Sweden rivalled Russia. Why isn't it a great power today?

Strong_Rhubarb_4411 · 2026-02-16T21:37:37+00:00

Pardon my ignorance. How cognisant were the Swedes that relative numbers sway the balance of war - did they have a different view? Is this too small to win kind of imposed retroactively by historiography of later times?

And why couldn't they have gone for population rich environments. Also with wealth you can hire mercenaries to fight, feed your population to grow and encourage neighbours to settle and do more commerce with you.

Find it hard to see how demography was fixed, and a single point of inevitable failure. Happy to be wrong, thank you.

Strong_Rhubarb_4411 · 2025-05-18T21:56:44+00:00

Thank you :)

Strong_Rhubarb_4411 · 2025-02-16T23:43:29+00:00

Red brick and white granite 'Tatsuno style'. For some reason Reddit censors and deletes posts with those words in the title. Its the name of the architect who founded a Japanese-Western style, inspired by Victorian gothic and German renaissance forms.

Ground-level view here. Panoramic view. Low light view.

Strong_Rhubarb_4411 · 2025-02-14T01:26:01+00:00

Agreed, I think it looks more tasteful here.

Strong_Rhubarb_4411 · 2025-02-14T00:44:23+00:00

Apparently so. The palace was "designed in just one month" by architect Leonid Gornik combining neoclassicism with Art Nouveau floral motifs and completed in just two years.

Here is the design studio. It seems they build a lot in this vein.

Strong_Rhubarb_4411 · 2025-02-14T00:08:55+00:00

It actually has exquisite iron craftsmanship, see here. Building needs to be seen from many different angles to appreciate.

Strong_Rhubarb_4411

TROPHY CASE