Gustaf Cederström, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, “Karl XII and Ivan Mazepa after the Poltava Battle.”
The painting depicts Swedish King Karl XII, his name often Anglicized as Charles XII, during the Battle of Poltava. Karl had been injured in the foot by misplaced cannon fire and had been carried throughout the battle on a litter. I’m not sure what this painting depicts, because Karl XII escaped after defeat was clear in the battle and fled to Turkey, according to Dr. Gregory Andrete at UW Green Bay.
The Battle of Poltava marked the end of Karl XII’s impressive reign as the last in a line of awe-inspiring military commanders that began with Gustavus Adolphus a century earlier. Details about the inner-workings of the Swedish army under Karl XII can be found in the work of Magnus Perlestam, who consulted journals of soldiers who served in the Swedish army during the Great Northern War.
Swedish soldiers attended church services and evening prayers while on campaign and carried their muskets to church. The Swedes left the King’s horses grazing without a guard in the summer of 1708 to attend church, and Kalmyks loyal to Czar Peter stole twelve of Karl’s carriage horses and most of the other royal horses (Perlestam 53). Although horse-stealing was common, according to Perlestam, “In the Swedes’ eyes, it was cowardly and unbefitting for a soldier to steal from a sleeping enemy to to stage hit-and-run attacks” (Perlestam 53).
Regulations for infantry in 1701 indicated that each regiment maintained a round-the-clock small force of one captain, three lieutenants, four NCO’s, a drummer, and one-twelfth of the regiment in soldiers that was battle-ready, although they were allowed to remain inside their tents (Perlestam, 57). Regulations in 1709 indicate that the cavalry had a similar readiness force. Outside sentries were also posted, and sentries were forbidden from being so drunk they couldn’t perform their duties.
Source: Gregory S. Andrete, PhD, University of Wisconsin Green Bay, “1709 Poltava–Sweden’s Fall, Russia’s Rise,” in Decisive Battles of World History, The Great Courses, volume 22, 2014.
Source: Magnus Perlestam, “Enemy Actions on Swedish Encampments,” in The Great Northern War: New Perspectives (2018, Authors and University Press of Southern Denmark, edited by Michael Hesselholt Clemmesen, Niels Bo Poulsen and Anna Sofie Schøning).