| |
| 1768, Dec |
| |
| The king “abdicated” for a few days in protest of the riksdag's refusal to call a special session. The Caps were forced to call an election, which returned the Hats. Both Hats and Caps were receiving bribes from foreign countries to implement favorable policies. | 1 |
| |
| 1772, Aug. 9 |
| |
| A military coup ended the power of the council, giving Gustavus III full authority over the administration. The riksdag lost its initiative in legislation. Gustavus tried to be an “enlightened despot.” | 2 |
| |
| 1770s |
| |
| Torture abolished; illegitimate children's status improved; and judges and officers reviewed—many removed from office. | 3 |
| |
| 1774 |
| |
| Press law revised. The right to publish riksdag debates and discuss affairs with foreign powers removed. The law also lost its constitutional status. | 4 |
| |
| 1777, Jan. 1 |
| |
| The paper currency (circulating since 1745) replaced with silver-based coinage—the riksdaler. | 5 |
| |
| 1781 |
| |
| Religious freedom extended to foreigners but not to the Swedes. Non-Lutheran Christians did receive some degree of toleration. | 6 |
| |
| 1782 |
| |
| Jews were allowed to build synagogues but still faced restrictions with regard to purchase of land, residence, and so on. | 7 |
| |
| 1788–90 |
| |
| War with Russia. Gustavus invaded Russian Finland and achieved several victories but was attacked by the Danes and in the end was obliged to conclude the Treaty of Wereloe, which left Finland and Karelia in Russian hands. | 8 |
| |
| 1789, Feb |
| |
| By the Act of Unity and Security, Gustavus, taking advantage of his victory over the Danes, eliminated the council and established a new secret committee that represented all four estates. He established a bureaucracy of professionals rather than nobles. He also made concessions to the lower estates—granting farmers the right to hold their land in absolute ownership and restoring tax-favored (frälse) land to them. He thus eliminated most vestiges of feudalism and further weakened the nobility. | 9 |
| |
| 1792, March |
| |
| Gustavus III was murdered by Jacob Johan Ankarström, a Swedish aristocrat, as part of a political plot. Forty conspirators were sentenced to death. | 10 |
| |
| 1792–1809 |
| |
| Gustavus IV Adolphus took control, after a regency, on Nov. 1, 1796, but he faced serious internal difficulties heightened by the French Revolution. | 11 |
| |
| 1803 |
| |
| Enclosure acts consolidated farms in the Skåne. Patterned after British acts, enclosure was extended throughout most of Sweden in 1807. | 12 |
| |
| |
