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LEFT CHARLES IV. 431 CHARLES XIV. centuries had held the foremost rank in Europe as a great military nation, reached the highest point of its great- ness, and began rapidly to decline both in influence and glory, but such was the prestige attached to its name and past history, that it had long become power- less before it ceased to be respected. Charles died in 1700, bequeathing his throne to the Duke d'Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV. of France, an act which led to the long and calamitous "War of the Spanish Succession." CHARLES IV., King of Spain, born in Naples, in 1748. He succeeded his father, Charles III., in 1788, and was governed by Manuel Godoy, Prince of Peace, the lover of his wife, Maria Louisa of Parma, and an instrument of Napo- leon I. In 1808 he abdicated in favor of his son Ferdinand, but Napoleon, having both father and son in his power at Ba- yonne, obliged Ferdinand to restore the crown to his father, who was, in his turn, persuaded to relinquish it to Napoleon. Charles died in Rome, in 1819, CHARLES XII., King of Sweden, born in Stockholm, June 27, 1682, was declared of age by the estates on the death of his father, in 1697. To his jeal- ous neighbors this seemed a favorable time to humble the pride of Sweden. Frederick IV. of Denmark, Augustus II. of Poland, and the Czar Peter I. of Rus- sia concluded an alliance which resulted in war against Sweden. With the aid of an English and Dutch squadron the Danes were soon made to sign peace, but Augustus of Saxony and Poland, and the czar were still in the field. Rapidly transporting 20,000 men to Livonia, Charles stormed the czar's camp at Ner- va, slaying 30,000 Russians and dispers- ing the rest, Nov. 30, 1700. Crossing the Dwina he then attacked the Saxons and gained a decisive victory. Following up this advantage he won the battle of Clis- sau, drove Augfustus from Poland, had the crown of that country conferred on Stanislaus Leczinsky, and dictated the conditions of peace at Altranstadt in Saxony in 1706. In September, 1707, the Swedes left Saxony, Charles taking the shortest route to Moscow. At Smolensk he altered his plan, deviated to the Ukraine to gain the help of the Cossacks, and weakened his army very seriously by difficult marches through a district ex- tremely cold and ill supplied with provi- sions. In this condition, Peter marched upon him with 70,000 men, and defeated him completely at Pultawa. Charles fled with a small guard and found refuge and an honorable reception at Bender, in the Turkish territory. Here he managed to persuade the Porte to declare war against Russia. The armies met on the banks of the Pruth (July 1, 1711), and Peter seemed nearly ruined when his wife, Catharine, succeeded in bribing the grand vizier, and procured a peace in which the interests of Charles were neglected. The attempts of Charles to rekindle a war were vain, and after having spent some years at Bender he was forced by the Turkish government to leave. Arrived in his own country in 1714, he set about the measures necessary to defend the king- dom, and the fortunes of Sweden were beginning to assume a favorable aspect when he was slain by a cannonball as he was besieging Frederikshall, Nov. 30, 1718. CHARLES XIII.. King of Sweden, born in 1748, was the second son of King Adolphus Frederick. In the war with Russia, in 1788, he received the command of the fleet, and defeated the Russians in the Gulf of Finland. After the mur- der of his brother, GustaNnis III., in 1792, he was placed at the head of the regency, and gained universal esteem in that posi- tion. The revolution of 1809 placed him on the throne at a very critical period, but his prudent conduct procured the union of Sweden with Norway, Nov. 4, 1814. He adopted as his successor Mar- shal Bernadotte, who became king on the death of Charles, Feb. 5, 1818. CHARLES XIV., King of Sweden and Norway (1814-1844), originally Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, born at Pau, France, Jan. 26, 1764, the son of a law- yer. He entered the French army in 1780 as a common soldier; became an ar- dent partisan of the Revolution, and fought his way up to the command of a division in 1794, and a marshal's baton in 1804. He distinguished himself great- ly in the German campaigns in 1796 and the year after under the eye of his great chief himself in Italy. In 1799 he was minister of war, and for his conduct at Austerlitz was named in 1805 Prince of Pontecorvo. In the campaigns of 1806 he commanded the first army corps. After Jena he pursued the Prussians to Halle, cut off the reserve under the Prince of Wiirttemberg, next pursued the redoubtable Bliicher to Liibeck, and compelled him to surrender, Nov. 7. He received the command of the French troops in north Germany and Denmark, and led the Saxon troops at Wagram in the war against Austria. He had never been liked or trusted, however, by Napo- leon, whose jealousy and dislike now^ became so apparent that Bernadotte left the army in disgust, and returned to Paris. He was afterward sent by the