Carl Gustav Armfelt and the Struggle for Finland during the Great Northern War

Charles XII’s planned conquest of Norway died with him at Fredriksten fortress on 30 November 1718 (OS), and the small Swedish-Finnish army simultaneously besieging Trondheim was ordered to return to Sweden. Setting off on the final stage across the mountains on New Year's Day 1719 the army was struck by a blizzard harsher than any in living memory, and an orderly withdrawal turned into what has become infamously known as the Carolean Death March. That army was commanded by General Carl Gus...