I recently moved from the US to Sweden and bought a house in Södertälje, a beautiful city in Stockholm county with a lot of history. However, one of the buildings in the city center has this mural on a keystone. Clearly, something big went down that year but I haven't been able to find any info on it. What event is this commemorating?
This moral shows the Russian plunderings of Södertalje during the ending of The Great Northern War.
For context, in 1719, Sweden was on its knees. Two decades of war against three enemies - Russia, Poland And Denmark - had resulted in massive losses of territory, crisis, And military defeat. King Charles XII was dead, And there was No clear successor. Still, the Swedes dragged their feet on surrendering.
Russian troops had occupied the Baltic status And Finland as well as Åland, which left the eastern store of Sweden proper exposed. In the summer of 1719, the Russians started making raids in Sweden to further implore them to surrender. 21st of July the Russians reached Södertalje, which was raider, plundered And burned after being abandoned by the Swedish garrison there. This is the event commemorated in the moral, it is regarded as noteworthy for being basically the last time foreign troops raider on Swedish soil. Sweden would finally surrender in 1721, ending the age of the Swedish Empire And starting the Age of Liberty.
Most of this comes from
Ullman, Magnus (2006). Rysshärjningarna på Ostkusten sommaren 1719. Stockholm: Bokförlaget Magnus Ullman (Swedish)
And
Den Store Nordiske Krig by Dan Andersen (Danish)