What happened /his/?
Paper tiger
The ambitions of a big nation but the population of a small one.
>>377717
only reason it had it's 5 minutes in the first place is that they grasped gunpowder warfare quickly
mother russia happened
Peter the Great wrecked. Best monarch desu
>>377717
they gained a temporary military advantage due to technology, alliances and changes in the economy
their neighbors adapted
Finns got rid of the prick, so Swedes lost their balls
>>377717
Even in 2015 Finland+Sweden have more than 780,000 km2, but a combined population of not even 15 milions. I doubt the baltics and the other territories would add much.
A country like that cannot aim to become a regional imperialistic power for long. Not with giants competing with it.
>>378951
Historically speaking, the time it lasted is actually very small. Compare with the Spanish Empire that lasted 300 years or France that has been a first rank actor for all european history since it was born.
>>379215
>based finland
>>377717
>""""""empire"""""" consists largely of empty forest, barren tundra, and small cities
It's fucking nothing.
>>379253
Spain is different because it had an overseas empire mostly, whereas Sweden was strictly a European one. Napoleons empire lasted a mere 15 years yet is considered one of the strongest in history.
That being said, Sweden was never even close to these states because frankly, a nation of that size could never maintain an empire for a long period of time
>>379351
>mostly
Mostly because their european possesions have to be compared with more than half of the Americas. Not counting the mainland, Spain managed to keep a largest european empire than Sweden (counting both population and area) for a longer time. And even nowadays Spain is bigger than Sweden and also always had a problem of low population, so that's no big excuse either.
>>377717
A tall Russian by the name of Peter happened.
>>379385
Ehh the Swedes were always outpaced by the Spanish population.
The Spaniards had the silver mines in the Americas to fund their ventures across Europe, giving them far more influence than their economy otherwise would have allowed.
Sweden on the other hand had none of the colonial income to fund their efforts, and their population could never hope to sustain anything big.
For reference, the Swedish population in 1600 was less than a million while the Spanish was 8 million (although it would decline by a million over the next half century).
