Death of Charles XII

[Micael]

Some of you may be aware that the death of Swedish King Charles XII during the campaign in Norway in 1718 have been shrouded in a bit of a mystery. Namely regarding whether he was shot by the enemy (Norway), or was killed by one of his own soldiers who was sick and tired of the war. There has been a long standing rumor that a soldier loaded a rifle with a button from Charles’ own uniform and used it to kill him with.

However, Finnish scientists have now conducted a thorough forensic investigation including comparing the actual data from Charles’ skull and hat (where the impact occurred), and compared it to test firings with ballistic gel and all that. The conclusion is that it wasn’t a musket ball nor a button that hit him. Instead it was most likely canister shot from a cannon that killed him, thus coming from a Norwegian cannon. And so it appears that we can finally put this rumor to rest.

[MikeKozlowski]

Some of you may be aware that the death of Swedish King Charles XII during the campaign in Norway in 1718 have been shrouded in a bit of a mystery. Namely regarding whether he was shot by the enemy (Norway), or was killed by one of his own soldiers who was sick and tired of the war. There has been a long standing rumor that a soldier loaded a rifle with a button from Charles’ own uniform and used it to kill him with.

However, Finnish scientists have now conducted a thorough forensic investigation including comparing the actual data from Charles’ skull and hat (where the impact occurred), and compared it to test firings with ballistic gel and all that. The conclusion is that it wasn’t a musket ball nor a button that hit him. Instead it was most likely canister shot from a cannon that killed him, thus coming from a Norwegian cannon. And so it appears that we can finally put this rumor to rest.

...History always, ALWAYS asks questions.

Mike

[MFOM]

Was Sweden relieved to see the back of him? He seemed like an exhausting monarch

[Micael]

Was Sweden relieved to see the back of him? He seemed like an exhausting monarch

Mixed. Some were and some definitely weren’t. His soldiers were loyal enough to carry his body back to Sweden when he died so any animosity clearly wasn’t ubiquitous.

[Jotun]

I have seen pictures of his (desiccated) corpse with that humongous tunnel through its noggin. No button could do that, never mind its awful aerodynamics.
The canister shot explanation always seemed to be the most suited to the Occam‘s Razor principle, at least to me.

[Craiglxviii]

I read the title of this thread as “Death of Charles III”..!!! Was wondering what I’d missed on the news!

[Micael]

I have seen pictures of his (desiccated) corpse with that humongous tunnel through its noggin. No button could do that, never mind its awful aerodynamics.
The canister shot explanation always seemed to be the most suited to the Occam‘s Razor principle, at least to me.

It is a pretty substantial hole.

[Johnnie Lyle]

I’m surprised there’s a head left.

[Belushi TD]

.I've no experience with autopsies, gunshot wounds or the like, but it appears to me that the ball must have been going JUST fast enough to enter, but NOT QUITE fast enough to leave. Not to be morbid or disrespectful, but otherwise, wouldn't hydrostatic shock caused his head to have exploded?

Belushi TD

[Jotun]

.I've no experience with autopsies, gunshot wounds or the like, but it appears to me that the ball must have been going JUST fast enough to enter, but NOT QUITE fast enough to leave. Not to be morbid or disrespectful, but otherwise, wouldn't hydrostatic shock caused his head to have exploded?

Belushi TD

Nope, behold the head from the other side:

[Belushi TD]

I stand corrected.

Still looks like a low velocity (well, relatively speaking) projectile.

Belushi TD

[Jotun]

I think so too. Comparatively slow, and round so it did not flatten enough to take off most of the braincase. In any case, most of his brain would have exited with the projectile and death would have been instantaneous (duh!). Lights out, no pain, nothing.

[pandion]

This subject was thoroughly investigated by ballistics and forensic experts in Sweden a decade ago, including trial firings at various speeds etc at fake heads (of plastics). The conclusion reached was the same as the one described: An iron ball from a canister round fired from the Overberg fortification could have penetrated the King´s felt hat and then had the correct reduced speed of some 120 m/s to create the actual holes in the King´s cranium with the entry hole being much larger than the exit hole. This was in fact an ongoing bombardment that caused casualties both before and after the fatal hit on the King.

[Johnnie Lyle]

This subject was thoroughly investigated by ballistics and forensic experts in Sweden a decade ago, including trial firings at various speeds etc at fake heads (of plastics). The conclusion reached was the same as the one described: An iron ball from a canister round fired from the Overberg fortification could have penetrated the King´s felt hat and then had the correct reduced speed of some 120 m/s to create the actual holes in the King´s cranium with the entry hole being much larger than the exit hole. This was in fact an ongoing bombardment that caused casualties both before and after the fatal hit on the King.

He had to be pretty close to cop a canister hit. Why did the Swedes drive their trenches so close? Shortage of appropriate siege train?

[Micael]

This subject was thoroughly investigated by ballistics and forensic experts in Sweden a decade ago, including trial firings at various speeds etc at fake heads (of plastics). The conclusion reached was the same as the one described: An iron ball from a canister round fired from the Overberg fortification could have penetrated the King´s felt hat and then had the correct reduced speed of some 120 m/s to create the actual holes in the King´s cranium with the entry hole being much larger than the exit hole. This was in fact an ongoing bombardment that caused casualties both before and after the fatal hit on the King.

He had to be pretty close to cop a canister hit. Why did the Swedes drive their trenches so close? Shortage of appropriate siege train?

The cross on this map marks the location of his death. You can see the Norwegian fortress on the left there.

[M.Becker]

.I've no experience with autopsies, gunshot wounds or the like, but it appears to me that the ball must have been going JUST fast enough to enter, but NOT QUITE fast enough to leave. Not to be morbid or disrespectful, but otherwise, wouldn't hydrostatic shock caused his head to have exploded?

Belushi TD

Nope, behold the head from the other side:

PSA: Horns are optional but bloody helmets it is!

[Johnnie Lyle]

This subject was thoroughly investigated by ballistics and forensic experts in Sweden a decade ago, including trial firings at various speeds etc at fake heads (of plastics). The conclusion reached was the same as the one described: An iron ball from a canister round fired from the Overberg fortification could have penetrated the King´s felt hat and then had the correct reduced speed of some 120 m/s to create the actual holes in the King´s cranium with the entry hole being much larger than the exit hole. This was in fact an ongoing bombardment that caused casualties both before and after the fatal hit on the King.

He had to be pretty close to cop a canister hit. Why did the Swedes drive their trenches so close? Shortage of appropriate siege train?

The cross on this map marks the location of his death. You can see the Norwegian fortress on the left there.

Is that the first parallel they were trying to construct at around 500 meters, or does that map not have all the Swedish trenches? Or did they just do a short first parallel, and then a hasty dig in to around 300 meters?

It looks like they were in a hurry.

[Micael]

He had to be pretty close to cop a canister hit. Why did the Swedes drive their trenches so close? Shortage of appropriate siege train?

The cross on this map marks the location of his death. You can see the Norwegian fortress on the left there.

Is that the first parallel they were trying to construct at around 500 meters, or does that map not have all the Swedish trenches? Or did they just do a short first parallel, and then a hasty dig in to around 300 meters?

It looks like they were in a hurry.

I think that that’s all of the trenches, he was in the forwardmost one that had most recently been constructed. But I don’t remember why they did things they way they did, maybe Pandion knows.