Caroleans

Caroleans (Swedish: karoliner), from Carolus, the Latin form of the name Charles, is a term used to describe soldiers of the Swedish army during the reigns of Kings Charles XI and Charles XII of Sweden, and specifically from 1680, when Charles XI instituted an absolute monarchy and embarked on a series of sweeping military reforms, to the death of Charles XII in 1718.^[1]

The Caroleans are particularly associated with Charles XII and his campaigns in the Great Northern War (1700–1721), during which they achieved a series of impressive victories, often against considerably larger enemy forces, and established themselves as one of the most feared and respected armies in Europe. However, the main Swedish field army was almost entirely annihilated after defeat at the Battle of Poltava, and the war eventually ended in utter defeat and the dissolution of the Swedish Empire.

Overall, 350,000 soldiers from Sweden, Finland, and the Baltic provinces died in the service of Charles XII during the Great Northern War, mostly from non-combat causes. Two-thirds of these, or over 230,000, died in the years 1700 to 1709. These losses constituted an unusually large percentage of the pre-war population of 2.5 million. The losses of their enemies (principally Russia, Poland-Lithuania, Denmark-Norway and various northern German states) are known to have been even higher.^[2]