Carolean Death March

[1] In 1718, after several defeats in the Great Northern War, Sweden had lost its eastern territories to Russia.

Too weakened to retake these, Charles XII of Sweden instead planned an attack on Norway to force the Dano-Norwegian King Frederick IV into great concessions in subsequent peace treaty negotiations.

He was now ordered to make a diversionary attack from Jämtland towards Trondheim in Trøndelag with his poorly equipped soldiers.

Bad weather made resupplies from Sweden impossible, so the army had to live off the land, causing untold suffering to the Norwegian civilian population.

After Charles' death on 11 December 1718 during the siege of Fredriksten, all Swedish forces in Norway were ordered to retreat back to Sweden.

The resulting poor visibility and biting cold forced Armfeldt to encamp on the northern mountainside of Øyfjellet by the lake Essand.

In desperate efforts to keep warm, the soldiers set fire to dwarf birch, heather, their own rifle butts and sleds, but to little effect.

The horses that were still alive ran around without riders, while others lay collapsed harnessed to fully loaded sleds, where the driver, with a glazed expression, still held the reins in a frozen grip.

In Brekka Bygdetun in Tydal, an open-air theatre performance of "Karolinerspelet" is held every other year in January, dramatizing the events of the Death March.

In 2012, the Falun-based band Sabaton released Ruina Imperii, a song about the Carolean Death March as a part of the album Carolus Rex.