Simple Swedish Podcast - #270 - Karl XII och stora nordiska kriget

Episode Date: February 26, 2025

Nivå: ~A2-B1 Karl XII (den tolfte) är en av de mest omdebatterade och kontroversiella figurerna i svensk historia. Ett av de mest framgångsrika militära genierna men också personen som gjorde att Sverige förlorade sin status som stormakt i Europa. Om du gillar historia måste du lyssna på det här avsnittet! --- Vill du leva ditt liv på svenska i 9 dagar i sommar? Vill du åka på en fantastisk semester till en av de svenskaste platserna som finns? Vill du få en upplevelse du aldrig kommer glömma och få självförtroende i svenska? Då är Language Lock In Boot Camp för dig! Anmälningarna är öppna - anmäl dig nu för att säkra din plats! Klicka här för mer info --- Transkript Tjena tjena! Välkommen till Simple Swedish Podcast. Och idag har vi ett intressant avsnitt. Det är ett avsnitt om svensk historia. Närmare bestämt om Karl XII (den tolfte). Karl XII är absolut en av de mest kända figurerna i svensk historia. Och kanske tillsammans med Gustav Vasa, den mest kända kungen som vi har haft. Så jag tänkte att det skulle vara kul att göra ett avsnitt om honom. För ja, det var en viktig del i svensk historia. Och jag tror att det blir ganska långt, det här avsnittet, så hoppas du uppskattar det. Innan vi börjar ska jag såklart tacka två nya patrons. Det är Hana och Stephanie. Tack för att ni stödjer den här podden. För alla som vill stödja podden och få transkript till alla avsnitt, gå till www.patreon.com/swedishlinguist. Och jag vill också, innan vi börjar, bara prata lite kort om någonting väldigt viktigt. För skulle du vilja leva hela ditt liv på svenska i nio dagar? Skulle du vilja ha ett intensivt språkbad för att bygga ditt självförtroende i svenska? Låter det intressant med en fantastisk semester och en stark upplevelse som du kommer att komma ihåg hela livet? Ja, då är Language Lock-in Boot Camp för dig. Och vi har öppnat för anmälningar så du kan anmäla dig till sommarens Language Lock-in Boot Camp som kommer att vara i augusti. Ja, en riktigt cool, häftig upplevelse att vara i den här villan i Dalarna, den här historiska villan i nio dagar. Så ja, gå till www.languagelockin.com och där hittar du all information och du kan se vad andra människor har sagt, du kan se videor från bootcampet och så vidare. www.languagelockin.com, så anmäl dig nu till det. Vi ska prata om Karl den tolfte. Han var en väldigt ung kung. Han var bara 15 år när han blev kung. Han spenderade större delen av sitt vuxna liv i det stora nordiska kriget. Det stora nordiska kriget var ett stort krig som hände i Norden. Han var huvudfigur i det kriget för Sverige. Han är en av de mest omdebatterade kungarna och en av de mest kontroversiella kungarna i svensk historia. Han är sedd som både en krigshjälte och ett militärt geni men också personen som förstörde stormakten Sverige. För på den här tiden så var Sverige en stormakt i Europa. En stormakt, alltså ett land med väldigt mycket makt. Och han är som sagt en av de viktigaste och mest intressanta personerna i Sveriges historia skulle jag säga. Så innan vi börjar prata om honom så vill jag ge lite historisk bakgrund. För det här hände i början på 1700-talet, alltså för 300 år sedan. Så lite historisk bakgrund på det. Så på 1500-talet, då blev det slut på Kalmarunionen och början på den moderna nationen Sverige, med Gustav Vasa. Och han startade en ny era i svensk historia när Kalmarunionen upplöstes. Och lyssna gärna på avsnitt 193. För där pratar jag om Kalmarunionen. Väldigt intressant också. Så det var på 1500-talet. Och sen då på 1600-talet, det var då som Sverige började bli en stormakt. Och ekonomin blev starkare och starkare och man byggde en stark militär också. För målet var att kontrollera Östersjön. Så Östersjön är ju det här havet mellan Sverige, Finland och Baltikum och ja, i söder, Polen. Så det här havet kallas för Östersjön. Och Sverige ville kontrollera hela Östersjön för att det var väldigt mycket fördelar med det, med handel och så. Och Sverige började erövra nya områden. Alltså innan det här så var Sverige, man kan säga, det som är Sverige nu minus de södra delarna. För att typ Skåne, Halland och Blekinge, det var fortfarande en del av Danmark på den här tiden. Så Sverige var det som är Sverige nu minus de södra delarna plus Finland. För Finland var länge, länge en del av Sverige. Men efter det 30-åriga kriget..det var en väldigt stor händelse i europeisk historia. Och det hände då på 1600-talet. Ett jättejättestort krig i hela Europa. Och Sverige var på den vinnande sidan. Och ja, så man tog de här delarna från Danmark som nu är Skåne, Blekinge, Halland och så. Man tog också Baltikum, och vissa delar av norra Tyskland faktiskt. Så att Sverige blev väldigt stort och Sverige blev faktiskt en så kallad stormakt. Tillsammans med Frankrike, Osmanska riket och England. Så de andra stormakterna i Europa kan man säga var Frankrike, Osmanska riket och England. Och Ryssland var liksom på väg att bli en stormakt. För att nu var det liksom Peter den Store som regerade i Ryssland. Tsaren Peter den store. Och (under) den här tiden så blev det lite som en kraftmätning mellan Sverige och Ryssland. För både Sverige och Ryssland var liksom på väg upp. På väg att bli stormakter. Och på 1600-talet så kan man säga att Sverige lyckades bli en stormakt. Medan Ryssland, ja, de blev det senare, nästa århundrade. Så det var lite historisk bakgrund, 1500 och 1600-talet. Jag har gjort ett avsnitt om Sveriges stormaktstid, avsnitt nummer 227. Så gå och lyssna på det också för att få ännu mer historisk bakgrund. ..för hela transkriptet - klicka här!

Hello and welcome to Simple Swedish Podcast. Today we have an interesting episode. It's an episode about Swedish history. Closer to the end, it's about Karl XII. Karl XII is absolutely one of the most famous figures in Swedish history and maybe together with Gustav Vasa, the most famous king we have had so I thought it would be fun to make an episode about him

because yes it was an important part in Swedish history and I think it will be quite long this episode so I hope you appreciate it Before we start, I will of course thank two new Patrons

It's Hanna and Stephanie Thank you for supporting this podcast For everyone who wants to support the pod and get transcripts for all episodes go to patreon.com slash Swedish linguist and I also want Before we start Just talk a little bit about something very important

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the Summer Language Lock-in Bootcamp which will be in August Yes, a really cool, cool experience to be in this villa in the valleys this historic villa in nine days So go to languagelockin.com and there you will find all the information and you can see what other people have said. You can see videos from the bootcamp and so on. languagelockin.com So, sign up now! for that.

Okay, so We're going to talk about Karl XII and he was a a very young king he was only 15 years old when he became king and he spent most of his adult life in the north and he was like the main character in that war, you could say for Sweden. And he is one of the most re-debate kings and one of the most controversial kings in Swedish history. He is said to be both

a warrior hero and a military genius, but also the person who destroyed the great power of Sweden because at this time Sweden was a great power in Europe A great power, a country with a lot of power and he is, as I said, one of the most important and most interesting people in Swedish history. Before we start talking about him, I want to give you a historical background. background, okay? Because this happened in the beginning of the 17th century, that is, 300 years ago. So some historical background on that. So in the 15th century, yes, then it came to an end the end of the Kalmar Union and the beginning of the modern nation Sweden with Gustav Vasa and he started a new era in Swedish history when the Kalmar Union was dissolved and listen to episode 193

because there I talk about the Kalmar Union very interesting as well so that was in the 1500s and then in the 1600s that was when Sweden started to become a great power and the economy became stronger and stronger and a strong military was built because the goal was to control the Baltic Sea The goal was to control the Baltic Sea. The Baltic Sea is the sea between Sweden, Finland and Baltic and in the south of Poland.

This sea is called the Baltic Sea. Sweden wanted to control the whole Baltic Sea because there were a lot of advantages with that, with trade and stuff and yeah, and Sweden started yeah, to recreate new areas, so before this, Sweden was... You could say that what is Sweden now, minus the southern parts For example, Skåne, Halland and Blekinge

That was still part of Denmark at this time. So Sweden was what it is now, minus the southern parts, plus Finland. Because Finland was for a long time part of Sweden. But after the Thirty Years War, the Thirty Years War was a very big event in European history. And it happened in the 16th century. A very, very big war in all of Europe. Europe and Sweden was on the winning side and yes so they took these parts from Denmark which is now Skåne, Blekinge, Halland and so on. They also took Baltic and some parts of northern Germany Sweden became very big and Sweden became a so called great power

together with France, the Ottoman Empire and England So the other great powers in Europe were France, the Ottoman Empire and England. And Russia was on the way to becoming a great power. Because now it was Peter the Great who ruled in Russia. Tsaren Peter the Great. During this time, it became a kind of a power measure between Sweden and Russia. Both Sweden and Russia were on their way up, on their way to becoming great powers.

on the way to become great powers. And in the 16th century, Sweden managed to become a great power, while Russia became one later, in the next century. So that was some historical background 15th and 16th century I have made an episode about Sweden's Stormax time

episode number 227 So go and listen to that as well to get even more historical background Okay So To get even more historical background Okay, so Then we have come to the year 1697 Because then Karl the XII was born And then he became king as he was only 15 years old. It seemed weak, so other countries thought that Sweden is not that strong now because Sweden has a very young king.

Sweden had taken the area from other countries, so many countries wanted to take back these areas. And what happened was that Russia, Denmark and Saxony formed a triple alliance and started a war against Sweden. Denmark also had Norway, so Denmark and Norway were one country And Saxony... Well, you could say that it was also together with Poland Saxony is a part of Germany But here it was a more independent state. And in February 1700, Saxon Riga invaded. And Riga was at this time a Swedish city.

And at the same time, Denmark invaded Holstein Gotthorp. So then the great Nordic war had started and that will be in 21 years. But Sweden had a strong military at this time, a lot of resources, good economy and such things. Because Karl XI, the king before Karl XII's soldiers were called Carolines. These Carolines had very good And I don't know how many people say about these Because they were a very effective army It was one of Europe's most effective armies Through history Because they had done many reforms And instead of defending Holstein Gotthorpe, so, so, yeah, so Karl XII said, ok, we are not defending Holstein Gotthorpe,

but instead we are going to Copenhagen, Denmark's capital, Copenhagen. So they took their army and went to Denmark and started marching towards Copenhagen. And after only a few months, the Danes rose. So then Sweden had already won over the Danes, after only a few months. But Karl XII, he was not satisfied with just writing a peace treaty a peace treaty, a treaty on peace that means that you stop the war because he simply wanted to continue to Copenhagen

and just destroy the Danish fleet and defeat the Danes completely. Because that was a personal trait of Karl XII. He didn't just want the enemy to give up and write a peace treaty, he wanted to destroy the enemy, to destroy the whole of the country. He wanted to make sure that they were completely defeated. But in the end they didn't do that, they were forced to continue with other things. But the Danes were defeated anyway. But now, Russia invaded Sweden.

So first it was the Danes who invaded, and Saxony. But now Russia invaded Russia. And they besieged the city of Narva, which is located in Estonia. Estonia was also part of Sweden at this time. And to besiege a city means that you simply attack it and for a long time you are to the city and it often takes a long time to besiege a city. If you are under siege, the city is under attack and constant attack. Karl XII went first to Riga, or to that area there called Livland and he defeated the Saxon forces there to deter the threat to Riga and to defeat means that you win over someone so he defeated the axe

and so the threat to Riga disappeared and that went pretty fast and then it was time to go to Narva to start fighting against the Russians to fight, that is to fight against someone or to fight against someone to fight against someone, to fight. So, and this was still the same year, so year 1700. And now it is November. And this Russian army was three times bigger than the Swedish army

and also it had become a snowstorm all of a sudden and the king's advisor, they did not think that he should attack right now, under these circumstances, it was not a good situation to attack. And he personally participated in this attack. And they succeeded very well. And they won big. The Russians lost a third of their strength and the rest capitulated.

They gave up. Karl won this battle at Narva. This battle is a battle that is a battle during a war over a city. The battle at Narva is the battle that they fight against each other at this city, Narva. So this battle, the battle at Narva is one of the great events in this war and an important event for Karl XII because this victory made him famous in all of Europe He got a reputation as a military genius and a hero He had a reputation, people were talking about him After this

a period started where he where he was in Poland and fought for several years because he tried to conquer the Saxon king August II and this was actually his cousin August II and he was also king in Poland so the Saxon king who was also king in Poland.

So Karl tried to conquer August II and he tried to replace him with a new king who would be Swedish friendly. Karl XII wanted to have a new king in Poland who was allied with Sweden, of course. So that was the goal.

And there were many different field trains. A field train is like a military campaign. Yes. That you march and fight and so on. An assignment, a field train. There were many of those in different cities and it took many years. And in the end they were defeated. different cities and it took many years and in the end they defeated August II and succeeded in replacing him with a Swedish friendly king

but this took many years. And during this time, Russia recovered. They came back, they got more strength and they took over new areas. So for example they took that area in the Finnish vikings where St. Petersburg is now and it was actually now that Peter the Great founded the city St. Petersburg because they got access to the Baltic Sea So before this, the Russians did not have access to the Baltic Sea But they managed to take this area and get access to the Baltic Sea and Peter the Great founded the city of St. Petersburg. But now Karl XII had defeated August II and got a Swedish friendly king to the throne in Poland So now he wanted to conquer Russia

The last enemy that was left So in the autumn of 1707, so seven years after the war started, Karl XII left Saxony and started marching towards Moscow. Because, as I said, Karl XII wasn't enough to just defeat the enemy, it was not enough to give up the enemy, he wanted to completely destroy the enemy. And the only thing that was satisfying for him was to take Moscow. Everyone who knows anything about history knows that it's a very bad idea to try to take Moscow. But in the beginning it went well.

And they won many fights in Poland and also in what they called Lill-Russia, they called it Lill-Russia, which is now Western Ukraine. But then when they started to get further and further into Russia, it became more and more difficult for the Swedish army. Because the Russians used a special tactic called the burning earth tactic and the burning earth tactic means that you burn everything that you make sure that there is no food no shelter

that you burn your own villages and fields. You make sure that the enemy doesn't get any food, resources or anything. It was very difficult for them to manage this train to Moscow because everything, the Russians burned everything in their way and they were exposed to attacks of course and also it became a winter that was extremely cold. And there were several thousand soldiers who died of swelling and cold. Not only in battle, but also from swelling and cold. Swelling is when you don't get enough food. So you die because you simply can't eat.

But the most difficult thing came in the summer of 1709. And that was the Battle of Poltava. And the Battle of Poltava is one of the most catastrophic events in Sweden's history. So Poltava is a city and it was a battle, a battle. And the king, at this time, the king had been hit by a bullet

in the foot. He had been shot in the foot. And he had been shot in the foot and he could not stand up so he was forced to lie down but he was still in this battle and it was a Russian army of 75,000 against the Swedish army of 30,000. So the Russian army was more than twice as large. Okay, the Swedish army had managed these situations before, but not this time. The battle at Poltava was a disaster. Sweden lost two thirds of its army. army and the king was forced to flee. He was forced to flee from there. So they lost this battle and they lost a lot of soldiers and this became a decisive victory for Russia and maybe the biggest military catastrophe in Sweden's history And the result was that

Russia became more offensive and started to take more land from Sweden, take more areas August II, the Saxon king, took over the crown again in Poland, so he became king again in Poland, and Denmark began to invade Sweden again. So it was a very difficult situation. The king fled with about 3,000 men, 3,000 people. He fled to the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire, that is, Turkey, you could say. But it was much, much bigger at this time. They came to a city called Bender

and this city, Bender it's located in what is Moldova now but at this time it wasn't Moldova, it was the Ottoman Empire and they got asylum there At this time it was not Moldova, but the Ottoman Empire. And they got asylum there. So that means that the sultan in the Ottoman Empire said, Okay, you are welcome, you can stay here. They actually became very well-matched. The Turks welcomed King Charles XII and these Swedes and the Sultan paid a lot for Karl XII.

And they actually stayed there for several years. And Karl XII, he controlled Sweden through letters. So, you get it? He controlled Sweden via letters. So, like he sent letters to Sweden and controlled the country in that way. Which of course is

very inefficient because it takes 3 to 12 months for a courier to reach Sweden. A courier is the person who comes with the letter. It's a very ineffective way to rule the country, to rule. And what they tried to do there, why they were there for so long, they tried to get the sultan to declare war against Russia, so they tried to get the Turks to start a war against Russia. They tried to get the Ottoman Empire to agree with Russia.

And that actually happened several times. It happened that the Ottoman Empire went to war against Russia, but it was not a direct result. Not a result that was good for Sweden. The years went by and eventually, even if the Turks treated the Swedes well and welcomed them, after a few years things changed and they simply wanted Karl XII would leave the Ottoman Empire. They wanted that Karl XII and the Swedes would go home. And there was a conflict because the king didn't want to go home. And there was a conflict and that conflict was called the Calabalica in Bender. It's also a kind of event in Swedish history, the Calabalica in Bender. But he was eventually back to Sweden after 5 years in the Ottoman Empire.

And it was the first time in 14 years that he was in Sweden. The country was in crisis of course, because of this war that was still going on. And now the British were also involved in this war against Sweden. And the war continued for a few more years. Karl XII started a field train towards Norway. Because Norway was part of Denmark. And under one of these

field trains he was shot in the head. He had been shot many times before, but now he was shot in the head and he died. So Karl XII died there in Norway and that was the end of the war. The end of the great Nordic war. The result of that was that you lost a lot of land, especially to Russia. 200,000 soldiers died, the economy took a big went from the king to the parliament. The parliament, Sweden's parliament. So the king got less power and the parliament got more power. And now the time for power has come to an end.

And this was also the beginning of a new era in Swedish history. And this era we call the time for freedom. So yes, interesting, interesting, the time for freedom. It actually sounds quite positive. But we will talk about that in another episode. I hope this episode was interesting. If you want to support the podcast and get a transcript for all episodes go to patreon.com slash Swedish Linguist and become a patron for only 5 euros a month Thank you for me, see you soon!

Bye!