Go to the publisher The book describes and analyses the Kalmar War of 1611-1613 between Sweden and Denmark-Norway. Since Denmark controlled the Straits between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, Sweden sought an alternative trade route through the sparsely populated Arctic Lapland – an option enabled by the 1595 Treaty of Teusina (Tyavzino) with […]
Go to the publisher This study describes and analyses the Swedish campaign in Muscovy of 1609–1610 and the Ingrian War of 1610–1617 between Sweden and Muscovy; both wars took place during Russia’s ‘Time of Troubles’. Faced with a serious threat from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Moscow entered into an alliance with Sweden and ultimately offered the […]
Go to the publisher This book describes and analyses the Manchu, or Qing, army in all its aspects. The emphasis lays on the Qing army in the seventeenth and early eighteenth century, because this is the time when the Manchu military system developed its own characteristics and reached maturity. Furthermore, having achieved this and in […]
Go to the publisher The Battle of Narva, in which Charles XII of Sweden defeated Peter the Great of Russia, occurred during the Great Northern War. Peter the Great’s Disastrous Defeat describes the campaign, presents new research on the battle, details the opposing Swedish and Russian armies, and explains the continued development of the Swedish […]
Go to the publisher. Volume 3, finally, will describe the Danish wars of 1657-1660 and the conclusion of the wars in the east. The book describes and analyses the two devastating wars fought between Sweden and Denmark-Norway during the reign of Swedish King Charles X Gustavus, an experienced former general from the Thirty Years’ War. […]
Volume 2 will describe the wars in the east, during the period 1655-1657. This book describes and analyses the ‘Swedish Deluge’ (potop szwedski), the devastating 1655–1660 series of wars fought between Sweden, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Brandenburg-Prussia, Muscovite Russia, Transylvania, Cossack Ukraine, the Tatar Khanate of Crimea, and the Holy Roman Empire during the reign of […]
This three-volume series will describe and analyses the ‘Swedish Deluge’ (potop szwedski), the devastating 1655–1660 series of wars fought between Sweden, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Brandenburg-Prussia, Muscovite Russia, Transylvania, Cossack Ukraine, the Tatar Khanate of Crimea, and the Holy Roman Empire during the reign of Swedish King Charles X Gustavus, an experienced former general from the […]
After my presentation on the history of the early Goths at the Society Virtual Conference in May, I received some questions on those aspects of the Adrianople campaign of AD 376-378 in which I reject the traditional interpretation of events by Roman historians such as Ammianus Marcellinus. Get Full text in PDF
This is the first of two books which describe the Goths, their arms and armour, dress and equipment, army organisation, campaigns, battle tactics, and strategy. The focus of this first volume is the early Goths, before they became integral to the history of the Roman Empire. The emphasis lies on the Goths themselves, outside and […]
See more – Adlibris Alla de svenska hemligheterna från det kalla kriget. Boken bygger på tidigare hemligstämplade dokument och mycket berättas för första gången. Vad var det egentligen som hände under det kalla kriget och åren därefter? Vad gjorde landets politiska ledning, öppet och i hemlighet? – Hur gick det egentligen till när spionen Stig Wennerström avslöjades, […]
This book describes and analyses the early modern Swedish army during the Thirty Years War after the death in 1632 of King Gustavus Adolphus. At this time, military operations were handled by field marshals under the overall command of the Swedish Chancellor, Axel Oxenstierna. The book expands our understanding of the Swedish army during the […]
See more – Helion & Co. The book describes and analyses the early modern Swedish army, with a particular emphasis on the reforms introduced by King Gustavus Adolphus before and during the Thirty Years War. Furthermore, the book expands our understanding of the Swedish army during the Thirty Years War by also focusing on its […]
Policy makers tend to pick and choose among conclusions presented to them. This can result in politicization, which ultimately might result in intelligence being blamed for policy failures. This has a negative impact on intelligence analysis, transforming it in an ever more cautious direction which negates its utility in the policy process. Swedish intelligence learnt […]
In 1946, Sweden had not yet chosen sides in the emerging Cold War. Leading members of the Swedish Social Democrat government, primarily the powerful Foreign Minister Östen Undén, distrusted the Western democracies and regarded the Soviet Union as a viable protector. Swedish intelligence had cooperated with its Western counterparts during the Second World War. After […]
The book describes and analyses the Scanian War, which was fought from 1675 to 1679 between, on one side, primarily Brandenburg and Denmark–Norway and, on the other, Sweden. The war was mainly fought in Scania, the former Danish lands along the border with Sweden, and in northern Germany. The Danish objective was to retrieve Scania […]
For much of the twentieth century, Sweden has adhered to a policy of neutrality. It declined to participate in either of the world wars and avoided being a target of any of the belligerent powers. Its intelligence and security services played a major role supporting Sweden’s foreign policy in both the First and particularly the […]
What role did religious beliefs play in early modern warfare? Or, to rephrase the question, what was the role of religious beliefs in early modern society? That religiosity played a role seems clear, but exactly how important was religion among other motivational factors, such as the desire for survival, personal gain, or even love – […]
During the Great Northern War (1700-1721), the most renowned officer in the Danish navy was a Norwegian, Peter Tordenskiold – a living legend. Get Full text in PDF
During the Great Northern War (1700-1721), the most renowned officer in the Danish navy was a Norwegian, Peter Tordenskiold – a living legend. Get Full text in PDF
In seventeenth-century Siam (now Thailand), although most wars were fought against neighbouring Burma, one of the most prominent sources of military inspiration was Japan. In fact, japanese influence remained for centuries in the Siamese army. Even a perfunctory walk through the weapons gallery in the excellent Bangkok National Museum reveals that, among swords, the majority resemble […]
Could early modern warfare ever be called heroic? Did heroic warfare exist in at least non-Western societies? During the second half of the twentieth century, some historians and anthropologists attempted to recreate what early warfare really was like through the use of oral history, in those few societies where such traditions still remained… Get […]
As a follow-up to Neil Rennoldson’s articles in Arquebusier XXXII/III on early sixteenth-century landsknechts in their German core territories, the following four illustrations depict landsknechts from the same period but in service in Sweden and Finland. Landsknechts first arrived in Sweden as mercenary contingents in Danish invasion armies, but within a few years, they were […]
As a follow-up to Neil Rennoldson’s articles in Arquebusier XXXII/III on the flamboyant and colourful dress of early sixteenth-century landsknechts in Germany, and my own short article on the not quite as flamboyant, but still colourful landsknecht dress from the same period but in Sweden and Finland, I can now take this opportunity to add […]
In these days of recurring cutbacks in government military spending, outsourcing, and the privatization of warfare with private-sector military firms involved in naval affairs, it may be worthwhile to remember that it was not always a foregone conclusion that, from an organizational point of view, a modern navy would have to be responsible for its […]
The Archivio Segreto Vaticano, the Secret Archives, or to use its full and official name, Archivum secretum apostolicum Vaticanum, has handled official Church business for centuries. The modern Archives were established around 1610 but its collections include a very large number of documents that go back much further in time. Exactly how far is unknown; […]
The dramatic events that caused probably the last genuine Ming Dynasty loyalist, the half-Japanese pirate warlord Coxinga (1624-1662), to take control over the island of Formosa (present Taiwan) two decades after the fall of the dynasty that he served have been described in many books, plays, and even television dramas. This article will accordingly focus […]
Something odd seems to have happened when the modern Danish and Swedish navies emerged in the sixteenth century. Not only did they grow in size and strength very rapidly, they also experimented with unexpected types of armaments such as pyrotechnics. Most curious might have been the experiments with naval rockets… Get Full text in […]
What Makes Central Asian Islam Central Asian? In March 2005, an Afghan deputy minister of the interior (who out of mercy will remain unnamed) was touring Europe. At one stop, he suddenly found himself faced with a question that obviously took him by surprise. How long, an innocent but assuredly well-meaning European asked, had Afghanistan […]
I dessa dagar, då EU ständigt förefaller ställa nya krav på Turkiet för att landet till sist ska beviljas medlemskap i unionen, kan det vara på sin plats att påminna om den tid då Turkiet, i form av Osmanska riket, var den superstat till vilken förföljda européer kunde fly när det ryska hotet blev alltför påträngande […]
The People of the North Caucasus at War The steep mountains of the Caucasus range always served as a barrier between the steppes of the north and the more fertile, agricultural areas to the south. Although jagged and bare, and with few real passes from north to south, many narrow and forested, fertile valleys cut through […]
Most academics working on the military revolution have focused their attention on Western Europe. This Eurocentric view is perhaps understandable, since many indeed seem to be more interested in the Rise of the West than in purely military affairs elsewhere. However, while the European strategists of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, being chiefly concerned with […]
Most history was always written from the perspective of great empires such as Rome, Persia, and China. For them, and their historians, the nomads of the Eurasian steppes were little more than savage troublemakers. Nomads of different tribes and lineages were also hard to distinguish from one another. Few imperial commentators went farther than merely […]
Around 1800, three great powers faced each other in Inner Asia: Britain, Russia, and the Manchu empire. The West referred to the latter as China, given that China since the seventeenth century formed the economically most important part of the Manchu empire. The Manchus were in decline, but they remained sufficiently strong to control the […]
This is the first in a series of articles on the Goths. Later articles will describe the military organisation and battle tactics of the Romano-Gothic successor states, their weapons and armour, as well as the history of their wars from the emergence of the Goths as a people to the fall of the Gothic kingdoms […]
The Swedish Way of Warfare – with Privateers and Pirates In the 1700s, the Swedish way of warfare was regarded as highly effective. It was also, not infrequently, highly anachronistic. The Swedish army’s persisting – and convincing – use of pikes against enemies armed with muskets is well known. Less noted perhaps, is the fact […]
The Army of Muscovite Russia – From the Middle Ages to Imperial Russia Medieval Russia was divided into a number of independent princepalities and republics. In the fourteenth century Moscow, ruled by a Grand Duke or Prince (velikiy knyaz’), gained a leading rle among them, a feat achieved chiefly by accepting tributary status to the […]
På en konstgjord ö, Dejima, i nuvarande Nagasakis hamn, byggdes redan på 1500-talet bostäder för utländska köpman. Så småningom uppfördes här ett holländskt, ostindiskt faktori. Ön blev med århundradena fast land och bebyggt med allt fler och all högre kontorshus. Men nu ska Dejima med sitt gamla faktori återuppstå till fyrahundraårsjubileet av det första holländska […]
PART 1: Armies of the North PART 2: The Struggle for Ireland, 1772-1457 BC What do we know about the wars of the Nordic Bronze Age? Archaeology provides some answers, and if taken with a fair amount of scepticism and acceptance of uncertainty, old chronicles bring additional small nuggets of what might possibly have happened. […]
The Yayoi period is sometimes regarded as the Japanese Bronze Age. This is not strictly true, as iron was in widespread use and Japan accordingly never had a true bronze age. However, the Yayoi period succeeded the stone-age Jomon period, and was itself followed by the iron-dominated Kofun period, during which a new potent force […]
Är leksaker föremål, som har tillverkats endast för barnens lekar? Eller är leksaker vardagsföremål, som barn hittar eller lånar för att leka med? Och är alla de kottar, stenar och träpinnarsom barn använder i leken även de att betrakta som leksaker? Föreliggande artikel behandlar trähästar och andra träföremål som påträffats i Novgorod. The article describes […]
Soon after Edo (present Tokyo) in 1603 had been chosen as the new capital of Japan, vicious street gangs took over the streets of the city. Until 1687, when most gangs were suppressed, they formed a colourful and violent part of Japanese organized crime. Get Full text in PDF
Soon after Edo (present Tokyo) in 1603 had been chosen as the new capital of Japan, vicious street gangs took over the streets of the city. Until 1687, when most gangs were suppressed, they formed a colourful and violent part of Japanese organized crime. Get Full text in PDF
