The king’s speeches. Decisions during the 1772 revolution in Sweden

Abstract

This article investigates the mood and the atmospheres of the so-called Swedish Revolution in 1772, when King Gustav III carried through a coup d’état. Martin Heidegger’s elaborations of boredom in lectures held 1929-30 – a mood that to a certain extent is a parallel to the hesitation of both the Swedish king and the country during the crises which led to the revolution – and Tonino Griffero’s studies on atmosphere enable an affective elucidation of historical documents and eyewitness testimonies. The political decision taken in 1772 emerged from the mood of hesitation.