Editing Charles XIV John (section)

==Crown Prince and Regent==
{{Further|Union between Sweden and Norway}}
[[File:Karl XIV Johan, king of Sweden and Norway, painted by Fredric Westin.jpg|180px|left|thumb|Bernadotte as Crown Prince, painting by [[Fredric Westin]]]]On 2 November 1810 Bernadotte made his solemn entry into Stockholm, and on 5 November he received the homage of the Riksdag of the Estates, and he was adopted by King Charles XIII under the name of "Charles John" (Karl Johan).{{sfnp|Bain|1911|p=932}} At the same time, he converted from [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]] to the Lutheranism of the [[Royal Court of Sweden|Swedish court]].<ref name=Britannica/>

{{quote box
| width = 18em
| quote = “I have beheld war near at hand, and I know all its evils: for it is not conquest which can console a country for the blood of her children, spilt on a foreign land. I have seen the mighty Emperor of the French, so often crowned with the laurel of victory, surrounded by his invincible armies, sigh after the olive-branches of peace. Yes, Gentlemen, peace is the only glorious aim of a sage and enlightened government: it is not the extent of a state which constitutes its strength and independence; it is its laws, its commerce, its industry, and above all, its national spirit.”|source=Charles John, address to the Estates, 5 November 1810.{{sfnp|Meredith|1829|pp=105–106}}}}

The new Crown Prince was very soon the most popular and most powerful man in Sweden and quickly impressed his adoptive father. Following his first meeting with his new heir, Charles XIII (who had initially opposed Bernadotte's candidacy) remarked to his aide-de-camp count [[Charles de Suremain]] "My dear Suremain, I have gambled heavily, and I believe that after all I have won."{{sfnp|Barton|1930|p=251}}  He also made himself well liked by Queen Charlotte, who regarded him a "gentleman in every sense of the word",<ref name="autogenerated1942">Hedvig Elisabet Charlotta, Hedvig Elisabeth Charlottas dagbok. 9, 1812–1817, Norstedt, Stockholm, 1942</ref> and established a net of contact within the Swedish aristocracy, befriending in particular the [[Brahe]] family through his favorite [[Magnus Brahe (1790-1844)|Magnus Brahe]] and countess [[Aurora Wilhelmina Brahe]], whose cousin [[Mariana Koskull]] became his lover.<ref name="autogenerated1942"/>

The infirmity of the old King and the dissensions in the Privy Council of Sweden placed the government, and especially the control of [[foreign policy]], entirely in his hands. Amongst the first of Charles John's acts as Crown Prince was to address the dire state of the Swedish economy. The Swedish economy was in shambles after years of mismanagement since the reign of [[Gustav III]] and aggravated during the reign of his son Gustav IV Adolf. The economic turmoil had been caused, in part, by the debts accrued from Gustav III's [[Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790)|Russian War]], in part to the failure of several of Gustav IV Adolf's well intentioned economic reforms (Gustav IV Adolf was rather more successful in his agrarian reforms) and the costs of the more recent wars against France and Russia. Under Gustav IV Adolf genuine attempts at economic reform, including paying down the national debt by some 700,000 [[Swedish riksdaler|Riksdalers]] in the first years of his active reign, and revitalizing the currency, met with limited success.{{sfnp|Scott|1988|pp=288–289}}<ref name=":2">Barton, H. A. (1974). "Late Gustavian Autocracy in Sweden: Gustav IV Adolf and his Opponents, 1792–1809." Scandinavian Studies, 46(3), 265–284.</ref>

Such measures were undermined by his other policies. Gustav IV Adolf's personal dislike of the Riksdag, which had the power to raise taxes, led to his refusal to call them into session after 1800, crippling his attempts to raise state revenues. Gustav IV Adolf's foreign policy plunged Sweden into disastrous (and expensive) wars against France and Russia. The cost of years of war, several poor harvests in the years between 1798 and 1809, the ineptitude of his ministers in carrying out fiscal reforms, and the loss of the tax base of Finland had ballooned Sweden's national debt.{{sfnp|Scott|1988|pp=288–289}}<ref>Kent, Neil (2010). A Concise History of Sweden, pp. 149–150. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.</ref><ref name=":2" /> The impending demands of Napoleon to adhere to the [[Continental System]] forecasted even greater difficulties. Charles John immediately began making reforms, and used his sizable fortune, accrued honestly during his time as French Marshal, to pay off much of the debt, and to stabilize the economy by both grants and via a loan to the state of £300,000 sterling at five percent interest. Charles John also purchased back from the French private estates that had been confiscated during the occupation of Swedish Pomerania from 1808 to 1810 and returned them to their original Swedish and German owners.<ref>Phillipart, John (1814). ''Memoirs and Campaigns of Charles John, Prince Royal of Sweden'', pp. 144–145. C.J. Barrington, London.</ref>

The keynote of his foreign and domestic policy was maintenance of Swedish independence of action, often in the face of French demands, and the acquisition of Norway as a compensation for the loss of Finland.{{sfnp|Bain|1911|p=932}} Many Swedes expected him to reconquer Finland, which had been ceded to Russia. The Crown Prince was aware of its difficulty for reasons of the desperate situation of the state finance and the reluctance of the Finnish people to return to Sweden.{{sfnp|Berdah|2009|p=39}} Even if Finland was regained, he thought, it would put Sweden into a new cycle of conflicts with a powerful neighbor because there was no guarantee Russia would accept the loss as final.{{sfnp|Palmer|1990|p=181}} Therefore, he made up his mind to make a united [[Scandinavian Peninsula|Scandinavian peninsula]], which was easier to defend, by taking Norway (intentionally without the ancient and remote provinces of [[Greenland]], [[Iceland]] and the [[Faroe Islands]]) from Denmark and uniting her to Sweden. He tried to divert public opinion from Finland to Norway, by arguing that to create a compact peninsula, with sea for its natural boundary, was to inaugurate an era of peace, and that waging war with Russia would lead to ruinous consequences.{{sfnp|Barton|1930|pp=257–258}}

Soon after Charles John's arrival in Sweden, Napoleon compelled him to accede to the Continental System and declare war against the United Kingdom; otherwise, Sweden would have to face the determination of France, Denmark and Russia. This demand would mean a hard blow to the national economy and the Swedish population. Sweden reluctantly [[Anglo-Swedish war of 1810–1812|declared war]] against the UK, which was treated by both countries as merely nominal, although Swedish imports of British goods decreased from £4,871 million in 1810 to £523 million in the following year.{{sfnp|Berdah|2009|pp=40–41}}{{sfnp|Barton|1930|p=259}}

In January 1812, French troops suddenly invaded [[Swedish Pomerania]] and the island of [[Rügen]].{{sfnp|Barton|1930|p=265}} Officially, the French claimed that Sweden had repeatedly violated the Continental System and that the occupation of [[Stralsund]] and Swedish Pomerania was closing an entrepôt for illegal British goods. Napoleon, before marching to Moscow, also had to secure his rear and dared not allow a Swedish continental foothold behind him as he did not trust Charles John.{{sfnp|Scott|1935|p=13}}{{sfnp|Barton|1925|pp=32–33}}<ref>Wenker-Wildberg, Friedrich (1936). Bernadotte: A Biography, p. 272. Jarrolds, London.</ref> Charles John believed that Napoleon scheduled the occupation to occur on the Crown Prince's birthday, and ordered Charles John's old rival Marshal Davout to execute the operation, as a personal insult, adding another dimension of personal enmity to the incident.{{sfnp|Palmer|1990|pp=185–186}}{{sfnp|Barton|1925|p=32}} As a result, the initially amicable relationship which Charles John had with Napoleon, following his election as Crown Prince, soon changed because of the invasion.<ref name=napoleonrevealed>{{Cite web | url=http://www.napoleonguide.com/marshal_bernadotte.htm | title=Napoleonic Marshals : Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte : Napoleonic Wars : France | access-date=27 December 2018 | archive-date=3 January 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190103144408/http://www.napoleonguide.com/marshal_bernadotte.htm | url-status=live }}</ref> The invasion was a clear violation of international law as well as an act of war and public opinion in Sweden was outraged.{{sfnp|Scott|1988|p=307}}{{sfnp|Favier|2010|pp=206–207}} Moreover, it antagonized the pro-French faction at the Swedish court.{{sfnp|Griffiths|2004|p=19}} Thereafter, the Crown Prince declared the neutrality of Sweden and opened negotiations with the UK and Russia.{{sfnp|Berdah|2009|p=45}}

In 1812, he allied Sweden with its traditional enemy Russia, and sought to make peace with the United Kingdom with whom Sweden was technically at war. Charles John's personal diplomacy served as the bridge between Russia and the UK as on 18 July 1812 the [[Treaty of Örebro]] formally ended the wars between Britain and Sweden and Britain and Russia and formed an alliance between Russia, Britain, and Sweden; creating the [[Sixth Coalition]]. The treaty stipulated that Sweden would land an army of no less than 25,000 on the continent for the express purpose of fighting France, as well as liberating Swedish Pomerania, and in exchange, Russia and the UK would diplomatically and militarily support the cession of Norway from the doggedly French-allied Denmark to Sweden. Throughout summer and fall 1812, Bernadotte sought to add more allies to the Coalition, and negotiated a treaty with the Spanish [[Supreme Central Junta]] against his own brother-in-law who was currently the French-backed King of Spain. Although Napoleon had forced [[Frederick William III]] to break off relations with Sweden, Charles John corresponded with the King of Prussia, encouraging him to renounce the forced alliance with France and join the Coalition. Following the [[Convention of Tauroggen]], which broke the Prussian/French Alliance, Frederick Wilhelm signed the [[Treaty of Kalisz (1813)|Treaty of Kalisz]] with Russia, and then a separate peace treaty with Sweden, on the basis of Prussian recognition of the Norwegian cession to Sweden, in exchange for Swedish Pomerania, thus formally joining the Coalition in spring 1813.{{sfnp|Barton|1925|pp=53–58}}{{sfnp|Scott|1935|pp=33–38}}

After the defeats at [[Battle of Lützen (1813)|Lützen]] (2 May 1813) and [[Battle of Bautzen (1813)|Bautzen]] (21 May 1813), it was the Swedish Crown Prince who put fresh fighting spirit into the Allies; and at the conference of Trachenberg he drew up the [[Trachenberg Plan]], the general plan for the campaign which began after the expiration of the [[Truce of Pläswitz]].{{sfnp|Bain|1911|p=932}}

Charles John, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Army, successfully defended the approaches to [[Berlin]] and was victorious in battle against [[Nicolas Oudinot|Oudinot]] in August and against [[Michel Ney|Ney]] in September at the Battles of [[Battle of Großbeeren|Großbeeren]] and [[Battle of Dennewitz|Dennewitz]]. Bernadotte's Army of the North would continue to guard Berlin and keep watch on Davout's forces in Hamburg while the Allies, in accordance with the plan conceived at Trachenberg, maneuvered toward Napoleon's army at [[Leipzig]]. With the other Allied armies engaged in battle on 17 October, Bernadotte's army finally crossed the [[Elbe]] and joined in the [[Battle of Leipzig]] on 19 October. His fresh troops, reinforced by 30,000 Prussians, joined the fray against the already battered French lines where Swedish forces entered battle in numbers for the first time in the campaign. At a critical moment entire Saxon regiments went over to his army in response to a proclamation released a week prior in which Bernadotte invited the Saxons to join their old commander in defeating Napoleon.{{sfnp|Barton|1925|p=94}} The Army of the North committed the ''coup de grâce'' on the already depleted French and Bernadotte was the first of the Allied sovereigns to enter Leipzig.{{sfnp|Barton|1925|pp=101–108}}

After the Battle of Leipzig he went his own way, determined at all hazards to cripple Denmark and to [[1814 in Norway|secure Norway]],{{sfnp|Bain|1911|p=932}} defeating the Danes in a relatively quick campaign. His efforts culminated in the favourable [[Treaty of Kiel]], which transferred Norway to Swedish control.<ref name=Britannica/>

The Norwegians rejected Swedish control. They [[Kingdom of Norway (1814)|declared independence]], adopted [[Constitution of Norway|a liberal constitution]] and elected Danish crown prince [[Christian VIII of Denmark|Christian Frederick]] to the throne. [[Swedish-Norwegian War (1814)|The ensuing war]] was swiftly won by Sweden under Charles John's generalship.<ref name=Britannica/><ref name=Norway>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Norway|title=Norway &#124; Facts, Points of Interest, Geography, & History &#124; Britannica|website=www.britannica.com|access-date=14 June 2022|archive-date=2 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150502183400/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/420178/Norway|url-status=live}}</ref> The military operations in 1814 were to be Sweden's last war to this day.{{sfnp|Hårdstedt|2016|p=222}} Charles John could have named his terms to Norway, but in a key concession accepted the Constitution of Norway and its own political autonomy.<ref name=Britannica/><ref name="Norway"/> This paved the way for Norway to enter a [[Union between Sweden and Norway|personal union]] with Sweden later that year.{{sfnp|Bain|1911|p=932}}

During the period of the Allied invasion of France in the winter and spring of 1814, when it was unclear who would rule France after the war, the Russian Tsar [[Alexander I of Russia|Alexander I]], with support from French liberals like [[Benjamin Constant]] and [[Madame de Staël]], advocated placing Charles John on the French throne in place of Napoleon. He would rule France as a Constitutional Monarch and leave Oscar as Regent in Sweden and Norway.<ref>Barton, pp. 110–131.{{incomplete short citation|date=October 2022}}</ref> Ultimately the British and Austrians vetoed the idea, and the Allies agreed that if Napoleon were to be deposed, the only acceptable alternative was the restoration of the [[House of Bourbon]].