GUSTAVUS II. ADOLPHUS. 393 GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS SOCIETY. great power of the Xortli, whioli she retained for a century, and his l)rief and brilliant cam- paign saved the cause of Protestantism in Ger- many. He va.s succeeded by liis dauj,'litcr C'lnis- tina. BlBLlOGKAPHY. Of especial value for the his- tory of t4ustavus Adolphus is the third volume of Geijer"s standard Sriri(irs llislariu, in the (Icr- ' man translation. Ocschivlitc Scliicedciix (Ham- burg. 1830). (jeijer makes much use of con- temporary documents, including the corre- spondence of the King. Consult also: Droysen, diistav Adolf (Leipzig, 1870) . a valuable study by one of the foremost German scholars : (Uriirer, (le- schichle Gustar Adolfs.Eiinigs vonf^diircden. iind seiiirr Zeit (Leipzig. 18(ii1), a Catholic presenta- tion; in English, iStevens. Hisloni of (lustavus Adoljihiis ( Xew York, 188;")), the work of a for- mer I'nited States Minister to Sweden and an in- teresting product of studies pursued under most favorable conditions: Fletcher, Gusto viis Adol- phus (Xew York. 1890), in the "Heroes of the Nations" Series; Dodge, Gnstavus Adolphus (Boston. 1895), a study especially on the mili- tary side. See Thirty Yi^ars' Vak. GUSTAVUS III. ( 1 74(i-92) . King of Sweden from 1771 to 1/92. He «as born .laiuiary 24, 1746, and succeeded his father, Adolphus Ffed- erick (q.v. ). in 1771. at a period when the royal power had almost disappeared before the en- croachments of the nobilitv. and the coiuitry was distracted by the strife of the rival political parties known as the "Hats' and 'Caps.' (See Caps and Hat.s.) Finding that the people, weary of the misrule of the nobles, were ready for any change, Gnstavus covertly fomented the general discontent, and having raised a fictitious rebellion, through the agency of his friends and adherents, he collected a large body of troops, on pretense of restoring order, and arrested the council in a boily, Aiigust 19. 1772. He con- voked the Diet, and laid before it. a new consti- tution to which the assembly was compelled to subscribe. . revolution was thus effected with- out the shedding of blood, and by a stroke of the jjen Gnstavus recovered all the regal powers that had been gradually lo.st by his immediate predecessors. He acted with great moderation after this successful coup d'etat, and might ha^e long retained the advantages he had gained if his love of display and his wish to emulate the King of France in extravagance and magnificence had not led him into profuse expenditure, which embarrassed the finances; at the same time, the introduction of the manners and usages of Ver- sailles in his Court irritated the national party, while it undoubtedly tended to demoralize the v.ppev classes. In 1788 rie entered upon a war with Russia, when Chat empire was engaged in ac- tive hostilities against the Turks, but derived no advantage from the contest. In February. 1789. a Diet at Stockholm conferred extensive' powers upon the King in the matters of war and of the civil administration. This incensed still further the turbulent nobility, who saw the royal authori- ty thrive at the expense of the privileges of their class. A conspiracy against the KinLs life was formed, the leaders being Counts Kihbing and Horn and General Pechjin. On the night of l^farch Ifi. 1702. Gnstavus was niortnllv wounded by their agent, AnckarstriJm (q.v.). at' a masked ball in the opera house which he had himself built. The pistol had been loaded with broken shot, which rcndcreil the wound especially painful, and the King suffered the most dreadful agony for thirteen days before his death. Gustavus was a man of varied learning, and the author of several dramatic works and poems of consider- able merit. His writings have been published in a collective form both in Swedish and French, in 1788 Gustavus deposited certain pay)crs in the liluary of I'psala, which excited much interest from the fact that they were not to be ojiened for fifty years after his death. Their publication, which was confided to Geijer (q.v.), disappointed the general expectation, as they were found to consist of historical notes and letters of little value. Consult P.ain, Gustavus 111. and His Coiitouiiomriis, ]7'ii!-i)2 (London, 1804). See SWEUEX. GUSTAVUS IV. ADOLPHUS (1778-1837). King of Sweden from 1792 (o 18(19. He was the son of Gustavus 111. and was born X^ovember I, 1778. He succeeded his father on the latter's death, March 29, 1792. By his father's will he was to be vested with the actual sovereignty at the age of eighteen. His uncle, the Duke of Sudermania, acted as regent during his minority. Gustavus had all the belief in absolutism and the wrongheadedness which wrought his father's downfall, without the latter's ability. (^Justavus rashly entered the coalition against Napoleon, and hatred of the Corsican became the guid- ing inlluenee of his life. The result of his policy was the occupation of Swedish Pomeranisi by French troops under Marshal Brune, who took Stralsund and Rugen from the Swedes in 1807, and thus deprived them of the last of their Ger- man possessions. The King opened all his ports to English vessels, and thereby involved liimself in a war with Russia, which was then the ally of France. The scene of these hostilities was Finland, flhieh was invaded and conquered by Russia in 1808. the Swedes being assisted by an English auxiliary force of 10,000 men, who, how- ever, speedily r.=turned to England when they found that Gustavus intended to send them to Finland. This unfortunate war with Russia, which had been excited entirely through the folly of the King, gave rise to so much dis- content in Sweden that a conspiracy was set on foot by several officers and nobles, the ob- ject of which was to dethrone the unpoj)u- lar monarch. He was seized in the palace at Stockholm, March 13, 1800, and made a ])risoner, and the powers of govei-nment were assumed by the Duke of Sudermania. On May 10th the King was formally deposed by the Diet, and the Duke of Sudermania was cho.sen King of Sweden as Charles XIII. After wan- dering for a time from place to place, Gustavus finally settled at Saint -Gall, Switzerland, where he died, February 7, 1837, in poverty, having re- fused to accept a pension from Sweden. Consult: Mrmorinl du cotoiirt Guslafssou { p.'icudoni/m) (Leipzig, 1829); Klein.schmidt, Die Irrfahrien (lusldvus IV. Adolf von t^rhirrdni (Leipzig, ISS8). GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS SOCIETY (Ger. Gustdr-.ldolf-Verriii) . A Protestant society, orig- inating in Germany in 1832, for the purpose of Hiding and supporting Protestant congregations. It was formed in Leipzig on the second centen- nial anniversary of the battle of I,utzen. and of the death of Gustavus Adolphus. as a memorial to that champion (jf Protestantism. Congrega-
