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03 November 2009 - 09:23
Events of the year.
In the far, northern outskirts of Europe the main historical events have been eclipsed around the theme of the 200th anniversary of the 1808-09 war between Sweden (and Finland) and Russia.
Albeit a minor pinprick in the midst of the Napoleonic wars, this war had a great impact on both Sweden and Finland.
The Swedish lion, squeezed between the mighty eagles of France and Russia was faced with the unenviable risk of being obliterated from the ranks of independent nations because of it's enmity towards Napoleon.
The Swedish king could in no way submit to Napoleon's demand that Sweden would join in the alliance against Great Britain, much due to his personal animosity to the French usurper. In the peace treaty at Tilsit 1807, the regents Napoleon and Alexander I divided Europe into "spheres of interest" - in a very similar manner as happened just over a century later by two, far more tyrannic dictators.
Napoleon, having laid under him almost all of continental Europe, wished to exclude the British from the European continent by forcing all the conquered nations to ally with him against the British. The Swedish king's denial to join this alliance lead to the double threat of the Russians from the east and the French from the south.
A small nation with an Army massing a total of under 50,000 men in arms, against the mighty ranks of the Russians and French constituted a serious threat to the existence of the entire nation.
Napoleon encouraged Alexander to attack from the east, while he himself stationed an army of almost 40,000 men in Denmark in readiness to jump the Öresund and signal the end of the Swedish nation.
The Russians launched their attack in February 1808. The Swedish plan, doomed from the beginning, involved a retreat to Ostrobothnia and await reinforcements from Sweden when the ice broke on the Baltic. Why doomed? The threat from Marshal Bernadotte and his invasion army in Denmark meant that there would be no or minimal reinforcements to the defence of Finland. The outstreched Swedish army would have to defend the southern domains of Skåne, not to mention the long border with Norway (then a part of Denmark, an ally to Napoleon).
The desperate efforts of the Finnish regiments lead to the inevitable result. Outnumbered, poorly equipped and up against a battle-hardened Russian army, they had to retreat further and further to the north, until the war dragged to Swedish soil.
Incompetence, bad strategies, over-cautiousness, poor munitions were among the deciding factors. Allthough the mixed forces of Swedish and Finnish regiments won some epic battles, well depicted by Johan Ludvig Runeberg.
The war finally ended after a peace treaty was signed, 17 September 1809, in Hamina. This signalled the end of Swedish dominion of Finland after more than 600 years. Finland retained their legal system and also received "far going" autonomy as a Grand Duchy of the Russian empire. A small but significant step towards indepence, later achieved in 1917.
These events have been re-enacted in both Finland and Sweden by numerous historical associations. Major battles masterfully redirected at Siikajoki, Oravais and Sävar, to name but a few.
There will be some images from The battles of Lemo, Oravais and the Final at Gärdet, in my photo gallery soon...
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