The Age of Liberty (Swedish: Frihetstiden) is the half century long period of parliamentarianism and increasing civil rights in Sweden, beginning with Charles XII's death in 1718 and ending with Gustav III's coup d'état in 1772. The shift of power from the Monarch to the Parliament was a direct effect of the disastrous Great Northern War.

Suffrage under the parliamentary government of the Age of Liberty was not universal. Although the taxed peasantry was represented in the Parliament, their influence was disproportionately small while commoners without taxed property had no suffrage at all.

Charles XI of Sweden had carefully provided against the contingency of his successor's minority; and the five regents appointed by him, if not great statesmen, were at least practical politicians who had not been trained in his austere school in vain. At home the "Reduction" was cautiously pursued, while abroad the successful conclusion of the great peace congress at Ryswick was justly regarded as a signal triumph of Sweden's peaceful diplomacy. The young king was full of promise, and had he been permitted gradually to gain experience and develop his naturally great talents under the guidance of his guardians, as his father had intended, all might have been well for Sweden. Unfortunately, the sudden, noiseless revolution of 6 November 1697 which made Charles XII of Sweden absolute master of his country's fate in his fifteenth year, and the league of Denmark, Saxony and Russia, formed two years later to partition Sweden, precipitated Sweden into a sea of troubles in which she was finally submerged.