Charles XII of Sweden

Charles XII, Karl XII or Carolus Rex, (June 17, 1682 – November 30, 1718), the Alexander of the North, nicknamed in Turkish as Demirba? ?arl (Charles the Habitue), was a King of Sweden from 1697 until his death. He came to the throne at the age of fifteen and left the country three years later to embark on a series of battles overseas, that briefly made Sweden the predominant power in Northern Europe. His youth gave other nations a decent pretext with which to invade Sweden; Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth-Saxony, Denmark-Norway, and Russia joined in a coalition to attack Sweden, beginning the Great Northern War. Charles XII turned out to be more astute than the other powers imagined, a great tactician, defeating all of the invaders. However, his strong tactical abilities were not accompanied by strategic and political wisdom. He is quoted by Voltaire as saying upon the outbreak of the Great Northern War, "I have resolved never to start an unjust war but never to end a legitimate one except by defeating my enemies." He took this resolution to an extreme level, which eventually resulted in the end of the Swedish Empire and its dominance of the southern Baltic Sea.

Campaigns

Charles's first campaign was against Denmark, ruled by his cousin Frederick IV of Denmark, which threatened a Swedish ally, Frederick IV of Holstein-Gottorp (another cousin of Charles XII, and married to his sister Hedvig Sophia). Denmark's defeat, however, and Sweden's ensuing rise to prominence in the Baltic region was viewed suspiciously by two powerful neighbors, King August II of Poland (cousin to both Charles XII and Frederick IV of Denmark) and Peter the Great of Russia. Russia responded by occupying the Swedish territories of Livonia and Estonia. Charles countered this by attacking the Russian garrison at Battle of Narva. From the very beginning, this seemed to be a headstrong move. The Swedish army of ten thousand men was outnumbered four to one by the Russians. Still, Charles attacked under cover of a blizzard, and effectively split the Russian army in two. Many of Peter's troops that fled the battlefield drowned in the Narva River and the battle was a crushing Swedish victory.

Related Topics:
Denmark - Frederick IV of Denmark - Frederick IV of Holstein-Gottorp - Baltic region - August II - Poland - Peter the Great - Russia - Livonia - Estonia - Battle of Narva - Narva River

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Charles, despite advice from his advisors, didn't pursue the Russian army. Instead, he then turned against Poland, disregarding Polish negotiation proposals, supported by the Swedish parliament. Charles defeated Polish king Augustus II and his Saxon allies at the Battle of Kliszow in 1702 and captured many important cities of the Commonwealth. After the deposition of the king of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Charles XII filled the void with his own man, Stanislas Leszczynski .

Related Topics:
Saxon - Battle of Kliszow - 1702 - Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - Stanislas Leszczynski

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Meanwhile, while Charles enjoyed easy victories in the Commonwealth, the Russian Tsar Peter the Great embarked on a giant military reform plan that soon begun to bear fruit. The new Russian army was a much tougher one than the one defeated at Narva. Russian forces had managed to retake Livonia and even established a new city Saint Petersburg there. This prompted Charles to make the fatal decision to attack the Russian heartland with an assault on Moscow, allying himself with Ivan Mazepa, ataman of the Cossacks. Peter the Great managed to cripple Swedish forces near the Baltic coast before Charles managed to combine his forces, and Charles' Polish ally, Stanislaw Leszczynski, was facing internal problems of his own. Charles expected the support of a massive Cossack rebellion led by Mazepa in Ukraine but the Russians destroyed the rebel army before they could aid the Swedes. The harsh climate took its toll as well, as Charles marched his troops through Ukraine. By the time of the decisive Battle of Poltava, Charles had been wounded, one-third of his infantry was dead, and his vulnerable supply train destroyed. The king himself, incapacitated by a coma resulting from his injuries, was unable to rally the Swedish forces. The battle was a disaster, and Charles fled south to the Ottoman Empire, where he set up camp at Bender with about 1000 men who were called Caroleans ("Karoliner" in Swedish). The Poltava Swedish disaster marked both the end of the Swedish Empire and the rise of Russian Empire.

Related Topics:
Saint Petersburg - Moscow - Ivan Mazepa - Ataman - Cossack - Ukraine - Battle of Poltava - Ottoman Empire - Bender - Swedish Empire - Russian Empire

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The Turks initially welcomed the Swedish king, who managed to incite a war between the Ottomans and the Russians. However the sultan Ahmed III eventually tired of Charles' endless scheming and ordered his arrest. Meanwhile, the king's old enemies Russia and Poland took advantage of his absence to regain and even expand their lost territories. England, an ally of the Swedes, defected from their alliance obligations while the Prussians also attacked Swedish holdings in Germany. Russia seized Finland and Augustus II regained the Polish throne.

Related Topics:
Turks - Ahmed III - England - Finland

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