The result was the end of the Swedish Empire, and also of its effectively organized absolute monarchy and war machine, commencing a parliamentary government unique for continental Europe, which would last for half a century until royal autocracy was restored by Gustav III. This situation was later formalized, albeit moderated in the subsequent Treaty of Nystad.
At the time, most of the Swedish Empire was under foreign military occupation, though Sweden itself was still free. Two campaigns met with frustration and ultimate failure, concluding with his death at the Siege of Fredriksten in 1718. Charles spent the following years in exile in the Ottoman Empire before returning to lead an assault on Norway, trying to evict the Danish king from the war once more in order to aim all his forces at the Russians.
The defeat was followed by the Surrender at Perevolochna. Charles had been incapacitated by a wound prior to the battle, rendering him unable to take command. The campaign ended with disaster when the Swedish army suffered heavy losses to a Russian force more than twice its size at Poltava. Russia was now the sole remaining hostile power.Ĭharles' subsequent march on Moscow met with initial success as victory followed victory, the most significant of which was the Battle of Holowczyn where the smaller Swedish army routed a Russian army twice the size. By 1706 Charles, now 24 years old, had forced all of his foes into submission including, in that year, a decisively devastating victory by Swedish forces under general Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld over a combined army of Saxony and Russia at the Battle of Fraustadt. A major victory over a Russian army some three times the size in 1700 at the Battle of Narva compelled Peter the Great to sue for peace, an offer which Charles subsequently rejected. Leading the Swedish army against the alliance Charles won multiple victories despite being usually significantly outnumbered. In 1700, a triple alliance of Denmark–Norway, Saxony– Poland–Lithuania and Russia launched a threefold attack on the Swedish protectorate of Holstein-Gottorp and provinces of Livonia and Ingria, aiming to draw advantage as the Swedish Empire was unaligned and ruled by a young and inexperienced king, thus initiating the Great Northern War. He assumed power, after a seven-month caretaker government, at the age of fifteen. Charles was the only surviving son of Charles XI and Ulrika Eleonora the Elder. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of Wittelsbach. ), was King of Sweden (including current Finland) from 1697 to 1718. Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII ( Swedish: Karl XII) or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 O.S.
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