napoleon convinced Russia and Denmark to join forces against Sweden, he would lose Finland, which at the time made up a third of Sweden's territory and a quarter of Sweden's territory. population.Due to the massive failures at the end of Gustav IV Adolf, soldiers returned to Sweden with diseases and frozen feet and the people were not happy. Georg Adlersparre, an officer stationed on the Norwegian front, staged a stalemate with the Norwegian stadtholder and commander, Prince Christian August, and marched with 2,900 men towards Stockholm. Adlersparre entered Stockholm on 22 March and Gustav IV abdicated on the 29th, although he refused to include his son. On 1 May 1809 the Riksdag was convened and a constitutional committee met on 12 May. The new constitution would be known as The Instrument of Government and was accepted by the Riksdag and the new king, Charles XIII, on 6 June 1809. Keep in mind: this is just one example. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers Get a custom essay ConclusionThe Swedish people celebrate their rich history and the progress of their government every June 6, and this historically revolutionary day should serve to remind the world that a government that is imperfect and does not support the needs of people cannot survive.Works Cited Encyclopedia Britannica. www.britannica.combiographyGustav-I-Vasa. Accessed May 9, 2022. This was written by the editors of Britannica, a respected source that has been around since the 18th century. Encyclopedia Britannica. www.britannica.complaceSwedenPolitical-conflict#ref403738. Accessed May 9, 2022. This was written by the editors of Britannica, a source,2553