CHARLES XII (SWEDEN) (1682–1718; ruled 1697–1718)

CHARLES XII (SWEDEN) (1682–1718; ruled 1697–1718), king of Sweden. The son of Charles XI of Sweden and Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark, Charles was raised in the context of Sweden's transition to absolutism. From a distinguished group of tutors he learned Latin, modern languages, history, mathematics, religion, military techniques, and Swedish politics and law. He was deeply religious, intense, tireless, self-assured, uncompromising, secretive, and fully committed to the ideas of Sweden's imperial greatness and divine right absolutism. Not yet fifteen when he his father died, he was recognized as ruling king by the parliament a few months later and wasted no time making it clear that Charles XI's absolutist system would continue. Throughout his reign he was in charge, aided by a handful of favorites including Carl Piper, Thomas Polus, and Georg H. von Görtz.

The first few years of Charles's reign were remarkable for their levity. The teenaged king enjoyed culture, parties, food, drink, and hunting—and often mixed all of these in flights of decadence. The fun ended abruptly in 1700, when Frederick IV of Denmark, Augustus II the Strong of Poland-Saxony, and Peter the Great of Russia attacked Sweden's Baltic holdings from three directions. The Great Northern War (1700–1721) consumed the rest of Charles XII's life. It became his obsession, and it was in his conduct of this war that Charles's place in history was forged.

The coalition Sweden faced appeared insurmountable, but the nature of early modern alliances and warfare worked in Charles's favor. He did not have to defeat the combined forces of his enemies. He could deal with them individually. From 1700 to 1708, he was successful, and it was then that he earned a reputation for daring, command skills, and near invincibility. The Danes were forced out of the war in August 1700 (Treaty of Traventhal). The Russians lost the Battle of Narva in November 1700, but were not pursued or truly defeated. Charles's attention turned to Poland, then led by Augustus II the Strong of Saxony, where a series of campaigns and political intrigues spanning six years finally led to peace, concluded at Altranstädt in 1706.

In 1707, Charles launched a campaign against Russia. His plans to strike at Moscow were undone by the Russians' harassing tactics, failure of reinforcements to reach him, dwindling supplies, and the severe winter of 1708–1709. Charles was forced to turn south into the Ukraine. On 28 June 1709, he attacked the Russians at Poltava. The odds were against him. The Russians were well prepared, and the Swedes were outnumbered in every way. Charles, who had been wounded a few days earlier, could not direct the battle effectively, and he underestimated his enemy. Suffering horrible losses, the Swedes were forced to retreat. Two days later what was left of the army and its hangers-on surrendered at Perevolotjna, while Charles and a small body of supporters fled into the Ottoman Empire.

For over five years the war and affairs of state were conducted from exile, first at Bender in Bessarabia and then from Demotika west of Constantinople. Charles was a guest and then a prisoner of the Turks. He was allowed to leave in late 1714, going first to Stralsund and returning to Sweden a year later. During his absence, the coalition reformed and was joined by Brandenburg and Hanover. The Baltic provinces fell; Finland and the German territories were occupied. Charles refused to sue for peace and ordered new armies and new campaigns. The human and material costs to Sweden were enormous. A 1716 campaign against Norway failed. A new campaign began in 1718, when Fredriksten (Fredrikshald) fortress on the Norwegian-Swedish border was besieged and central Norway attacked. On the night of 30 November 1718, while inspecting the works, Charles was shot in the head and died instantly. Who killed him has remained a question ever since. The Norwegian forces were firing from the fortress and could have hit the king. Many have preferred the murder option and argued that he was shot by someone in his own party. Simple war-weariness could have been the motive, or it could have been part of a conspiracy to assure the succession of his sister, Ulrika Eleonora, and her husband Fredrik. In this ongoing debate serious historical research and folk legends have often merged. Whatever the truth, Sweden's age of empire died with Charles. A set of peace treaties ended the war and stripped Sweden of most of its empire. A peaceful change of constitution ended absolutism.

See also Augustus II the Strong (Saxony and Poland) ; Denmark ; Northern Wars (1655–1660, 1700–1721) ; Sweden .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Berg, Olof Patrik. Carl XII och enväldet. Göteborg, 2002.

Englund, Peter. Poltava. Berättelsen om en armés undergång. Stockholm, 1988.

Ericsson, Peter. Stora nordiska kriget förklarat: Karl XII och det ideologiska tilltalet. Uppsala, 2002. Contains a brief summary in English.

Hatton R. M. Charles XII of Sweden. New York, 1969.

Liljegren, Bengt. Karl XII: en biografi. Lund, 2000.

Roberts, Michael. "The Dubious Hand: The History of a Controversy." In From Oxenstierna to Charles XII: Four Studies. Cambridge, U.K., and New York, 1991.

Voltaire. The History of Charles XII, King of Sweden. Translated by Antonia White. London, 1976.

Byron J. Nordstrom