Charles XII is one of many whom popular history has treated very well. When his father died and he subsequently became king, he was just 17 years old. At that point, all of Sweden's enemies (Denmark-Norway, Russia and Poland-Saxony-Lithuania) declared war in order to try to retake some of the land that Charles X Gustav had conquered.^1 With a 17 year old king on the throne they figured that Sweden would be in a weak state and it would be easy to retake the lost regions.

Charles XII was a superb commander though. Inspired by his grandfather Charles X Gustav and schooled well in the art of war, he quickly beat the Danish army into submission, clearing that flank before the war even had begun for real. He then quickly beat the Polish coalition as well, leaving only Russia's Peter the Great against Charles XII, and he actually beat back a much greater force of Russian soldiers in the Swedish-occupied regions of Livonia and Estonia (conquered by Charles X Gustav). This victory at Narva is, seen to percentages, one of the greatest victories in world history.

If you've ever been to Stockholm, you've probably seen this statue of Charles XII. A majestic statue that's pointing towards the Polish Poltava. You can see how he's different from other kings in that he's not dressed in fancy clothes, with a spire or with a wig. Instead he's wearing a soldiers clothers and at his hip he has a sword. This is the king that Europe knew then and whom we have remembered, he was the soldier-king.

During his father, Charles XI, Sweden had become a most militarized state. Instead of the previous system, in which the king's men would travel across the country and select boys and men from each village to be sent to the war, as well as people being sentenced to go to war for different crimes, Charles XI now developed a system that became very popular. So popular in fact, that it lasted into the 20th century. The idea behind the system was that instead of having what was essentially a peasant army, Sweden would have a standing professional army. In practice, farms all around Sweden (and Finland, which was part of Sweden) would form groups of 10, which each would supply one soldier. He would get food, clothes and somewhere to live. In return, whenever the king called, he would be that farm-group's soldier in the war.

So, with this eminent system behind him, as well as several grand victories against his enemies, the 23 year old king Charles XII in 1706 made a decision that popular history often choose to forget. When he had beaten back his enemies in 1706, he should've stayed at home, protecting the large landmass that Sweden actually possessed at this time (owning more or less all land around the Baltic Sea). He decided that it was time to beat Russia once and for all, and he set course on Moscow, the heart of the Russian empire, with an army of 50.000 men.

As you may be aware of, a common reappearance in history is that armies that walk into Russia tend to succumb to the Russian winter. Even these professional Swedish troups, who would've been used to harsh winters, were beaten back by the Russian winter before any battle even took place. And this is were his decision-making truly confuses me. Thousands of soldiers died during that winter, why didn't he just turn home at this point and protect what he had? We will never know, but instead of doing that, he turned towards the Polish town Poltava with the remainder of his army. If you don't know where that is, I encourage you to look it up on a map, because it's in the middle of nowhere, figuratively speaking.

When Charles XII left Narva after the great victory against the Russians, he had an army of almost 50.000 men. At the battle of Poltava three years later, the Russians had that number, while the Swedish forces had dwindled down to less than 1/3 of their former number. They were in bad shape, beaten down and to make things worse, the king was injured in the foot and couldn't participate in the battle himself. The result was one of the greatest catastrophes in Swedish military history, the Swedish troups were crushed and 10.000 soldiers were captured in the battle. Charles XII himself fled to the Ottoman empire, where he was forced to stay for a while. During that time he also tried to get the Ottomans to join the Swedish cause against the Russians, but they declined.

In 1718 he had returned to Sweden and led an assault against some Danish forces in Norway with a new Swedish army. However, bad luck^2 saw the king dead when he was scouting the Danish-Norwegian battle-line one evening. With the king dead, the Swedish forces broke up and returned home towards Sweden, but was caught in a terrible snowstorm and nearly all of the soldiers froze to death.

The Aftermath of Charles XII was the loss of most of the lands gained during Sweden's rise to power during The Thirty Year's War and the following prosperous years under Charles X Gustav and Charles XI. The death toll under Charles XII alone stood at 200.000 dead soldiers; a completely insane number when you look at the population of Sweden at the time. It was thanks to the great military system created by Charles XI that the peasants didn't revolt against the king during these times. The statue I mentioned above isn't raised in honor of Charles XII, instead it's raised in memory of all the Swedish lives lost in Charles XII terrible wars against Russia.

Charles XII's reign marks the end of Sweden's participation in war on the European mainland. When the Swedish troups perished in the snowstorm after the king's death, it looked like Denmark-Norway would be able to reclaim their lost lands with ease, and they did reclaim some. A settlement was made that allowed Ulrika Eleonora, the king's sister, to become queen of Sweden. In order to become queen, she had to abolish the absolute monarchy that Sweden had had during the last several hundred years. She reluctantly agreed, but only three years later she handed over the throne to her husband, Frederick I of Sweden. However, since the king now was powerless, the so-called Hat Party could launch another war against Russia, which they lost thoroughly. After that loss, the Russian tsar installed Adolf Frederick, who was the uncle of her adopted heir, on the Swedish throne. He was a weak king, far from the progressive, strong kings like Gustavus Adolphus or Charles XI.

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[1] These conquerings are a matter of some controversy because he had no real casus belli, or a rightful reason to start an offensive war.

[2] It's been debated whether it was a murder by a Swedish soldier/assassin or a Norwegian stray bullet. It's also been debated whether it really was a bullet at all. In the end though, everything points towards cheer bad luck, and a Norwegian stray bullet hit the king in the head and killed him instantly.