The mystery of Karl XII

“Karl XII: En biografi” is a biography in Swedish written by Bengt Liljegren. The book was published in 2000. Karl XII (or Charles XII) was king of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. During most of that period, Karl was away from Sweden waging wars in the Baltic provinces, Poland, Germany or Russia. He was also semi-interned in the Ottoman Empire for several years. The “Great Northern War” ended for Karl XII on the 30^th November 1718, when he was shot dead in Norway during a siege. The Swedish defeat in the 18-year long war effectively ended Sweden´s great power period, Russia taking Estonia, Latvia, Ingria and West Karelia. Czar Peter the Great built St Petersburg, soon to become the Russian imperial capital, on territory conquered from the Swedes (or reconquered since Russia controlled the area before Sweden´s rise to regional great power status). Sweden also lost some of its German possessions, but was allowed to keep Finland, which had been occupied by Russia during the course of the war. Karl XII´s death also ended the first period of absolutist rule in Sweden, absolutism being replaced by a constitutional monarchy dominated by the Diet or Parliament (“the Age of Freedom”).

In Sweden, Karl XII is still extremely controversial, the “great warrior king” being a symbol for right-wing extremism. When I was younger, left-wing radicals and neo-Nazi skinheads near-rioted on the 30^th November every year at Kungsträdgården in Stockholm, where a 19^th century statue of Karl XII is located, menacingly pointing eastwards (at Russia). Leftists and liberals have often pointed out how absurd and anachronistic Karl XII is as a Swedish nationalist symbol. The king ruled a multi-ethnic state, many of his officers and officials were foreigners, and he attempted to create an alliance of Swedes, Cossacks, Tatars and Turks against Russia. Tatars and Turks are, of course, Muslim. Liljegren doesn´t mention the old legend that Karl XII brought the Travelers (a kind of Gypsies) to Sweden. At the same time, the slightly trollish liberal take on Karl XII is another form of propaganda, since it´s just as anachronistic to portray the old dictator as “pro-immigration” or “anti-racist” in the modern sense. Paeans to Karl XII have usually been a right-wing preserve, leftists – somewhat strangely – preferring his father, Karl XI (who created the system the son was defending). In his book, Liljegren describes how the views of Karl XII have changed back and forth over the years, among both historians and the public.

Above all, he describes the actual reign of Karl XII. While Liljegren is admirably objective in his style of writing, it´s difficult not to be critical of the monarch after reading the 442-page tome. Since Sweden was attacked by a triple alliance of Russia, Denmark-Norway and Poland-Lithuania-Saxony, one can hardly fault Karl XII for taking up arms in defense of his realm. However, his concrete way of doing so ultimately proved disastrous for both Sweden and himself. Instead of concentrating on defending the Baltic provinces against Russia, Karl spent years fighting a quixotic war in Poland and then attempted to march on Moscow without due preparations. The Russians decisively defeated the Swedish army at the infamous battle of Poltava, forcing the king to flee south to Bessarabia, then controlled by the Muslim Ottoman Empire. After finally returning to Sweden, rather than counter-attacking the Russians (who had occupied half of the then Swedish kingdom), Karl embarked on two equally weird and badly thought-out campaigns in Norway. The entire reign of Karl XII was marked by famine, pestilence and war. 200,000 Swedish soldiers were killed. At the time, the Swedish kingdom had a population of only two and a half million!

I get the impression from Liljegren´s book that while Karl XII was a brilliant tactician on the battlefield (at least in the beginning of the war), his long-term strategy left much to be asked for. Diplomatic finesse he had none. The young king had a reckless streak, constantly being on the attack (literally), even when diplomacy and tactical retreats would have suited the situation better. With more strategic thinking and planning, Karl might have been able to hold on to the Baltic provinces – or at least to Estonia and Latvia. Some of his wilder plans were never put into operation: Karl XII apparently toyed with the idea of invading Britain in alliance with the Jacobites, and also wanted to establish a Swedish colony on Madagascar in alliance with local pirates! Mostly as a thought experiment, he also developed a new numeral system with 64 as its base, a system defended by Emmanuel Swedenborg (the future Seer of the North) in a pamphlet written mostly to show loyalty to the king-dictator. 

What struck me most when reading “Karl XII: En biografi” was the intractable personality of the king. On the one hand, he was authoritarian, unapproachable, inflexible to the point of obsession, and had a sadistic humor. Foreign diplomats described him as unkempt and extremely rude. On the other hand, he clearly had *something* which made officers and common soldiers follow him and trust him, even to the point of death. Some kind of mysterious charisma? Karl XII always dressed in uniform, didn´t wear a wig and kept his hair short – all three things unheard of among contemporary monarchs and aristocrats. This gave him a “plebeian” look. He cultivated an image of being an ascetic warrior, married to his army. Like many other Swedish kings, he also distrusted the higher nobility as a class, much preferring the lower nobility and the commoners. The king was also something of a religious zealot, which gave him a fatalistic outlook on life - everything was preordained by God, so why worry about failure. Above all, he seemed impervious to suffering.

My impression of Karl XII´s personality type is very negative. Was he a sociopath? Or did he have some kind of autism spectrum disorder? What makes the whole thing doubly disturbing is that his inflexible orders were usually followed meticulously, even by people who knew better. Karl XII´s father Karl XI had turned Sweden into a well-drilled militarist absolutist state – and the son was reaping the benefits.  

That is, until the 30^th November 1718 (or December 11 according to the Gregorian calendar now in use). For centuries, rumors have claimed that Karl XII wasn´t killed by a Norwegian bullet, but by one of his own people. A French immigrant serving as an officer in the Swedish army, André Sicre, was widely suspected of being Karl XII´s assassin by his contemporaries. Liljegren believes that the king was murdered and that Sicre may indeed have done it. Cui bono? The author regards it as extremely suspicious that Frederick of Hesse – who subsequently became king of Sweden – acted so fast after the death of Karl XII, purging the most prominent Karoline loyalists while buying off the officer corps with lavish gifts. And why had the same Frederick only six months earlier issued instructions about what should be done in the event of the king´s death, instructions never before heard of? And guess who promoted André Sicre? Yes, the very same Frederick… 

If Frederick was the main conspirator, the conspiracy failed after his “Hessian” faction had purged the pro-Karl “Holstein” faction. In the aftermath of the purge, the Hessians quickly lost the initiative to a third group, the “men of freedom”, who abolished royal absolutism. Frederick (who was married to Karl XII´s sister Ulrika Eleonora) eventually did become king, but without much effective power. It should be noted that other historians, including Peter Englund, strongly support the idea that Karl XII was killed by enemy fire.

Perhaps the debate will continue for another 300 years…

Still, if Swedish is your first language, “Karl XII: En biografi” does give a good overview of the life and times of the most divisive king in Sweden´s history. And perhaps his death, too.