Swedish King Charles XII
   HOME



picture info

Swedish King Charles XII
Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII () or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 O.S.), was King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of Wittelsbach. Charles was the only surviving son of Charles XI and Ulrika Eleonora the Elder. He assumed power, after a seven-month caretaker government, at the age of fifteen. 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 take advantage of the Swedish Empire being unaligned and ruled by a young and inexperienced king, thus initiating the Great Northern War. Leading the Swedish army against the alliance, Charles won multiple victories despite being significantly outnumbered. A major victory over a much larger Russian army in 1700, at the Battle of Narva, compelled Peter the Great to sue for peace, an offer ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

List Of Swedish Monarchs
This list records the Monarchy of Sweden, monarchs of Sweden, from the late Viking Age to the present day. Sweden has continuously been a monarchy since the country's consolidation in the Viking Age and early Middle Ages, for over a thousand years. The incumbent royal dynasty of Sweden is the House of Bernadotte, established on the throne in 1818. History There were organized political structures in Sweden before the kingdom was unified; based on archaeological evidence, early tribal societies are believed to have transitioned into organized chiefdoms in the first few centuries AD, perhaps spurred by contacts with the Roman Empire and the rest of Europe. In the period AD 500–800, Scandinavian societies began adopting cultural elements from the newly established Germanic kingdoms in Europe, transitioning further into petty kingdoms. Archaeological evidence suggests that were numerous petty kingdoms throughout modern-day Sweden. Foreign sources and later native sources descri ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Swedish Army
The Swedish Army () is the army, land force of the Swedish Armed Forces of the Kingdom of Sweden. Beginning with its service in 1521, the Swedish Army has been active for more than 500 years. History Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1521, when the men of Dalarna chose 16 young able men as Royal guard, body guards for the insurgent nobleman Gustav Vasa in the Swedish War of Liberation, war against the Union of Kalmar, thus making the present-day Life Guards (Sweden), Life Guards List of oldest military units and formations in continuous operation, one of the world's oldest regiments still on active duty. In 1901, Sweden introduced conscription. The conscription system was abolished in 2010 but reinstated in 2017. Organisation The peace-time organisation of the Swedish Army is divided into a number of regiments for the different branches. The number of active regiments has been reduced since the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s. However the Swedish Army has begun ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Great Northern War
In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance were Peter the Great, Peter I of Russia, Frederick IV of Denmark, Frederick IV of Denmark–Norway and Augustus II the Strong of Electorate of Saxony, Saxony–Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Poland–Lithuania. Frederick IV and Augustus II were defeated by Sweden, under Charles XII, and forced out of the alliance in 1700 and 1706 respectively, but rejoined it in 1709 after the defeat of Charles XII at the Battle of Poltava. George I of Great Britain and the Electorate of Hanover joined the coalition in 1714 for Hanover and in 1717 for Britain, and Frederick William I of Prussia, Frederick William I of Brandenburg-Prussia joined it in 1715. Charles XII led the Swedish army. Swedish allies included Holstein-Gottorp, sev ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Swedish Ingria
Swedish Ingria (, ‘land of Ingrians’) was a dominion of the Swedish Empire from 1583 to 1595 and then again from 1617 to 1721 in what is now the territory of Russia. At the latter date, it was ceded to the Russian Empire in the Treaty of Nystad, at the end of the Great Northern War between the two empires. History Ingria had fallen to Sweden in the 1580s and as a consequence of the Treaty of Plussa (1583), Sweden kept the Ingrian towns of Ivangorod (Ivanslott), Jamburg (Jama/Jamo) and Koporye (Kaprio) together with their hinterland. Russia only kept a narrow passage to the Baltic Sea at the estuary of the Neva River, between Strelka and Sestra Rivers. The region was returned to Russia by the Treaty of Teusina (1595), and again ceded together with the remainder of Ingria and the County of Kexholm to Sweden in the Treaty of Stolbovo (1617) that concluded the Ingrian War. The area ran along the basin of the Neva River, between the Gulf of Finland, the Narva River ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Swedish Livonia
Swedish Livonia () was a dominion of the Swedish Empire from 1629 until 1721. The territory, which constituted the southern part of modern Estonia (including the island of Ösel ceded by Denmark after the Treaty of Brömsebro) and the northern part of modern Latvia (the Vidzeme region), represented the conquest of the major part of the Polish-Lithuanian Duchy of Livonia during the 1600–1629 Polish-Swedish War. Parts of Livonia and the city of Riga were under Swedish control as early as 1621 and the situation was formalized in the Truce of Altmark 1629, but the whole territory was not ceded formally until the Treaty of Oliva in 1660. The minority part of the Wenden Voivodeship retained by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was renamed the Inflanty Voivodeship ("''Livonian Principality''"), which today corresponds to the Latgale region of Latvia. Riga was the second largest city in the Swedish Empire at the time. Together with other Baltic Sea dominions, Livonia served ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Holstein-Gottorp
Holstein-Gottorp () is the historiographical name, as well as contemporary shorthand name, for the parts of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, also known as Ducal Holstein, that were ruled by the dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, a side branch of the elder Danish line of the German House of Oldenburg. Other parts of the duchies were ruled by the kings of Denmark. The territories of Gottorp are located in present-day Denmark and Germany. The main seat of the dukes was Gottorf Castle in the city of Schleswig in the duchy of Schleswig. It is also the name of the ducal house, which ascended to several thrones. For this reason, genealogists and historians sometimes use the name of Holstein-Gottorp for related dynasties of other countries. The formal title adopted by these rulers was "Duke of Schleswig, Holstein, Dithmarschen and Stormarn", but that title was also used by his kinsmen, the kings of Denmark and their cadet branches, as it was the common property of all thes ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Tsardom Of Russia
The Tsardom of Russia, also known as the Tsardom of Moscow, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of tsar by Ivan the Terrible, Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great in 1721. From 1550 to 1700, Russia grew by an average of per year. The period includes the Time of Troubles, upheavals of the transition from the Rurik Dynasty, Rurik to the House of Romanov, Romanov dynasties, wars with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Swedish Empire, Sweden, and the Ottoman Empire, and the Russian conquest of Siberia, to the reign of Peter the Great, who took power in 1689 and transformed the tsardom into an empire. During the Great Northern War, he implemented government reform of Peter I, substantial reforms and proclaimed the Russian Empire after Treaty of Nystad, victory over Sweden in 1721. Name While the oldest Endonym and exonym, endonyms of the Grand Principality of Moscow used in its documents were "Rus'" () and ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, existing from 1569 to 1795. This state was among the largest, most populated countries of 16th- to 18th-century Europe. At its peak in the early 17th century, the Commonwealth spanned approximately and supported a multi-ethnic population of around 12 million as of 1618. The official languages of the Commonwealth were Polish language, Polish and Latin Language, Latin, with Catholic Church, Catholicism as the state religion. The Union of Lublin established the Commonwealth as a single entity on 1 July 1569. The two nations had previously been in a personal union since the Union of Krewo, Krewo Agreement of 1385 (Polish–Lithuanian union) and the subsequent marriage of Queen Jadwiga of Poland to Grand Duke Jogaila of Lithuania, who was cr ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Electorate Of Saxony
The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony ( or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a major Holy Roman state, being an Prince-elector, electorate and the original protecting power of Protestant principalities until that role was later taken by its neighbor, Brandenburg-Prussia. In the Golden Bull of 1356, Emperor Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV designated the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg an electorate, a territory whose ruler was one of the prince-electors who chose the Holy Roman emperor. After the extinction of the male Saxe-Wittenberg line of the House of Ascania in 1422, the duchy and the electorate passed to the House of Wettin. The electoral privilege was tied only to the Electoral Circle, specifically the territory of the former Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg. In the 1485 Treaty of Leipzig, the Wettin noble house w ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Caretaker Government
A caretaker government, also known as a caretaker regime, is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it consists of either randomly selected members of parliament or outgoing members until their dismissal. Caretaker governments in representative democracies are usually limited in their function, serving only to maintain the '' status quo'', rather than truly govern and propose new legislation. Unlike the government it is meant to temporarily replace, a caretaker government does not have a legitimate mandate (electoral approval) to exercise aforementioned functions. Definition Caretaker governments may be put in place when a government in a parliamentary system is defeated in a motion of no confidence, or in the case when the house to which the government is responsible is dissolved, to be in place for an interim period until an electi ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Ulrika Eleonora The Elder
Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark (11 September 1656 – 26 July 1693) was Queen of Sweden as the wife of King Charles XI. She is often admired for her generosity and charity. The name ''Ulrike'' is a Danish version of the name; in Swedish she is called ''Ulrika Eleonora den äldre'' (English: ''Ulrica Eleanor the Elder''), to distinguish her from her daughter, the future queen regnant. Life Early life and marriage Ulrika Eleonora was the daughter of King Frederick III of Denmark-Norway and his spouse, Queen Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg. She was given a strict upbringing under the supervision of her mother: she was taught several different languages, and was reportedly a good student in drawing and painting. In 1675 she was betrothed to King Charles XI of Sweden. The purpose of the match, though from the Swedish viewpoint, was to prevent Denmark from forming an alliance with the enemies of Sweden. Her brother, the King of Denmark-Norway, was not enthusiastic about t ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

House Of Wittelsbach
The House of Wittelsbach () is a former Bavarian dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including the Electorate of Bavaria, the Electoral Palatinate, the Electorate of Cologne, County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, Zeeland, Sweden (with Finland under Swedish rule, Swedish-ruled Finland), Denmark, Norway, Kingdom of Hungary, Hungary, Kingdom of Bohemia, Bohemia, and Kingdom of Greece, Greece. Their ancestral lands of Bavaria and the Electoral Palatinate, Palatinate were prince-electorates, and the family had three of its members elected emperors and kings of the Holy Roman Empire. They ruled over the Kingdom of Bavaria which was created in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. The House of Windsor, the reigning royal house of the British monarchy, are descendants of Sophia of Hanover (1630–1714), a Wittelsbach Princess of the Palatinate by birth and List of Hanoverian royal consorts, Electress of Hanover by marriage, who had inherited the success ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]