In the year 1700, the Great Northern War begun, facing the powerful Swedish Empire, led by the

young military genius, Charles XII, and 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 Caroleans, 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.

Although initially successful, the campaign quickly turned into a disaster after the start of winter
and the lack of supplies. Peter the Great had effected a scorched earth tactic, leaving no supplies
left to the Caroleans to harvest. A Carolean veteran named Roos, describes: “The fearful cold and
hardships of 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 dropped 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, as following Charles XII’s
defeat at Poltava, he was forced to retreat to Bender in the Ottoman Empire, where he would
remain for 5 years. Charles XII‟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 that.

The Battle of Poltava had been a disaster, and Charles ordered the remainder of his army to travel
to the Ottoman Empire instead of being captured by Peter. After five suffering days, the Swedes
reached the banks of the Bog with the Russians following close behind them. In 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, and by this delay five hundred
Swedes and Cossacks were taken prisoners. But Charles and his entourage had finally reached
Ottoman territory in Bender, a town in Moldova.

Roos said about his arrival: “Charles, who until now had been victor in every battle; he who had
deposed one king and had proposed to do the same with regard to the Russian czar; he who had
made laws for the Roman emperor and before whom all the crowns 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. They received him as a victorious, not a vanquished, king. The Turk
protectors supplied them bountifully with every comfort. Then, too, the king received daily from
the sultan a purse containing in Christian money about three hundred thalers. This earned him his
nickname Demirbaş, which means ‘fixed rent’ and has been translated as ‘iron head’ in western
accounts.

The best dwelling in the place was appointed to him, but he declined this attention, and encamped
in the neighborhood of the fortress. A local problem was the probability that the Dniester might
flood the camp during the winter, but Charles XII, in his usual stubbornness refused to move the
camp further away from the river. There were left about eighteen hundred men from the original
thirty-five thousand that had departed Saxony heading to Moscow. They remained where they
were and built for themselves houses. Soon, quite a little town sprang up outside of Bender.

Charles had not given up his designs upon Russia, and now urged upon the sultan, Ahmed III, to
raise an army for him to march against the czar. He also wanted to establish a military alliance and
a commercial agreement with the Turks. For this purpose he sent Count Poniatowski as an agent
to Constantinople, with the charge to leave no measures untried to induce the sultan to declare
war against Russia. The count was a shrewd man, and devoted to the king. Through some means
he influenced the mother of the Sultan, who was strongly in favor of Charles, whom she called by
no other name than that of 'her lion,' and urged upon her son in her zeal to give ear to the king's
proposal, saying, 'When will you help my lion to devour this czar?'
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 to limiting Peter
the Great’s ascension. Almost all the Great Powers offered to help Charles XII when receiving news
of his retreat to the Ottoman Empire: France offered to send a ship to the Black Sea in order to
bring him home, while the Dutch came with a similar offer; Austria offered him free pass through
Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire, but Charles XII refused all these offers, also maybe in the
desire of avoiding a shameful appearance in his capital, after having achieved so many victories in
the past.
However, Charles was also feared in the European courts, as he could also lead a two hundred
thousand Ottoman army into Poland. The foreign ambassadors in Istanbul worked against
Poniatowski, such as the British Sir Robert Sutton and the Dutch Count Colyer. Only the French
ambassador, Des Alleurs, supported Charles’ bellicose 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 aggressiveness of its monarch, trying to stop the war.

Sweden was left on the hands of Heinrich von Görtz, a believer that Sweden was the strongest
country in the north and of Charles’ 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 I of Hannover joined the war against Sweden in return of Verden-Bremen.
The Prussians would do the same in return of 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 exercising the Caroleans until
the sweat would run down their faces. Charles was supplied with plenty of money, but he spent
most of it bribing the pasha and the grand vizier, Çorlulu Ali, to advance his interests. However,
the grand vizier was also being bribed by Peter the Great, and he delayed the Ottoman invasion in
accordance with his Russian ally.

The Swedish colony 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 seemed to suspect the duplicity of his vizier, and not
only deposed but banished him. Couprougli Numan, 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 also was in course of time deposed, and the seal of the empire given to Mehmet. He
was shrewd enough to see that the king had influential friends at court, particularly the mother of
the sultan and the Crimean Khan, Devlet II Giray. When the Russians send an ultimatum asking to
hand over Charles, the Turks declared war themselves on the Russians. At last the Turks actually
did march against the czar with an army of two hundred thousand men. With this enormous
multitude the vizier surrounded the Russians under Peter, who only numbered about fifty
thousand troops. They were now as securely caught as a mouse in a trap. Count Poniatowski, who
was with the Turkish army, gave to the grand vizier the very best advice, that he should not allow
himself to be drawn into a battle, but that he should simply famish the czar and his army.
But the Russians quickly surrender and Empress Catherine sued for peace, trying to rescue their
czar from the siege. And surprisingly, the grand vizier yielded, having been bribed by Peter’s wife,
and a treaty was signed, from which the Ottoman Empire gained some minor land. Poniatowski
was the main opposition to this treaty, and he tried to make some time as Charles traveled from
Bender to the camp. But Charles 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, Charles rode back to Bender with a great sense of
disappointment.
Arriving back at Bender, the Swedish camp was flooded and the king then decided to move to
Varnitza. The king decided to stay at Varnitza and built for himself a large stone house, and
although he had never cared particularly for splendor, he had it furnished in a most sumptuous
manner, so as to command the respect of the Turks. It was built as strongly as though he imagined
the time might come when this would be of some peculiar advantage. But Charles had become an
enemy of the grand vizier, and now faced hostility from their Moldovan hosts. The king was
threatened to return home, had his letters to the Sultan intercepted and was denied the money he
received from Istanbul. Even with all this hardships, the king remained firm in his resolve, and he
started to borrow money from Jews, Christians, Turks and Janissaries with great interest rates,
while Poniatowski gathered proof of Mehmet’s treachery.
When the grand vizier was finally deposed thanks to Poniatowski, he was replaced by Yusuf, who
righteously gave back to Charles the allowance of money and provisions. Three years had passed
since Charles’ exile had begun and the king hoped again for renewed war with the Russians, but
the Ottomans finally reassured peace with Peter and Sultan Ahmed himself wrote a letter to
Charles asking him to depart back to Sweden. Charles refused in a diplomatically manner, but the
Turks were growing tired of the Swedes in their homeland.

Twelve hundred purses of coins were handed to the king in return for leaving, but the king not
only accepted this money, but still refused to depart. 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 twenty-six thousand army to expel
Charles from Ottoman territory.
The king was inexorable in his decision to stay, so the Caroleans prepared themselves for a hard
struggle. In 1713, the Turks approached the wooden house at Varnitza shouting ‘Demirbaş!
Surrender!’ But the count of Grotthusen came to them trying to convince the Turks of a peaceful
resolution of the situation. This worked, as the Janissaries reverenced the king of Sweden and
threatened to mutiny if three days of respite were not granted to the Caroleans. A special
Janissary bodyguard was delivered to Charles to deliver him to Adrianople to speak with the Sultan
and arrange the matter at hand. But at the same time, Charles received a letter from Poniatowski
about the Sultan’s requirements. This seemed extremely harsh to the young king, and in his rage
he insulted the Janissaries and so the Turks readied for battle.

Highly outnumbered, some Swedes surrendered but many fought valiantly to defend their king.
The king repelled the assault with his usual bravery, but it was to no avail. Retreating to the king’s
barricaded apartment, a chaotic fight ensued. The king was wounded on his ear, but he kept
fighting along with his Carolean soldiers. After a furious fight, the Janissaries’ first assault had been
repelled and they escaped by 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 at his unexpected appearance.

Every attempt upon the part of the Turks to force their way in at the windows was at once
repelled, and although their cannon kept up an incessant fire, the wooden house resisted. The
Turks then decided to set the house on fire, shooting arrows lighted with fire to the house.
Charles, instead of leaving the house, as they supposed 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 the
overpowering numbers of the enemy and in the end, Charles and the Swedes were taken captives.

The prisoners were first brought back to Bender, where they spend the night before being taken
to Adrianople. When Adrianople was reached, Charles desired that he might fix his residence at
Demotica, a castle in the neighborhood of the city. The wish was granted but the Turkish
government was determined to render his further stay as disagreeable as possible, and in addition
to this humiliation, news were brought to the king from Sweden which left him in a state of
sickness.
As no word had been sent by him to Sweden since his stay at Demotica, the report was circulated
that he could not possibly recover. In consequence 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 vindicated their position by saying that they had given up all hopes of Charles' return, and
that the long war had utterly impoverished the kingdom. Under these circumstances they deemed
themselves justifiable in giving the reins of government into the hands of the princess, who in the
name of her brother was to conclude a peace with the czar 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 1 st 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 then Germany.