E64 Queen Christina and the Swedish Empire ft. Anton

Gladio Free Europe

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This week, we are joined by archaeologist Anton Larsson to discuss the other English-language movie about the Thirty Years War: Queen Christina, a historical romance starring the famous Greta Garbo. We discuss the multifaceted legacy of Sweden's famous philosopher-queen who oversaw the end of the long war waged by her father Gustavus Adolphus before ultimately converting to Catholicism and abdicating the throne.

We use this 1933 film to trace frenzied rise and fall of the Swedish Empire, the onetime bane of Central and Eastern Europe, which reached its apogee during the era of Christina. Surprisingly few Swedes today realize that their country was once the center of an overseas empire, but their neighbors sure haven't forgotten. Sweden, seemingly existing on the periphery, provided a continuous stream of both trade and warfare in a surprisingly vast swathe of the world across many different eras. We look at (hopefully) the last of these while also chatting about the film and looking more closely into the life of the real-life Queen Christina.

Hosted by: Liam, Russian Sam, Anton

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