Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"By 1706 Charles, now 24 years old, had forced all of his foes into submission . . . Charles' subsequent march on Moscow met with initial success as victory followed victory, the most significant of which was the Battle of Holowczyn where the smaller Swedish army routed a Russian army twice the size. The campaign ended with disaster when the Swedish army suffered heavy losses to a Russian force more than twice its size at Poltava. Charles had been incapacitated by a wound prior to the battle, rendering him unable to take command. The defeat was followed by the Surrender at Perevolochna. Charles spent the following years in exile in the Ottoman Empire before returning to lead an assault on Norway, trying to evict the Danish king from the war once more in order to aim all his forces at the Russians. Two campaigns met with . . . ultimate failure, concluding with his death at the Siege of Fredriksten in 1718. . . . Charles was an exceptionally skilled military leader and tactician as well as an able politician, credited with introducing important tax and legal reforms. . . 'I have resolved never to start an unjust war but never to end a legitimate one except by defeating my enemies'" [Wikipedia]