Power is quite a word. It can be a noun or a verb. As a verb, it means to supply something with energy or to move something with force. A steam-powered boat, powered past the shore toward the waterfalls.
But mostly, today, I am speaking of the noun side of things. That person, place, or thing. And power can be any one of these, really. Sometimes, when some is a powerful person, it is a good thing. Other times, it can go very wrong. There is the light, and then there is the dark. I think all of us have seen examples of both.
One such occasion comes from Sweden in the year of 1792. It was on March 29 of that year when King Gustave III died. He had been shot, in the back, thirteen days earlier.
But, if we back up some twenty years, we can see that Gustave took control in Sweden, finding a place on the throne. He was a vocal opponent of what he saw as the abuse of political privileges seized by the nobility. It seems that Sweden had taken a turn toward this abuse since the death of King Charles XII.
So the guy thought he’d do something about it, and apparently, he had a lot of help. He seized power from the government in a coup d’état, called the Swedish Revolution, in 1772. He ended the “Age of Liberty,” which was really a big bunch of Royal autocracy. Instead, he wanted to open up a government for all citizens, breaking up the privileges of the nobles.
I won’t go into all the details of his reign. But he was an avid patron of the arts and benefactor of such things. That good King Gustav founded the Swedish Academy, created a national costume, and had the Royal Swedish Opera built. We won’t hold the Opera part against him.
In 1772 he founded the Royal Order of Vasa. This was an order to acknowledge and reward the people who had contributed to advances in the fields of agriculture, mining, and commerce. Giving those Swedes credit, where credit was due. I tried to translate this word. It said the English version of Vasa was Vasa. I once saw a huge ancient ship in a museum in Sweden called the Vasa. It must be a meaningful word for the Swedes.
Here’s another thing to like about the guy. In 1777, Gustav III was the first neutral head of state to recognize the United States during the Revolutionary War with Great Britain. Swedish military forces were engaged by the thousands on the side of the colonists, largely through the French expedition force.
So that is how it went while he was at the helm. By 1792, King Gustav III had put in place an enormous amount of personal power. He had completely displaced the old constitutional monarchy. Instead, he had formed an absolutist system based on the principles of the Enlightenment. He was the guy. The guy of Sweden’s Enlightenment.
During all of these tremendous liberal reforms he had made throughout the years, there were those nobles who still fiercely opposed him. And, eventually, they conspired to murder him.
So it was on this date, March 16, 1792, when that plan took place. There was going to be a huge masquerade ball at the Swedish Royal Opera. You know the kind. Swedish people. All dressed up. In masks. And that is when it happened. A Swedish Count by the name of Jacob Johan Anckarström shot the King in the back as he entered the ball wearing his costume.
Gustav did not die immediately, however. He held on for another thirteen days before dying of septicemia. And that is how his reign of power ended.
The nobles wanted their power back. And so they killed for it.
We have seen this throughout history time and time again. We’ve witnessed it recently, on January 6, 2021, where people would stop at nothing, groping for power.
As with anything, power can have a light side and a dark side. And sidestepping the shadows can often be a tricky thing.
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“The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
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“Power resides only where men believe it resides. […] A shadow on the wall, yet shadows can kill. And ofttimes a very small man can cast a very large shadow.”
― George R.R. Martin
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“They joined hands.
So the world ended.
And the next one began.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Queen of Shadows
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