User:Henrik/sweden-stuff

The military success

A important reason for why Sweden could be so successful in wars with so sparse number of soldiers was the advanced military tactics. Sweden used brutal shock tactics and knew of and handled ways of war which were not known elsewere on the continent. The standard formation for cavalry in Europe was the caracoll. The Swedish cavalry used shock. They rode knee by knee in a tight wedge formation. When they where within range they used gallop and charged. At a range of 10 yards they fired both their pistols. For a standard regiment that is 250 shots at the same time. As understood, that blasts a hole in the enemy ranks. They then followed up the charge with värjor. The whole idea was that the infantry and cavalry would work together.

The infantry would march in silence (to scare the enemy), closing the ranks when soldiers fell. The order was to shoot when you could see the white in the enemies eyes, a range of 30 yards or less, the ideal was 10 yards. They then fired one single volley. At this range and with the powerful muskets it usually felled a lot of enemy troops and was demoralising. Direct after the volley they charged the disorganised enemies with pikes, bayonets and värjor. Note that the pikes where used as on offensive weapon. In close combat they had on advantage over their foes thanks to their equipment.

Every infantry company had grenadiers attached. They supported the infantry attack by lobbing grenades. They also formed units of their own. They where equipped like infantry, drabanter or guards with the addition of grenades.

The major difference between the Swedish army and those common on the continent was the lack of firepower and the use of pikes and värjor. Sweden and Russia was the only countries at the time using them. In Europe at the time the infantry was equipped with a musket. In the Swedish army every third man had a pike. The pike was used to repulse cavalry and to charge. The Swedish musket was a powerhouse. It had a calibre of almost an inch. If it was used like a regular musket it could dislocate the sholder. The man firing had to brace it against his chest. Every man had a Värja. In most other countries the infantry had his musket and bayonet, the rapier was for the officers. The Swedish "Värja" was more like a medieval sword. You could cut off limbs with it. Every man also had a Kyller witch was a thick leather west made of moose skin witch was incredible tough. It protected against shrapnel and cuts.

Another success of the Swedish authoreties was making a very high morale raise amongst the troops. The soldiers were told that it didn't matter if they ducked for the enemy fire because if god wanted you to die he would decide so, and god was on Swedens side so they wouldn't die, because of the long lasting military success it might have been they believed that. This is greatly credited to Gustav I who introduced protestantism in the 1600s which gave the Swedish authorities power over the Swedish church and could therefor spread propaganda right into the peoples heart because religion was the only thing people at this time had to rely on since sience hadn't had it's breake through yet. Perhaps it was noticable for the Swedish people at the end of Swedens time as a great power that Swedens success was rather a politcal effort then a gift from god since Charles XII, the last king of the Swedish Empire, was the first king in a long time to rule the country without support of political advisors. During the rule of Charles XII and Charles XI there was never a unit rout in the Swedish army.

Inventions

The famous Coca Cola bottles introduced in 1916 were designed by the Swedish-American Alex Samuelsson.
The zipper was invented in 1913 by Swedish-American Gideon Sundbäck who improved the primitive zip-lock to the model we are using in nowadays.
Carl Richard Nyberg got a patent on the blow torch in 1881.
The kerosene stove or "Primus" kitchen was invented by Frans Wilhelm Lindqvist in 1892 which was a huge Swedish export success.
The 100-scale Celsius temperature scale was invented in the mid 18th century by Anders Celsius.
Probably the most famous Swedish invention, dynamite, was created by Alfred Nobel in 1867.
Gustaf Dalén invented the life-saving gas-driven lighthouse used in shorelines all around the world. Dalén received the Nobel Prize in 1912 for his invention.
In 1907 Sven Wingquist created the spheric bearing, since 1907 the world's only bearing factory, Svenska Kullager Fabriken was set up by Wingquist.
In the 1920's Baltzar von Platen and Carld Munters created a gas-absorption refrigerator with no mechanic parts based on the absorptions-principle. This was a world sensation and was retailed worldwide by Electrolux which still is a market leading company.
Baltzar von Platen also created worlds first artificial diamond by compressing coal in a special pressure chamber.
The first pacemaker ever installed in a living person was built by the inventor Rune Elmqvist and the surgery was completed by Åke Senning in 1958.
In 1878, Gustaf de Laval created the separator, separating milk from cream and making production of butter much easier and faster. The heritage of Gustav de Laval is still evident in the world leading company Alfa Laval.
The modern propeller used in ships was created by John Ericsson in 1839.
The safety match, invented in 1844 by Gustaf Erik Pasch, still makes Swedish Match a world leading company.
The improvement of Alexander Graham Bell's invention in 1876, Lars Magnus Ericsson constructed the first hand held phone for which he got patents in 1895. Ericsson is today one of the world's largest Telecom corporations. In 1930 Ruben Rausing and Erik Åkerlund founded the company "Åkerlund & Rausing" which invented plastic-covered cardboard packaging. Tetra Pak is still the worlds leading producer of this kind of package and was founded in 1951 in Lund, Sweden by Ruben Rausing and Erik Wallenberg. Johan Petter Johansson invented the adjustable spanner in 1888 which was designed so that the grip gets tighter while the wrench is being pulled.
Bluetooth is also a Swedish invention.
Skype is one of the latest inventions in Sweden's history and is the product of Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis.

Famous Swedish companies

Absolut Vodka is a Swedish brand of vodka, owned by V&S Group and started in 1879 by the entrepreneur Lars Olsson Smith and are nowadays ranked as one of the most powerful alcohol brands in the world.
IKEA which is the worlds largest furniture manufacturer and an international retailer of home products was founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad in Agunnaryd, Sweden.
H&M (Hennes and Mauritz) was also established in Västerås, Sweden in 1947 by Erling Persson. Today H&M operates in 28 countries and has more than 60,000 employees and is one of the largest clothing companies on the global markets.
AstraZeneca PLC. which is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies which invented "Losec".
The powerful database tool and code language MySQL was created and then later founded 1995 in Uppsala, Sweden.
SAAB is an aviation and defense company based in Sweden and founded in 1937. Saab is commonly known as a car manufacturer but actually has its primary focus on aviation and space industry.
Volvo Group is a Swedish supplier of commercial transport solutions founded on 14 April 1927 in the city of Gothenburg.
Scania AB is one of the world's leading manufacturer of heavy trucks and transport vehicles.
Assa Abloy AB is the world's leading supplier of locks for both personal and commercial use.
Atlas Copco is one of the leading companies in making advanced industrial tools.
Sandvik is the world's leading manufacturer in high tech and and advanced tooling, mining and constructions.
Securitas is one of the largest security companies in the world and is just as all companies above; Swedish
Swedish Match is the largest manufacturer of matches in the world, Swedish Match is also a big player in the global tobacco industry.
Ericsson is the worlds leading company in telecom platforms and network supplies and is an old Swedish business. SonyEricsson cellphones is a joint venture between Sony and Ericsson.
Alfa Laval is a leading producer of specialized products and solutions used to heat, cool, separate and transport products such as oil, water, chemicals, beverages, foodstuffs, starch and pharmaceuticals.