Often called the Carolean Death March, it's one of the most poignant marches ever written. It is essentially the sound of retreat and few composers have ever encapsulated such intense emotions into the rhythm and beat of a march.

In 1718, after several defeats in the Great Northern War, Sweden had lost its eastern territories to Russia. Too weakened to retake these, Charles XII of Sweden planned an attack on Norway to force the Dano-Norwegian king Frederick IV into great concessions in subsequent peace treaty negotiations.

After the defeat at Storkyro, Lieutenant-general Carl Gustaf Armfeldt had retreated to the area of Gävle with the mauled army of Finland. He was now ordered to make a diversionary attack from Jämtland towards Trondheim in Trøndelag with his poorly equipped soldiers. After assembling a host of 10,000 soldiers in Duved, he set off towards Norway on 29 August 1718.[1] Four months later, the campaign in Trøndelag had failed: the defenders of Trondheim had successfully held off Armfeldt. The army of 10,000 had dwindled to around 6,000, and the surviving soldiers were exhausted and starved, their clothing tattered and threadbare. Bad weather made resupplies from Sweden impossible, so the army had to live off the land, causing untold suffering to the Norwegian civilian population.

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