Charles XII: Swedish king and the Ottoman refugee

[Music] in the year 1700 the great northern war began and the Swedish Empire which was at its peak led by the young military genius Charles the 12th faced off against a coalition led by the rising Russian Empire under Peter the Great Charles won multiple victories despite being usually significantly outnumbered and his army the karelians is regarded today as one of the most effective military forces in European history but Charles was also a very stubborn monarch and he thought himself to be invincible so he began a march to take Moscow and bring an end to the Russian Empire thanks to raid shadow legends for sponsoring this video at a time when YouTube income is down by 40 to 50 percent raid shadow Legends is a free-to-play RPG available on iOS Android PC and Mac if you're tired of cartoonish graphics and want to play something grittier raid Shadow Legends is your choice as it will take you to the world of dark fantasy and realism just look at these locations here you can fight with 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the winter of 1709 will never fade from the remembrance of those who experienced it it commenced soon after New Year's most of our horses perished and thousands of our soldiers drops dead with cold and hunger even the very fish in the streams froze as late as the month of May the Baltic Sea was covered with ice full ten miles out from the coast and the earth was frozen until the very middle of the same month you can scarcely imagine what a fearful condition we were in in 1709 the great northern war took an unfortunate course for Sweden Charles's foot was wounded prior to the Battle of Poltava when he received a shot from a carbine which shattered the bone of his heel he received medical attention from a German surgeon who managed to save his foot from amputation but he needed to rest to recover from his wounds and the fevers that accompanied it the Battle of Poltava had been a disastrous defeat and Charles ordered the remainder of his army to travel to the Ottoman Empire instead of being captured by Peter after five difficult days the swedes reached the banks of the bog with the russians following close behind them past the Ottoman border the Turks were not willing to transport so many without the permission of the Moldovan authorities much time was lost before the boats were ready with the Russians getting ever closer and eventually 500 Swedes and their Cossack allies were taken as prisoners of war but Charles and his entourage had finally reached Ottoman territory in bender a town in Moldova Bruce said about his arrival Charles who until now had been Victor in every battle he who had deposed one King and had to do the same with regard to the Russian Tsar he who had made laws for the Roman Emperor and before whom all the Crown's of Europe had trembled was brought so low that he must now receive a scanty allowance from unbelievers the Swedes were treated with the utmost hospitality and the wounded King was regarded with honor and the highest respect the Ottomans had received him as a victorious not vanquished King and supplied his entourage with every comfort the King received daily from the Sultanahmet the third a purse containing 300 talus this earned him his nickname Dimmie bash which means fixed rent and has been translated as iron head in Western accounts the best dwelling available was appointed to him but he declined this attention and encamped in the neighbourhood of the fortress a local problem was the probability that the kneestr might flood the camp during the winter but Charles in his usual stubbornness refused to move the camp further away from the river there were left about 1800 men from the original 35 thousand that had departed Saxony heading to Moscow they remained where they were and built houses for themselves soon quite a little towns sprang up outside of bender Charles had not given up his designs upon Russia and now urged the Sultan to raise an army and march against the Tsar he also wanted to establish a military alliance and a commercial agreement with the Ottomans for this purpose he sent polish count Poniatowski as an agent to Constantinople with the order to leave no measures untried to induce Anat to declare war against Russia the count was a shrewd man devoted to the king through unknown means he influenced the mother of the Ottoman ruler goulash Sultan who was now strongly in favor of Charles and called him by no other name than that of her lion she urged upon her son in her zeal to give ear to the Kings proposal saying when will you help my lion to devour this Tsar the ongoing Spanish war of succession was coming to an end which meant that the attention of the other European powers would again turn towards the east and consequently two limiting peter the great's ascension almost all the great powers proposed to help Charles the French and Dutch offered to send a ship to the Black Sea in order to bring him home while Austria was ready to give a free pass through Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire but Charles refused all these offers possibly hoping to avoid a shameful appearance in his capital after Poltava however Charles was also feared in the European courts as he could potentially lead a 200,000 strong Ottoman army into Poland the foreign ambassadors in Istanbul worked against Ponyo Tomsky such as the British Sir Robert Hutton and the Dutch count coal air only the French ambassador Desilu supported Charles's aggressive efforts the British who also disliked Swedish predominance in the Baltic Sea decided to form a diplomatic coalition against Sweden in 1710 because of the antagonism of its monarch trying to stop the war during this time Sweden was largely controlled by Heinrich von you're a believer that Sweden was the strongest country in the north and supporter of Charles's policies he wasn't very well liked by the foreign powers either and his government only indebted the realm and brought instability to a war ravaged Sweden in 1711 elector George the first of Hanover joins the war against Sweden in return for burdened Bremen the Prussians would do the same in return for Pomerania as soon as the king recovered from his wound his old restless spirit returned before the Sun rose he was ready for action tiring sometimes three horses a day and ceaselessly exercising the karelians Charles was supplied with plenty of money that he spent most of it bribing the Grand Vizier chola lu le to advance his interests however the latter was also being bribed by Peter the Great and he delayed the Ottoman invasion in accordance with his Russian Ally the Swedish colony in bender had plenty of visitors curiosity led thousands from Constantinople to see the iron head he was gazed at as if he had been some wild animal and because it was his habit to abstain from wine and to attend public devotion regularly twice a day they honored him as a devout Muslim after a long time the Sultan seems to suspect the duplicity of his Vizier and not only deposed but banished him kept rulers Eddie Newman Pasha an upright honorable man was appointed his successor and he tried to pay Charles to leave but the King refused stating that he would only return at the head of an army this Vizier was deposed just two months after his appointment and the seal of the Empire was given to Belgium mehmet pasha he was shrewd enough to see that the King had influential friends at court particularly the mother of the Sultan and the crimean khan devlin to the second Kira meanwhile Peter were sending ultimatums asking to hand over Charles and as the ottomans were already looking for war with russia due to the conquest of Azeroth in 1696 they finally responded by declaring war in November of 1710 at last the Turks actually did march against the Tsar with an army of 200,000 men with this enormous army the Vizier surrounded the Russians under Peter who only numbered about 50,000 troops count upon you Tomsky who was with the army gave the Grand Vizier the very best advice that he should not allow himself to be drawn into a battle but should simply famished the Czar and his army which the Russians quickly surrendered and Empress Catherine sued for peace trying to rescue their Tsar from the siege and surprisingly the Grand Vizier yielded having been bribed by Peter's wife and a treaty was signed the Ottoman Empire gained some territory vanya Tomsky was the main opposition to this treaty and he tried to play for time as Charles traveled from bender to the camp but the latter arrived too late and the treaty was concluded giving safe passage for the Czar and his army to return to Moscow Charles was furious and he accused the Grand Vizier of treason after a heated discussion disappointed Charles rode back - bender Bacchus bender the Swedish camp was flooded and the king decided to move to van it sir where he had built for himself a large stone house although he had never cared for splendour he had it furnished in a most sumptuous manner so as to command the respect of the Turks it was also built as sturdy and defensible as possible but Charles had become an enemy of the Grand Vizier and now faced hostility from his mold avian hosts the king was threatened and told to return home at his letters to the Sultan intercepted and was denied the money he received from Istanbul even with all these hardships the King remained firm in his resolve and he started borrowing money from Jews Christians Turks and Janissaries with great interest rates while Poniatowski gathered proof of menace when the Grand Vizier was finally deposed thanks to Poniatowski he was replaced by aya Youssouf Pasha who'd resumed Charles's allowance of money and provisions three years had passed since Charles's exile had begun and the King hopes again for renewed war with the Russians but with the Ottomans that wasn't going to happen as the two empires signed a peace treaty in Adrianople in 1713 Sultan Ahmed himself wrote a letter to Charles asking him to depart back to Sweden Charles diplomatic Lee refused but the Turks were growing tired of the Swedes 1200 purses of coins were handed to the king in return for leaving but the King refused the money this was a little too much for Turkish patience and the Sultan ordered that if the Swedes would not go by fair means then Charles would be compelled by force the Sultan stopped the supply of provisions and withdrew the honor guard that was stationed to protect the Swedes preparing a 26 thousand strong army to expel Charles from Ottoman territory the King was inexorable in his decision to stay so the karelians prepared themselves for a hard struggle in 1713 the Turks approached the wooden house at banitsa shouting Damir bash surrender the count of Groton came to them trying to convince the Turks to resolve the situation peacefully this worked as the Janissaries respected Charles and threatened their commanders with a mutiny if three days of respite were not granted to the karelians a special Janissary bodyguard was sent to Charles to escort him to Adrianople to speak with the Sultan and negotiate but at the same time Charles received a letter from Poniatowski confirming that the sultan would not accept anything other than a Swedish withdrawal enraged Charles insulted the Janissaries and the Turks readied for battle highly outnumber some speeds surrender but many fought valiantly to defend their king the King repels the assaults with his usual bravery but it was to no avail after the retreat to the Kings barricaded apartment a chaotic fight ensues the king was wounded but kept fighting along with his Karelian soldiers after a furious fight the Janissaries first assault had been repelled and they escaped through the windows for eight long hours the Swedes held out against the massive ottoman army Charles himself came out sword in hand and shouting to the Turks terrifying them with his unexpected appearance every attempt upon the part of the Turks to force their way in fail and although their cannons kept firing the house resisted the Turks then decided to set the house on fire Charles instead of leaving as they thought he would do immediately gave orders to extinguish the flames even assisting in putting them out but the house was set ablaze and the king ordered a retreat to his apartment the brave Swedes could not resist anymore and in the end Charles and the Swedes were taken captive the prisoners were brought back to bender where they spent the night before being taken to Adrianople even at this stage Charles continued arguing but news from Sweden stopped that as no word had been sent by him to Sweden since his stay at Demonica a report was circulated that he would never return because of this and his prolonged absence from his kingdom the Swedish council deemed it advisable to offer the Regency to Ulrika the King's sister they explained their position by claiming that they had given up all hopes of Charles's return and that the long war had utterly impoverished the kingdom under these circumstances they deemed themselves justifiable in putting the reins of government into the hands of the princess who in the name of her brother was to conclude a peace with the Tsar of Russia when word of this reached Charles who feared a possible deposition and didn't want to end the war he finally made his mind to return to Sweden setting the first day of October 1714 as the date of his departure and on that day the Swedes started their return home passing through Transylvania Hungary and Penn Germany the long stay of Charles in the Ottoman Empire was over we always have more stories to tell so make sure you are subscribed to our Channel and have pressed the bell button we would like to express our gratitude to our patreon supporters and channel members who make the creation of our videos possible now you can also support us by buying our merchandise via the link in the description this is the kings and Generals channel and we will catch you on the next one

Channel: Kings and Generals

Views: 313,259

Keywords: Charles XII, Peter the Great, Sweden, Russia, Great Northern War, Narva, Poltava, Bender, Pruth River Campaign, Baltacı Mehmet Pasha, deluge, ottoman empire, sultan, carolean, Ahmed III, ivan the terrible, russian empire, peter i, tsar of russia, kings and generals, decisive battles, full documentary, military history, king and generals, history lesson, documentary film, history channel, history documentary, animated historical documentary, world history, animated documentary

Id: ZlaRa5lsT_0

Length: 16min 47sec (1007 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 28 2020