Carl XII of Sweden

Carl XII was king of Sweden from 1697 to 1718 and the principal Swedish commander during the Great Northern War. Early victories preserved Sweden’s military reputation, but the invasion of Russia, defeat at Poltava and his eventual death during the Norwegian campaign marked the decline of Swedish great-power dominance.

Charles spent most of his adult reign at war against the coalition led by Russia, Denmark-Norway and Saxony-Poland. His early victories were followed by the disastrous Russian campaign and defeat at Poltava in 1709, after which he spent years in Ottoman territory before returning to Sweden. He was killed during the siege of Fredriksten in Norway in 1718, and Sweden's position as the dominant Baltic great power declined after the war.

Hourly History’s Great Northern War places Charles XII at the centre of Sweden’s struggle against the coalition led by Russia, Denmark-Norway and Saxony-Poland. It follows his startling early victories, campaigns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and decision to invade Russia, culminating in the defeat at Poltava. Charles’s continuing wars and eventual death during the Norwegian campaign become part of the book’s larger explanation for Sweden’s loss of Baltic supremacy and the rise of Peter the Great’s Russia as a European power.