In 1874, King Oscar II of Sweden came to Russia. He visited St. Petersburg, toured the Hermitage, in Moscow he visited the Kremlin, the Armory, where with undisguised interest he examined the trophies taken by Russian soldiers at Poltava, the stretcher of Charles XII, his cocked hat and glove. The conversation, naturally, could not help but touch upon this remarkable personality, and King Oscar said that he had long been interested in the mysterious and unexpected death Charles XII, who followed on the evening of November 30, 1718, under the walls of the Norwegian city of Frederikshall. While still an heir, in 1859 Oscar, together with his father, King Charles XV of Sweden, attended the opening of the sarcophagus of King Charles XII.

The sarcophagus with the coffin of Charles XII stood on a pedestal in a recess, near the altar. They carefully lifted the multi-pound stone lid and opened the coffin.

King Charles lay in a very faded, half-decayed doublet and boots with the soles falling off. A funeral crown made of sheet gold sparkled on the head. Thanks to the constant temperature and humidity, the body was well preserved. Even the hair on the temples, once fiery red, and the skin on the face, which had darkened to an olive color, were preserved

But everyone present involuntarily shuddered when they saw a terrible through wound in the skull, covered with a cotton swab. An entrance hole was discovered on the right temple, from which deep cracks radiated like black rays (the bullet was fired from a short distance and had great destructive power). Instead of the left eye there was a huge wound into which three fingers could fit freely...

Having carefully examined the wound, Professor Fricksel, who performed the autopsy, gave his conclusion, and his words were immediately recorded in the protocol: “His Majesty was killed by a shot in the head from a flintlock gun.”

This conclusion was sensational. The fact is that all history textbooks stated that King Charles fell, struck by a cannonball.

“But who fired that tragic shot?” - asked Charles XV.

"I'm afraid it's great secret, which will not be revealed soon.| It is quite possible that His Majesty's death is the result of carefully | prepared murder..."

How did this happen?
In October 1718, Charles moved to conquer Norway. His troops approached the walls of the well-fortified fortress of Friedrich Hall, located at the mouth of the Tistendal River, near the Denmark Strait. The army was ordered to begin a siege, but the soldiers, numb from the cold, could barely dig the frozen ground in the trenches with pickaxes.

This is how I described it further events Voltaire:
“On November 3 (December 1, according to the present day), on St. Andrew’s Day, at 9 o’clock in the evening, Karl went to inspect the trenches and, not finding the expected success in the work, seemed very dissatisfied.

Mefe, the French engineer who supervised the work, began to assure him that the fortress would be taken within eight days.

“We’ll see,” said the king and continued to walk around the works. Then he stopped in the corner, at the break in the trench and, resting his knees on the inner slope of the trench, leaned his elbows on the parapet, continuing to look at the working soldiers who were working in the light of the stars.

The king leaned out from behind the parapet almost to his waist, thus representing the target... At that moment there were only two Frenchmen next to him: one was his personal secretary Sigur, an intelligent and efficient person who had entered his service in Turkey and who was especially devoted; the other is Maigret, an engineer... I found him a few steps away from them;

This is Count Schwerin, the commander of the trench, who gave orders to Count Posse and Adjutant General Kaulbars.

Suddenly Sigur and Maigret saw the king fall on the parapet, letting out a deep sigh. They approached him, but he was already dead: a shot weighing half a pound hit him in the right temple and punched a hole into which three fingers could be inserted; his head fell back, his right eye went inside, and his left one completely jumped out of its socket...

As he fell, he found the strength to lay down with a natural movement. right hand on the hilt of the sword and died in this position. At looking dead King Maigret, an original and cold man, could not find anything else to do but say: “The comedy is over, let’s go to dinner.”

Sigur ran to Count Schwerin to tell him what had happened. They decided to hide the news of the king's death from the army until the Prince of Hesse was notified. The body was wrapped in a gray cloak. Sigur put his wig and hat on the head of Charles XII so that the soldiers would not recognize the murdered king.

The Prince of Hesse immediately ordered that no one dare leave the camp, and ordered that all roads leading to Sweden be guarded. He needed time to take measures to ensure that the crown passed to his wife, and to prevent the Duke of Holstein from claiming the crown.

This is how Charles XII, King of Sweden, who experienced the greatest successes and the most cruel vicissitudes of fate, died at the age of 36...”

Voltaire's story is written down from the words of eyewitnesses who were still alive in his time. However, Voltaire says that Charles was killed with “half a pound of buckshot.” But forensic research proved beyond doubt that the king was killed by a bullet. Professor Frixell, who performed the autopsy, naturally could not answer the question: was this the work of a sent killer or was it a sniper shot from the walls of the fortress?

The Russian public did not remain indifferent to the results of the investigation in Stockholm. The most unexpected thing was that the weapon used to kill swedish king Karl was suddenly found in Estland, on the Kaulbars family estate. 50-year-old Baron Nikolai Kaulbars spoke about this in his notes in 1891. The fitting itself, like a family heirloom, was passed down from generation to generation for 170 years. Regarding the death of the king, Nikolai Kaulbars reported several interesting details. In particular, he wrote:

“Consideration of the circumstances under which this happened excludes any possibility of being hit by an enemy bullet, and at present there is no doubt that the king was killed by his personal secretary, the Frenchman Siquier (Sigur). Despite this, even until recently, much has been written about mysterious death king...

While I was a military agent in Austria, one day in a conversation with the Swedish envoy, Mr. Ackerman, we raised the issue of the mysterious death of the Swedish king Charles XII; Moreover, I learned, not without surprise, that in Sweden, even until very recently, the most contradictory opinions were circulated and even expressed in the press on this issue - and that this question is still considered not fully explained.

I immediately told him that in the chronicle of our family there is information from which it is clear that Charles XII was killed in the trenches near Friedrichshall by his personal secretary, the Frenchman Sigur, and that the fitting, which served as the instrument of death of the king, is still kept in the FAMILY our estate Medders, Estland province, Wesenberg district."

Kaulbars further wrote that after the king was found killed in a trench, Sigur disappeared without a trace. The mentioned fitting was found in his apartment, blackened by just one shot. And many years later, lying on his deathbed, Sigur declared that he was the king's killer

Charles XII.
Kaulbars's version was not new, and Sigur's involvement in the murder of Charles was refuted by Voltaire, even when Sigur was alive and was on his estate in the south of France. Voltaire managed to talk to the old man twice before he left for the next world.

“I cannot pass over one slander in silence,” wrote Voltaire. - At that time, a rumor spread in Germany that Sigur had killed the King of Sweden. This brave officer was in despair at such slander. Once, telling me about this, he said: “I could kill the Swedish king, but I was filled with such respect for this hero that even if I wanted something like that, I wouldn’t dare!” I know that Sigur himself gave rise to a similar accusation, which part of Sweden still believes. He told me that while in Stockholm, in a fit of delirium tremens, he muttered that he had killed the king, and, delirious, opened the window and asked forgiveness from the people for this regicide. When, upon recovery, he found out about this, he almost died of grief.

I saw him shortly before his death and I can assure you that not only did he not kill Karl, but he himself would have allowed himself to be killed a thousand times for him. If he were guilty of this crime, it would, of course, be with the aim of rendering a service to some state, which would reward him well. But he died poor in France and needed help

Friends."

Kaulbars sent to Stockholm two photographs of the fitting and a wax cast of one bullet, which was preserved with him. This bullet was compared with the holes in the skull, and it turned out that they “neither in external outline nor in size corresponded to it at all.” In addition, it turned out that the entrance hole in the skull was located slightly higher than the exit hole, that is, the king was hit by a projectile flying in a downward trajectory, and therefore by a bullet fired by the enemy from the fortress. But the king was out of range of rifle fire!

The “Kaulbars carbine” from which Karl was allegedly killed belongs to the type of flint rifled fittings of the 17th century. A short barrel, faceted on the outside and very thick, of small caliber, contains straight and fairly frequent rifling inside. The following inscriptions are engraved on the outer edges of the barrel:

Adreas de Hudowycz. Herrmann Wrangel v Ellestfer - 1669.

It has been suggested that the lower inscription is the name of the gunsmith who made the fitting, and the upper one is one of the owners, before the fitting passed into the hands of Baron Johann Friedrich Kaulbars, Nikolai's ancestor.

The following are the engraved names of the persons who formed the immediate retinue of King Charles XII at Frederickshall:

Reinhold loh v. Vietinghoff.
Bogislaus V. D. Pahlen.
Hans Heinrich Fersen.
Gustaw Magnus Rehbinden.
lonannFndrichv. Kaulbars. 1718.
The information reported by Kaulbars forced Swedish criminologists to conduct a new investigation. In 1917, the sarcophagus was reopened, and an authoritative commission composed of historians and criminologists took up the matter. Experimental shots were fired at the dummy, angles were measured, ballistics were calculated, and the results were carefully processed and published. But the commission was unable to come to a final conclusion.

The examination showed that, being in the trench, Charles XII, due to the long distance, was practically invulnerable to rifle fire from the walls of Friedrichshall. But the conditions were ideal for an ambush. When Karl appeared at the break in the trench and, leaning out from behind the parapet, looked at the walls of the fortress, he was perfectly visible against the background of white snow. Firing an aimed shot at such a target was not particularly difficult. An excellent sniper shot: the bullet hit him right in the temple. The shooter was behind him at an angle of 12-15 degrees, slightly elevated, which is determined by the entrance and exit holes in Karl's skull.

The latter circumstance suggests that the position was not chosen by chance: upon hearing the sound of the shot, the people accompanying Karl involuntarily turned their gaze towards the enemy, towards the walls of Friedrichshall, and meanwhile the shooter disappeared.

Who shot the Swedish king?
Recently, a romantic hypothesis was put forward that the name of the killer was allegedly engraved on the barrel of the fitting, among other names - Adreas de Hudowycz (Adreas Gudovich), who was supposedly a Serb named Adrij Gudovich, and the Serbs supposedly had special reasons for killing the Swedish king. “He was of Serbian origin and was in the service of the Polish king Augustus. In 1719, he received from his hands a diploma confirming, in addition to the Serbian, his Polish count dignity for special merits... In the same year he left for Russia, enlisting in the Russian army as an officer, where his son Vasily Gudovich was born (1719 -1764). But even then this surname was not lost among Russian noble families,” etc., etc.

Judging by this passage, by the unknown Serb named Andrija (and not Adriy - there is no such name in Serbia) Gudovich, obviously means Andrei Pavlovich Gudovich, who in early XVIII century, together with his brother Stepan, he moved to Little Russia and served in the Ukrainian Cossack regiments. He actually had a son, Vasily Gudovich (died in 1764) - the general treasurer of Little Russia. Vasily's grandson, Ivan, a field marshal of the Russian army, was granted the dignity of count of the Russian Empire in 1797 The fact that allegedly one of the Gudovichs in 1719 received from the Polish King Augustus “a diploma confirming, in addition to the Serbian, his Polish count dignity,” has not yet been reported in the annals of history. As for the “Serbian” origin of the Gudovichs , then nothing was known about him either Gudovichi - old Polish noble family The ancestor - Stanislav, a nobleman of the Odrovonzh coat of arms, in 1567 received a charter from the king for the Gudayce estate, which is why the surname Gudovich originated. His direct descendant (great-grandson), descended from Stanislav's youngest son, Ivan, was Andrei Pavlovich Gudovich

However, there was another Andrei Gudovich - the grandson of A. P. Gudovich, a friend and closest ally of the emperor Peter III In 1762, he was sent to Courland to prepare for the election of the emperor’s uncle, Prince George (Georges) of Holstein, as Duke of Courland. Isn’t that when his name appeared on the notorious Kaulbars fitting9 And in general, what is the origin of the “Kaulbars fitting”, what is its history9 How authentic is it? King Charles was killed from it, because the examination did not seem to confirm this9

King Charles had many enemies and without any mythical Serbs. Versions have long been discussed that the king could have been killed by English agents or Swedes - oppositionists, supporters of the Prince of Hesse. Most likely, the latter - after all, after the death of Charles, the “Hessian party” gained the upper hand in the internal political struggle and Ulrika Eleonora, protege of the Hessians, ascended the throne Official investigation Charles did not die. The people of Sweden were told that their king had been killed by a cannonball, and the absence of his left eye and a huge wound on his head did not raise much doubt about this

Charles 12 (born June 17 (27), 1682 - death November 30 (December 11), 1718) Swedish king (1697) and commander, participant in the Northern and conquest wars against Russia. Defeated near Poltava (1709).
Charles 12 was perhaps one of the most extraordinary personalities of his era. It is difficult to find ordinary affairs and events in his life - all the feelings, views and actions of the monarch aroused genuine admiration, surprise, and sometimes shocked friends and enemies. They said about the king that he was not afraid of anything and had no weaknesses, and he brought his virtues to such excess that they often bordered on vices. In fact, the commander's firmness in most cases turned into stubbornness, justice into tyranny, and generosity into incredible extravagance.
Childhood, young years
Swedish King Charles 12 was born in 1682 in Stockholm. The marriage of his father, the Swedish King Charles 11, and his mother, the Danish Princess Ulrika Eleonora, was a union of people who were completely different in character. The despotic ruler instilled fear in his subjects, while the queen tried in every possible way to alleviate their lot, often giving away her jewelry and dresses to the unfortunate.
Unable to bear it ill-treatment husband, she died in 1693, when her son-heir was only 11 years old. He grew up strong, physically and spiritually developed, knew German perfectly and Latin languages. But even then the prince’s stubborn character and immoderate temper began to appear. To force a boy to learn something, it was necessary to hurt his pride and honor. Since childhood, the favorite hero of the future king was Alexander the Great; the young man admired him and wanted to be like the legendary commander in everything.
Ascension to the throne
Charles 11 died, leaving his 15-year-old son a throne respected in Europe, good army and healthy finances. According to Swedish laws, Charles 12 could immediately take the throne, but before his death, his father stipulated a delay until he came of age - 18 years old - and appointed his mother, Hedwig Eleonora, as regent of the state. She was a very ambitious person who tried with all her might to keep her grandson away from business.
The young king usually amused himself with hunting and military reviews. But more and more often he thought that he was already quite capable of governing the state. Once Karl shared his thoughts on this matter with State Councilor Pieper, and he enthusiastically took up the task of placing the young ruler on the throne, seeing this as an excellent opportunity to make his career. A few days later, the queen's power fell.
During the coronation, Charles 12 took the crown from the hands of the Archbishop of Uppsala, when he was about to place it on the head of the sovereign, and crowned himself. People greeted the young king and sincerely admired him.
The first years of the reign
In the first years of his reign, Charles 12 established himself as an impatient, careless and arrogant king who was not very interested in the affairs of state, and in the Council he sat with a bored look, his legs crossed on the table. His true nature has not yet begun to reveal itself.
Meanwhile, storm clouds were gathering over the monarch's head. A coalition of four powerful powers - Denmark, Saxony, Poland and Muscovy - wanted to limit Sweden's dominance in the Baltic. 1700 - these states launched the Northern War against Charles 12 and his state.
Considering the current situation threatening, many of the advisers offered to negotiate with the enemies, but the monarch rejected all their arguments and said: “Gentlemen, I have decided never to wage an unjust war, but, having raised my arms in order to punish those who break the laws, I will not lay them down, until all my enemies are dead. I will attack the first one who rebels against me, and, I hope, by defeating him, I will instill fear in all others.” This warlike speech amazed the statesmen and became a turning point in the life of the ruler.
Preparing for war
Having ordered preparations for war, Charles 12 changed dramatically: he abandoned all pleasures and entertainment, began to dress like a simple soldier and eat the same way. In addition, he said goodbye to wine and women forever, not wanting the latter to influence his decisions. On May 8, the monarch left Stockholm at the head of the army. Karl could not even think that he would never return here...
Before leaving, the king brought order to the country and organized a defense council, which was supposed to deal with everything related to the army.
First victories
Karl won his first victory in Denmark. He laid siege to Copenhagen and later a short time mastered it. 1700, August 28 - a peace treaty was concluded between the two states. It should be noted that the Swedish army was very strong and well organized, so it was predicted to have a brilliant future. Strict discipline reigned in it, which the young monarch tightened even more. So, being under the walls of Copenhagen, Swedish soldiers regularly paid for the products that Danish peasants supplied them, and while peace negotiations were underway, they did not leave the camp. Such severity of Charles 12 towards the army contributed to its numerous victories.
The next success awaited the Swedes near Narva. Charles 12 was extremely outraged by the behavior of Peter 1, who invaded there. The fact is that Muscovite ambassadors more than once assured the Swedish king of an unbreakable peace between the two powers. Karl could not understand how anyone could break his promises. Filled with righteous anger, he entered the battle with the Russian troops, having several times fewer people than Peter 1. “Do you doubt that with my eight thousand brave men I will defeat eighty thousand Muscovites?” - Charles 12 angrily asked one of his generals, who tried to prove the complexity of this enterprise.
War with Poland
Charles defeated the Russian army, and this became one of his brilliant victories. He carried out no less successful actions in Poland and Saxony. During 1701-1706. he conquered these countries and occupied their capitals, and in addition ensured that the Polish king Augustus 2 signed the Altranstadt Peace Treaty and abdicated the throne. In this place, the Swedish king placed the young Stanislav Leszczynski, who made a favorable impression on him and later became a loyal friend.
Peter 1 well understood the threat posed by the Swedish army, led by a talented and courageous monarch. Therefore, he sought to conclude a peace treaty, but Karl stubbornly rejected all proposals, saying that they would discuss everything when the Swedish army entered Moscow.
Later he had to regret this action. In the meantime, Charles 12 considered himself an invulnerable chosen one of fate. They said that bullets couldn't kill him. He himself believed in his invincibility. And there were many reasons for this: dozens of battles won during the Northern War, ingratiation on the part of England and France, as well as the actions of Peter 1, dictated by fear of Swedish power.
War with Russia
So, Charles 12 decided to go to war against Russia. 1708, February - he captured Grodno and waited for the offensive warm days near Minsk. The Russians have not yet made serious attacks against the Swedes, exhausting their forces in small battles and destroying food, fodder - everything that could be useful to the enemy army.
1709 - the winter was so severe that it destroyed a significant part of the Swedish army: hunger and cold exhausted it more than the Russians. What was left of the once magnificent troops was 24,000 exhausted soldiers. However, Charles 12 remained dignified and calm in this situation. At this time he received news from Stockholm, which announced the death of his beloved sister, the Duchess of Holstein. This heavy loss was a serious blow for the monarch, but did not break him: he did not abandon his intention to march on Moscow. In addition, no help arrived from Sweden, and the help of the Ukrainian Hetman Mazepa turned out to be weak.
Poltava campaign
At the end of May 1709, Charles besieged Poltava, which, according to Mazepa, had a large supply of food. The latter referred to allegedly intercepted information about this. The Swedes spent a lot of time storming the fortress, which actually had nothing in it, and found themselves surrounded by Russian troops.

On June 16, Karl 12 was wounded in the heel by a shot from a carbine. This wound refuted the legend of his invulnerability and led to serious consequences - the actions of the army during Battle of Poltava the monarch drove from a hastily constructed stretcher.
Battle and defeat near Poltava
The battle of Poltava took place on June 27 (July 8), 1709. The surprise that Karl, as usual, counted on, did not work out: Menshikov’s cavalry discovered Swedish columns that were moving in the silence of the night. The battle ended with the complete defeat of the Swedes. Only Charles 12, Mazepa and several hundred soldiers managed to escape.
The Poltava defeat destroyed not only the Swedish army, but also the Swedish great power. It seemed that everything was lost, but Karl was not going to give up. He fled to the Turks and met a worthy reception there. But although the Sultan showered the king with honors and expensive gifts, he was just a prisoner. The Swedish monarch put a lot of effort into ensuring that the Ottoman Porte declared war on Russia, but the Turkish government did not share Charles’s views and was in no hurry to quarrel with the tsar.
Bender seat
Charles 12 lived in luxury in Bendery. As soon as he recovered from the wound and was able to sit in the saddle, he immediately began his usual activities: he rode a lot, taught soldiers and played chess. The monarch spent the money he received from the Porte on intrigue, bribery and gifts to the Janissaries guarding him.
Charles continued to hope that he could force Turkey to fight, and did not agree to return home. With the help of his agents, he desperately intrigued and removed the viziers. In the end, he managed to provoke the Turks into a war with Russia. But the short war ended with the signing of a peace treaty on August 1, 1711 and did not harm Peter 1 special harm. The Swedish king was furious and reproached the Grand Vizier for signing the peace treaty. In response, he strongly advised the monarch to leave Turkey and eventually return home.
Karl refused and spent several more years in Turkey, despite the fact that the Sultan and the government openly told him about the need to return to Sweden. It seems that Porta is already tired of the annoying guest and his adventures, which the Swedish king embarked on at every step to achieve his goal.
Return and death
1714 - realizing the futility of his stay in Turkey, the Swedish king Charles 12 left its borders and returned to his homeland, torn apart by enemies. Therefore, the monarch immediately set about reorganizing the army and... without having yet solved all the state problems, in March 1716 he went to fight his enemies in Norway.
During the siege of the Frederikshall fortress, when the tireless monarch was personally inspecting the trenches, he was overtaken by a stray bullet. On December 11, 1718, the life of one of the great warriors and kings of Europe was cut short. The throne was inherited by Ulrika's sister Eleonora, who after some time abandoned it in favor of her husband.
Charles 12 - a personality in history
King Charles remained in history as greatest conqueror and a great stubborn man. He was not like other monarchs, he fought not to strengthen his position, but for the sake of glory, and loved to give out crowns. His stubbornness and reluctance to realistically assess the superiority of the enemy led to the defeat of the Swedish army and deprived Sweden of its position as the leading power in Europe.
However, at the same time, King Charles always remained interesting personality, which attracted many loyal friends to his side. He never boasted of victories, but he also did not know how to suffer for long from defeats. The king hid his sorrows deep within himself and rarely gave vent to his emotions. Legends were made about his composure and equanimity in all cases of life.
Voltaire wrote: “Once, when Karl was dictating a letter to his secretary to Sweden, a bomb hit the house and, breaking through the roof, exploded in the next room and smashed the ceiling into splinters. However, not only was the king’s office undamaged, but even through the open door not a single fragment got inside. During the explosion, when it seemed that the whole house was collapsing, the pen fell from the secretary's hands. ""What's the matter? - asked the king. “Why don’t you write?” - “Sir, bomb!” - “But what does the bomb have to do with it, your job is to write a letter. Continue."
This was the Swedish king Charles 12: fearless, intelligent, courageous, who “valued the lives of his subjects as little as his own.”
A. Ziolkovskaya

Mikhail Dubinyansky

CHARLES XII: NORTHERN ALEXANDER THE GREAT

“His policies deprived Sweden of its former international position, upset its finances and threw its administration into complete disorder. Nevertheless, thanks to a life full of heroic adventures, he still remains the most popular king of Sweden,” is how the Swedish history textbook characterizes this extraordinary monarch. Charles XII is well known to our compatriots. True, they know him mainly as an opponent of Peter I and an ally of Hetman Mazepa. Meanwhile, he was one of the most prominent personalities of his time

The son of the Swedish King Charles XI and Queen Ulrika Eleonora, Charles XII was born in Stockholm on June 17, 1682. His parents had six children, but the three youngest sons died in infancy. The father often took the only heir on trips around the country, introducing him to future possessions. The idols of the Swedish prince were famous kings and generals of antiquity. After reading the biography of Alexander the Great, Charles exclaimed: “I will become just like him!” The teacher noticed that Alexander lived only 33 years. “Is this not enough for the conqueror of so many kingdoms?” - answered the heir.

With the support of the courtiers, Charles managed to achieve his goal - in November 1697 he was recognized as an adult and crowned. Ceremony was marked by one of those daring antics that subsequently invariably accompanied the reign of the new monarch: Charles snatched the royal crown from the hands of the archbishop and, with a defiant look, placed it on his head. The miraculous transformation of a carefree reveler into a skilled military leader was discovered in April 1700.

One day, the young Swedish monarch said goodbye to his grandmother and sisters, saying that he would go to have fun at the country palace of Kungser. Charles XII actually left Stockholm, but never arrived in Kungser. The resourceful king managed to gather an army of 15 thousand, without attracting too much attention, load it onto ships and land troops near the walls of defenseless Copenhagen, taking the Danes by surprise. Under the threat of bombing the city, he forced Frederick IV to capitulate. Denmark was withdrawn from the war. Military victories inspired Charles XII. War ceased to be a political instrument for him, turning into an end in itself.

Being completely devoted to military affairs, the Swedish monarch led a lifestyle simple soldier. He wore a blue cloth uniform, and everyone who did not know his face took him for an ordinary Reiter officer, and not of the highest rank. The king did not take off his dirty boots for months and slept clothed - in a camp bed or simply on the bare ground. The weaker sex did not enjoy either the royal favor or his trust. “Love will spoil any hero!” - Karl stated.

The Battle of Poltava nullified all the previous victories of the Swedes: Augustus II regained the Polish crown and again opposed Sweden, Denmark also renewed its military alliance with Russia. But the Turks greeted Charles XII as an honored guest. Sultan Ahmed III provided the Swedish king with a residence in Bendery, on the territory of modern Moldova. Here Karl spent about four years. All this time, the Swedish monarch, hoping to take revenge for the Poltava fiasco, tried to involve Ottoman Empire in the war against the Russian Tsar. The presence of the restless guest soon began to weigh on Ahmed III, and he began to delicately hint to Charles XII that it was time to know the honor. Realizing that it would not be possible to send the Iron Head out amicably, Ahmed III was forced to take extreme measures.

A 14,000-strong Turkish army approached the residence of the Swedish monarch. Hoping to starve out the overstaying guest, the Sultan prohibited the delivery of food to the Swedish camp. But Charles XII decided to hold out until the last and readily plunged into his native military element. There were about 700 people in his camp, including his retinue and servants. By order of Karl, all the Swedes, down to the last cook, armed themselves. At the same time, Karl was not at all worried about the fact that his native Sweden had been left without a monarch for years.

Once the Swedish Senate dared to complain about the long absence of the head of state. When this complaint was reported to Charles XII, the impudent king sent the senators a plenipotentiary deputy - his dirty soldier's boot... Charles XII lived only two years longer than his idol Alexander the Great. Sweden was defeated in the Northern War, lost whole line territories and forever lost its status as a great power.

Abandoning imperial ambitions, the Swedes beat their swords into plowshares and soon turned their homeland into one of the most prosperous European countries. The daredevil king, obsessed with war, taught his compatriots to appreciate peaceful life and simple human happiness.

Danish campaign

In 1700, the anti-Swedish coalition launched military operations in the Baltic states. Poland with Saxony, Denmark with Norway and Russia entered into an alliance on the eve of the Northern War. But 18-year-old Charles XII turned out to be more insightful than his older monarch-opponents could have predicted.

Charles's first military campaign was directed against Denmark, whose king at the time was his cousin Frederick IV of Denmark, which in the summer of 1700 attacked the Swedish ally Frederick IV of Holstein-Gottorp (another cousin of Charles XII, married to his sister Hedwig-Sophia). Charles and an expeditionary force unexpectedly landed at Copenhagen, and Denmark sued for peace, but the rise of Sweden in the Baltic caused discontent among two major neighbors: the Russian Tsar Peter I, as well as the Polish king Augustus II (he was a cousin of both Charles XII and Frederick IV of Denmark ; back in February, his Saxon troops besieged the center of the Swedish Baltic - the fortress city of Riga, but news of the defeat of Denmark forced Augustus II to retreat).

North War

Battle of Narva

Having invaded the Swedish Baltic states in the summer of 1700, Russian troops under the command of Peter I besieged the nearby fortresses of Narva and Ivangorod with a single garrison. In response to this, the Swedish expeditionary force led by Charles, which so successfully brought Denmark out of the war, crossed by sea to Pärnu (Pernov) and moved to help the besieged. On November 30, Charles decisively attacked the Russian army with Field Marshal de Croix left in command by Peter I at Narva. In this stubborn battle, the Russian army was almost three times superior to the Swedish army (9-12 thousand with 37 guns for the Swedes against 32-35 thousand Russians with 184 guns). Advancing under the cover of a snowstorm, the Swedes came close to the Russian positions, stretched thin line in front of the walls of Narva, and with short blows they broke through them in several places. Commander de Croix and many foreign officers, fleeing from being beaten by their own soldiers, surrendered to the Swedes. The central part of the Russian troops began a disorderly retreat to their right flank, where the only pontoon bridge was located, which could not withstand the large crowd of people and collapsed, many drowned. The Preobrazhensky regiment and other guard regiments on the right flank managed to repel the attacks of the Swedes, the infantry on the left flank also held out, the battle ended with the surrender of the Russian troops due to their complete defeat. Losses in killed, drowned in the river and wounded amounted to about 7,000 people (versus 677 killed and 1,247 wounded for the Swedes). All artillery (179 guns) was lost, 700 people were captured, including 56 officers and 10 generals. Under the terms of surrender (Russian units, except those who surrendered during the battle, were allowed to cross over to their own, but without weapons, banners and convoys), the Swedes received 20 thousand muskets and the tsar’s treasury of 32 thousand rubles, as well as 210 banners.

Polish campaign

Charles XII then turned his army against Poland, defeating Augustus II and his Saxon army (Augustus the Strong, having been elected King of Poland, remained hereditary Elector of Saxony) at the Battle of Kliszow in 1702. After the removal of Augustus II from the Polish throne, Charles replaced him with his protégé Stanisław Leszczyński.

Campaign to the Hetmanate and Poltava defeat

Bender seat. A crisis

Monument to Charles XII in Stockholm. The king points towards Russia.

Failed marriages

The King of Sweden could marry twice; two contenders are known in history:

• Charlotte Christina Sophia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel is the wife of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich. Her grandfather Anton Ulrich of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel first intended to marry her off during the Northern War, but these plans were not destined to come true, as he decided that if Tsar Peter won, he would marry his granddaughter to his son Alexei
• Maria Casimira Sobieska was betrothed to Charles XII. Maria was the daughter of Jakub Ludwik Sobieski and the granddaughter of King John III of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and was also a relative English house Stewart and was 14 years younger than Charles.

Estimated characteristics of descendants

War crimes

Image in culture

In cinema

• Edgar Garrick (“Peter the Great”, USSR, 1937).
• Daniel Olbrychski (“Countess Kossel”, Poland, 1968).
• Emmanuel Vitorgan (“Dmitry Kantemir”, USSR, 1973).
• Christoph Eichhorn (“Peter the Great”, USA, 1986).
• Nikita Dzhigurda (“Prayer for Hetman Mazepa”, Ukraine, 2001).
• Eduard Flerov (“Servant of the Sovereign”, Russia, 2007).
• Victor Gillenberg ("

The decisive role in achieving victory at Narva in 1700 undoubtedly belonged to King Charles XII. He carried out the unexpected arrival of the Swedish army near Narva for the Russians. He is the main organizer of the battle. With his immense thirst for battle and courage, and personal example, he inspired his warriors. They believed in him and worshiped him. It has long been known: courage is the beginning of victory. In the battle near Narva, the 18-year-old Swedish king showed off his talent as a commander, extraordinary military success and happiness, he covered Swedish weapons with glory.

In 1700, Denmark, Poland and Russia began the Northern War against Sweden. The 28-year-old Russian Tsar Peter I led a 32,000-strong army to Narva and besieged the city.

The Swedish throne was then occupied by the 18-year-old King Charles XII - an extraordinary and far from ambiguous personality. He was born on June 17, 1682. His father Charles XI left his son a first-rate European kingdom with a strong economy, excellent system government controlled, a strong army and navy, extensive overseas possessions outside the metropolis. He died in 1697, when his son was 15 years old.

Having become king, Charles XII got rid of guardianship after 7 months and became a sovereign monarch. The young king was a warrior by vocation; already at the age of 7 he dreamed of military campaigns, envied the glory of Alexander the Great and persistently prepared himself for this field. He despised luxury, walked without a wig, in a simple blue uniform, observed a soldier's regimen, developed extraordinary strength in himself through gymnastics, paid special attention to the art of war, the possession of all types of weapons, loved hunting bears and other animals, was hot-tempered and quick-tempered, inflamed like powder.

He wasn't scared Triple Alliance states and the upcoming war. On April 13, 1700, the king left Stockholm, announcing to his relatives that he was going to have fun at Kungser Castle, and he himself, with a 5,000-strong army on ships, rushed to the Danish shores. He took Denmark by surprise, and under the threat of the destruction of Copenhagen, the Danish king Frederick IV was forced to make peace. Denmark left the war.

Having dealt with one enemy, the king rushed to besieged Riga. The Polish king Augustus II, fearing the approaching Swedes, lifted the siege of the city on September 15 and retreated without a fight.

Now the Swedes were waiting for Narva, besieged by Russian troops. On September 20, 1700, a Swedish flotilla consisting of 9 ships and two frigates raised sails in Karlskrona and moved to the shores of Estonia. On September 25, the squadron arrived at the port of Pernov (now Pärnu). Approaching the shore on the yacht "Sofia", the king was so inflamed with the desire to reach it quickly that he lost caution and almost drowned. The brave General Renschild saved him.

The young king's thirst for battle and self-confidence knew no bounds.

Do you really think that 8,000 brave Swedes cannot cope with 80,000 Moscow men? - he declared to his entourage.

On November 19, 1700, by noon, the Swedes deployed their battle formations in front of the positions of the Russians besieging Narva. Before the battle, in full view of his army, Charles XII dismounted from his horse, knelt down, said a prayer for victory, hugged the generals and soldiers standing nearby, kissed them, and mounted his horse. Exactly at 2 o'clock shouting:

God is with us! - The Swedes rushed to attack.

The balance of forces was as follows: Russians - 32,000, Swedes - 8,000. At the very beginning of the battle, the center of the Russians was crushed, and their disorderly retreat and flight began. On the left flank, Weide's division, retreating, began to push Sheremetev's mounted militia towards the waterfalls. The stormy Narova and its waterfalls swallowed up more than 1,000 riders and horses. On the right flank, Golovin's division, retreating in panic, rushed to the floating bridge. It couldn't bear the load and burst. And here the waves of the Narova swallowed up their victims en masse. To this the king remarked contemptuously:

There is no pleasure in fighting the Russians, because they do not resist like others, but run.

Only the Preobrazhensky, Semenovsky and Lefortov regiments and the gunners-artillerymen steadfastly repelled the attacks of the Swedes. The king was undaunted; combat was his element. There, in the thick of the battle, he himself led his soldiers to attack several times. During the battle, the king fell into a swamp, got stuck with his horse in a quagmire, lost his boot and sword, and was rescued by his retinue. The bullet hit him in the tie. A cannonball killed a horse underneath him. Surprised by the steadfastness of the three Russian regiments, the king exclaimed:

What men are like!

The losses of the young, insufficiently trained, unfired Russian army in battles were enormous: 6,000 killed, 151 banners, 145 guns, 24,000 guns, the treasury and the entire convoy. Many foreign generals and officers, led by the commander Duke de Croix, surrendered to Charles XII. The Swedes lost 1,200 people.

Victory, as you know, is always attributed to the talent of the commander and the courage of the soldiers, and defeat is explained by a fatal accident. The decisive role in achieving victory at Narva in 1700 undoubtedly belonged to King Charles XII. He carried out the unexpected arrival of the Swedish army near Narva for the Russians. He is the main organizer of the battle. With his immense thirst for battle and courage, and personal example, he inspired his warriors. They believed in him and worshiped him. It has long been known: courage is the beginning of victory. In the battle near Narva, the 18-year-old Swedish king showed off his talent as a commander, extraordinary military success and happiness, he covered Swedish weapons with glory.

On November 22, 1700, accompanied by a brilliant retinue, Charles XII and his troops solemnly entered Narva. A thanksgiving prayer service was held in the temple. The celebration of the winners was accompanied by the firing of cannons and rifles. Rudolf Horn, who led the defense of Narva Genting, was promoted to general. In honor of the victory, 14 medals were knocked out, incl. two are satirical. One of them depicts a crying Tsar Peter I running from Narva, his hat falls from his head, his sword is thrown away, the inscription: “He went out and cried bitterly.”

The victory turned the head of the young victorious king; he believed in God’s providence. He had a map of Russia hanging in his bedroom, and he showed his generals the road to Moscow, hoping to quickly and easily reach the heart of Russia. General Stenbock:

The king thinks about nothing more than war, he no longer listens to advice; he looks as if God were directly instilling in him what he should do.

Charles XII mistakenly considered Russia to be out of the war and refused a profitable peace with it.

In 1701, Charles XII decided which of the unkilled enemies to deal with, since victory in battle is not yet victory in the war. The choice fell on the king of Poland, the Saxon elector Augustus P. Having won several victories in battles, he managed to oust Augustus II from Poland, deprive him of the royal crown, and impose on the Poles a new king, Stanislav Leszczynski, who had previously been the Poznan voivode. Poland then became an ally of Sweden. All this took several years.

At this time, having recovered from the Narva defeat, the Russian army began to gain ground on the banks Baltic Sea victory after victory (Erestfer near Dorpat, Noteburg, Nyenschanz, Dorpat, Narva, etc.). Despite this, Charles XII's self-confidence continued to remain boundless. Having received news of construction. Peter I of St. Petersburg, the king grinned:

Let him build. It will still be ours.

After a series of victories in Poland and Saxony, the rested army of Charles XII invaded Russian territory in the spring of 1708. He intended to defeat the Russian army in one battle, capture Moscow and force Peter I to conclude a profitable peace. But the Russian army did not follow the royal will. Avoiding a general battle, it retreated to the east, with the goal of “tormenting the enemy” with attacks by small detachments and the destruction of provisions and forage.

Failures began to follow one after another. Big hopes against the Ukrainian Hetman Mazepa were not justified. Levenhaupt's 16,000-strong corps, coming from the Baltic states to replenish the army of Charles XII, was defeated on September 28, 1708 near the village of Lesnoye, while the Russians got all 8 thousand carts with food, gunpowder, cannons and fodder. An unkind but prophetic rumor spread throughout the army: “Karl is looking for death because he sees a bad end.”

“The invincible Swedes soon showed their backbone,” wrote Peter I from the battlefield. At the battle site, the Swedes left 9 thousand corpses, 20 thousand surrendered. The day before, Charles XII, wounded in the leg, together with Mazepa, accompanied by a small detachment, barely escaped captivity by taking refuge in Turkish possessions.

For another 6 years, pride did not allow the unfinished king to return to his fatherland. He unsuccessfully tried to end Russia with the wrong hands, dreaming of entering Moscow at the head of the Turkish cavalry. However, the Turkish Sultan Ahmed III was content with the return of Azov, and on July 12, 1711 Russian-Turkish war ended with the signing of peace.

The Sultan was tired of the whims, claims and ambitions of the parasite king, and he ordered the “iron head” to be sent home. But the king of Sweden was not used to carrying out other people's orders. Then the Sultan sent the Janissaries. The king with a handful of his bodyguards fought off an entire army. The Janissaries set fire to the house. From the burning house, Charles XII decided to break into the neighboring house. With a pistol in one hand and a sword in the other, on his way out he caught his spurs on the threshold and fell. Then the Janissaries captured him.

Finally, in 1715, the warlike wandering king returned to Sweden. He once dreamed of returning with the triumph of a great commander and winner. Then he had reason to say:

God, my sword and the love of the people are my allies.

However, in the end, past victories and sacrifices were fruitless. After a 15-year absence, the country met its king devastated, depopulated, without an army, navy or allies, having lost all its overseas possessions. The plight was aggravated by crop failure and plague. It was necessary to increase taxes and issue copper money - “coins of need”.

The king saw a way out of this situation in the creation of a new army and new wars. But by that time, Sweden was no longer the same as before, and the king was not the same. On November 30, 1718, Charles XII was killed during the siege of the Norwegian fortress Frederikhall. Where the bullet that killed the king came from, whose it was - either Norwegian or Swedish - is still unclear.