- May
- Johan Banér, commander of Swedish forces in Germany, dies. [243.161] [371.26] (1640 [48.200])
- The Swedish army in Europe mutinies, refusing to fight until paid. [243.xxxviii,161]
- June 20
- France and Sweden sign the Treaty of Hamburg. Sweden receives increased monetary subsidies from France, and agrees to continue fighting for the duration of the war. [243.xxxix,161,169]
- July 14
- Brandenburg and Sweden cease fighting each other. [243.xxxviii,168]
- November
- Lennart Torstensson arrives in the Swedish army as the new commander. [243.xxxviii] [371.26]
1642
-
- Lennart Torstensson's army invades Saxony, defeating the forces of John George at Schweidnitz. [243.169]
- June
- The Swedish army captures the capital Olomouc of Moravia. [243.169]
- October 23
- At Breitenfeld, Swedish general Lennart Torstensson is victorious over the Imperial army, which loses 5000 men dead, 5000 men prisoner, and 46 field guns. [1.183] [48.200] [243.169]
- (month unknown)
- Leipzig surrenders to Lennart Torstensson, paying 400,000 thalers. [243.169]
1643
- May
- The Swedish Council decides that Sweden has been sufficiently provoked by Denmark that war should be declared. [1.184] [3.155] [243.xli]
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- May 19
- French forces defeat the Spanish at Rocroy. [139.69]
- June 23
- The Spanish begin peace negotiations with France and Sweden. [139.69]
- (month unknown)
- Johan Printz arrives in New Sweden (in North America) as governor. [48.193]
- December
- Swedish General Lennart Torstensson leads an army into Danish Holstein and Jutland from the south. [3.154] [139.65] [267.66] [268.117] (1644 [1.184] [47.98])
1644
- January
- Marshal Torstensson occupies the whole of Jutland. [268.118]
- February
- Swedish forces lead by Marshal Horn invade the Danish provinces of Scania and Halland. [139.66] (1943 [47.98])
- March
- In Osnabrück, Swedish delegates meet with others for treaty negotiations to end the war in Europe. [139.70]
- (month unknown)
- Plate money valued at ten dalers is issued in copper, weighing 44 pounds each, measuring 14 x 20 x 0.5 inches. (This is the largest metallic currency ever issued in the world to date (1985).) [122.25] [267.69]
- July
- The Danish fleet meets the main Swedish fleet off Kolberger Heide, Holstein. After a ten-hour battle, neither side is victorious. The Swedish ships take refuge in Kiel Sound. [268.118] (June [371.28])
- August
- Swedish and Dutch ships nearly annihilate the Danish fleet between the islands of Lolland and Falster. [268.118]
- October 13
- Swedes defeat Danes at sea, in the Femern Belt. [48.201] [238.238] [243.174]
- November
- Denmark and Sweden agree to a cease-fire and begin peace talks. [243.xli]
- December 8
- Kristina, daughter of the late King Gustav Adolf, is proclaimed of age on her 18th birthday, and becomes ruling Queen of Sweden. [1.187] [47.97] [48.202] [139.71] [267.67] [371.30]
1645
- January
- Swedes decide to launch a full-strength invasion of Bohemia, with the Transylvanians, hoping to bring about the immediate collapse of the Hapsburg resistance. [243.175]
- February 24
- At Jankov, south-east of Prague, Lennart Torstenson's army of 15,000 nd 60 field guns defeats the Imperial army of 15,000 and 26 field guns. The Imperial army loses half its men. [1.183] [243.176]
- February 25
- In the town of Brömsebro, peace negotiations are opened with Denmark. [139.74] [243.174]
- (month unknown)
- Queen Kristina appoints Scottish adventurer Mark Duncan de Cerisantes as Swedish Chargé d'Affaires in France. [139.77]
- Queen Kristina makes Axel Oxenstierna a Count. [267.58]
- July 24
- The French army under Turenne, with Swedish reinforcements, defeat the Bavarian army and kill leader Franz von Mercy at Allerheim. (With this and the Jankov wins, no Imperial army is left to withstand the Swedish army.) [243.176]
- August 13
- At Brömsebro, peace is signed with Denmark. Sweden gains the islands of Gotland and Ösel, and Halland (for 30 years) from Denmark. Norway cedes to Sweden the northern provinces of Jämtland and Härjedalen. Denmark regains Scania and keeps Blekinge. [1.184] [3.154] [47.98] [48.75,201] [120.59,160] [139.75] [243.174] [267.67] [268.118] [387.11]
- (month unknown)
- The Ordinari Post Tijdender newspaper is first published, the first newspaper in Sweden. It is the official journal of the chief postmaster in Stockholm. (The name is changed in 1821 to Post-och-Inrikestidningar (Post and Home News).) [47.126] [48.223]
- August 27
- Sweden and Saxony sign the cease-fire Truce of Kötzschenbroda. [243.xi,177]
1646
- April
- Sweden and Saxony sign the Peace of Eilenburg. [243.xi]
1647
- February
- Swedish peace conference delegates resolve to partition Pomerania, keeping only the western part with strategic ports, ceding the eastern part to Brandenburg. [243.183]
- March 4
- The Electors of Bavaria and Cologne sign a ceasefire at Ulm with France, Sweden, and Hesse-Kassel. [243.185]
- May
- Mainz signs ceasefire with Sweden. [243.185]
- July 27
- In the royal chapel in Stockholm Castle, a peasant called Presbeckius attempts to kill the Queen, but is subdued. [139.106]
- (month unknown)
- Colonel Erskine, the Swedish troops' envoy to the peace conference, makes a claim of 30 million thalers for payment of troops. (The final settlement will be five million thalers.) [243.183]
1648
- May
- At Zusmarchausen near Augsburg, Swedish commander Carl Gustaf Wrangel defeats the Emperor's army under Melander, who is killed. [139.108]
- June
- Swedish delegates to the peace conference agree to a final monetary settlement of five million thalers (1.8 million cash, 1.2 million in assignments, two million more within two years). [243.186]
- July 16
- Swedes capture the Kleinseite suburb of Prague with the royal Hradschin palace of Emperor Rudolf II. [139.108] [243.187]
- July 27
- A preliminary peace is signed at Osnabrück between Sweden and the Emperor. [243.xi,186]
- October 14
- (1400 hours) At Münster, the final peace treaties of Westphalia are signed, ending the Thirty Years War in Europe. Sweden gains territory controlling mouths of three German rivers: Oder, Elbe, and Weser. The King adds the titles of duke of Bremen-Verden, duke of Pomerania, prince of Rügen, and lord of Wismar. Sweden is now at peace for the first time in fifty years. [1.188] [47.98] [48.200] [139.109] [243.xliii] [267.67] [274.7]
- October 21
- News of the end of the war in Europe reaches Stockholm. [139.109]
- (month unknown)
- Queen Mother Maria Eleonora returns to Sweden. [139.63]
1649
- January
- Queen Kristina proposes to the Riksdag that her cousin Karl Gustav be nominated as her successor. [1.193] [139.117]
- February
- Queen Kristina declares to representatives of the Riksdag that she would never marry. [47.101] [139.117]
- March
- At the end of the Riksdag meeting, Karl Gustav is declared successor to the crown. He would have to keep the Lutheran form of Protestantism, abide by laws, and not reduce any privileges already granted. [1.193] [139.118] [267.68] [371.40]
- (month unknown)
- Axel Oxenstierna and Queen Kristina draw up Sweden's first true School Law, establishing a distinction between grammar schools and elementary schools. [47.129]
- The Board of Mines (Bergskollegium) is established. [48.189]
- The government establishes a company for trading with Africa. [267.69]
1650
- June 16
- The Nuremberg agreement is signed between Sweden and Imperialists for the phased withdrawal of all troops in areas of Germany not ceded to France, Sweden, or the Emperor. [243.xliii,188]
- August 1
- The last Swedish soldiers leave the Imperial city of Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany. [243.208]
- September 15
- Queen Kristina proposes to the Riksdag that Karl Gustav be accepted as hereditary prince, and his male children succeed him. [47.101] [48.204] [139.134] (July [1.194])
- September 29
- The Riksdag agrees with Queen Kristina, granting Karl Gustav title of His Royal Highness, the Prince of Sweden. [139.134]
- October 10
- In Stockholm, a coronation ceremony is held for Queen Kristina. [48.202] [139.136] [371.43]
- (month unknown)
- Land ownership: 72% nobility. [48.219]
1652
-
- Louis De Geer dies, the richest man in the country. During his 25 years in Sweden, he built up a vast economic empire with government concessions, particularly in supplying the army from his armaments works at Finspång in Östergötland. [47.126]
- The Riksdag meets. [47.101]
- Landholders: nobility 72%. [1.216]
1653
-
- Stockholm becomes the capital of Sweden, with a population of 9,000. [51.50]
- Johan Printz, governor of New Sweden, returns to Sweden. [48.193]
- On Gotland, the unit of taxation changes from commune to individual farm, breaking up the 1000 year old pattern of land tenure. [120.76]
1654
- February
- Queen Kristina re-iterates her decision to abdicate the throne. [267.70]
- (month unknown)
- Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna dies; his son is made new Chancellor. [47.104]
- About 250 settlers arrive in New Sweden, with new governor Johan Rising. [48.193]
- June 6
- At the Riksdag in Uppsala Castle, Queen Kristina abdicates the throne. Her crown and coronation robe are removed. [47.101] [48.205] [165.74] [267.70] [371.105] (July [1.196])
- Karl Gustav is declared new king, King Karl X Gustav. [48.207]
- (month unknown)
- The last Swedish troops withdraw to the Baltic area. [243.189]
- King Karl forms an alliance with Holstein-Gottorp. [48.207]
- King Karl marries Hedvig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp. [48.207] [267.70]
- December 12
- The Council resolves to recommend full armament to the King, and make demands of Poland, to help it against Russia, or attack it. [3.163]
- December 24
- In Brussels, former Queen Kristina secretly renounces Lutheranism to governor Archduke Leopold William. [165.75]
1655
-
- King Karl X Gustav presents an ultimatum to the Council and the Nobility: either make annual payments for land previously granted them, or consent to returning some land to the Crown. [3.110]
- In the Riksdag at Stockholm, the Nobility agrees to surrender essential land back to the Crown acquired since November 6, 1632, and to give back one quarter of land acquired earlier. [3.114] [47.104]
- (1650s) A Swedish fort is built at Cabo Corso on the Gold Coast, as a base for the African Company founded by Louis De Geer. Fortress Karlsborg is built. [47.128] [267.69]
- Sweden marches an army on Poland, to fight Russia. [1.198] [47.103] [267.71]
- In New Sweden in North America, Fort Christina falls to neighboring Dutch forces. New Sweden is absorbed by the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. [1.380] [47.128] [48.193]
- November 3
- At Innsbruck, former Queen Kristina publicly proclaims her conversion to Catholicism. [165.75] [267.70]
- December 27
- Swedes abandon the siege of Jasna Gora monastery in Poland. [297.23]
1656
-
- The Chancellor, son of Axel Oxenstierna, dies. New chancellor is Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie. [47.105]
- June
- Russian forces begin an attack on Swedish forces. [267.72]
- (month unknown)
- Polish forces drive back Swedish invaders to the Baltic Sea. [47.103]
1657
-
- Denmark declares war on Sweden. [1.199] [268.121]
- Denmark attacks Bremen. [48.208]
- Swedish commander Carl Gustaf Wrangel retakes Bremen from Danes. [48.208]
- Forces of King Karl and Carl Wrangel overrun Jutland. [48.208]
1658
- January 30
- King Karl and an army of 3500 soldiers and 1500 cavalry march across the ice to Denmark. [48.209] [267.72]
- February 6
- King Karl and about 2000 men begin a march across ice between small islands of Denmark. [48.209] [267.72]
- February 12
- Swedish forces arrive at Vordingborg on Sjaelland, surprising the Danish defenders. [48.209] [267.72]
- February 26
- Denmark signs peace with Sweden at Roskilde, giving up Skåne, Blekinge, Bohuslän, island of Bornholm, and province of Trondheim in central Norway. [1.201] [3.169] [47.104] [48.209] [267.72] [268.123]
- (month unknown)
- King Karl assembles his forces at Kiel, in preparation for an attack on Brandenburg. [48.211]
- July 23
- King Karl Gustav and the Council decide to conquer Denmark, to turn it into provinces of Sweden. [3.171] [48.211]
- August
- King Karl X takes his fleet to Zeeland, to begin an attempt to unite Sweden, Denmark, and Norway under Swedish rule. [1.202] [47.104] [267.72] [268.123]
- October 29
- Swedish naval forces under admiral Wrangel and 35 Dutch ships battle near the entrance to the Danish Sound. The battle is indecisive, with heavy losses on both sides. [47.104] [187.623] [268.123]
- (month unknown)
- Swedish forces are driven from Pomerania and Poland. [47.104]
- Polish and Brandenburg armies clear Jutland of Swedish forces. [47.104] [268.123]
1659
- February
- A Swedish full-scale assault on Copenhagen fails. [268.123]
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