If Charles XI had not ended Sweden's alliance with France after the Scanian war, it would probably have been a connected conflict (if it happens, that is). In that case, with French money, the Swedes could have been more active, although the case of some less successful generals in some theaters still appears.
The war, in a Swedish perspective, would then have been as all-out, with enemies all around, as in the post-1715 period, already in 1702 or something. Anyway, without the OTL need to not hurt the Austrian side, the Swedish war would have been largely fought in Germany against Saxony, Brandenburg-Prussia, Denmark, Austria and others, with the advantage of using richer lands for foraging instead of the relative wildernesses in the northeastern regions.
People have claimed that a Swedish participation on either side would have been decisive, but that is not a certainty. The efforts might have bogged down somewhere, and Poltava-style defeats are always possible.
Then we have Russia on the other side, attacking Sweden from the east with numerical superiority, and the king was less interested in countering that. Would Baltic events change at all here?
He did almost nothing in OTL, say when the Russians were active in Poland during the Swedish occupation of Saxony, or when the Danes attacked in 1709.What does Charles do if he's invading Bohemia and finds a giant Russian army invading Poland in his rear? Or a Danish attack on either the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp or Scania? Or a Polish rebellion on behalf of Augustus? Or all three at once?
He had been taught not to start any wars. So far I have not encountered any fears from his side regarding Russia, so is there some information around concerning this?The fear of Peter, in particular, is pretty clearly the main reason Charles didn't go to war with the Emperor in OTL. I'd think you'd almost certainly need a peace between Russia and Sweden for Charles to feel any confidence about intervening in the west.
It is not necessary to fear your enemies. At Poltava the Swedes seem not to have considered that they might lose the battle. And the lost wars of future generations are only available in hindsight.In all honesty if he didn't Fear Russia then he was an absolute Moron, considering Russia went on to spend the next century repeatedly smashing Sweden's Face in and taking half their land.
Why? If Sweden takes part in that war, Sweden would have allies, some of them rich that could pay for Swedish costs.I would say if the Great Northern War and the Spanish Succession Wars did properly converge you just wind up with a quicker end to the Swedish Empire.
He did almost nothing in OTL, say when the Russians were active in Poland during the Swedish occupation of Saxony, or when the Danes attacked in 1709.