29 Facts About Gustavus Adolphus

1.

Gustavus Adolphus was formally and posthumously given the name Gustavus Adolphus the Great by the Riksdag of the Estates in 1634.

2.

Gustavus Adolphus is often regarded as one of the greatest military commanders in modern history, with use of an early form of combined arms.

3.

Gustavus Adolphus was assisted in his efforts by Count Axel Oxenstierna, the Lord High Chancellor of Sweden, who acted as regent after his death.

4.

Gustavus Adolphus is known as the "father of modern warfare", or the first modern general.

5.

Gustavus Adolphus taught a number of other military commanders, such as Lennart Torstensson, who would go on to expand the boundaries and the power of Swedish Empire after Gustavus Adolphus's death.

6.

Gustavus Adolphus is widely commemorated by Protestants in Europe as the main defender of their cause during the Thirty Years' War, with multiple churches, foundations and other undertakings named after him, including the Gustav-Adolf-Werk.

7.

Gustavus Adolphus inherited an ongoing succession of occasionally belligerent dynastic disputes with his Polish cousin, Sigismund III, who persisted in his effort to regain the Swedish throne.

8.

Gustavus Adolphus intervened on the anti-Imperial side, which at the time was losing to the Holy Roman Empire and its Catholic allies; the Swedish forces would quickly reverse that situation.

9.

Gustavus Adolphus was married to Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, the daughter of John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg, and chose the Prussian city of Elbing as the base for his operations in Germany.

10.

Gustavus Adolphus died in the Battle of Lutzen in 1632.

11.

Gustavus Adolphus's death was a great loss to the Lutheran side, resulting in large parts of Germany and other countries, which had been conquered for Lutheranism, to be reconquered for Catholicism.

12.

Future commanders who studied and admired Gustavus Adolphus include Napoleon I of France and Carl von Clausewitz.

13.

Gustavus Adolphus is the only Swedish monarch to be styled "the Great".

14.

Gustavus Adolphus was the main figure responsible for the success of Swedish arms during the Thirty Years' War and led his nation to great prestige.

15.

Gustavus Adolphus created the modern Swedish Navy, which transported troops and supplies to the Continental battlefront.

16.

Gustavus Adolphus argues that he improved existing techniques and used them brilliantly.

17.

Gustavus Adolphus' politics show progressive tendencies: for example, in 1631, in the conquered territory of Estonia he forced the local nobility into granting more individual rights to the commoners.

18.

Gustavus Adolphus inherited three wars from his father when he ascended the throne: against Denmark-Norway, which had attacked Sweden earlier in 1611; against Russia, due to Sweden having tried to take advantage of the Russian Time of Troubles; and against Poland-Lithuania, due to King Charles's having deposed King Sigismund III, his nephew, as King of Sweden.

19.

Gustavus Adolphus was able to consolidate the Protestant position in the north using reinforcements from Sweden and money supplied by France at the Treaty of Barwalde.

20.

Gustavus Adolphus forced the withdrawal of his Catholic opponents at the Battle of Rain, marking the high point of the campaign.

21.

Gustavus Adolphus survived, but the doctors could not remove the bullet, so from that point on, he could not wear iron armor and two fingers of his right hand were paralyzed.

22.

Gustavus Adolphus was killed when, at a crucial point in the battle, he became separated from his troops while leading a cavalry charge on his wing.

23.

Gustavus Adolphus's disappearance stopped the initiative of the hitherto successful Swedish right wing, while a search was conducted.

24.

Gustavus Adolphus's partly stripped body was found an hour or two later, and evacuated from the field in a Swedish artillery wagon.

25.

Gustavus Adolphus left one other known child, his illegitimate son Gustav, Count of Vasaborg.

26.

Gustavus Adolphus is widely commemorated by Protestants in Europe as the main defender of their cause during the Thirty Years' War, with multiple churches, foundations and other undertakings named after him.

27.

Gustavus Adolphus became a symbol of Swedish pride, and his name is attached to city squares in major Swedish cities like Stockholm, Gothenburg and Helsingborg.

28.

Gustavus Adolphus is the protagonist of Max Bruch's 1898 choral work Gustav Adolf.

29.

Gustavus Adolphus is a significant supporting character in the best-selling alternate history book series, 1632, written by American historian, writer, and editor Eric Flint.