Charles XII and the Collapse of the Swedish Empire

by Robert Nisbet Bain

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Genres: History, Biography

235 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 30, 1995

About the author

R. Nisbet Bain was a British historian, folklorist, and translator. He wrote extensively on early modern Slavic and Scandinavian history, and translated collections of folk and fairy tales from Cossack, Finnish, Hungarian, and Russian into English. His important collections include Russian Fairy Tales (1892), Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales (1894), Turkish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales (1896), Tales from Tolstoi (1901), and Tales from Gorky (1902).

Reviews

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I ever wrote a book about Charles XII, I would call it 'Obstinancy Personified.' In his 36 years of life, he waged war for over 20 years, leading his country to great glory, but also to defeat and poverty. Other countries feared him and his small army, but in actuality he was his own worst enemy. He could not take a step back. He had able generals, but they were forced to do exactly as ordered. He left his homeland at the mercy of enemies, disease, and bankruptcy so that he could fight on, even if was not strictly necessary.

The author seems to admire him, but does concede his blunders. On the other hand, he is not an admirer of Peter I of Russia. He takes every opportunity to disparage Charles' mortal enemy. Even after the great defeat at Poltava in 1709, he tends to believe that Charles could have recuperated his cause if he had returned home instead of wasting years in the Ottoman Empire.

The book was interesting, but there were few maps, many typographical mistakes (probably from the conversion to electronic reading), and could have used more objectivity.

[Brian Miracle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Until recently, I didn’t know that Sweden had an empire, or that it was one of the dominant powers in Europe in the 17th and early 18th centuries. This biography covers the life of Charles XII of Sweden, also called Carolus Rex, with a focus on his military leadership in the Great Northern War, where Sweden challenged a Russian empire on the rise, as well as other nations.

Chapter 1 covers the rise of the Swedish Empire under Gustavus Adolphus and the rule of Charles XII’s predecessors, Charles X and Charles XI. Chapter 2 covers his childhood, including his piety and work ethic. His childhood was cut short by his father’s death, with Charles XII succeeding to the throne at 15 years of age. The next 12 chapters cover his reign, much of it dominated by war.

Charles believed in the divine right of kings, meaning that he largely imposed his will on the legislature. Although this was at times to Sweden’s benefit, Charles’ stubbornness ultimately caused the demise of the Swedish Empire.

The book covers Charles’ great victories over Russia at Narva and Holowczyn, where the Swedes won even though outnumbered. The campaign against Russia largely ended with Sweden’s devastating defeat at Poltava. During Charles’ subsequent 5 year exile in the Ottoman Empire, his stubborn refusal to negotiate and his distance from Sweden caused increasing difficulties for Sweden and its legislature, as Sweden’s enemies increased in number and power.

Upon Charles’ return to Sweden, Sweden was at war with Russia, Saxony, Hannover, Great Britain and Denmark. Sweden was fighting a multi front defensive war. In spite of Sweden’s increasing financial difficulties, Charles largely refused to negotiate. He was killed in battle during his second invasion of Norway. His death at 36 years of age marked the end of Swedish expansion.

Robert Bain, although a harsh critic of Charles XII, fairly examines his character, giving credit to his strengths and his brilliance on the battlefield, while criticizing his stubbornness and refusal to negotiate in the face of overwhelming opposition from multiple nations. He lays the demise of the Swedish Empire at Charles’ feet. Although written over a hundred years ago, this biography is considered one of the best on this leader that few Americans have much knowledge of.

[Mac McCormick III · Rating 2 out of 5]

I became very interested in Charles XII, Sweden, and the Great Northern War while reading Robert Massie's biography of Peter the Great. A search for books on the subject yielded Charles XII and the Collapse of the Swedish Empire 1682-1719 by Robert Nisbet Bain. It isn't a biography of Charles XII, it is more a book about his wars and how they and his actions brought about the collapse of the Swedish Empire. I found it very informative and learned a lot about both the Swedish Empire and Charles himself. Nonetheless, I found it very difficult to rate the book. It was originally published in 1895, so you have to consider that research and scholarship might have changed things since the book's publication and you have to adjust to a different style of writing and vocabulary. That wasn't the problem. The problem with this book is that the E-book version isn't just poorly edited, it apparently was edited at all. It seems that the conversion was done and immediately published; it is full of spelling errors that make you have to go back and re-read passages to understand them. There are numerical figures that are incomprehensible. If I were rating the book purely on content, I'd easily give it a 4, but because the errors made it so difficult to read, I have to give it a four. That said, it's well worth reading, but I'd suggest trying to find a print version because the conversion errors are more than simply irritating.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading Troyat's biography on Peter the Great I wanted to reinforce my learning through reading about one of Peter's contemporaries and foes, Charles XII of Sweden. Enter this book. While filled with very specific historical detail of information on Charles' council of advisors, this book is not written in a way that allows one to fully learn and immense oneself in the text. At some points I felt as if I were reading non sequiturs and even wondered if the book had been translated from another language. If you sludge through and persists, you can glean points of historical importance but in those instances you have to cross reference and read on those topics outside of the book as Nesbit doesn't go in depth on international affairs. Overall, you will definitely learn by reading this book, but that would mean that you'd actually have to read this book and one has to wonder if that's even possible.

[Andrew Scholes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative but not well written

I had never read much if any about Sweden. I never knew how aggressive they were. I assume that the book was true. It was difficult to say since there was no documentation in the terms of footnotes or bibliography.

[Briar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book would serve better as a refresher as opposed to being the first book you read on Charles XII. I did learn a lot from this. However, it was rather short and had no references. I want to learn more and am struggling to do so. This book gives the highlights. I wanted more depth.

[Mabon Finch · Rating 3 out of 5]

The information was quite interesting, but I thought the writing style was awful. The author seemed to drone on incessantly about trivial topics.

[Christelle Faul Marais · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although a good read, a rather disappointing main character. It seems greatness was always just beyond his reach (or perhaps his dreams were just too unrealistic...).

[John Gorman]

Charles was a kind and gentle king without a want for warmongering but painfully could not accept any derivative of loss or retreat and tended to favor the attack constantly

[Jeff Clay · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second book that I have read about Sweden’s stubborn sovereign, Charles XII. The first book was by Voltaire and as one might well imagine it was beautifully written, full of wit, stylish grace, and unabashedly though not unreservedly pro King Charles. R. Nisbet Bain, though no Voltaire, was certainly an accomplished writer. His account is perhaps more of a history than Voltaire’s however it still suffers from no footnotes no endnotes no bibliography and no maps. Even more striking is his use of language which is decidedly somewhat antiquarian, the book being initially published in 1895. Voltaire’s was written in the 1740s but of course benefits from a modern reboot vis-a-vis translation. There is not much out there on Charles XII with many more books published about his adversary Russia’s czar Peter the Great. So if one is interested in this period, these rulers, and in particular the conflict known as the Great Northern War, then this is certainly a book one should pick up. Indeed most of the book is about the conflict from the Swedish sovereign’s viewpoint. There’s little about his ruling or about Sweden per se during that period. But then again for those scant 20 or so years he pretty much was Sweden. Warts and all. Other than the fact that he put himself through the same rigorous, arduous conditions and deprivations that he inflicted on his soldiers when on campaign — which was pretty much all of the time — there really is little in my mind to admire in him. He was stubborn, pigheaded, casual with the loss of his men, hyper-nationalist, obsessive about Russia, chronically war mongering and war making and through it all, generally ill governing. And despite all of that some still see him as a hero. But then is quite easy to see these days that one’s savior is another’s anti-christ.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stylish but dated & the lack of maps was a disappointment too. I didn’t get a feel of Charles as ruler aside from his obstinacy & fatalism at the end.