ZV1 web

disastrous losses on both
sides(around 9000 each) but the
victory was on the Swedish side which
is quite clear as in the aftermath the
Imperial Army retreated and slipped
away in the darkness. One point of
the documentary which is completely
out of perspective is the death of
Gustav Adolph who commanded a
cavalry charge in the initial moments
of the battle as he tried to attack the
Wallenstein‘s army from behind, the
king died when he was lost in the fog
and alone rode into Imperial cavalry
formation and was shot and cut
multiple times. This event.
In reality this event demoralised the
Swedish army which was preparing
to fall back and retreat but was
stopped by the speech of the Saxon
Prince-Elector who was the second
in command of the army after Gustav
and by this speech he managed to
turn the swedes to attack with ferocity
as they fought to avenge their fallen
king. In this case they are saying
that the king made a terrible mistake
when he left the middle formations
unprotected and “foolishly“ rode into
battle.
Finally, the documentary wraps up
by stating that the result of the battle
was a “disastrous stalemate“ and that
only the utter right-wing historians
proclaim the Swedish victory. In my
opinion, the political views of the
historians are irrelevant if they
don’t interfere with their integrity
as historians. Which they can’t be in
this case, just because of the number
of people arguing for the Swedish
victory.
Another example of the political
influence on history came (again
in Sweden) with the emergence of
the Swedish Welfare State, and it is
targeted against my favourite and
by MY opinion the best and most
intelligent military commander and
ruler Karl XII or Charles XII and also
Carolus Rex – latinized and brought
to “public knowledge“ by the Swedish
Power Metal Band Sabaton – which
I highly recommend as well. He is
portrayed as the king who brought
the end to the Swedish Empire by
his wasteful ways and endless wars
with his enemies in the Anti-Swedish
Coalition (assembled in 1699).
In real-life the king who was 15
years old when he ascended to the
Swedish throne in 1697. Then the
“mad period“ came from which these
overexaggerated propaganda pieces
are taken from. This was the time
when Karl and Frederick the Duke
of Holstein-Gottorp got drunk very
often, smashed windows with rocks
and similar. One day when Karl
returned from a hunt, he drank wine
to soothe his thirst and got drunk
once again. After this incident he
promised to never drink alcohol again
except when utterly necessary during
diplomatic meetings. And he kept
this promise for the rest of his life!
Then in 1699 the Great Northern/
Nordic War came and Sweden was
put against Denmark-Norway,
Russia and Saxony-Poland-
Lithuania. Today he is criticised
for going to war to defeat his
nation’s enemies, which he almost
managed to do but sadly was killed
in the process. But today it seems
that the opinion on the king is
returning back to “normal“ which
means, he isn’t the most well
regarded king but isn’t the worst
one either.
In the end I’d like to present a verse
from a Sabaton song Konungens
Likfärd:
“Hur skall vi då minnas var
han hjälte eller ej, Dårskap eller
hjältemod ja det skall du fråga dig“,
which translates to: How will he be
remembered, a hero? A fool? For that
you should ask yourself.
Summary: When trying to rewrite
history, you should at least keep not
only the mistakes of others in mind
but also and primarily your mistakes
for mistakes are the best way to learn
especially from history, that is.
***