Post by stevep on Aug 20, 2023 14:00:11 GMT
Not really. Charles had smashed the Russians at Narva in 1700 and Peter was unpopular with more conservative elements and also the boyars because of his reforms and centralizing desires so if Charles had followed that up with an early march on Moscow, coupled with some decent diplomacy I think there's a decent chance that another defeat for Peter there might fatally undermine his position and see him deposed. Or at least start a civil war that could keep Russia off his back while he dealt with Saxony and Denmark, the other powers that attacked his empire. However he didn't realise that Peter and Russia were the primary threat. Plus he seems to have been something of a religious fanatic thinking he was divinely inspired which didn't help his judgement.
Russia as the primary threat - want to start a TL where he deals with them first, having started with Narva already? But what would Denmark (which still owned the South of Sweden) and Saxony-Poland (which bordered Livland) do meanwhile?
And about being a "religious fanatic" - did he want to convert half of Europe to Protestantism? I've got the feeling he's at least one century late for that.
Well Saxony took some time to take over Poland IIRC and also Denmark was fairly quickly defeated. Possibly a new strike on Russia couldn't have been launched earlier but - admittedly with the advantage of high-sight - I think it might have been the best route to try and depose Peter and remove Russia for a decade or so at least so you could settle matters with the other two powers.
Sweden had the 'Swedish' provinces that had once been part of the Danish kingdom since 1658 although Denmark did try and regain them but the last attempt failed in 1710, i.e. immediately after the OTL disaster in the east. - See this on the history of the province of Scania.
In terms of Charles's religious views I'm going by some of the Sabaton songs on him currently that seem to suggest he definitely though he had god on his side and that seems to have led to at least a level of hubris.