Stora nordiska kriget förklarat : Karl XII och det ideologiska tilltalet

Sammanfattning: Neither earlier nor later in Swedish history have such great resources been claimed for the requirements of war as during the great northern war (1700–1721). This dissertation sets out to answer two questions: Which were the ideological addresses used to explain the war politics? How were these addresses related to each other? The source-material used consists of royal ordinances, religious texts and correspondance between the king and various officials. The texts all related to the war and their content was made public, mainly from the pulpits of the parish churches.To analyse the texts the concept ideological address is of central importance. Four general types of ideological addresses have been distinguished. First, the religious address laid the foundation, in stating who the subjects were, the distribution of power in society and how that related to God. Second, the rhetorical address explaining why there was a war och why it had to be continued. Third, the material address was expressed through the social distrubution of the war burdens. As the peasants had to recruit and equip the bulk of the armed forces, the King tried to favour them as much as as possible at the expense of the persons of rank. This meant a disregard for corporate priviledges and signalled a general levelling of the social order. Forth, the King´s personal leadership as well as a number of administrative reforms, constituted a protective address. In this the subjects, above all the peasantry, were given more extensive rights in order to protect them from abuse of state officials.In this way the King was forced to turn to the peasantry in order to obtain the resources needed for the warfare. In doing this, he had to break with the social basis of his power. This was very provacative for the social élite and consequently, after his death, there was a social, political and ideological reaction and a complete reversal of the war politics.