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.

Death

Seeing his very kingdom threatened, Charles fled the Ottoman Empire and rode across Europe in just fifteen days to return to Swedish Pomerania. His efforts to reestablish his lost empire failed, however, when he was killed by a stray bullet in an attack on the fortress Fredriksten in Danish-controlled Norway. There has been some speculations that he was not killed by a stray bullet but by one fired from the Swedish side, making his death an assassination (at the time he was not very popular in Sweden due to the hardships the people suffered because of the constant wars) but this has never been proven. He was succeeded to the Swedish throne by his sister, Ulrika Eleanora.

Related Topics:
Swedish Pomerania - Bullet - Fredriksten - Norway - Assassination - Ulrika Eleanora

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Exceptional for abstaining from alcohol and women, he felt most comfortable during warfare. Contemporaries report of his seemingly inhuman tolerance for pain and his utter lack of emotion. The king brought Sweden to its pinnacle of prestige and power through his brilliant campaigning. However, his over-ambitious invasion of Russia coupled with the overwhelming power of a revived anti-Swedish coalition brought Sweden's downfall as a Great Power.

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