CHARLESTON 



1278 



CHARLESTON 



and brought them to a high degree of excel- 

 lence, and by his wise management of the pub- 

 lic revenues put the finances of the kingdom 

 on a firm basis. 



Charles XII (1682-1718), one of the most 

 remarkable kings of the middle period, was the 

 eldest son of Charles XI, whom he succeeded 

 in 1697. At that time Sweden was one of the 

 great European powers, and the Baltic Sea 

 was practically a Swedish lake. The growing 

 power of the Scandinavian kingdom to the 

 north was jealously watched by three Euro- 

 pean sovereigns Frederick IV of Denmark, 

 Augustus of Poland and Peter the Great of 

 Russia. When the young king ascended the 

 Swedish throne these rulers decided that the 

 time was ripe for them to strike for the con- 

 trol of the Baltic, and in 1700 the War of the 

 North began. 



Charles threw himself into the conflict with 

 a reckless daring that has won for him the 

 name of "Madman of the North." Though 

 he won several brilliant victories, in the end 

 he overestimated his strength and made a fool- 

 hardy invasion of Russia. At Pultowa (1709) 

 his army was nearly wiped out by the forces 

 of Peter the Great, and he fled southward to 

 Turkey. After spending five years in fruitless 

 plots and schemes for revenge, which led to 

 his imprisonment by the Turks, he escaped to 

 Stralsund, a Swedish possession in Prussia. 

 For a year he conducted a brilliant defense of 



the place, yielding finally to a combined force 

 of Danes, Saxons, Prussians and Russians. 

 Soon after this he invaded Norway, and was 

 killed while besieging Frederikshald. B.M.W. 



CHARLES I (1887- ), emperor of Austria, 

 who is also Charles IV, king of Hungary. He 

 succeeded his great-uncle, Francis Joseph, on 

 November 21, 1916. Before that date he was 

 the Archduke Karl Franz Joseph. The young 

 emperor is a man of simple tastes. Before he 

 became heir to the throne through the assassi- 

 nation of his uncle, the Archduke Francis Ferdi- 

 nand, there were many at the Viennese court 

 who had never seen him. In the War of the 

 Nations he served at the front as nominal head 

 of the army until German officers assumed the 

 Austrian commands. His portrait appears on 

 page 505. 



CHARLES EDWARD, the YOUNG PRETENDER. 

 See STUART, CHARLES EDWARD. 



CHARLES MARTEL, sharl martel' (about 

 688-741), a famous leader of the Franks, who 

 won his title of Martel, meaning the hammer, 

 by his celebrated defeat of the Arabs on the 

 plains of Tours, in A. D. 732. It was this battle 

 which .saved the Christian civilization of West- 

 ern Europe from being overwhelmed by the 

 power of Mohammedanism. Under the last 

 Merovingian kings Charles held the position 

 of mayor of the palace, but exercised real 

 kingly authority. He thus prepared the way 

 for his son Pepin (which see). 



HARLESTON, S. C., the largest city 

 of the state and one of the most conspicuous 

 historical cities in the South. Its population 

 increased from 48,833 in 1910 to 60,427 in 1915. 

 Charleston is the county seat of Charleston 

 County, and is situated on the southeastern 

 coast of the state, on a tongue of land between 

 the Ashley and Cooper rivers. These two 

 rivers unite immediately below the town to 

 form the spacious harbor which communi- 

 cates with the Atlantic Ocean at Sullivan's 

 Island, about seven miles below. Savannah 

 is 115 miles southwest; Columbia, the state 



capital, is 129 miles northwest. The city is 

 served by the Atlantic Coast Line, Charleston 

 & Western Carolina, Seaboard Air Line and 

 Southern railways. The last named was the 

 first railroad in the United States constructed 

 to be operated by steam locomotives (1830) ; 

 it extended from Charleston to Hamburg, and 

 was called the South Carolina Railroad. 

 Charleston is also a port of call for several 

 lines of steamers. It is popularly called the 

 Plumbline Port to Panama, as it occupies the 

 same meridian of longitude (80) as does this 

 great gateway to the commercial world. The 



