After the Peace of Tilsit of 1807, two huge gaps remained in Europe in Napoleonic Continental blockade of England. In the south of Europe, Spain and Portugal did not participate in the blockade of the British Isles, in the north - Sweden. If Napoleon could cope with Spain and Portugal on his own, then with Sweden things were more difficult. The Swedish king Gustav IV had a great dislike for Napoleonic France, and no amount of persuasion could force him to break the alliance with England. In order to defeat Sweden, which lies across the Baltic Sea, the French needed to conduct a major landing operation against it. Given the supremacy of the British fleet at sea, this operation could have ended in disaster for them.
To persuade Gustav IV to carry out the Continental blockade, french emperor needed help from Russia, which had a land border with Sweden. This position of Napoleon provided Alexander I with the opportunity to seize Finland from Sweden and thereby eliminate the centuries-old threat to Russia’s northern borders. The reason for the start of military action against the Swedes was the refusal of their king to enter into an alliance with Russia against England. Hoping for British help, Gustav behaved defiantly. For example, he returned to the Russian Emperor the highest order of St. Andrew the First-Called, writing that he could not wear the order that Bonaparte had. Meanwhile, Sweden was not ready for war. Its forces, scattered across the vast expanses of Finland, numbered only 19 thousand people. The Russian emperor took advantage of this.
Campaign of 1808.
On February 9, 1808, Russian troops under the command of General Buxhoeveden (24 thousand people) crossed the Swedish border into Finland and began military operations. Thanks to the surprise of the attack and the lack of Swedish forces, by April the Russians managed to occupy most of the Finnish territory (up to the Uleaborg area) and blockade about a third of the Swedish army (7.5 thousand people) in Sveaborg. On April 26, Sveaborg (Sweden's largest naval base in the Gulf of Finland) capitulated. At sea, Russian landings occupied the Åland Islands and the island of Gotland.
The rest of the Swedish troops, led by General Klingspor, managed to avoid encirclement and retreat without significant losses to the position towards Uleaborg. A partisan movement broke out in Finland against Russian troops. The large territory and the actions of the partisans required the Russians to devote significant forces to the establishment of garrisons and logistical support. This war was fought primarily by small detachments (from 2 to 5 thousand people), and there was no major battles.
In April, after dispersing forces across vast forested and swampy areas, only 4-5 thousand soldiers approached the Uleabog positions of the Swedes. This allowed General Klingspor to create a numerical superiority here and launch a counteroffensive. Due to lack of strength and poor knowledge of the terrain, the Russians suffered defeats at Revolax and Pulkkila in April. The remnants of the defeated units barely escaped the encirclement and retreated to the south. These failures caused an increase in the activity of Finnish partisans against Russian troops, who had to withdraw to the southern part of Finland, to the Tammersfors - St. Michel line. The poor performance of the commissariat forced the troops to actually turn to grazing. For example, in the summer, due to delays in food delivery, soldiers and officers often had to eat mushrooms and berries.
At the same time, the Anglo-Swedish fleet became active at sea. In early May, the Russians lost the Åland Islands and the island of Gotland. The Baltic Fleet was unable to seriously resist the Anglo-Swedish forces. Returning from Mediterranean Sea In the Baltic, Senyavin's squadron was blocked and then captured by the British in the port of Lisbon in August 1808. Under the terms of capitulation, Senyavin handed over his ships to them for storage until the end of the war.
The situation for the Russians in Finland became threatening in May, as a 14,000-strong English corps under the command of General Moore arrived to help the Swedes. With the support of the fleet, the Swedes could begin active offensive operations. But the English corps was soon transferred to fight French troops in Spain, where England had more significant interests. As a result, equilibrium was established on land. At sea, the Anglo-Swedish fleet reigned supreme, blocking the Russian fleet on the coast of Estonia. However, sabotage by the British against the port of Revel and an attempt by the Anglo-Swedish fleet to land a 9,000-strong force in southern Finland were repulsed.
By August, Russian troops in the Finnish theater of operations were brought to 55 thousand people. against 36 thousand people. from the Swedes. On August 2, the 11,000-strong corps of General Nikolai Kamensky 2 went on the offensive, which defeated Klingspor's troops in the battles of Kuortane, Salmi (August 20-21) and Orovaise (September 2). These victories brought a turning point in the course of the war. In September, at the request of the Swedish side, a truce was concluded. But Alexander I did not approve it, demanding that the Russian command clear all of Finland from the Swedes. In October, Russian troops launched a general offensive. Having reached Torneo (Tornio), in the area of the Finnish-Swedish border, they occupied the main part of Finland. In December, General Knorring was appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian troops instead of Buxhoeveden.
Campaign of 1809.
Alexander I sought a peace with Sweden that would force it to recognize Finland's entry into the Russian Empire. The Russians could only persuade Gustav IV to accept such conditions on Swedish territory. Therefore, Alexander I ordered the start of a winter campaign with the goal of invading Sweden across the ice of the Gulf of Bothnia. In winter, the English fleet was powerless to prevent this operation.
Her plan was drawn up by General Kamensky 2nd. It provided for the movement of three corps to Sweden. One of them, under the command of General Shuvalov, moved along the shore of the Gulf of Bothnia, through Torneo. The other two walked on the ice of the bay. The corps under the command of General Barclay de Tolly was heading across the ice from Vasa to Umeå. To the south (from Abo through the Åland Islands to the area north of Stockholm) the corps of General Bagration advanced. Knorring, skeptical about to this enterprise, delayed its implementation in every possible way. Only the arrival of the tsarist representative, General Arakcheev, made it possible to speed up the Ice Campaign, which glorified this war.
Åland expedition (1809).
The Swedes were most impressed by the actions of Bagration's corps (17 thousand people), which crossed the ice of the Gulf of Bothnia to the Åland Islands and the shores of Sweden on March 1-7, 1809. First, the Russians moved to the Åland Islands, which were defended by the Swedish corps (6 thousand people). people) and local residents(4 thousand people). The ice campaign of the Russian army took place in difficult conditions. Not wanting to be discovered, the soldiers did not make fires and slept directly in the snow. Having reached the Åland Islands across the ice, Bagration’s detachment captured them in battle, capturing 3 thousand people.
After this, an advance guard was sent to the shores of Sweden under the command of General Yakov Kulnev. Before the speech, the general told his soldiers: “The campaign to the Swedish shores crowns all your labors. Have with you two glasses of vodka per person, a piece of meat and bread and two garnets of oats. The sea is not scary for those who trust in God!” On March 7, Kulnev’s detachment reached the Swedish coast and occupied the city of Grislehamn, 70 km from Stockholm. Soon, with great difficulties, Barclay de Tolly’s corps overcame the icy expanses, which on March 12 reached the Swedish coast and occupied Umeå.
The entry of Russians into Sweden caused a political crisis there. A coup d'etat took place in Stockholm. Gustav IV, who opposed peace with Russia, was overthrown. The Duke of Südermanland (later Charles XIII) became regent. The new Swedish government made proposals for a truce. General Knorring, who was afraid of breaking up the ice, concluded a truce and recalled the units of Barclay de Tolly and Kulnev from Swedish territory.
However, Alexander I did not want to hear about the truce. He needed a peace that confirmed Finland's attachment to Russia. The Emperor removed Knorring from command and ordered General Barclay de Tolly to lead the troops. But by that time the spring melting of the snow had begun, and there could be no talk of any new invasions of Sweden by ice. Now all hopes were pinned on the northern corps of General Shuvalov (5 thousand people), which was moving along the coast. It was he who ultimately managed to end this war victoriously.
Surrender of the Swedes at Kalix and Skellefteå (1809).
While the glorious corps of Bagration and Barclay overcame the icy expanses, Shuvalov acted on the northern coast of the Gulf of Bothnia against the Swedish detachment of General Grippenberg (7 thousand people). Shuvalov's units occupied Torneo and followed the retreating Swedes to Kalix. Meanwhile, on March 12, Barclay de Tolly's corps reached Umeå, behind Grippenberg. Upon learning that his escape route was cut off, Grippenberg laid down his arms in Kalix.
After the truce was canceled, Shuvalov's corps, which now remained the only one on Swedish territory, again went on the offensive along the coast. At Skellefteå his path was blocked by a Swedish corps under the command of General Furumark (5 thousand people). Shuvalov decided on a bold roundabout maneuver. To reach the Swedes' rear, General Alekseev's group moved across the ice of the bay, bypassing Furumark's positions and cutting off his path to retreat.
The operation was fraught with enormous risk, since by that time the opening of the ice had already begun. The troops walked literally knee-deep in water. People crossed the ice holes on bridges, or even on boats. The guns were transported disassembled on sleds. Near Skellefteå itself, the ice had by that time moved almost a kilometer away from the shore, and the Russians had to make a significant detour, risking being carried out to sea on cracked ice floes. If Alekseev had hesitated a little, a disaster awaited his detachment, since two days after the Russians landed on the shore, the sea was completely cleared of ice. The risk turned out to be worth it. Having learned about the appearance of the Russians in his rear, Furumark capitulated on May 3.
Battle of Ratan (1809).
In the summer, the Shuvalov corps was headed by General Kamensky, who continued the offensive along the coast. Slowly but surely, a small detachment of Russians moved towards Stockholm. Swedish lands lay around for hundreds of kilometers, and one blow that cut the thin coastal highway was enough to encircle the Russian troops. Moreover, the Swedish fleet dominated the Gulf of Bothnia, and Kamensky could not expect any help from the sea.
Trying to encircle Kamensky's detachment (5 thousand people), the Swedes in August landed an amphibious assault in his rear under the command of General Wachtmeister (6 thousand people). Kamensky turned around to meet the Wachtmeister’s detachment and on August 8 resolutely attacked it near Ratan. During the battle, the Swedish detachment was completely defeated. Having lost 2 thousand people. (a third of the squad), he retreated in disarray. This was the last battle of the last Russian-Swedish war.
Treaty of Friedrichsham (September 5(17), 1809).
In August, peace negotiations began between Russia and Sweden, ending with the signing of the Treaty of Friedrichsham (now the city of Hamina, Finland). According to its terms, all of Finland and the Åland Islands passed to Russia. Finland was part of the Russian Empire as a Grand Duchy with broad internal autonomy. Sweden dissolved its alliance with England and joined the Continental blockade. Both Napoleon and Alexander achieved their goals with this war.
Overall, thanks to the alliance with Napoleonic France, Russia strengthened the security of its northwestern and southwestern borders, pushing Swedish and Ottoman possessions beyond the East European Plain. At the same time, it is worth noting that this war with the Swedes was not popular in Russian society. An attack on a weak neighbor, even if in the past a formidable enemy, was strongly condemned and considered inglorious. Losses of the Russian army in the war of 1808-1809. amounted to approximately 8 thousand people.
Shefov N.A. The most famous wars and battles of Russia M. "Veche", 2000.
Plan
Introduction
1 Causes and purposes of the war
2 State of the parties before the war
3 Undeclared War
4 Declaration of war
5 Unsuccessful start of the war for Russia
6 Fracture
7 Swedes' defeat in Finland
8 Foreign policy results
9 Military results
Russo-Swedish War (1808-1809)
Introduction
Russian-Swedish War 1808-1809, also Finnish War (Finnish: Suomen sota, Swedish. Finska kriget) - a war between Russia, supported by France and Denmark against Sweden. It was the last of a series of Russian-Swedish wars.
The war ended with the victory of Russia and the conclusion of the Friedrichsham Peace Treaty, according to which Finland passed from Sweden to Russia, becoming part of the Russian Empire as the Grand Duchy of Finland.
1. Causes and purposes of the war
At the conclusion of the Peace of Tilsit in 1807, Alexander I offered the Swedish king Gustav IV his mediation to reconcile him with France, and when the British, suddenly and without declaring war, attacked Copenhagen and took away the Danish fleet, he demanded Sweden’s assistance so that, on the basis treaties of 1780 and 1800, keep the Baltic Sea closed to the fleets of Western powers. Gustav IV rejected these demands and headed for rapprochement with England, which continued to fight Napoleon, who was hostile to him.
Meanwhile, there was a break between Russia and Great Britain. On November 16, 1807, the Russian government again turned to the Swedish king with a proposal for assistance, but for about two months it did not receive any response. Finally, Gustav IV said that the treaties of 1780 and 1800 would not be fulfilled. cannot proceed while the French occupy the harbors Baltic Sea. Then it became known that the Swedish king was preparing to help England in the war with Denmark, trying to recapture Norway from it. All these circumstances gave Emperor Alexander I a reason to conquer Finland, in order to ensure the safety of the capital from the close proximity of a hostile power to Russia.
2. State of the parties before the war
At the beginning of 1808 Russian army(about 24 thousand) was located along the border, between Friedrichsham and Neuslot, leadership was entrusted to Count Buxhoeveden.
The Swedes in Finland at that time had 19 thousand troops, under the temporary command of General Klerker. The commander-in-chief, Count Klingspor, was still in Stockholm, where everyone hoped for a peaceful resolution of misunderstandings: the king himself did not trust the news of the concentration of Russian troops in the Vyborg province and the Swedish army was not transferred to martial law.
When Count Klingspor finally went to Finland, the essence of the instructions given to him was not to engage in battle with the enemy, to hold Sveaborg to the last extremity and, if possible, to act in the rear of the Russians.
3. Undeclared war
Although war was not declared, Russian troops crossed the border on February 9. On February 18, Count Buxhoeveden entered Helsingfors; Swedish troops took refuge in the Sveaborg fortress.
On February 23, Count Klingspor retreated to Tammerfors, ordering all detachments scattered in northern Finland to converge there.
Following this, Tavastehus was occupied by Russian troops.
On February 27, Buxhoeveden ordered Prince Bagration to pursue Klingspor, and General Tuchkov to try to cut off his retreat; Buxhoeveden himself decided to begin the siege of Sveaborg.
The Swedes retreated unhindered to Bragestad, but Sveaborg - mainly thanks to the “golden gunpowder” - surrendered to the Russians on April 26, who received 7.5 thousand prisoners, more than 2 thousand guns, huge reserves of all kinds and 110 warships.
Even earlier, on March 5, the Svartholm fortress surrendered; Almost at the same time, the fortified Cape Gangut was occupied, as well as the island of Gotland and the Aland Islands.
4. Declaration of war
A formal declaration of war on the Russian side followed only on March 16, 1808, when news was received that the king, having learned about the passage of Russian troops across the border, ordered the arrest of all members of the Russian embassy in Stockholm.
Public opinion in Sweden was not on the side of the war, and the emergency measures prescribed by the king were carried out reluctantly and weakly.
5. Unsuccessful start of the war for Russia
Meanwhile, in northern Finland, things took a turn unfavorable for Russia. Tuchkov's detachment, due to the separation of the stages and garrisons, decreased to 4 thousand.
On April 6, the vanguard of the Russian troops, under the command of Kulnev, attacked the Swedes near the village of Siikajoki, but, having stumbled upon superior forces, was defeated; then, on April 15, the same fate befell a detachment of Russian troops at Revolaks, and the commander of this detachment, General Bulatov, Mikhail Leontievich, who had already conducted a number of successful battles, defeating several enemy detachments, was seriously wounded and captured. In February 1809, the captured general was offered freedom in exchange for a promise not to fight against the Swedes and their allies, but he refused, after which he was allowed to leave for Russia without preconditions.
The Finns, incited by the proclamations of the king and Count Klingspor, rose up against the Russians and, with their partisan actions, under the command of Swedish officers, caused a lot of harm to the Russian army.
In eastern Finland, a detachment under the command of Colonel Sandels (sv: Johan August Sandels) spread the alarm as far as Neishlot and Vilmanstrand.
At the end of April, a strong Swedish flotilla appeared near the Åland Islands and, with the help of the rebel inhabitants, forced Colonel Vuich's detachment to surrender.
On May 3, Rear Admiral Bodisko, who occupied the island of Gotland, concluded a capitulation, by virtue of which his detachment, laying down their arms, went back to Libau on the same ships on which they arrived on Gotland.
On May 14, the English fleet arrived in Gothenburg with an auxiliary corps of 14 thousand people under the command of General Moore, but Gustav IV could not agree with him regarding the plan of action, and Moore’s troops were sent to Spain; Only the English fleet remained at the disposal of the Swedish king, consisting of 16 ships and 20 other vessels.
Meanwhile, detachments of Russian troops operating in northern Finland were forced to retreat to Kuopio. Klingspor did not complete his successes by persistent pursuit, but stopped at a position near the village of Salmi, awaiting the arrival of reinforcements from Sweden and the result of the landings undertaken on the western coast of Finland. The landing forces were defeated in the battle of Lemu and Vaasa. Taking advantage of this, General Count N.M. Kamensky again went on the offensive on August 2.
On August 20 and 21, after stubborn battles at Kuortane and Salmi, Klingspor retreated towards Vasa and Nykarleby, and on September 2 suffered a new setback in the battle of Oravais.
The Swedish landing forces, which at first acted not without success, on the orders of Klingspor, also retreated to Vasa. Other landings undertaken in September from the Åland Islands also ended in failure.
6. Fracture
In eastern Finland, General Tuchkov, having against him the Swedish detachment of Sandels and a detachment of armed residents, remained in a defensive position. Alekseev’s detachment, sent to reinforce him, was stopped by the actions of the partisans and returned to Serdobol on July 30. Only on September 14, Prince Dolgorukov, who replaced Alekseev, reached the village of Melansemi and entered into contact with Tuchkov. The joint attack they had planned on Sandels did not take place, since the latter, having learned about the failure of Klingspor near Oravais, retreated to the village of Edensalmi.
Soon the unrest in eastern Finland subsided. Due to the onset of autumn, a lack of food and the need to rest the troops, Count Buxhoeveden accepted Klingspor's proposal for a truce, which was concluded on September 17, but was not approved by the emperor. The renewed offensive from the Russian side proceeded almost unhindered. Klingspor left for Stockholm, handing over his command to General Klerker, and the latter, convinced of the impossibility of delaying the Russian troops, began negotiations with Count Kamensky, the consequence of which was the retreat of the Swedes to Torneo and the occupation of all of Finland by Russian troops in November 1808.
Emperor Alexander, however, was not entirely satisfied with Count Buxhoeveden, since the Swedish army, despite the significant superiority of Russian forces, retained its composition, and therefore the war could not be considered over. At the beginning of December, Buxhoeveden's place was taken by Infantry General Knorring. Emperor Alexander ordered the new commander-in-chief to immediately and decisively transfer the theater of war to the Swedish coast, taking advantage of the opportunity (rare in the history of the usually ice-free bay) to cross there on the ice.
The northern detachment was supposed to move to Tornio, take possession of the stores there and proceed to the city of Umea, to join with another detachment, which was ordered to go there from Vasa along the ice of the Gulf of Bothnia near the Kvarken Islands; finally, the third detachment was to attack the Åland Islands, then all three detachments were to move towards Stockholm.
Knorring delayed the execution of his bold plan and remained inactive until mid-February. Alexander I, extremely dissatisfied with this, sent the Minister of War, Count Arakcheev, to Finland, who, arriving in Abo on February 20, insisted on the speedy implementation of the highest will.
The troops of Prince Bagration, who marched to the Åland Islands on March 2, quickly captured them, and on March 7, a small Russian cavalry detachment under the command of Kulnev had already occupied the village of Grisselgam on the Swedish coast (now part of the Norrtälje commune). Two days later, he was ordered to return to Åland, where the Swedish commissioner arrived with a letter from the Duke of Südermanland, declaring his desire to make peace on the condition that Russian troops would not cross to the Swedish coast. Knorring agreed to a suspension of hostilities; the main forces of Prince Bagration were returned to Abo; Barclay de Tolly's detachment, which had already crossed the bay at Kvarken, was also recalled back.
Meanwhile, the northern detachment of Russian troops, under the command of Count Shuvalov, managed to achieve significant successes. Grippenberg's detachment, which stood against him, lost the city of Tornio without a fight, and then, on March 13, bypassed by the troops of the Russian Empire near the village of Kalix, he laid down his arms. Then Count Shuvalov stopped, having received news of the truce concluded on Åland.
After Paul's death, his son Alexander I ascended the throne.
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Alexander I
The new emperor faced a dilemma: an alliance with Napoleon or participation in another anti-French coalition. Alexander I chose to enter into a coalition with England and Austria. Pre-revolutionary historians explained this by the tsar’s commitment to the sacred rights of legitimism, etc., Soviet historians - by the interest of the nobility in trade with England. Although there was one thing that the nobles, and especially their wives and daughters, were interested in, it was French goods.
In fact, two subjective factors turned out to be decisive - the influence of the “German” party and the ambition of the young tsar. Alexander's mother was the Württemberg princess Sophia Dorothea (in Orthodoxy Maria Fedorovna),
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Maria Fedorovna
wife - Princess Louise of Baden (in Orthodoxy she received the name Elizaveta Alekseevna).
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Elizaveta Alekseevna
A crowd of relatives and courtiers came to Russia with them, not to mention the “Gatchina” Germans, to whom Paul entrusted the most important posts in the state. This entire company persistently demanded that Alexander intervene in German affairs. Still would! Some “Russian Germans” had selfish interests there, while others had relatives who suffered from Napoleon in their homeland. Alexander himself was extremely ambitious and thirsty military glory, hoping that it will cover the shame of parricide. He decided to personally lead the troops moving into Germany.
Sweden also joined the third anti-French coalition. More precisely, it was forcibly drawn in by King Gustav IV.
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GustavIV Adolf
He, like Alexander I, was unbearably thirsty for military glory. However, the king had a completely material goal - to seize lands in Pomerania. Gustav IV clearly confused the 19th century with the 17th century and seriously assumed that Sweden could still decide the destinies of Europe.
On January 2 (14), 1805, an alliance treaty was concluded between Russia and Sweden. Historians consider this the date of the official accession of the Swedish kingdom to the third coalition. However, the 1805 campaign ended very sadly for the Allies. On November 20, 1805, near Austerlitz, Napoleon smashed the united Russian-Austrian army to smithereens. Emperors Alexander I and Franz I shamefully fled from the battlefield. The Swedes tried to start hostilities in Pomerania, but were soon forced to retreat.
In 1806, the next, fourth anti-French coalition was created. England, as always, gave a lot of money, Russia and Prussia - soldiers. Sweden also joined the coalition. But now Gustav IV was smarter. He willingly took the English money, but was in no hurry to send soldiers to the continent.
The war of the countries of the fourth coalition with Napoleon ended in the same way as the wars of the first, second and third coalitions. Prussian troops were defeated at Jena and Auerstedt, Russians at Friedland. The French occupied Berlin and Warsaw and for the first time reached the Russian border on the Neman River.
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Meeting AlexanderI and NapoleonI
Now Alexander had to put up with it. In the middle of the river that separated the French army and the remnants of the defeated Russian army, French sappers built a huge raft with an elegant tent. On this raft, on June 25, 1807, at 11 a.m., a meeting of the two emperors took place. Napoleon was the first to turn to Alexander: “Why are we fighting?” There was nothing to answer the “crafty Byzantine.” Back in 1800, on Rostopchin’s report, opposite the words “England alternately armed all powers with threats, cunning and money, forgiving France,” Emperor Paul I wrote in his own hand: “And us sinners.”
In turn, England entered into an agreement with Sweden in February 1808, under which it undertook to pay Sweden 1 million pounds sterling monthly during the war with Russia, no matter how long it lasted. In addition, the British promised to provide Sweden with 14 thousand soldiers to guard its western borders and ports, while all Swedish troops were to go to the eastern front against Russia. After the conclusion of this treaty, there was no hope for reconciliation between Sweden and Russia: England had already invested in a future war and sought to extract military-political dividends as quickly as possible.
Land fighting in 1808
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The formal reason for the start of the war was given by the Swedes themselves. On February 1 (13), 1808, the Swedish king Gustav IV informed the Russian ambassador in Stockholm that reconciliation between Sweden and Russia was impossible as long as Russia held Eastern Finland. A week later, Alexander I responded to the challenge of the Swedish king with a declaration of war.
For the war with Sweden, a 24,000-strong army was formed, the command of which Alexander entrusted to the infantry general Count F.F. Buxhoeveden.
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Fedor Fedorovich Buxgewden
The allocation of such small forces was explained by the fact that Russia continued to wage war with Turkey, and on the other hand, the bulk of the Russian troops were stationed in the western provinces in case new war with Napoleon. Swedish troops numbering 19 thousand were scattered throughout Finland. They were commanded by General Kleckner.
On February 9, 1808, the Russian army crossed the border of Finland on the Kyumen River. On the night of February 15-16, Russian troops defeated a detachment of Swedes under the command of Adlerkreutz near the town of Artchio. When Russian troops advanced to the Borga River, they received news of the gathering of Swedish forces at Helsingfors. But this message turned out to be misinformation; in fact, the Swedes were concentrated at Tavasgus.
Buxhoeveden formed a detachment of Major General Count Orlov-Denisov consisting of Jaeger and Cossack regiments and one squadron of dragoons to capture Helsingfors.
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The detachment moved with a forced march to Helsingfors, sometimes following the coastal road, and sometimes straight along the ice. On February 17, when approaching the city, Orlov-Denisov met a Swedish detachment. After a short skirmish the enemy fled. The Russians took six field guns and 134 prisoners. On February 18, the main Russian forces, led by General Buxhoeveden, entered Helsingfors. 19 guns, 20 thousand cannonballs and 4 thousand bombs were found in the city. On February 28, the Russians, despite the severe frost, occupied Tammerfors.
General Klöckner became confused and lost control of the troops, so at the end of February he was replaced by General Moritz Klingspor. However, the new commander-in-chief turned out to be no better than the previous one and on March 4 was defeated near the city of Bierneborg. Thus, the Russians reached the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. Most of the Swedish troops retreated along the coast north to the city of Uleaborg.
On March 10, Major General Shepelev’s brigade occupied the city of Abo without a fight. And only after that the residents of the Russian Empire learned about the war with Sweden. A message was published in the newspapers: “From the Minister of War about the actions of the Finnish Army under the main command of the Infantry General Buxhoeveden.” The population was informed that “the Stockholm court refused to unite with Russia and Denmark in order to close the Baltic Sea to England until the completion of sea world"The message indicated that, having exhausted their means of persuasion, the Russians crossed the border and fought successful battles.
On March 16, 1808, the Tsar pleased the population and dotted all the i's in the Highest Manifesto (Declaration) on the accession of Finland. The reason for publishing the manifesto was the arrest on February 20 (March 3), 1808, of the Russian ambassador in Stockholm Alopeus and all members of the embassy. As stated in the Manifesto: “The obvious favor of the King of Sweden towards a power hostile to us, new union with her and, finally, the violent and incredible act committed against our envoy in Stockholm... made war inevitable."
The annexation of Finland (its Swedish part) to Russia was presented by the Manifesto as a repressive act in response to Sweden’s failure to fulfill its allied obligations towards Russia under the treaty of 1800 and its alliance with Russia’s enemy, England.
The Manifesto stated that “from now on, the part of Finland known under the name of Swedish Finland (the southwestern part), occupied by Russian troops who suffered losses in manpower and material costs, is recognized as an area conquered by the force of Russian weapons, and forever joins the Russian Empire ".
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AlexanderI'm on the manifesto announcement
A small detachment of Swedes left Abo and took refuge in the Åland Islands. He was chased by the Cossacks of Major Neidgard and the battalion of rangers of Colonel Vuich. On February 17, Vujic entered the city of Åland, captured local military warehouses and destroyed the optical telegraph station connecting the islands with the Swedish coast. However, Vuich’s immediate superior, Prince Bagration, ordered him to leave the Åland Islands.
Upon returning, Vuich received instructions from St. Petersburg itself to reoccupy the islands. For this, Vuich was given one battalion of the 25th Jaeger Regiment (the same one with which he was in Aland), 20 hussars and 22 Cossacks. On April 3, Vuich occupied the island of Kumblinge in the very middle of the archipelago. There he stopped. With the approach of spring, Commander-in-Chief Buxhoeveden, realizing the danger of the position of the Russian troops on the Åland Islands, intended to return them back, especially since their very presence there to delay the movement of the Swedes across the ice from Stockholm to Abo lost its significance with the opening of navigation. But at this time the Highest command came to send a corps of 10 to 12 thousand people through Aland to Sweden. This order was a development of the plan, which consisted of directing the main attack not to Finland, but to the southern part of Sweden.
As soon as the ice began to melt, the Swedish galleys with the landing force approached the island of Kumblinge. The Swedish landing force, together with armed local residents, attacked Vuich's detachment. The Swedish galleys supported the attack with heavy cannon fire. Vuich had no guns at all. After a four-hour battle, the Russians surrendered. 20 officers and 490 lower ranks were captured. The consequences of the Swedish capture of the Åland Islands were immediate in the spring of 1808. The archipelago became a springboard for landing operations and an operating base for the Swedish fleet.
On February 20, two divisions under the command of Lieutenant General N.M. Kamensky besieged Sveaborg, the most powerful Swedish fortress in Finland, which the Swedes called the “Gibraltar of the North.”
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Nikolai Mikhailovich Kamensky
The fortress garrison numbered 7.5 thousand people with 200 guns. Supplies of shells, gunpowder and food were designed for a months-long siege. On April 22, after a 12-day bombardment, Sveaborg capitulated.
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Sveaborg fortress
But the outcome of the battle was decided not by steel and lead, but by gold. For, according to the famous aphorism of the Roman commander Sulla, “the walls of a fortress that legions cannot overcome are easily jumped over by a donkey loaded with gold.” Kamensky simply bribed the commandant of Sveaborg, Vice Admiral Karl Olof Kronstedt.
Under the terms of the surrender, the entire garrison was released to Sweden on their word of honor not to take up arms until the end of the war. In Sveaborg, the Russians captured a Swedish rowing flotilla of 100 ships. Among them were the gems "Helgomar" (26 guns), "Storn-Biorn" (26 guns); half-gem "Audouen"; turuma "Ivar-Benlos"; brig "Comerstax" (14 guns); as well as 6 shebeks, 8 yachts, 25 gunboats, 51 gunboats, 4 gunboats and one “royal barge” (12 oars). In addition, with the approach of the Russians in various ports of Finland, the Swedes themselves burned 70 rowing and sailing ships.
Gustav IV decided to launch an offensive against Danish troops in Norway. Therefore, the Swedes were unable to gather significant forces for the operation in Finland. However, with the start of navigation in 1808, the king planned two landing operations. In the first, Colonel Bergenstrole was supposed to leave the Swedish port of Umea on ships and land in Finland near the city of Vasa. In the second operation, Major General Baron von Vegesack was supposed to reach Abo through the Åland Islands and occupy it.
Abo Castle
On June 8, 1808, Fegezak’s detachment of 4 thousand people with eight cannons freely landed at the town of Lemo, 22 versts from the city of Abo. Next, the landing detachment moved on foot to Abo, but along the way it was met by a battle of the Libavsky regiment with one cannon, under the command of Colonel Vadkovsky. The superior forces of the Swedes began to push back Vadkovsky’s soldiers, but soon several infantry battalions, a squadron of dragoons and hussars, and an artillery company came to his aid. The Swedes had to retreat to their landing site at Lemo. Under the cover of naval artillery fire, they evacuated. Fifteen Russian rowing gunboats sent by Buxhoeveden to Lemo did not manage to arrive in time. Thanks to this, the Swedish ships went beyond the islands of Nagu and Korno.
In the summer of 1808, the position of Russian troops in central Finland became more complicated. On July 2, the 6,000-strong detachment of General Raevsky, pressed by the troops of General Klingspor and Finnish partisans, was forced to retreat first to Salmi, and then to the town of Alavo. On July 12, Raevsky was replaced by N.M. Kamensky, but the latter also had to retreat to Tammerfors. Finally, on August 20, Kamensky’s corps fought with Klingspor’s troops near the village of Kuortane and the lake of the same name. The Swedes were defeated and retreated by the year of Vasa.
Soon Klingspor left Vasa; he moved 45 miles north to the village of Orovais. There the Swedes gained a foothold and decided to give battle to Kamensky’s corps that was pursuing them. Seven thousand Swedes took up a position behind a swampy river. The right flank of the Swedes abutted the Gulf of Bothnia, where several Swedish rowing gunboats were stationed. On the left flank, steep cliffs began, bordered by dense forest.
At 8 a.m. on August 21, the Russian vanguard under the command of General Kulnev attacked the Swedish positions.
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Yakov Petrovich Kulnev
Kulnev's attack was repulsed, and the Swedes began to pursue him. But two infantry regiments of General Demidov, who came to the rescue, overthrew the enemy and drove him away. In the middle of the day, Kamensky himself arrived on the battlefield with a battalion of rangers and two companies of infantry. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon the Swedes attacked again, but then the troops of General Ushakov (approximately two regiments) approached. As a result, the Swedes were again thrown back to their original positions. By this time it was already dark. At night, Demidov’s detachment took a detour through the forest. In the morning, the Swedes saw that the Russians were trying to surround them, and retreated north in an orderly manner. Both sides lost almost a thousand people.
Some Russian military historians consider the Battle of Orovai "an outstanding example of Russian military art." In fact, Kamensky scattered his forces before the battle, and then brought them into battle piece by piece. The result was not the defeat of the enemy, but the displacement of him from his position.
On September 3, a Swedish detachment of General Lantingshausen numbering 2,600 people landed from rowing ships near the village of Varannyaya, 70 versts north of Abo. The landing was successful, but the next morning near the village of Lokkolaksa the Swedes came across Bagration’s detachment and were forced to retreat.
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Prince Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration
Meanwhile, a new Swedish landing force landed under the command of General Bonet at the village of Helsinge near Abo. Gustav IV himself accompanied the landing ships on the yacht Amadna. On September 14 and 15, five thousand Bohne Swedes pursued a small Russian force. On September 16, near the town of Himaisa, the Swedes were counterattacked by the main forces of Bagration.
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Himaisa fortress
The Swedes were defeated and began to retreat to Helsinga. At this moment, a squadron of Grodno hussars under the command of Major Leaders attacked the retreating. The Swedes fled. About a thousand Swedish corpses remained on the battlefield. 15 officers, 350 lower ranks and 5 guns became Russian trophies. Russian artillery set fire to the village of Helsinge. The fire, fanned by a strong wind, began to threaten the Swedish ships standing off the coast. Therefore, they had to leave before the evacuation of the surviving paratroopers was completed. All this happened in front of Gustav IV, who watched the battle through a telescope from on board the yacht.
On September 12, General Klingspor proposed a truce to the Russian commander-in-chief Buxhoeveden. Five days later (September 17), a truce was concluded at the Lakhtai manor. However, Alexander I did not recognize it, but called it an “unforgivable mistake.” Buxhoeveden received the Highest order to continue hostilities, after which he ordered the corps of Major General Tuchkov to move from Kuopio to Edensalmi and attack the 4,000-strong Swedish detachment of Brigadier Sandels.
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Nikolai Alexandrovich Tuchkov
The Swedes took a position between two lakes connected by a strait. On the other side of the strait, two lines of trenches were dug and artillery pieces were installed. On October 15, Tuchkov brought his corps to the strait. The corps included 8 infantry battalions, 5 squadrons of regular cavalry and 300 Cossacks, a total of about 5 thousand people. The Swedes damaged the bridge across the strait. But Russian sappers restored it under grapeshot and rifle fire. Using the bridge, the Russian infantry crossed the strait and captured the first line of trenches. At this point, Sandels brought in reserves, and the Russians were driven back over the bridge. In the battle, the Russians lost 764 people killed or missing.
The next day, the Swedes left the well-fortified position and retreated 20 versts to the north. Tuchkov did not dare to pursue the enemy and stood at the bridge for two weeks, posting three guard companies at a distance of five miles. It was them that Sandels decided to attack. On the night of October 30, a Swedish detachment suddenly attacked the Russian vanguard. However, the Swedes were repulsed, losing 200 people killed and captured.
At the beginning of November 1808, Buxhoeveden again entered into negotiations with the Swedes. This time he acted more cautiously and asked permission in St. Petersburg in advance. But Buxhoeveden failed to sign the truce - he received the Highest Decree on his dismissal from command of the army. Lieutenant General Count N.M. was appointed the new commander. Kamensky. He signed a truce on November 7 (19), 1808 in the village of Olkijoki. The count lasted in this position for only a month and a half. On December 7, 1808, B.F. became commander-in-chief instead of Kamensky. Knorring (1746-1825). However, 4 months later (April 7, 1809) Knorring was also fired.
The truce was concluded for a period from November 7 to December 7, 1808. Under the terms of the truce, the Swedish army cleared the entire province of Österbotten (Österbothnia) and withdrew troops beyond the Kemi River, 100 km north of the city of Uleaborg. Russian troops occupied the city of Uleaborg and set up pickets and guard posts on both sides of the Kemi River, but did not invade Lapland or try to reach Swedish territory at Torneo.
Combat actions of ground forces in 1809
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At the beginning of 1809, the situation of the Swedes became hopeless. The English fleet was ready for the campaign of 1809, but everyone understood that enlightened sailors would capture merchant ships, plunder unprotected cities and villages on the coast, and were not going to send their army to Sweden or Finland. And Kronstadt is not Copenhagen; going there was also not part of the British Admiralty’s plans.
However, the stubborn Gustav IV decided to continue the war. Moreover, he ordered that combat-ready units of the Swedish army be left in Scania (in the south of the country) and on the border with Norway, although no particular danger from the Danes was foreseen in 1809. 5 thousand people were recruited for the immediate defense of Stockholm.
In Åland they managed to gather 6 thousand regular troops and 4 thousand militias. The defense of the Åland Islands was entrusted to General F. Debeln.
Georg Karl von Debeln
Fearing that the Russians would bypass the archipelago from the south, Debeln evacuated the entire population of the southern islands in a strip 140 miles wide, burned and devastated all the villages in it, except for the churches. Debeln gathered his forces on Greater Åland, blocked all the routes with fences, set up batteries at the most important coastal points, and built a redoubt on the westernmost island of Ecker.
In February 1809, Alexander I replaced the supreme command of the Russian troops in Finland. Bagration became the commander of the southern corps of Russian troops instead of Wittgenstein. Central building instead of D.V. Golitsyn was headed by Lieutenant General Barclay de Tolly, and the northern corps, instead of Tuchkov 1st, was headed by P.A. Shuvalov.
Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly
Pavel Andreevich Shuvalov
The Russian command drew up the campaign plan for 1809 tactically and strategically correctly. The northern corps, based at Udeaborg, was supposed to move along the Gulf of Bothnia and invade Swedish territory. The central corps, based in the city of Vasa, was supposed to cross the Gulf of Bothnia across the ice through the skerries and the Kvarken Strait (modern name Norra-Kvarken) with access to the Swedish coast. A similar task was assigned to the southern corps, stationed between the cities of Nystad and Abo. The corps was supposed to reach Sweden by ice through the islands of the Åland archipelago.
On March 6 (18), General Shuvalov notified the commander of the northern group of Swedish troops, Grinpenberg, about the termination of the truce. The Swedes responded to this by concentrating troops near the town of Kalix, 10 versts west of the city of Torneo. Meanwhile, on March 6, Russian troops crossed the Kemi River and moved west along the coast. The Swedish vanguard, located in the city of Torneo, did not accept the battle, but hastily retreated, leaving 200 sick soldiers in the city.
Shuvalov's troops made marches of 30-35 versts a day in thirty-degree frost. Approaching Kalix, Shuvalov invited Grinpenberg to surrender, but the Swede refused. Then the main forces of the Russians began a frontal attack on Kalix, and General Alekseev’s column went around on the ice and cut off Grinpenberg’s path to retreat.
The Swedes sent envoys asking for a truce. Shuvalov did not agree to a truce, but demanded complete surrender, giving a period of 4 hours.
The Russian terms were accepted, and on March 13 Grinpenberg signed the instrument of surrender. His corps laid down their arms and went home on their word of honor not to fight in this war again. The Finns went to Finland, the Swedes to Sweden. In total, 7 thousand people surrendered, 1600 of them were sick. Russian trophies included 22 guns and 12 banners. All military warehouses (shops) up to the city of Umeå were to be handed over to the Russians intact. According to military historian Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky, the Kalik operation “destroyed the last link connecting Finland with Sweden.”
Monument in Kalix
According to the plan, Barclay de Tolly's central corps was supposed to number 8 thousand people. But most of the corps' forces were delayed in the transition to Vasya. Barclay, fearing that the ice would soon begin to melt, ordered the units that had already arrived in Vasa to attack. His corps included 6 infantry battalions and 250 Cossacks (3,200 people in total) with six guns. On March 6, a prayer service was served at the assembly point and an order was read out, in which Barclay, without hiding the difficulties ahead, expressed confidence that “the impossible does not exist for Russian soldiers.”
That same day the first battalion went forward to lay a road. Following him, with the aim of reconnaissance and capture of advanced Swedish posts at six o'clock in the evening, Kiselev's flying detachment (40 musketeers of the Polotsk regiment on carts and 50 Cossacks) set out. After a thirteen-hour journey, Kiselev’s detachment approached the island of Grosgrund, where it captured an enemy picket. Swedes were also found on the island of Golme.
On March 7, Barclay's entire corps moved to the island of Vals-Erard, and on March 8, at 5 o'clock in the morning, moved through Kvarken in two columns. In the right column was Colonel Filisov with the Polotsk regiment and one hundred to the island of Golme, in the left was Count Berg with the rest of the troops to the island of Gadden. Barclay was also in the same column. The artillery with a battalion of life grenadiers followed separately behind the right column.
The troops walked knee-deep in snow, every minute bypassing or climbing over ice blocks; it was especially difficult for the left column, which did not even have a hint of a road. The heavy march continued until 6 pm, when the columns reached Großgrund and Gadden and bivouacked in the snow. However, fifteen-degree frost and a strong north wind did not provide any opportunity to rest. At 4 o'clock in the morning the troops moved on. In the morning, Filisov's column began a battle with three companies of Swedes occupying the island of Golme. Outflanked, the enemy retreated, leaving one officer and 35 lower ranks prisoners. Fearing for the lagging artillery, Filisov only the next morning decided to continue moving towards the village of Tefte.
Meanwhile, the left column moved to the mouth of the Umea River, with fifty Cossacks and two companies of the Tula Regiment in the vanguard. After eighteen hours of movement, the column stopped at 8 o'clock in the evening, six miles short of Umeå. The soldiers were extremely exhausted. The troops again spent the night on the ice. They were lucky that there were two merchant ships frozen in the ice nearby. The ships were immediately dismantled for firewood, and dozens of fires were lit on the ice of the bay. Meanwhile, the tireless Cossacks reached the outskirts of Umeå and started shooting there. There was panic in the city. The commandant of Umeå, General Count Kronstedt, found himself in prostration - there was shooting in the city, on the ice there was a sea of lights.
On the morning of March 10, when Barclay's vanguard began a battle near the village of Teknes, and the entire column was already reaching the mainland, a Swedish envoy arrived, announcing the upcoming truce. According to the agreement, General Kronstedt surrendered Umeå with all supplies to the Russians and withdrew his troops 200 miles to the city of Gernesand. Having occupied Umeå, Barclay made all orders to establish himself in it, and was preparing to assist Count Shuvalov’s column, which was marching through Torneo. During these preparations, on the evening of 11 March, news of the truce was received, along with a surprise order to return to Vasa. Barclay found it difficult to carry out this order. He took all measures to ensure that the reverse movement “did not look like a retreat.” Therefore, the main forces moved no earlier than March 15, and the rearguard only on March 17. Unable to remove military booty (14 guns, about 3 thousand guns, gunpowder, etc.), Barclay announced in a special proclamation that he was leaving everything captured “as a sign of respect for the nation and the military.”
The troops set out in two echelons with a rearguard and in three marches reached the island of Bjorke, from where they headed to the old apartments in the Vasa area. Despite the severe frost, the return movement along the already paved road was much easier, which was also facilitated by warm clothes and blankets taken from Swedish warehouses, as well as carts and equipment for weakened and sick soldiers. Speaking from Umeå, the local governor, magistrate and representatives of the estates thanked Barclay for the generosity of the Russian troops.
The southern corps, commanded by Prince Bagration, consisted of 15.5 thousand infantry and 2 thousand cavalry (four squadrons of Grodno hussars and Cossacks). Ahead of Bagration's troops were two vanguards: the right - Major General Shepelev, the left - Major General Kulnev.
On February 22, the Cossacks had a successful skirmish with the enemy’s advanced posts. On February 26, Bagration’s main forces went onto the ice and moved towards the island of Kumbblinge. The troops were fully provided with short fur coats, warm caps and felt boots. A caravan of sleighs loaded with food, vodka and firewood trailed behind the troops. On February 28, Minister of War Count Arakcheev and Commander-in-Chief Knorring, accompanied by the Russian envoy to Sweden Alopeus, joined the column. Alopeus had diplomatic powers in case the enemy wanted to enter into negotiations.
Otton Fedorovich Knorring
On March 2, the troops concentrated on Kumling, and on March 3, divided into five columns, bypassing ice holes and snowdrifts. The infantry walked in rows, the cavalry sometimes in twos, sometimes in single file. The advanced units of the Swedes left the small islands and went west. On the evening of March 3, the first four columns occupied the island of Varde, located in front of Greater Åland, and the fifth column passed through Sottunga to the island of Bene, where it encountered the enemy rearguard. The Cossacks attacked him, Kulnev with the rest of the troops went around the island, which forced the Swedes to hastily retreat. Just at this time, the head of the Åland detachment received news of a coup d'etat in Stockholm.
The Russians had only five or six passages left to reach the Swedish capital, so the new Swedish government sent Colonel Lagerbrinn to meet the Russians for negotiations. Bagration did not enter into negotiations with Lagerbinn, but sent him on a convoy to Arakcheev and Knorring. Bagration himself ordered the troops to continue the offensive. Two days later, the entire Åland archipelago was occupied without a fight. Only the vanguard of Kulnev overtook the enemy rearguard near the island of Lemland. After a small skirmish, the Swedes fled, abandoning their guns.
Meanwhile, a coup d'etat took place in Stockholm. Guard regiments overthrew Gustav IV. The Riksdag elected uncle Gustav IV, Duke of Südermanland, who ascended the throne under the name Charles XIII, as the new king.
Swedish King CharlesXIII
The attack of three Russian corps on Sweden put it in a hopeless situation. Therefore, the new government first turned to the Russians with a request for a truce.
On March 4, Major General Georg-Karl von Debeln, commander of the Swedish coastal forces, arrived in Bagration's corps with a request for a truce. He began negotiations first with Knorring and Sukhtelen, then with Arakcheev. The latter at first did not agree to a truce, citing the fact that Emperor Alexander’s goal was to sign peace in Stockholm, and not to conquer the Åland archipelago. Arakcheev even ordered to speed up the offensive of the Russian troops.
By the evening of March 5, all Swedish forces were already on the western shore of Ecker Island, and on the night of March 6 they began to retreat through Alandegaf. The Russians got abandoned batteries with ammunition, an infirmary and transport ships. The cavalry of Kulnev's vanguard, which had not left the ice for five days, overtook the rearguard of the retreating Swedes at Signalsher. Isaev’s Cossacks surrounded one column, curled up in a square, crashed into it, recaptured two guns and took 144 people prisoners, then they caught up with the second square and took two more guns. The Grodno hussars surrounded the separated battalion of the Südermanland regiment (14 officers and 442 lower ranks with a commander at the head) and, after a short firefight, forced it to surrender. Total number the prisoners taken by Kulnev exceeded the strength of his detachment, and the entire space of the snowy shroud of Alan-degaf was strewn with abandoned carts, charging boxes, and weapons.
Meanwhile, Arakcheev sent Döbeln the conditions under which the Russians could stop hostilities. The conditions included:
Sweden will forever cede Finland to Russia in the borders up to the Kalix River, as well as the Åland Islands; the maritime border between Sweden and Russia will pass along the Gulf of Bothnia.
Sweden will abandon its alliance with England and enter into an alliance with Russia.
Russia will provide Sweden with a strong corps to counter the English landing, if necessary.
If Sweden accepts these conditions, then it sends representatives to Åland to conclude peace.
However, Arakcheev made an unforgivable mistake by stopping the invasion of Russian troops into Sweden. Only Kulnev with cavalry was sent through Alangaf (the Ural hundred, two hundred regiments of Isaev and Lashchilin, three squadrons of Grodno hussars).
Kulnev spent the night from March 5 to 6 in Signalider. Having set out at 3 o'clock in the morning, Kulnev entered the Swedish coast at 11 o'clock in the morning, where the guard posts, amazed by the appearance of the Russians, were attacked by the Cossacks, and then knocked out from behind the stones by dismounted Urals. Kulnev scattered his detachment so skillfully that it seemed to the Swedes several times stronger than it actually was. In addition, Kulnev, through the negotiator, assured the Swedes that the main forces were moving towards Nortelga.
The appearance of even one Kulnev detachment on the Swedish coast caused a stir in Stockholm. But the appeal of the Duke of Südermanland, transmitted through Döbeln, to send a commissioner to negotiate, prompted Knorring and Arakcheev, in order to prove the sincerity of our aspirations for peace, to meet the wishes of the new ruler of Sweden and order Russian troops to return to Finland. This order also applied to other columns (Barclay and Shuvalov), who had already achieved great success by that time.
In fact, Döbeln deliberately misled the Russian generals and deliberately sent an envoy so that not a single Russian detachment would enter Swedish soil. In this way he saved Stockholm from the danger that threatened it. But at the beginning of April 1809, when Russian troops left Swedish territory, and the melting of the ice made it impossible for Russian troops to cross the skerries near Abo and Vasa on foot, the Swedish government began to put forward peace conditions that were unacceptable to Russia. In this regard, Alexander I ordered Shuvalov’s corps, which had withdrawn under the terms of the truce to Northern Finland, to re-enter Swedish territory.
On April 18, 1809, Shuvalov’s 5,000-strong corps set out from Torneo in three columns. On April 26, Shuvalov approached Piteå with a forced march and, having learned about the presence of the Swedes in Skellefteå, went there. Not reaching 10 versts, on May 2 he sent under the command of Major General I.I. Alekseev four infantry regiments (Revelsky, Sevsky, Mogilevsky and 3rd Jaeger) with artillery and a small number of Cossacks along the ice that barely held off the coast directly to the rear of the enemy, to the village of Itervik. Shuvalov led the remaining four regiments (Nizovsky, Azov, Kaluga and 20th Chasseurs) along the coastal road.
Shuvalov's offensive took the enemy by surprise. Furumak's detachment at Skellefteå, not having time to break the bridges on the river, hastily retreated to Itervik, pushed towards the sea by Shuvalov's entire column. And on the opposite side, the Swedes were met by Alekseev’s column that came ashore. Two days later (May 5), the bay was already free of ice. Furumaku, caught in pincers, had to surrender. The Russians took 691 prisoners, 22 guns and four banners.
wounded swedish soldier
At this time, Major General von Döbeln was appointed commander of the Swedish troops in the North. He was ordered to take the remaining food out of Westrobothnia, avoiding battle. Arriving in Umeå, Döbeln resorted to the same trick to detain the Russians. He turned to Count Shuvalov with a proposal to negotiate a truce. Shuvalov sent Döbeln's letter to Commander-in-Chief Barclay de Tolly and suspended the offensive.
While the negotiations were ongoing, transport ships were being hurriedly loaded into Umeå and taken out to sea through canals cut into the ice. Finally, when on May 14 Shuvalov, without waiting for an answer from the commander-in-chief, concluded a preliminary convention with the Swedes on the transfer of Umeå to the Russians on May 17, seven ships left Umeå, taking out all the supplies and property of the Swedes. Döbeln retreated across the Ere River.
Barclay de Tolly rejected the truce and ordered Shuvalov to “threaten the enemy with an active war in Sweden itself.” But this order was late. The mistake made by Shuvalov had a significant impact (due to the poor state of the Russian naval forces) on the course of the entire campaign. Leaving command of the corps, Shuvalov handed it over to his eldest, Major General Alekseev. The latter occupied Umeå, and then advanced the advanced units to the southern borders of Vestrobothnia, occupying a number of points on the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia with separate detachments.
Immediately the food issue became quite acute. The region was already depleted, all food warehouses were removed by Döbeln, and the delivery of food through Torneo to the ports of the Gulf of Bothnia occurred with great delays. However, until mid-June 1809, Alekseev occupied Westrobothnia without experiencing significant inconvenience. Meanwhile, the desire to raise the prestige of the newly proclaimed King Charles XIII made the Swedes want, taking advantage of their superiority at sea, to organize an attack on the corps of General Alekseev, which had climbed deep into the country.
At the end of June, a Swedish squadron of three ships already appeared in the Gulf of Bothnia. The Russian fleet was afraid of the British and defended itself in Kronstadt, so the Swedes reigned supreme at sea. The onset of the flood forced Alekseev to bring together individual groups of the corps and pull the vanguard located on the Era River closer to Umeå.
Meanwhile, the Swedes again changed the command of their northern group - Döbeln was replaced by Sandels. Sandels decided to attack the Russians on land with naval support from four sailing frigates and a rowing flotilla. On the night of June 19, Sandels' vanguard crossed the Ere River at Hocknes on a floating bridge, and the next day the main forces crossed to the north bank. The surprise of the attack failed, as one Swede warned the Russians.
Alekseev decided to counterattack the Swedes. To do this, he assembled a group of five infantry regiments and two hundred cavalry with four guns under the command of Major General Kazachkovsky. Sandels' troops stopped at the Gerne River near the town of Gernefors, sending forward a small guard detachment of Major Ernroth. On the evening of June 21, the advanced units of the Swedes were defeated at Södermjele, and the next morning the battle began again at the front, but the Russian troops were repulsed. Seeing that the Russians themselves had gone on the offensive and that the planned attack was unlikely to bring success, Sandels decided to retreat across the Ere River, especially since the terrain at Gernefors was inconvenient for battle. However, the Swedes continued to stand at Gernefors on June 23, 24 and 25, sending only three outposts.
On the evening of June 25, Kazachkovsky moved forward, dividing his detachment into two columns. He himself, with the Sevsky, Kaluga and 24th Jaeger regiments, having the Nizovsky regiment in reserve, went along high road, and sent Colonel Karpenkov with the 26th Jaeger Regiment around the enemy’s left flank, through the forest, along a difficult path. This attack turned out to be for the Swedes a complete surprise. Having knocked down the outposts, the Russians pushed back the enemy units, which had fallen into disarray. Sandels' attempt to gain a foothold on the bridge failed, and he began to withdraw his troops back, and assigned a battalion of the famous partisan Duncker to cover the retreat. The latter courageously defended every inch of land, but when Sandels sent Dunker the order to retreat as soon as possible, he was already cut off by Karpenkov’s column. Duncker responded to the offer to surrender with a volley. Seriously wounded, he died a few hours later. In the battle near Gernefors, the Swedes lost 5 officers, 125 lower ranks and part of the convoy as prisoners.
It’s funny that after the success of Gernefors, Alexander I removed I.I. Alekseev from the command of the corps and appointed Count N.M. in his place. Kamensky. Almost simultaneously, Barclay de Tolly took the post of commander-in-chief of the Russian army in Finland instead of Knorring.
Taking advantage of the absolute superiority of the Swedish fleet in the Gulf of Bothnia, the Swedish command developed a plan for the destruction of Kamensky’s northern corps. Sandels' corps was reinforced by troops removed from the border in northern Norway. And at Ratan, two marches from Umeå, the landing of the “coastal corps”, which had previously covered Stockholm, was supposed to take place.
Kamensky decided to counterattack the Swedes. The northern corps left Umeå on August 4 in three columns: the first - General Alekseev (six battalions), the second - Kamensky himself (eight battalions), the third - Sabaneev's reserve (four battalions). The first column was ordered to cross the Ere River at the 15th verst above the mouth and then attack the left flank of the Swedes. The remaining forces were supposed to force the crossing on the main coastal road and push the enemy behind the Olofsborg kirk.
However, on August 5, Count Wachtmeister’s 8,000-strong corps began landing from one hundred transport ships near Ratan. Thus, the Russians found themselves between two fires: from the front across the Ere River was General Wrede with seven thousand soldiers, and from the rear was the Wachtmeister. From the Ere River to Ratan there were five to six days' marches. It was possible to move only in a narrow coastal strip, which precluded maneuvering. The Swedes dominated the sea; the path of the troops was crossed by the beds of deep rivers, which allowed the entry of shallow-draft ships.
Battle of Ratan
Kamensky, without hesitation, decided to attack the landing corps, as the most powerful and dangerous group for Russian troops. On August 5, he ordered Sabaneev’s reserve (which had barely passed Umeå) to go back to support Frolov, the head echelon of the left column (under the command of Erikson) to remain on the Ere River, continuing to force crossings, and keep Sandels in error, and at night to retreat to Umeå, destroying behind them bridges. All other troops were ordered to follow Sabaneev. These movements took the entire day of August 5th. The Swedes managed to land the vanguard (seven Lagerbrink battalions with a battery). Having advanced to Sevar and pushing back the Russian advanced units, the Wachtmaster began here to await further orders from Puke. This stop turned out to be disastrous, especially since the terrain near Sevar did not allow a defensive battle at all.
Kamensky occupied the entire day of August 6 with feverish activity. While Sabaneev supported Frolov, the rest of the troops hurried to Umeå. At dawn on August 7, Alekseev’s troops approached Tefta. The rest of the forces lingered in Umeå, waiting for Erikson, who successfully deceived Wrede all day on August 6, and left for Umeå under cover of darkness. On the morning of August 7, Kamensky attacked with the existing forces of the Wachtmeister at Sevar. The bloody battle, which lasted from 7 am to 4 pm, ended with the retreat of the Swedish landing force back to Ratan.
Kamensky, despite receiving news that Wrede was approaching Umeå, which reduced the distance between both groups of Swedes to two or three marches, decided to finish off Wachtmeister. He began to pursue the retreating Swedish troops with all his might. The battle at Ratan ended with the Swedes boarding the ships, which Kamensky could not prevent, since his soldiers were running out of ammunition. Therefore, Kamensky decided on August 12 to retreat to Pitea to replenish ammunition there from the transport sent by sea from Uyaeborg. After three days of rest, on August 21, the corps moved to Umeå.
Meanwhile, the Swedes again started talking about a truce. After short negotiations, a truce was concluded near Skellefteå, according to which the Russians stayed in Piteå, and the Swedes in Umeå, not counting the vanguards. The Swedish fleet was withdrawn from Kvarken and pledged not to act against Åland and the Finnish coast, and not to prevent unarmed ships from sailing throughout the Gulf of Bothnia. Kamensky motivated the need for a truce by the difficulty of meeting the needs of the corps, as well as by the concentration of all Swedish forces in one group in Umeå, which made it much stronger than the Russian corps.
In St. Petersburg they considered it best not to respond to the Swedes' proposals. At the same time, Kamensky was ordered to prepare for an offensive. The Russians took advantage of the freedom of navigation in the Gulf of Bothnia to concentrate supplies in Pitea. A special reserve has advanced to Torneo to support Kamensky in case of need. All these measures were aimed at forcing the Swedes to agree to peace terms that were beneficial to the Russians. Russian chief commissioner in Friedrichsham, Count N.P. Rumyantsev demanded that Kamensky be forced to advance. He even insisted on landing troops near Stockholm, just to achieve the necessary influence on the Swedes.
Treaty of Friedrichsham and its consequences
On September 5 (17), 1809, a peace treaty was signed between Russia and Sweden in the city of Friedrichsham. On behalf of Russia it was signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count N.P. Rumyantsev and Russian Ambassador to Stockholm David Alopeus; from Sweden - Infantry General Baron Kurt Stedinck and Colonel Andras Scheldebront.
The military terms of the treaty included the withdrawal of Russian troops from Swedish territory in Västerbotten to Finland across the Torneo River within a month from the date of exchange of ratifications. All prisoners of war and hostages were mutually returned no later than three months from the date the treaty came into force.
The military-political conditions consisted in preventing British military and merchant ships from entering Swedish ports. It was prohibited to fill them with water, food and fuel. Thus, Sweden actually joined Napoleon's continental blockade.
According to the terms of the agreement:
Sweden ceded to Russia all of Finland (up to the Kem River) and part of Västerbotten up to the Torneo River and all of Finnish Lapland.
The border between Russia and Sweden should run along the rivers Torneo and Munio and further north along the line Munioniski - Enonteki - Kilpisjärvi and to the border with Norway.
The islands on the border rivers, located to the west of the fairway, go to Sweden, and to the east of the fairway - to Russia.
The Åland Islands go to Russia. The border at sea runs along the middle of the Gulf of Bothnia and the Åland Sea.
According to the economic terms of the agreement:
The term of the Russian-Swedish trade agreement, which expired in 1811, was extended until 1813 (by 2 years, deleted from its validity by the war).
Sweden retained the right to duty-free purchase of 50 thousand quarters of bread (grain, flour) annually in Russian ports on the Baltic.
Duty-free mutual export of traditional goods from Finland and Sweden was maintained for three years. From Sweden - copper, iron, lime, stone; from Finland - livestock, fish, bread, resin, timber.
Seizures on assets and financial transactions were mutually lifted, debts and incomes interrupted or disrupted by the war were returned. Decisions were made or restored on all property claims in Sweden and Finland, as well as in Russia, related to the Finnish economy.
Estates and property sequestered during the war were returned to their owners in both countries.
Swedes and Finns were free to move from Russia to Sweden and back, along with their property, for three years from the signing of the treaty.
Defeated, Alexander I went into negotiations with Napoleon, which resulted in the conclusion Treaty of Tilsit. With this treaty, the war ended, in which Sweden, Prussia and Austria participated on the side of Russia against France. In Tilsit, Napoleon insisted that he was concluding peace and allied relations with Russia. And Alexander I then offered mediation to Gustav IV, the Swedish king, in concluding peace with France.
According to the Treaty of Tilsit, Russia entered into a continental blockade of England. Denmark was also going to join the blockade, for which Great Britain attacked and captured the Danish navy in August $1807. Russia had family ties with the Danish court, and they were also allies in the fight against Sweden, so Russia announced a severance of diplomatic relations with England until the return Denmark fleet and damages.
Alexander I also insisted that the King of Sweden Gustav IV assisted in accordance with the agreements of $1780$ and $1800$. and helped close the Baltic to Western fleets. However, Sweden refused and began rapprochement with England.
As a result, diplomatic ties were severed and the Anglo-Russian War began, but it proceeded very sluggishly.
Note 1
Alexander I appealed to Gustav IV again, but he stood his ground and refused to close the Baltic Sea while the French were there. Gustav IV also set his sights on helping England in the war with Denmark, because was going to take Norway. In turn, Alexander I decided to occupy Finland in order to secure St. Petersburg.
Napoleon also wanted Sweden's ports to be closed to England. He offered his assistance to Alexander I in conquering all of Sweden.
Progress of the war
War was not declared, but Russian troops invaded Sweden in February 1808 and occupied Helsingfors. The occupation of the island of Gotland turned out to be particularly successful, because After this, the Swedes surrendered Sveaborg. In the spring of 1808, the Svartholm fortress, Cape Gangut, and the Åland Islands were also captured. And only in mid-March, after the Swedish king ordered the arrest of the entire Russian embassy, Russia officially declared war.
In Finland, the situation was unsuccessful for the Russian troops due to the actions of the Finnish partisans. In general, after the declaration of war, the Russian army began to have troubles, for example, a powerful Swedish flotilla and rebellious local residents forced the surrender of the Åland Islands, and Gotland capitulated in May.
The turning point in the war came in the fall of $1808. With the onset of autumn, the Finnish partisans reduced their activity, Russian troops began to attack unhindered. Already in November, the Russian army occupied all of Finland.
In $1809, it was planned to wage war only on Swedish territory. According to the plan of Alexander I, the Russian army was supposed to occupy Stockholm and also destroy the Swedish fleet.
In March 1809, Bagration's corps captured the Åland Islands and moved on to Stockholm. The kingdom's government requested peace negotiations. The offensive stopped, and a coup d'etat took place in Sweden, King Gustav IV Adolf was deprived of his crown, power was seized by his relative the Duke of Südermanland, who became Charles XIII.
Alexander I refused a truce and changed the leadership of the Russian army. Charles XIII also decided to continue to fight. But the Swedes failed to achieve success.
Results
Peace was concluded in September 1809. Friedrichsgame. The Swedes entered into a continental blockade of Great Britain, and also gave Finland and part of other lands to Russia, including the Åland Islands.
About the Russian-Swedish War in brief
Russko - shvedskaya vojna (1808 - 1809)
Russo-Swedish War - Beginning
The Russo-Swedish War, briefly summarized, is the last military conflict of 1808-1809 between Russia and its allies, and Sweden. In history it has another name - the Finnish War.
Relations between Russia and Sweden have been complex since the 22nd century.
The territory of the Gulf of Finland, Karelia, Lake Ladoga and the Neva River have always been the subject of raids and claims by the Swedes. They repeatedly organized crusades against Novgorod and tried to capture the Karelian Isthmus.
The reasons for this last Russian-Swedish war, in short, were the desire of the Russian Empire to conquer from Sweden not only the Botanical Bay, but also the whole of Finland. With this, Russia finally wanted to secure it. its northern border from unfriendly neighboring countries.
The reason for the war was the refusal of the Swedish king to support Russia in a dispute with Great Britain. Napoleon I himself offered the Russian emperor help in the war. Also, longtime ally Denmark took her side. England came out on the side of Sweden, promising help a large sum money.
War was not officially declared when on February 9, 1808, a Russian army of about 24 thousand people entered Finland. Sweden was not ready for war, and the commander of the Russian troops, General Buxhoeveden, took advantage of this. By April, most of Finland, including Sweden's largest naval base at Sveaborg, had been captured.
War was officially declared on March 16.
By the end of April, the war began to go so successfully for the Russian army. In May, the English fleet came to the aid of the Swedish forces. A guerrilla war broke out on land. The Finns organized small detachments, commanded by Swedish officers, and caused great damage to the Russian army with their actions. In northern Finland, Russian troops had to retreat. The Anglo-Swedish fleet reigned supreme at sea.
In August, the number of the Russian army was increased to 55 thousand people, which was twice the strength of the Swedes. In the battles that took place, Sweden was defeated and requested a truce. But Alexander I refused to conclude it until the Swedes were expelled from the territory of Finland. The temporary truce was not of interest to the Russian emperor; he needed Sweden's recognition of Finland's entry into Russia. It was fashionable to force Gustav IV to do this only in the event of an immediate threat of invasion of the Russian army into the country.