Karolinermonumentet - Great Northern War - Duved, Jämtlands Län, Sweden - Specific Wars Monuments and Memorials on Waymarking.com

In the great Northern War, in late summer 1718, King Karl XII instructed his general Carl Gustav Armfeldt to immediately take the then Danish city of Trondheim in order to be able to annex the northern part of Norway. With an army of 10,000 men camped near Duved in Jämtland, Armfeldt moved to Trondheim and besieged the city, which successfully defended itself. The supplies from Sweden could not be delivered due to the onset of winter conditions. By January 7, 1719, when Armfeldt received the news of the death of Charles XII and the order to retreat to Sweden, almost 4,000 soldiers had already died.

Inadequately equipped, starving, freezing and already exhausted from the siege, the almost 6,000 soldiers made their way home. Already on the 30 km long march to Tydal, 200 soldiers died of hypothermia. Four days later, in cold but clear weather, the army set out to cover the 55 kilometers to Handöl.

On the afternoon of January 12th, the army was surprised by a blizzard near Øyfjellet and forced them to a makeshift camp. 200 soldiers froze to death during the night and while the storm continued the next day, another 2,800 men died. On the morning of January 14th, Armfeldt decided to leave with the rest of the survivors despite the still raging storm. On the way to Handöl and from there to Duved to the main camp, Armfeldt lost a further 700 men; of the 2,100 survivors, over 600 were crippled for life by the frost.

In 1892 an obelisk about 4 to 5 m high was erected in Duved in Jämtland, Sweden, to commemorate the campaign and subsequent death march of the Carolinian Army. On the front inscribed are the year 1719 and the words "Caroliner" and a little below that "af fosterlandet" (from the motherland). At each of the four corners of the base there is a small cannon barrel with the muzzle pointing downwards.