He faced pretty bad odds, but if he had made some different decisions early in the war or tried to force a peace when he had the upper hand northern/eastern europe could have been different today.
A little perspective... The battle of Poltava 1709 did not end the war. Perhaps it decided the outcome. Pls remember the war dragged on for another 12 years and Poltava wasn't even half way into it in time.. The Swedish army had been on foot for 9 (!) long years before Poltava. (Now just stop and think about that.) They still commenced the attack. It did end in disaster, though Peter in the early hours thought of defeat and made plans for a retreat as he saw the Caroleans in their traditional way kick the crap out of the Russians before getting mowed down.Sweden brought only 4 cannons to the battle but faced 280 Russian ones. Charles spent 5 years in the Ottoman Empire and still during this time with Charles off the field, Peter did not dare to invade Sweden itself. It says something about Peter's respect for the Swedish army. Peter would never engage the Swedes in any battle if he did not outnumber them at least 2.5 to one...
I suck at history but I do remember this not so fun fact. The projectile that went through Charles XII’s head was not a bullet, it was a button from a Swedish uniform. One popular theory is that he was killed by one of his own.
So glad I didn't have to wait a day, this is why I love your channel so much. Speaking of, perhaps later you could watch Oversimplifieds 3 part series on the Napoleonic wars.
Russia took over Finland in the early 1800s during the Finnish War, allowing it to stay autonomous. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Russia tried to force their culture on Finland harder, which created opposition, until Finland used the chaos in Russia during WWI to declare independence in 1917. Then the Soviet Union launched an unprovoked attack at Finland during WWII, and while they failed to invade the country completely in both the Winter War and the Continuation War, Finland still lost big bits of territory, forcing hundreds of thousands of Finns to relocate to elsewhere in Finland.
The whole Lapland War wouldn't have even happened if the Soviets hadn't been dicks and forced the Finns to actually fight them instead of letting them leave peacefully.
Wikipedia: "Germany conquered Norway in April-June 1940. The operation is progressing rapidly and Norway was badly surprised. 1939 Soldiers: (1000) France: 1005. Russia: 2485"
@@avenger6944 Being a Norwegian I find it hard to take responsibility for anything the Danes did. We're not Danes so no, not my responsibility. Swedes are known to be aggressiv and Carl 12 was a warmongerer, so sorry. I don't believe you.
@@TullaRask Well may I then suggest a history lesson or two... You've been under inbred Danish submission for god knows how many hundred's of years... That's one state or one country whether you like it or not. The fact you consider Karl being a warmongerer indicates you never set foot in a history class at all...
Thanks. Now I think you have a good attitude! WW2 Sweden was neutral. Germany occupied Norway easily. And in 1939-1945, Finland fought two Wars against the Soviet Union, the Winter War and the Continuation War, and one against Germany (the Lapland War). Be careful with the "Kings and Generals" channel .
To be fair it took Germany 6 weeks to take Norway, more than it took them to take France wich had the the largest standing army in the world at the time.
@@wiseomg To be fair. It would have taken more than 6 weeks to go from the south of Norway to the north back then. Unless you fly. There is a reason they built much of the highway that now is E6.
@@secularnevrosis Of course, but either way that fact stands, and also at that time the luftwaffe had full control of the air and airlifted alot of forces in, the first germans in Narvik in northern Norway arrived 9th of april the same day they reached Oslo the capital as you know is in the southern part. That being said it still is remarkable that France gave up faster than Norway, at that time we had a population of under 3 million and a very small army, mainly because of our stupid politicians at the time.
@@wiseomg Wikipedia: "Germany conquered Norway in April-June 1940. The operation is progressing rapidly and Norway was badly surprised. 1939 Soldiers: (1000) France: 1005. Russia: 2485"
Man watching Empires fall always feels like such a shame. Charles wasn't even incompetent though he was reckless.
He faced pretty bad odds, but if he had made some different decisions early in the war or tried to force a peace when he had the upper hand northern/eastern europe could have been different today.
A little perspective... The battle of Poltava 1709 did not end the war. Perhaps it decided the outcome. Pls remember the war dragged on for another 12 years and Poltava wasn't even half way into it in time.. The Swedish army had been on foot for 9 (!) long years before Poltava. (Now just stop and think about that.) They still commenced the attack. It did end in disaster, though Peter in the early hours thought of defeat and made plans for a retreat as he saw the Caroleans in their traditional way kick the crap out of the Russians before getting mowed down.Sweden brought only 4 cannons to the battle but faced 280 Russian ones. Charles spent 5 years in the Ottoman Empire and still during this time with Charles off the field, Peter did not dare to invade Sweden itself. It says something about Peter's respect for the Swedish army. Peter would never engage the Swedes in any battle if he did not outnumber them at least 2.5 to one...
I suck at history but I do remember this not so fun fact. The projectile that went through Charles XII’s head was not a bullet, it was a button from a Swedish uniform. One popular theory is that he was killed by one of his own.
So glad I didn't have to wait a day, this is why I love your channel so much. Speaking of, perhaps later you could watch Oversimplifieds 3 part series on the Napoleonic wars.
Russia took over Finland in the early 1800s during the Finnish War, allowing it to stay autonomous. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Russia tried to force their culture on Finland harder, which created opposition, until Finland used the chaos in Russia during WWI to declare independence in 1917. Then the Soviet Union launched an unprovoked attack at Finland during WWII, and while they failed to invade the country completely in both the Winter War and the Continuation War, Finland still lost big bits of territory, forcing hundreds of thousands of Finns to relocate to elsewhere in Finland.
The Lapland War: "There were about 213,000 men in the 20th German Mountain Army in northern Finland. And only about 30,000 men in Finland."
The whole Lapland War wouldn't have even happened if the Soviets hadn't been dicks and forced the Finns to actually fight them instead of letting them leave peacefully.
@@wikiuser92 Yes!
The war of the Spanish Succession ended in 1714, the Great Northern War in 1721.
Kings and generals have posted a video about the battle of narva
And it is still a mystery as to who shot the king... Was it the norwegians? Or was it the swedes themselves... such a sad ending, though.
Wikipedia: "Germany conquered Norway in April-June 1940. The operation is progressing rapidly and Norway was badly surprised. 1939 Soldiers: (1000) France: 1005. Russia: 2485"
Karl 12, good riddence. I remember from my school days how his troops died on their mountain retreat back to Sweden in the harsh winter weather.
Good riddence...??
@@avenger6944 Being a norwegian, getting rid of carl12 was a good thing.
@@TullaRask You and Denmark started the war with us in the first place.....
@@avenger6944 Being a Norwegian I find it hard to take responsibility for anything the Danes did. We're not Danes so no, not my responsibility. Swedes are known to be aggressiv and Carl 12 was a warmongerer, so sorry. I don't believe you.
@@TullaRask Well may I then suggest a history lesson or two... You've been under inbred Danish submission for god knows how many hundred's of years... That's one state or one country whether you like it or not. The fact you consider Karl being a warmongerer indicates you never set foot in a history class at all...
Up north we are strong like Russian
You seem to be much more than average at history in this parr of the world
Thanks. Now I think you have a good attitude! WW2 Sweden was neutral. Germany occupied Norway easily. And in 1939-1945, Finland fought two Wars against the Soviet Union, the Winter War and the Continuation War, and one against Germany (the Lapland War). Be careful with the "Kings and Generals" channel .
To be fair it took Germany 6 weeks to take Norway, more than it took them to take France wich had the the largest standing army in the world at the time.
@@wiseomg To be fair. It would have taken more than 6 weeks to go from the south of Norway to the north back then. Unless you fly. There is a reason they built much of the highway that now is E6.
@@secularnevrosis Of course, but either way that fact stands, and also at that time the luftwaffe had full control of the air and airlifted alot of forces in, the first germans in Narvik in northern Norway arrived 9th of april the same day they reached Oslo the capital as you know is in the southern part.
That being said it still is remarkable that France gave up faster than Norway, at that time we had a population of under 3 million and a very small army, mainly because of our stupid politicians at the time.
@@wiseomg Wikipedia: "Germany conquered Norway in April-June 1940. The operation is progressing rapidly and Norway was badly surprised. 1939 Soldiers: (1000) France: 1005. Russia: 2485"
@@wiseomg Winter War: Losses of the Soviet Union 126,875. Losses of Finland 26,662.
Charles got killed by the patriotic Norwegian forces :D , well deserved of course.🇳🇴
F
No one knows who exactly fired the shot that killed him.
@@wikiuser92 You're right, but i assumed it had to be a patriot, wich is probably right to assume☺
@@wiseomg You're free to assume that, but you can't be sure.
@@wikiuser92 Well unless he was shot by his own forces, wich is highly unlikely, i can ballpark it around 99,9%