History (Oscariana)

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Oscariana

This lists only major points of departure from the history of our world.

King Eric XIV successfully wooed and married Queen Elizabeth of England. While never ascending the English throne, this established an early alliance between Sweden and England aimed mainly at Dutch and Spanish interests. While Eric had to abdicate and the marriage was without issue, the alliance lasted, leading to Swedish gains in North America and Orient. Much of what is in our world Dutch interests is Swedish in Oscariana.

The English alliance meant that Sweden recovered Finland at the end of the Napoleonic wars; Finland was a Russian grand duchy 1809-1818. It is now a Swedish vassal and the traditional holding of the Swedish crown prince. It is not a part of the Swedish home nation like it was before 1809, and has a separate parliament.

Sweden kept its two most ingenuous sons, John and Nils Eriksson, close to her breast. Instead of finishing the moribund Göta Canal project, Sweden invested early and heavily in railroads and industrialization. She also kept hold of her North American colonies; most of New England, New Foundland and the sites thereabouts are Swedish possessions today. Finally, the war 1809 did not go quite as badly for Sweden; "Egentliga Finland", Åland, Österbotten and Uleåborgs Län are all part of Sweden; only the inner parts of Finland were lost to Russia.

In the 1863 war between Austria-Prussia and Denmark, Sweden came to the aid of her old enemy and the true era of Pan-Scandinavianism began. Before then, the idea of a united Scandinavia was only a dream, now it is quickly becoming reality. At the same time, this was a major setback for the nation-building efforts of Otto von Bismarck and the Pan-German nationalists. These two nation-building projects no seem to be headed for a major showdown.

With the marriage of Crown Prince Oscar of Sweden to the young princess Dagmar of Denmark in 1865 brought the two countries came even closer, which was to be celebrated when King Karl XV of Sweden made a state visit to Denmark in 1869. This was when disaster stuck; German Anarco-Nationalists blew up the hall of state and left the Swedish king and most of the Danish royal family dead.

With the Georg I already king of Greece and no other male issue to the Danish crown, there is now a crisis of succession in Denmark. Under the law, Georg should be king, but Oscar is the popular choice.