788 S W E 
formally deposed by the diet, and the crown conferred by 
Charles on Stanislaus Lecsinsky palatine of Posnaria. Au¬ 
gustus, however, did not yet tamely give up his kingdom. 
His adherents daily skirmished with the Swedes, and, assisted 
by the Russians, continued for a long time a desultory war. 
After his defeat at Pultava by the Russians, Charles fled 
in a mean calash, attended by a little troop inviolably at¬ 
tached to his person, some on foot, and some on horseback. 
In the Turkish dominions he was treated with hospitality ; 
but Augustus recovered the kingdom of Poland, and the 
Danes invaded Sweden ; the latter were, however, repulsed. 
In the mean time, Charles succeeded in procuring a rupture 
between the Porte and Russia. In 1711, the grand signior 
gave orders to the vizir to fall on the Russians with an army 
of 200,000 men. The vizir promised obedience; but at 
the same time professed his ignorance in the art of war, and 
dislike to the expedition. The khan of Crim Tartary, who 
had been gained over by the reputation and presents of the 
king of Sweden, had orders to take the field with 40,000 of 
his men, and had the liberty of assembling his army at Ben¬ 
der, that Charles might see that the war was undertaken on 
his account. The little success of these wars has been stated 
in the article Russia. 
The Ireaty of the Pruth was most violently opposed by 
Count Poniatoffski and the khan of Tartary. The former 
had made the king acquainted with the situation of both 
armies; on which he instantly set out from Bender, filled 
with the hopes of fighting the Russians, and taking ample 
vengeance. Having ridden 50 leagues post, he arrived at 
the camp, just as the tzar was drawing off his half-famished 
troops. He alighted at Poniatoffski’s tent; and being in¬ 
formed of particulars, instantly flew in a rage to the vizir, 
whom he loaded with reproaches, and accused of treachery. 
The violent behaviour of Charles did not promote his in¬ 
terest. The vizir perceived that his stay in Turkey might 
prove fatal to himself; and therefore determined to get him 
out of the country as soon as possible. Succeeding vizirs 
adopted the same plan ; and at last the grand signior himself, 
wrote a letter to Charles, in which he desired him to depart 
by next winter, promising to supply him with a sufficient 
guard, with money, and every thing else necessary for his 
journey. Charles gave an evasive answer, and determined 
to procrastinate his journey, as well to gratify his own 
stubborn temper, as because he discovered a corres¬ 
pondence between Augustus and the khan of Tartary, the 
object of which, he had reason to believe, was to betray 
him to the Saxons. When he was again pressed to fix the 
day of his departure, he replied, that he could not think of 
going before his debts were paid. Being asked how much 
was necessary for this purpose, he replied 1000 purses. He 
obtained twelve hundred purses, and then demanded 1000 
purses more before he would set out. It was now unani¬ 
mously agreed that such a troublesome guest ought to be re¬ 
moved by force, should other means fail. Positive orders 
were therefore sent to Charles to depart; and in case of re¬ 
fusal to attack him in his quarters. Nothing could equal 
his obstinacy on this occasion: in spite of the menaces of 
his enemies, in spite of the entreaties of his friends, he per¬ 
sisted in his resolution ; and at last determined to resist, with 
300 Swedes, being all the attendants he had, an army of 
20,000 janissaries well armed and furnished with cannon. 
At length he was attacked in earnest. Most of the Swedes 
surrendered at once; but, with 40 menial servants only, and 
the generals Hord and Dardorff, he determined to defend 
himself to the last extremity. Though the house was burnt 
over his head, he continued to fight like a madman, but was 
taken prisoner at length with all his followers. 
On the 14th of October, 1714, Charles set out for Sweden. 
This kingdom was now in the greatest distress. On the 
news of his defeat at Pultava, the Danes had invaded 
Schonen, but were defeated by general Steenboek. This 
victory, however, did not put an end to the war. On the 
contrary, the kings of Denmark and Poland with the tzar of 
Russia, entered into stricter bonds of amity than ever. 
They dreaded the return of Charles to his own dominions, 
DEN. 
and apprehended that numberless victories would soon efface 
the remembrance of Pultava. They determined, therefore, 
to make the best use of their time; and perhaps Charles 
never took a more imprudent resolution than obstinately to 
remain so long in the Turkish dominions. The return of 
Charles seemed to give new life to the whole nation. Though 
the number of inhabitants was visibly diminished, the levies 
he had ordered were completed in a few weeks; but the 
hands left to cultivate the earth consisted of the infirm, aged, 
and decrepid; so that a famine was threatened in conse¬ 
quence of the military rage which had seized all the youth 
of the kingdom. 
The presence of Charles did not now produce those con¬ 
sequences which the allies had feared. And though the 
king’s courage and military skill were not in the least 
diminished, the efforts he made, instead of restoring Sweden 
to its splendour, served more completely to exhaust it. In 
1715, the king of Prussia declared against him, on account of 
his demanding back the town of Stetin, which that monarch 
had seized. To complete his embarrassment, the elector of 
Hanover, George I. of Britain, also became his enemy. 
The forces of Denmark, Prussia, Saxony, and Hanover, 
joined to invest Wismar, while a body of 36,000 men 
formed the siege of Stralsund; at the same time that the 
tzar, with a fleet of 20 large ships of war, and 150 trans¬ 
ports, carrying 30,000 men, threw every part of the Swedish 
coast into the greatest consternation. The heroism of Charles 
could not prevail against so many enemies; yet he was still 
so much dreaded, that the prince of Anhalt, with 12,000 
brave troops, did not think himself a match for this furious 
enemy when at the head of only 2000, till he had 
entrenched his army behind a ditch, defended by chevaux- 
de-frize. It appeared, indeed, that his precaution was not 
unnecessary: for in the night Charles with his men clamber¬ 
ed up the ditch, aAd attacked the enemy in his usual man¬ 
ner. Numbers, however, at last prevailed; and Charles 
was obliged to retire, after having seen his favourite Grot- 
husen, General Dardorff and During, the companions of his 
exile, killed by his side; he himself being wounded in the 
breast. 
Stralsund was now besieged and taken, in spite of the 
utmost efforts of the king. He retreated, however, in safety. 
To revenge himself for these losses, Charles invaded Nor¬ 
way with an army of 25,000 men. The Norwegians 
were every where defeated and pursued with that vigour 
for which the king of Sweden was so remarkable; but 
strong reinforcements arriving from Denmark, and pro¬ 
visions failing, he was at last obliged to retire. He 
returned, however, the next year, and with 18,000 men 
he formed the siege of Frederickshall, though the severity of 
the frost rendered it almost impossible to break ground. 
Charles resolved to form trenches; and his soldiers cheer¬ 
fully obeyed, digging into ground with the same labour as 
if they had been piercing a rock. On the 11th of December 
the king visited the trenches in the midst of a terrible fire 
from the enemy, imagining that his men might be animated 
by his presence. He took his post in a most dangerous 
station, whence he was entreated to retire; but he remained 
obstinate. At last he was seen to fall on the parapet with 
a deep groan, and soon afterwards expired, having been 
mortally wounded by a cannon ball. 
Charles XII. was succeeded in 1771 by his sister the 
princess Ulrica Eleonora, wife to the hereditary prince of 
Hesse. On this occasion the states took care to make a pre¬ 
vious stipulation for the preservation of their liberties, and 
obliged the princess to sign a paper to this purpose before 
entering on the government. Their first care was to make a 
peace with Great Britain, which the late king intended 
to have invaded. The Swedes then, to prevent their farther 
losses by the progress of the Russian, the Danish, the Saxon, 
and other arms, made many great sacrifices to obtain peace 
from those powers. The French, however, about the year 
1738, formed a dangerous party in the kingdom, which not 
only broke its internal quiet, but led it into a ruinous war 
with Russia, by which it lost the province of Finland. 
Their 
