Karl XII of Sweden

   Sweden was the powerhouse of the Baltic sea region up until the early eighteenth century. Swedish naval and ground power were formidable and easily fended off lesser military powers. Karl VII of Sweden inherited a war machine from his father. When he came to power, he was chosen to rule rather than a regency of five, in part, due to his young age. His youth represented an opportunity for high nobles to mold the boy king in their image and under their guidance. However, Karl would prove to be a worthy military man who would take his armies from Denmark to Poland to Russia. Karl proved to be short sighted and overreaching and even got himself trapped in Turkey after a string of defeats. Karl's own personal ambitions for glory and empire directly affected the Russian empire. Had Sweden not incurred the wrath of several other kingdoms and electorates and focused all energy on subduing the Russians, Peter the Great may never had an opportunity to professionalize his armies in time to defend his crown and kingdom. Victories over the reigning Polish monarch Augustus II allowed him to install his own regent- Stanislas- on the Polish-Saxon crown, as the two were politically joined. Karl VII brought glory to Sweden, but at the same time hastened it's downfall. Swedish power was already on the decline and looking exhausted by the late seventeenth century, but Karl would take that to the extreme, eventually losing much of Sweden's possessions in the Baltic and Eastern Europe and forever relegating his nation to a second tier power behind the ever expanding Russian juggernaut. To add to the other misfortunes, while Karl was away on campaigns, absolutism of the monarchy was ended, being replaced by the "Age of Liberty". Karl VII would be killed by a shot to the head during the siege of Fredrikshald in 1718. However, Karl and his campaigns had a profound impact not just on Peter and his military beliefs and practices, but Russian history as a whole.



sources

"Charles XII of Sweden". HistoryLearningSite.co.uk. 2014. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.