EotSE part 5: the end

This is the fifth part and the end of "the End of the Swedish Empire"
part 1: fav.me/d7q8eiv
part 2: fav.me/d7rhwd9
part 3: fav.me/d7u8zqr
part 4: fav.me/d7z9xek

Hanover joined the coalition against Sweden in 1714, and Brandenburg-prussia joined the following year. Britain had in the beginning of the war helped sweden, but in 1717 they too, being in a personal union with hanover, joined against Sweden. England being England, he would later turn back to argue Sweden's case at the end of the war.

Sweden's German territories fell one by one, there was no saving them. The Baltics as well as Finland were occupied by Russia. After more than 15 years of war, Sweden was exhausted. When everything seemed hopeless and everyone was praying for peace, Charles XII looked to the west - and decided to invade Norway in 1716. The First norwegian campaign did not go well. Like the Russians, the Norwegians scorched the earth and weren't too keen on meeting the Swedes in open battle. This campaign had an element of propaganda warfare; Charles XII hoped to take over Norway and didn't want troublesome subjects, and hence the Swedish soldiers were apparently told to treat the Norwegians nicely. Unfortunately, the Norwegians weren't very cooperative, so the whole propaganda idea even backfired. However, the Swedish army managed to go quite far into Norway, however and managed to take Cristiania but not its fortress Akershus fortress. In order to properly siege the fortress more artillery was needed. However, the Swedish navy was sunk by captain Peter Tordenskiold, a dude from Trondheim who had run away and joined the navy at age 14. One of my ancestors died fighting against him.

The swedish army returned home - but not for long. In autumn 1718, they were back to once again invade norway, with a better plan
. General Armfeldt was to go in in the north and invade trondheim, while Charles XII was invading in the south towards Christiania (nowadays known as Oslo). In order to prevent repeating the fiasco from two years before, It was vital to take Fredriksten Fortress. In the previous campaign, the Swedes had failed at this and hence risked getting their supply lines cut and becoming isolated in enemy territory. When they had turned back to try and take the nearby town Fredrikshald, the crazy inhabitants had burnt it down. This campaign went well to begin with, Charles XII and his army had taken one of the smaller forts in front of Fredriksten and were closing in on the main fortress. On the Night of the 30th November, Charles XII was outside inspecting the proceedings of the siege. He wanted to look at the digging of a new trench towards the fortress, and looking over the top of the trench he was standing in. Then he was shot through the head - and died instantly. Allegedly, Charles XII's last words were "do not be afraid", though this might very well just be something Voltaire -who wrote a biography about him in 1731- made up. It is still unknown who shot Charles XII. Already at the time, rumors of murder from his own side were circulating, and several people also admitted to having killed the king. 

Turns out Charles was pretty much the only person in Sweden who wanted to continue the war - and also the only one who knew what the plan was - , as shortly after his death, the army returned home, not quite as depicted in my traced copy of Gustav Cederström'a painting "Karl XII's likfärd". For one thing, there aren't any mountains on the way from Halden to Stockholm, or anywhere near there. Sabaton has a pretty epic song about the death of Charles XII www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl-Ug3… . Meanwhile in trondheim, things weren't going so well for the troops led by armfeldt, as there was no food left there. It took a month before they got the message about the death of the king, and they too had to return home. This was a bit more difficult than it had been for the soldiers in the south, seeing as a they had to cross the mountains. It was also really cold. Around New year 1718-19, in what has been known as "the Carolean Death March", where two thirds of the 6000 soldiers froze to death.

Back in Sweden, Charles XII's sister Ulrika Eleonora took over the throne, which would shortly after be handed ont to her husband Fredrik I. The swedes did their best to get a favourable peace. The treaty of Frederiksborg was signed with denmark in 1720, with no territorial losses, and the treaties of Stockholm ended the wars with Hanover and Prussia, ceding its german posessions. In order to put pressure on Sweden, the Russians kept raiding the swedish towns along the coastline. However, the major european powers now feared Russia, and wished to prevent it from becoming too powerful, and with their help Sweden managed to get Finland back, while the baltics were ceded to Russia. With the treaty of Nystad in 1721, the Great Northern War was finally over. And so was the Swedish Empire www.youtube.com/watch?v=6STwXV… . 

After everything Sweden had to go through with Charles XII, people found they'd had enough of absolute monarchs. The nobility was also keen on regaining the influence they had lost durign the Carolean era. The power of the king was greatly reduced, while parliamentarism was introduced. The Age of Liberty came to be a relatively peaceful era with focus on economic improvement. In the last panel, Sweden and Finland are wearing clothes that are more towards ca 1750, since I wanted it to sort of mark a difference compared to the earlier drawings of them here. The stripes on their vests might not be that 1700s fashion-ish, but they inspired by traditional costumes. The age of liberty ended in 1772 when Gustav III reintroduced the absolute monarchy in a revolutionary coup d'etat. but that's a different story which I don't have time to draw hetalia fanart of right now.