William Tyler
Sweden: From a Northern Superpower to the Land of Abba
Summary
A compelling overview of the rise of Sweden as a “Great Northern Power” during the Thirty Years’ War in the 17th century to its pioneering form of social democracy in the 19th and 20th centuries to its current challenges from within and without.
William Tyler
William Tyler has spent his entire professional life in adult education, beginning at Kingsgate College in 1969. He has lectured widely for many public bodies, including the University of Cambridge and the WEA, in addition to speaking to many clubs and societies. In 2009, William was awarded the MBE for services to adult education, and he has previously been a scholar in residence at the London Jewish Cultural Centre.
With dread and with fear, because we have a terrible lurch in Europe to populism, and worse, to a far-right neo-fascism on a level. You know all about that in the States as well. This is a problem of modern democracies, which I’ve talked on Lockdown about reform. And I know I’m not talking about the Queen today.
Yes, they were. That’s exactly it. If you think of Prussia, which is the basis of modern Germany, the story is this. It’s a most remarkable story. The Hohenzollern family who became kings of Prussia and subsequently emperors of Germany were, in the 16th century, the commander of Teutonic Knights. Teutonic Knights based in places like Konigsberg as a barrier against Russia. They were a Catholic order of Teutonic Knights. The head of the order, Hohenzollern, converted to Protestantism and he wrote to Luther and said, “What do I do?” And Luther said, “Well, just make yourself a king instead.” So it’s Luther’s fault that we had an Imperial Germany.
Because Lutheranism wasn’t intolerant. In fact, most of the scientific research in the 17th and 18th century, including here in England, was undertaken by Protestants. It was Catholicism that was more nervous of it. But you do touch on something important, which I haven’t had an opportunity. If you think of other issues with Sweden, you can think of the Swedish film industry in the 20th century, you can think of the establishment of the Nobel Prize. Interestingly, the Nobel Prize for Peace is awarded in Stockholm.