In the opening years of the century, when Europe echoed with the thunder of Napoleon's great battles, many minor campaigns passed almost unheeded. Yet some of these have had more lasting effects on the world's history than some of the more famous battles with which they were contemporaneous. How few have ever heard anything of the war between Sweden and Russia in 1808 the marches and battles amid the northern snow and ice, and the Siege of Sweaborg! Yet the result of these operations was the annexation of Finland to the Imperial crown of Russia, and the predominance of that Power on the shores of the Baltic.

The war was brief but eventful. If success finally rested with Russia, notwithstanding hard-fought Swedish victories in the field, it was because the policy of King Gustavus made the efforts of his generals unavailing, and because a weak and irresolute commandant prematurely yielded the chief fortress of Finland and of the Swedish crown to the invaders. Sweaborg, a mass of granite forts and ramparts, built on a group of five rocky islands, in the midst of the sea, was till then supposed to be impregnable. It was the chief arsenal both of the Swedish armies in the north end of the kingdom and of the flotilla maintained for operations in the shallow waters of the gulfs of Bothnia and Finland. In war time a fleet stationed there was already at the gates of St. Petersburg, and could blockade and menace the Russian capital. No wonder that its possession had long been coveted by the Czars.

By the secret articles of the Treaty of Tilsit, it was agreed between Napoleon and the Emperor Alexander that Russia should take possession of Finland. The ministers of the Czar proceeded at once to press various complaints against the conduct of the court of Stockholm. Gustavus Adolphus, the king of Sweden, was warned by friends that he was to be attacked in Finland but he obstinately refused to believe that there was anything more serious than diplomatic friction with Russia.

In any case he expected that there would be no war till the summer But the Russians had planned a winter campaign. In the summer they would have had to reckon with the opposition of the Swedish fleet, probably reinforced by a British squadron but in the winter months, the frozen northern seas made naval warfare impossible. It is true that on the land the intense cold would add to the difficulties of campaigning but the advantage of being secure from an attack by sea was so great that the winter campaign was decided upon.

The banks of the frozen river Rymen, which then formed the frontier of Swedish Finland, were only held by a feeble line of detached posts, the usual guard maintained in time of peace for Customs and police purposes, and nothing more.

On the Russian side of the frontier in the first half of February, 1808 16,000 men were concentrated under the command of General Count Bouxhoevden. The troops were specially equipped for winter campaigning. The infantry were provided with snow-shoes, the guns and stores were mounted on sledges. As soon as everything was ready war was declared, and the little army of invasion crossed the Kymen in three columns at Aberfos, Stromfos, and Keltis.

The Swedes were in no position to make an effective resistance on the frontier. Everywhere they fell back before the Russians. The first blood was spilt at Aberfos, where the Swedish post fired upon the cavalry of the Russian van guard, and killed a dragoon officer who was anxious to distinguish himself by being first across the Kymen bridge.

The left column of the invaders under General Gortschakoff, moved parallel with the shore of the Gulf of Finland. The little town of Lowia was occupied, a detachment of 1,800 men was left to besiege the fort of Swartholm on an adjacent headland and Gortschakoff pushed on towards the defile of Fosby, strongly held by Swedes under Colonel Palmfeld, who hoped to stop the Russian advance at this point where the coast road passed through a rocky ridge.

In summer the position would have been a good one, but now the ice on Permo Bay enabled the attacking force to work round the headland and turn the defile. As the Russians marched out upon the ice, a squadron of Swedish dragoons attempted to check them by threatening a charge, but they were in their turn charged by the Cossacks of the Imperial Guard, and the strange spectacle was seen of a fierce cavalry fight upon the frozen waters of the bay. The Swedes were thus forced to abandon their position, and on February 26th the Russian left occupied Borgo, the most ancient town in Finland.

Two days later, the right, under Prince Bagration, made a night attack on Artsjo, held by a Swedish detachment, and captured the place after a hard struggle in the snowy streets. The Russian centre column met with no resistance worth noting. In summer the numerous lakes and marshes would have rendered the Russian advance more difficult, but now they were able to move across lake and marsh more rapidly than through the rocks and woods of the solid land between the lakes.

The Swedish Government was taken by surprise. There were about 15,000 regular troops and some 4,000 local militia in Finland, but they were scattered in various garrisons, and no army was ready to act against the Russians. Seven hundred men were blockaded in Swartholm, 7,000 held Sweaborg, and about 4,000 under General Mercker were at Taastheus, the principal town in the south-west. To Tavastheus General Count Klingsporr, whom King Gustavus had appointed to the command in Finland, hurried as quick as relays of horses could convey his sledge. When he arrived there he heard that the Russians were already in possession of all the south-east of the country. They had occupied Helsingfors without resistance, seizing a number of guns and a quantity of valuable stores in the town.

The siege of Sveaborg had begun; a column of invaders under General Toutchkoff was overrunning the east of the country throughout nearly one half of it the reserve men and the militia could not be called out. Bagration was advancing upon Tavastheus with a force superior to that under Klercker and Klingsporr, so that the Swedish commander had to begin his campaign by retiring northwards to Kurvola, while the Russians occupied Tavastheus on March 6th.

By a bold initiative a series of forced marches and a few unimportant engagements they had secured enormous advantages. At first Klinsporr had an exaggerated idea of their numbers, for the detachments they pushed forward in so many directions and acted so boldly that the Swedes took them for the vanguards of strong corps d'armee.

Bouhoevden, the Russian generalissimo, while maintaining the blockade of Swartholm and of Sweaborg, sent a detachment to seize Abo, the old capital of Finland, and with his main body pursued Klingsporr. The latter could not do more than delay the Russian advance by some show of resistance. His rearguard made a stand at Bjorneborg, but the place was stormed by Bagration's division. Tarnmerfors was abandoned, after a cavalry fight on the neighbouring lake. Klingsporr could have retired from Wasa across the ice of the Gulf of Bothnia into Sweden, but he decided rather to draw the Russians after him to the horthward, retiring along the west coast of Finland, and receiving his supplies from Sweden through Tornea at the head of the gulf, by which route also some reinforcements reached him. His hope was to prolong the campaign until the break-up of the ice in the spring would enable the Swedish fleet first to relieve Sweaborg, and then to co-operate with him against the invaders.

Swartholm surrendered on March 18th, after five or six days' bombardment. The garrison had plenty of corn, but they were short of water, and sickness had broken out in the crowded and ill- ventilated casernates. Seven hundred prisoners and 200 guns and mortars were the prize of the victors. The detachment under Chepeleff occupied Abo, and seized sixty four galleys which were ice-bound in the harbour. Finally on April 12th, the Cossacks marched across the ice of the Baltic and occupied the Aland isles. Klingsporr all the while was retiring slowly northwards, skirmishing among the rocks and woods. It was not until the middle of April that he felt strong enough to make a serious stand. Meanwhle, all unknown to him, the fate of Sweaborg had been sealed -- Sweaborg, on which his hopes for the defence of the province finally rested.

The Winter Campaign in Finland 1808 Part 1

Part 1: Russian Invasion
Part 1: Defense of Sweaborg