Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
![](/Images/godic/202501/16/Attributed_to_Jacob_Hoefnagel_-_Gustavus_Adolphus,_King_of_Sweden_1611-1632_-_Google_Art_Project1437.jpg")
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![Bust of King Gustav Adolph on campus at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota](/Images/godic/202501/16/Gustav_II_Adolph_of_Sweden_bust_2007_St._Peter_MN_crop1438.jpg")
![The Lion of the North: Gustavus Adolphus depicted at the turning point of the Battle of Breitenfeld (1631) against the forces of Count Tilly.](/Images/godic/202501/16/Gustavus_Adolphus_at_the_Battle_at_Breitenfeld1438.jpg")
Gustav II Adolf (9 December 1594 – 6 November 1632, O.S.); widely known in English by his Latinised name Gustavus Adolphus or as Gustav II Adolph, or as Gustavus Adolphus the Great (Swedish:Gustav Adolf den store, Latin:Gustavus Adolphus Magnus, a formal posthumous distinction passed by the Riksdag of the Estates in 1634); was the King of Sweden from 1611 to 1632 and is credited as the founder of Sweden as a Great Power (Swedish:Stormaktstiden). He led Sweden to military supremacy during the Thirty Years War, helping to determine the political as well as the religious balance of power in Europe.