“The Swedish War King” is not about a super fact. It is just what I think might be interesting information. Americans are obsessed with the British Royalty. However, there 43 monarchies around the world, including Sweden (my native country). Some of the kings and queens of the past are quite interesting.
The focus of this post is Karl XII or Carolus Rex, the Swedish War King who invaded Russia before Napoleon did. I made a list of Swedish monarchs that I find interesting. Then I will focus on Karl XII . The number following the name of the king is his/her time of reign.
- Olof Skötkonung, 995–1022, son of King Erik VII and Sigrid the Haughty. He was Sweden’s first Christian King. The Swedish Viking era ended during his reign.
- Erik IX, 1156 – 18 May 1160. Saint Erik was both a king and a saint. He tried to Christianize Finland and led the first crusade east. He was assassinated. Thereof his short reign.
- Gustav Vasa or Gustav I, 6 June 1523 – 29 September 1560. From 1389 to 1523, Sweden was often united with Denmark and Norway under the kings of the Kalmar Union. Sweden’s full independence was restored under Gustav I in 1523. Gustav was elected king in Strängnäs 6 June 1523. Therefore, June 6 is celebrated as Sweden’s Independence Day. The Danish king at the time was King Christian II. In Sweden he is referred to Christian the Tyrant and in Denmark as Christian the Good.
- Gustav II Adolf, 30 October 1611 – 6 November 1632. He is known as the “father of modern warfare”, or the first modern general, and under his reign Sweden became one of the great powers of Europe. Sweden was one of the primary military forces in Europe during the Thirty Years’ War (on the Protestant side). An estimated 4-8 million people died in the Thirty Years’ War, so this was a big war.
- Queen Christina, 6 November 1632 – 16 June 1654. She was the daughter Gustav II Adolf. Gustav Adolf was closely attached to his daughter, and he taught her everything about being a monarch. Ironically, she fought to end the Thirty Years’ War. She converted to Catholicism, abdicated, and moved to Rome.
- Carl XII, Charles XII, or Karl XII, or Carolus Rex, 5 April 1697 – 30 November 1718, was the Swedish War King, known for among other things invading Russia before Napoleon did. (see video below).
- Gustav III, 12 February 1771 – 29 March 1792, was an autocrat and a believer in enlightened absolutism (educated despots). He ended the age of liberty and took away most of the powers of the riksdag/congress. He was assassinated.
- Carl XIV Bernadotte or Charles XIV John, 5 February 1818 – 8 March 1844, was the king of Sweden and Norway. He was a former General in Napoleons army. Under his reign Sweden entered a long period of peace and neutrality that still lasts today. He is the founder of the current dynasty.
- Carl XVI Gustaf Bernadotte or as he sometimes spells it himself Cal XVI, 15 September 1973 – present. He is champion for the dyslexic community. He was formerly made fun of because of his problems with spelling. Not anymore. His work for the dyslexic community has earned him respect.
When Karl XII was king (5 April 1697 – 30 November 1718) Sweden was a large and powerful country. I should add that Sweden is viewed as a very small country, but it is significantly larger than California even today.
However, back when Karl XII became king Sweden included what is now Sweden, Finland, Estonia, parts of Norway, Denmark, Latvia, Germany, Poland, and Russia. Karl XII attempted to enlarge Sweden and in doing so he invaded Russia with a goal of taking Moscow and overthrow Tsar Peter the Great. It failed. The Russian winter killed the project.
According to the video below Karl XII was an inspiration for Napolean to do same thing. It was my blogger friend Debbie who alerted me this video. It is a bit long, 15 minutes, so you may want to watch only if you are really interested.
To see the Super Facts click here
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Hi Thomas, thank you for this interesting post. Does your current king only have female heirs or does the monarchy go to the oldest child regardless of gender?
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Thank you Robbie. The current king has two daughters and one son, but he is younger. In the past the monarchy went to the boy if there was one. However, they changed that so that it goes to the oldest child regardless of gender.
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Thanks for the mention, Thomas! 🙂 History is a favourite subject and I enjoyed learning more about Carolus Rex. I’m also happy to know the Swedish royal family no longer practices gender discrimination with its lineage. It was decades ahead of the British royals, who only changed the law in 2013.
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Thank you so much for finding it for me. I did not know the British Royals waited until 2013 to change that. That’s quite recent and not very forward looking.
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You’re welcome. 🙂 I don’t think there’s much about the British royals you could call progressive. Many of us in the Commonwealth think the monarchy should be abolished altogether.
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Yes it seems so. It used to be that Swedes wanted to get rid of the Royal family as well. It is such an unnecessary old fashioned tradition. However, the current Royal family is far from perfect but not in a moral way, but in a way that makes them more endearing. The King publicly spelled his name Cal XVI instead of Carl XVI. He has dyslexia. People were laughing but in the long run it makes people like him more. Him and his son both have dyslexia and they are now quite open about their struggles and are engaged in improving life and education for people with dyslexia and who does not like that. Victoria, who will be Queen and monarch after the king passes, appears to be very intelligent and comfortable in front of the camera whilst the king is not as skilled with that, creating a family dynamic that is interesting and fun to watch. And there are no ugly scandals. I think the Swedish monarchy will survive.
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The Swedish monarchy definitely appears to be less elitist, and the dyslexia situation makes them more relatable and popular. The Brits could learn something from them!
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Yes I think you are right Debbie
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Really interesting! 👑
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Thank you Luisa
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My sincere pleasure, Thomas!
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Interesting–definitely, Thomas! It’s nice the royalty actually looks happy. So many seem dour.
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Thank you Jacqui. They used to look like aristocratic stiffs but they act like a normal family now. It helps that Victoria (future Queen) is very comfortable and funny in front of the camera. Well about normal, they own dozens of palaces, one of them having 600 large rooms, and they cost the tax payer about 14 million dollars per year. But other than that they are normal family and people like them.
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Fascinating, Thomas. I had no idea that there are 43 monarchies. The photo of the current Swedish Royalty is lovely — and they all look happy! Thank you for sharing this.
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Thank you Gwen. Yes the Swedish Royal family is a pretty good one. No big scandals and no more stiff aristocraty. Just a happy modern family with dozens of large palaces that most Swedes are fine with paying for. I should say that Sweden is a democratic Monarchy and the US is a democratic Republic, so the systems are similar and the monarchy is mostly for show. Most monarchies are democracies.
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What a history, Thomas. For some reason, European history is like fantasy to me – kings and queens, palaces and castles, intrigue, war, assassinations, conquerors. It all feels so HUGE and panoramic. I had no idea that Sweden was such a world power at one time and covered so much territory. Thanks for the fascinating history.
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Thank you so much Diane. European history is complicated and Sweden shrunk a bit over the last 200 years, but it didn’t shrink as much as Denmark. I can add that Denmark and Sweden have been rivals on and off for a long time. Sweden and Denmark has fought 11 wars. That’s why when nationalists claim that countries today have the rights to old land that once belonged to them they don’t realize what an absurd claim that is. Land has been conquered, lost and reconquered many times, and for example, Poland has been floating around on the European map like an ice float in the sea. Old history cannot be used to set up borders today.
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That’s so interesting. I didn’t realize there are still land disputes. Doesn’t sound like a good use of time, unless it’s turned into some annual bit of fun.
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Well one major one right now is Russia vs. Ukraine
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Yeah, no kidding. So unnecessary and devastating.
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I agree. I saw some people on-line arguing that because Finland once belonged to Russia, it should belong to Russia now, and parts of northern Sweden should belong to Russia as well for the same reason. The people making this clueless argument weren’t even Russian. They were Americans. Almost every nation can claim the land of another nation this way.
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And they never mention that North America belonged to the Native Americans before it was stolen through mass genocide. Somehow they forget all about that!
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You are right and add that big parts of what is now United States belonged to Mexico, France, Spain, Holland, Sweden, etc. The amusement park six flags over Texas is named after the six nations that owned Texas at some point (excluding native Americans). The argument “it once belonged too….so they should have it now” is faulty.
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I would sure make a mess of things, wouldn’t it. 😀
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Yes it would. These types of nationalist arguments are nonsensical.
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I like the way you think, my friend. There’s nothing as refreshing and logic in an illogical world.
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Thank you for your knd words Diane.
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Chaplin: “Humans! Always getting into stupid fights over territory.”
Charlee: “Kind of like how you try to run me off the nice warm receiver when I’m sleeping up there even though you don’t really want my spot?”
Chaplin: “That’s different.”
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Ha ha dogs and people fighting over territory. Rollo thinks he is Carl XII when we take him for walks.
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