After his failed battle in Poltava, while he was a "guest" of the Ottomans, he fell in love with their meatballs and later took the recipe with him to Sweden. In Sweden it was modified and later became the famous Swedish meatballs over time. The ones that IKEA sells millions of every day, all around the world.
That is mostly like not true, the first time the Swedish word for meatballs was mentioned in history was in a Swedish cookbook called "Cajsa Wargs kokbok" from 1755, a few decades after Charles XII died. There are also cookbooks that mention recipes similar to meatballs in Sweden before Charles XII visited the Ottoman Empire, like the recipe for "frikadeller" in "En liten handbok i kooke-konsten" from 1695.
Thank you for featuring more songs from this album! I am certainly biased here, but I think all songs on this album hold up really well. Sabaton truly captures the king's strong and stubborn character in this song. It is interesting to listen to this song and the song 'Poltava' back to back. In the latter song, you hear the king's voice directly in Joakim's lyrics, and then you have the tired and broken army responding to him in an almost equally forceful way. These types of albums are really cool when you get to follow the story through several songs. Charles XII is an interesting character who, unfortunately, was forced to devote his life to war, none of which he started, as you noted. I wonder how his life and reign could have turned out if this war was not thrust upon him. His father is my favorite Swedish king, and his life was very interesting. Many of Charles's character traits resemble his father's. He fought a devastating war as a young monarch but then managed to keep Sweden out of wars and build a strong and secure state. The Carolean army was his creation, and he drilled it hard enough that it was able to help carry his son for nine years of war until Poltava.
I love every song I listen to from this album, I think they really have something different. Probably because Sabaton talk about the history of their country, which is always a bit more emotional. And yes, Charles is a great monarch in both his qualities and his imperfections, which is what makes this kind of character so fascinating... That and the fact that he must have been at war from the age of 16 and that if I compare him to who I was at his age it makes me drop a tone haha
Super reaction as always!! It is so great to listen to someone explaining backgrounds and circumstances so well!! I am historian myself, the world needs more of this. Merci beaucoup!
One of the most mysterious and mythologized kings we had, together with Vasa and Gustavus. The nickname "Alexander of the North" really fits him, his story is so dramatic straight up from when he crowned himself king and through all his victories and defeats. His time in Bender and the skirmish that took place there is very interesting and almost seems straight out of fiction, the video to The Royal Guard is inspired by it.
Thank you Toon History for reacting to this awesome song and for speaking about him. I hope we will see you react to more Swedish songs by Sabaton in the future. Maybe you could react to Sabaton History aswell? Maybe watch it first and then react to the song so we get 2 reactions in one haha! Would be awesome to see that! I hope you had a nice weekend my French friend!
I had a super busy weekend on this channel and super cool! In fact I systematically watch Sabaton History while preparing the song so yeah it could be super cool to react to their episodes too! Cheers mon ami
Awesome reaction. When Karl became king he swore "i will never start an unjust war and i will utterly crush my enemies". This was one of his qualities but also his biggest flaw, the Russians asked for peace after loosing so many battles and if Karl would have accepted, the horrible battle of Poltava wouldnt have occured. If u show the tactics u are using to many times against an enemy, even a slow learning one like Russia will eventually find a way to counter the tactics used.
It was an epic struggle between two stubborn giants that almost destroyed Sweden in the end. But it is not for nothing that he is called Peter the Great. What a path he put Russia on.
I really hate the Neo-Nazi's re-writing of his history. He would most certanely have hated it. A few years ago I bought a puppy and when they said he was botn on the 30th of November, I immediately said "ah great Karl XII, a really easy date to remember", and the look that I got... I had to explaun that in the early 90s when this was at it's absolute peek and the Neo-Nazis had this date as a holy day almost, I was a kid and decited to go to the library and read ALL I COULD FIND about Karl XII. That made me very interested in Swedish history in general.
Especially since poor Charles didn't ask for anything... Well, I can totally understand how frustrating it is to see your passion associated with nauseating things, when for us it goes back to something that has animated us since childhood. We're not giving up!
His title in full as the king of Sweden was as follows: The Sovereign and Supreme Lord, His Majesty, Charles XII, by the Grace of God, King of Sweden, the Goths and the Wends; Grand Prince of Finland; Duke of Uppland, Västergötland, Småland, Östergötland, Skåne, Södermanland, Västmanland, Dalarna, Northern Finland, Southern Finland, Estonia, Livonia, Karelia, Bremen, Verden, Stettin, Pomerania, Rostock, Kassuben and Wenden; Count to Hälsingland, Närke, Värmland, Bohuslän, Dalsland, Halland, Blekinge, Gotland, Öland, Ångermanland, Westrobothnia, Gästrikland, Jämtland, Medelpad, Tavastland, Nyland, Ostrobothnia, Åland, Ösel, Savolax and Lapland; Prince of Rügen; Lord of Ingeria, Kexholm, Wismar and Narva; so and Count Palatine by the Rhine; Duke in Bavaria; Count of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg; as well as Duke of Jülich, Cleves and Berg; Count of Veldenz, Sponnheim and Ravensberg; Lord of Ravenstein wounder why they called him rex and not all that 😂
An interesting era (Swedish empire) for sure but the population at the time probably didn't think so. Being more or less constantly at war strained the nations economy which of course filtered down to the common man. As for Karl himself it seems to me he was a good tactician but perhaps not the greatest when it came to strategy or it can be blamed on hubris. The battle at Poltava was a massive mistake. Perhaps easy for me to say 300 years after the fact. ;) He was killed by Norwegians at Halden (then called Fredrikshald) but sure it would've been "Denmark-Norway" at the time.
Yes, that's what I always tell myself when I comment: it's easy for us Armchair Historians to judge the past haha I'll quote the swedish bro who helped me to prepare this episode : "There is a statistic from historians of the period that between 1611 and 1721 more than a third of all the men in the country died in service to the army." Thanks for the clarification, I read he was killed by Danes!
@@ToonStory-fh4gn There's also a theory/rumour that he was assassinated by his own men. I personally doubt that but no one can say for sure. That has also been debated for the last 300 years. ;) There was a new ballistic study this or last year which again concluded that the _most likely_ origin of the bullet was the fortress they were besieging. It has also been claimed that the "bullet" was a brass button from a uniform but that study debunked that as well. The famous brass button can however been seen at the museum in Varberg (Sweden) which is the closest town just north of mine. ;) EDIT: Btw Sabaton covers Karl XII death in "Long Live the King". =)
Great reaction!🤘 I'm Swedish and I think you cover the topic very well! 👍 The "white power" thing is a disgrace. I hate when these people kidnap history. It's our duty to take it back!! A suggestion for the actual 30 of November: "Long live the King" by Sabaton.
I do not condone "white power" either, but let's not forget: Islam makes no bones about wanting all under Islam, irregardless of whether those people want it or not. Islam is not your friend if you are not Islamic.
@@ToonStory-fh4gn This is one of the songs on the Carolus Rex album where the Swedish version hits much harder This is a fan made lyric video with Swedish lyrics translated to English. ruclips.net/video/I4gzIgyLCNI/видео.html
As many people today imply that the "right-wing" extremists etc. takes symbols and figures from history and make them their own is a fallacy as they were already theirs. We have a right to our own history as much as anyone else.
Karl proved to be an excellent tactician, but not a very strong strategist. After defeating the Russian army at Narva, he should have focused on a weakened Russia to get it out of the war. Instead, he turned his attention to Poland, where he got bogged down for about 7 years. During this time, Peter I had time to reorganize the Russian army and prepare for an enemy invasion.
He also had the flaw that he refused to end a war unless he was the only one who gained on it, Russia did offer peace, Sweden would have gotten to keep Finland and get monetary compensation and Russia would have gotten what's now Sant Petersburg.
I agree with you. And with hindsight it seems obvious to us now that he should have gone towards St. Petersburg instead of Moscow. He had a large and rested army, bigger than anything he had commanded before and he had the ability to supply such a campaign. Would it have mattered in the end? Maybe not. Peter was still Peter, and his determination was just as strong. Might in the end only have enlarged and prolonged the war even further.
In this case, I was talking about the campaign after Leipzig. So from 1708 and onward. The Swedish army command at the time was set for a campaign in the Baltic provinces and taking back the area where St. Petersburg was being built. At this time, the city was already formidable enough to provide a real obstacle.@@RussianEagles
As a half Swede, it really annoys me that this era of Swedish history is somehow associated with fascism despite the ideology not even existing at that time
Pleased by your reaction. I very much liked your little historically researched comments. It shows you respect your audience and you don't just react, you endeavor to add something.
Thank you! The historical part is my favourite, and half my subscribers are from Sweden, so to motivate me I imagine that if I don't tell their story well, a horde of angry Vikings will be waiting for me on my doorstep!
The fact that extreme right wing uses him as an icon is ironic because Karl XII definitely wouldn't had approved of them based on how he handled Sweden's internal politic, internally Sweden never adopted the feudal system even, we had our own system, families to soldiers even got compensated with land to farm on by the king
@@ToonStory-fh4gn yeah, in fact compared to what was the standard of the time era people had it better in Sweden than most of Europe, don't get me wrong it was still shit for peasants but compared to the standard better, I mean Estonias history books marks the time under Swedish rule as "the good Swedish times"
† The kingdom of Sweden has heradlry that matches the 12 tribes of Israel. God scattered the Israelites into many nations, Sweden is clearly one of them. This is easy to see by all their different county banners, as well as the banner of their county and of the royal house. God bless you all in the name of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. †
![[#2024MAMA] ROSÉ (로제), Bruno Mars - APT. | Mnet 241122 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dgGqD28J6aQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Would you also LOVE to see the interview in which Joke destroys the journalist trying to set him up?
Where is that interview from?
@@oskar7962 They talk about it in Sabaton History episode "Carolus Rex"
After his failed battle in Poltava, while he was a "guest" of the Ottomans, he fell in love with their meatballs and later took the recipe with him to Sweden. In Sweden it was modified and later became the famous Swedish meatballs over time. The ones that IKEA sells millions of every day, all around the world.
I wasn't ready for this information thank you very much 🤣🤣🤣
That is mostly like not true, the first time the Swedish word for meatballs was mentioned in history was in a Swedish cookbook called "Cajsa Wargs kokbok" from 1755, a few decades after Charles XII died. There are also cookbooks that mention recipes similar to meatballs in Sweden before Charles XII visited the Ottoman Empire, like the recipe for "frikadeller" in "En liten handbok i kooke-konsten" from 1695.
I am so glad you are doing this album! One of Sabaton's best ever!!
I loved this song, this album really has soul!
You should react to Sabaton Killing Ground next. It is about the battle of Fraustadt with the Swedes against the Saxons. It is badass!
Thank you for featuring more songs from this album! I am certainly biased here, but I think all songs on this album hold up really well. Sabaton truly captures the king's strong and stubborn character in this song. It is interesting to listen to this song and the song 'Poltava' back to back. In the latter song, you hear the king's voice directly in Joakim's lyrics, and then you have the tired and broken army responding to him in an almost equally forceful way. These types of albums are really cool when you get to follow the story through several songs.
Charles XII is an interesting character who, unfortunately, was forced to devote his life to war, none of which he started, as you noted. I wonder how his life and reign could have turned out if this war was not thrust upon him. His father is my favorite Swedish king, and his life was very interesting. Many of Charles's character traits resemble his father's. He fought a devastating war as a young monarch but then managed to keep Sweden out of wars and build a strong and secure state. The Carolean army was his creation, and he drilled it hard enough that it was able to help carry his son for nine years of war until Poltava.
I love every song I listen to from this album, I think they really have something different. Probably because Sabaton talk about the history of their country, which is always a bit more emotional.
And yes, Charles is a great monarch in both his qualities and his imperfections, which is what makes this kind of character so fascinating... That and the fact that he must have been at war from the age of 16 and that if I compare him to who I was at his age it makes me drop a tone haha
Super reaction as always!! It is so great to listen to someone explaining backgrounds and circumstances so well!! I am historian myself, the world needs more of this. Merci beaucoup!
Thank you so much! Even though I'm not Swedish, this one was personal!
One of the most mysterious and mythologized kings we had, together with Vasa and Gustavus. The nickname "Alexander of the North" really fits him, his story is so dramatic straight up from when he crowned himself king and through all his victories and defeats. His time in Bender and the skirmish that took place there is very interesting and almost seems straight out of fiction, the video to The Royal Guard is inspired by it.
Yes, excellent parallels with Alexander the Great, many similarities between the two men, even on a family level!
This is such a fantastic video and commentary. All the best from Sweden 🙌🏻
Thank you 😃
Thank you Toon History for reacting to this awesome song and for speaking about him. I hope we will see you react to more Swedish songs by Sabaton in the future. Maybe you could react to Sabaton History aswell? Maybe watch it first and then react to the song so we get 2 reactions in one haha! Would be awesome to see that!
I hope you had a nice weekend my French friend!
I had a super busy weekend on this channel and super cool! In fact I systematically watch Sabaton History while preparing the song so yeah it could be super cool to react to their episodes too! Cheers mon ami
Good and informational reaction! Keep up the good work!
Thank you very much :)
Thank you for taking the time to look up some swedish history. Great video!
Thank you 😃
Great song! Definitely one of my favourites.
I really enjoyed it!
N'oublier pas que L'Histoire de Charles XII, roi de Suède, est le premier des ouvrages historiques de Voltaire. THAT is a French perspective!
Excellent point! Merci beaucoup 😀
You pronounce En livstid i krig very well lol. Knowing how to roll the R's is a great advantage.
Thank you, I've been practicing very hard for this one haha
@@ToonStory-fh4gn Keep it up and soon just like Carolus Rex you can speak many languages.😆
Nice reaction!
Than you !
Awesome reaction. When Karl became king he swore "i will never start an unjust war and i will utterly crush my enemies". This was one of his qualities but also his biggest flaw, the Russians asked for peace after loosing so many battles and if Karl would have accepted, the horrible battle of Poltava wouldnt have occured. If u show the tactics u are using to many times against an enemy, even a slow learning one like Russia will eventually find a way to counter the tactics used.
Thanks ! Napoleon Bonaparte : "You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war."
"History shows that there are no invincible armies and never have been."
Joseph Stalin
I respect Karl, good opponent.
It was an epic struggle between two stubborn giants that almost destroyed Sweden in the end. But it is not for nothing that he is called Peter the Great. What a path he put Russia on.
Charles is the kind of guy who makes you fall in love with History!
Like that you did reasearch before 👍👍
Thank you!!!
I really hate the Neo-Nazi's re-writing of his history. He would most certanely have hated it. A few years ago I bought a puppy and when they said he was botn on the 30th of November, I immediately said "ah great Karl XII, a really easy date to remember", and the look that I got... I had to explaun that in the early 90s when this was at it's absolute peek and the Neo-Nazis had this date as a holy day almost, I was a kid and decited to go to the library and read ALL I COULD FIND about Karl XII. That made me very interested in Swedish history in general.
Especially since poor Charles didn't ask for anything... Well, I can totally understand how frustrating it is to see your passion associated with nauseating things, when for us it goes back to something that has animated us since childhood. We're not giving up!
His title in full as the king of Sweden was as follows:
The Sovereign and Supreme Lord, His Majesty, Charles XII, by the Grace of God, King of Sweden, the Goths and the Wends; Grand Prince of Finland; Duke of Uppland, Västergötland, Småland, Östergötland, Skåne, Södermanland, Västmanland, Dalarna, Northern Finland, Southern Finland, Estonia, Livonia, Karelia, Bremen, Verden, Stettin, Pomerania, Rostock, Kassuben and Wenden; Count to Hälsingland, Närke, Värmland, Bohuslän, Dalsland, Halland, Blekinge, Gotland, Öland, Ångermanland, Westrobothnia, Gästrikland, Jämtland, Medelpad, Tavastland, Nyland, Ostrobothnia, Åland, Ösel, Savolax and Lapland; Prince of Rügen; Lord of Ingeria, Kexholm, Wismar and Narva; so and Count Palatine by the Rhine; Duke in Bavaria; Count of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg; as well as Duke of Jülich, Cleves and Berg; Count of Veldenz, Sponnheim and Ravensberg; Lord of Ravenstein
wounder why they called him rex and not all that 😂
There's a drinking game you can play with your name: you have to recite it and every time you forget a title you get a shot. Good luck with that!
An interesting era (Swedish empire) for sure but the population at the time probably didn't think so.
Being more or less constantly at war strained the nations economy which of course filtered down to the common man.
As for Karl himself it seems to me he was a good tactician but perhaps not the greatest when it came to strategy or it can be blamed on hubris.
The battle at Poltava was a massive mistake.
Perhaps easy for me to say 300 years after the fact. ;)
He was killed by Norwegians at Halden (then called Fredrikshald) but sure it would've been "Denmark-Norway" at the time.
Yes, that's what I always tell myself when I comment: it's easy for us Armchair Historians to judge the past haha
I'll quote the swedish bro who helped me to prepare this episode : "There is a statistic from historians of the period that between 1611 and 1721 more than a third of all the men in the country died in service to the army."
Thanks for the clarification, I read he was killed by Danes!
@@ToonStory-fh4gn
There's also a theory/rumour that he was assassinated by his own men.
I personally doubt that but no one can say for sure.
That has also been debated for the last 300 years. ;)
There was a new ballistic study this or last year which again concluded that the _most likely_ origin of the bullet was the fortress they were besieging.
It has also been claimed that the "bullet" was a brass button from a uniform but that study debunked that as well.
The famous brass button can however been seen at the museum in Varberg (Sweden) which is the closest town just north of mine. ;)
EDIT: Btw Sabaton covers Karl XII death in "Long Live the King". =)
Hi do this video in swedish too. Like you did with royal guard/Livgardet 😀
Great idea! Thanks!
Great reaction!🤘 I'm Swedish and I think you cover the topic very well! 👍 The "white power" thing is a disgrace. I hate when these people kidnap history. It's our duty to take it back!!
A suggestion for the actual 30 of November: "Long live the King" by Sabaton.
Hell yeah! Thank you so much for taking the time to write this comment, more Sabaton from the same album to come very soon!
I do not condone "white power" either, but let's not forget: Islam makes no bones about wanting all under Islam, irregardless of whether those people want it or not.
Islam is not your friend if you are not Islamic.
Maybe you should have done the song "Long Live the King" that is actually about the events of 30th of November 1718?
Well that gives me one more Sabaton song to react to, awesome!
@@ToonStory-fh4gn This is one of the songs on the Carolus Rex album where the Swedish version hits much harder This is a fan made lyric video with Swedish lyrics translated to English. ruclips.net/video/I4gzIgyLCNI/видео.html
@@nocturne7371 Thank you!
As many people today imply that the "right-wing" extremists etc. takes symbols and figures from history and make them their own is a fallacy as they were already theirs.
We have a right to our own history as much as anyone else.
True, and we share responsibility for how we pass it on to our children.
Could not agree more.@@ToonStory-fh4gn
Karl proved to be an excellent tactician, but not a very strong strategist. After defeating the Russian army at Narva, he should have focused on a weakened Russia to get it out of the war. Instead, he turned his attention to Poland, where he got bogged down for about 7 years. During this time, Peter I had time to reorganize the Russian army and prepare for an enemy invasion.
He also had the flaw that he refused to end a war unless he was the only one who gained on it, Russia did offer peace, Sweden would have gotten to keep Finland and get monetary compensation and Russia would have gotten what's now Sant Petersburg.
I agree with you. And with hindsight it seems obvious to us now that he should have gone towards St. Petersburg instead of Moscow. He had a large and rested army, bigger than anything he had commanded before and he had the ability to supply such a campaign. Would it have mattered in the end? Maybe not. Peter was still Peter, and his determination was just as strong. Might in the end only have enlarged and prolonged the war even further.
@@StoriesFromHistory-rv4oi St Petersburg was founded in 1703, became capital in 1712. Battle of Narva was in 1700.
In this case, I was talking about the campaign after Leipzig. So from 1708 and onward.
The Swedish army command at the time was set for a campaign in the Baltic provinces and taking back the area where St. Petersburg was being built. At this time, the city was already formidable enough to provide a real obstacle.@@RussianEagles
@@StoriesFromHistory-rv4oi I wouldn't say Petersburg was formidable back then. But yes, it would have been better to try to reclaim those lands first.
As a half Swede, it really annoys me that this era of Swedish history is somehow associated with fascism despite the ideology not even existing at that time
Oh I understand you so very much... That is why we need to keep up the effort!
@@ToonStory-fh4gn exactly
Pleased by your reaction. I very much liked your little historically researched comments. It shows you respect your audience and you don't just react, you endeavor to add something.
Thank you! The historical part is my favourite, and half my subscribers are from Sweden, so to motivate me I imagine that if I don't tell their story well, a horde of angry Vikings will be waiting for me on my doorstep!
As a Polish-American, I LOVE their Poland songs, but this song…THIS SONG…doesn’t rock…IT RULES.
Oh yeah this one hits hard!!!
To the Danes? I bet you 300% he died by shot by a Norwegian soldier IN Norway
Yes, if I listen to the comments, the finger is firmly pointed at the Norwegians in this case!
The fact that extreme right wing uses him as an icon is ironic because Karl XII definitely wouldn't had approved of them based on how he handled Sweden's internal politic, internally Sweden never adopted the feudal system even, we had our own system, families to soldiers even got compensated with land to farm on by the king
... And then we apply ridiculously anachronistic ideologies to it!
@@ToonStory-fh4gn yeah, in fact compared to what was the standard of the time era people had it better in Sweden than most of Europe, don't get me wrong it was still shit for peasants but compared to the standard better, I mean Estonias history books marks the time under Swedish rule as "the good Swedish times"
† The kingdom of Sweden has heradlry that matches the 12 tribes of Israel. God scattered the Israelites into many nations, Sweden is clearly one of them. This is easy to see by all their different county banners, as well as the banner of their county and of the royal house. God bless you all in the name of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. †
Do you know that you may have a viking dna?
So I have no idea, but I'd be delighted... Can you tell me more? Because some Vikings settled in Normandy?
Yes. It was vikings in Normandy. The name Normandy means "Men of the north". @@ToonStory-fh4gn