Axel Sparre
Axel Sparre (born January 9, 1652 in Visby , † May 31, 1728 in Brokind ) was a count, Swedish field marshal , general in the Great Northern War and artist.
Life
Sparre was born to Axel Karlsson Sparre (governor of Gothaland and Ostgothaland) and Margareta Oxenstierna. He was born on January 9, 1652 in Visby. He began his military career at the age of 20 when he was inducted into the Dutch army . He took part in the Dutch War (1672–1675). After he entered the service of the Swedish Army , he took part in the war between Denmark and Sweden for Skåne . In 1676 he got the rank of captain of the guard, a year later he became lieutenant colonel of the Närke-Värmland regiment. As a supporter of Crown Prince Karl, he influenced the decision of the Reichstag in 1697 to prematurely declare the young heir to the throne of legal age and name him Karl XII. to sit on the throne. In 1699 Sparre got the rank of colonel and was given command of the Värmland regiment, with which he joined the army of Charles XII. joined immediately after the Battle of Narva (1700). In 1705 he became major general . Sparre showed himself to be a brave fighter in the Battle of Klissow and the Battle of Fraustadt . When Charles XII. When the Russian campaign began, he was so convinced of his victory that he promised Sparre the post of governor of Moscow. In the battle of Poltava on June 27, 1709, Axel Sparre commanded one of the four columns of the Swedish army that attacked the Russian redoubts . Later he tried, without success, to save General Carl Gustav Roos' army units from being surrounded and destroyed. After the defeat of the Swedes in the Battle of Poltava, Major General Sparre accompanied the king to the Ottoman Empire with a small troop . In 1710 he got the rank of lieutenant general . Sparre took part in the clash of the king with the Turks in February 1713 (cf. scuffle by Bender ) and was together with Karl XII. a few days in Ottoman captivity.
Axel Sparre was also a talented portrait painter, although he had no training as a painter. His portrait of Karl XII. from 1712 is in the art gallery in Gripsholm, Sweden. Charles XII. loved Sparre for his humor and cheerfulness. Before Charles XII. left the Swedish camp near Bender (in today's Moldova ), he gave Axel Sparre all the authority to command over 1000 Swedish soldiers who had been left behind. It was no easy task that he was given: supplying the soldiers with food and leading the troops out of the Ottoman territories. He was also supposed to take care of the Polish protégé of Charles XII, Stanislaus Leszczynski , who came to the Swedish camp a few days after the bloody battles between the Swedes and the Ottomans. At the end of 1713 Axel Sparre received the rank of general of the infantry and in September 1714 began the long and arduous retreat via Hungary and Germany back to Sweden. In February 1715 he handed over command of the troops consisting of five army units to General Carl-Gustav Hårdh. In the years 1717-1718 Sparre was in Zweibrücken as the personal guest of King Stanislaus Leszczynski, who ruled in Nancy . After his return home in 1719, he supported Queen Ulrika Eleonora's husband , whom she had put on the throne as Friedrich . Soon after, Sparre was raised to the rank of count and received the rank of field marshal . Axel Sparre died childless on May 31, 1728 in Brokind.
swell
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sparre, Axel |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Graf, Swedish field marshal, general in the Great Northern War and artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 9, 1652 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Visby |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 31, 1728 |
| Place of death | Brokind |