Sweden was the traditional rival of Russia-Russia in the North of Europe. Even after the Russian state crushed the Swedish Empire in the Northern War of 1700-1721, the Swedes unleashed several more wars. In an effort to return the lands lost as a result of the Northern War (Estonia, Livonia, Izhora land, Karelian Isthmus), the Swedish government decided to take advantage of the precarious position of the regent Anna Leopoldovna (1740-1741) and on July 24 (August 4), 1741 declared war on Russia. But the Russian army and naval forces operated successfully, and the Swedes were defeated. In May 1743, Sweden was forced to agree to the preliminary Abo peace treaty on June 16 (27) (it was finally agreed on August 7 (18)), according to which the Swedes ceded southeastern Finland to Russia.
The next war began in 1788. The Swedish king Gustav III decided to take advantage of the fact that the main part of the Russian army was at war with the Ottoman Empire (the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1792) and put forward an ultimatum to Catherine II, demanding the return to Sweden of the lands lost in the first half of the 18th century. Diplomatic support for Sweden was provided by Prussia, Holland and England, concerned about the success of Russian weapons in the wars with Turkey. Sweden formed an alliance with the Ottoman Empire. But the Russian armed forces successfully repulsed enemy attacks and inflicted a number of defeats on the Swedes. Sweden began to seek peace. Petersburg, bound by the war in the south, did not put forward territorial claims - on August 3 (14), 1790, the Peace of Verela was concluded, which confirmed the conditions of the Nishtadt and Abo treaties.
Later, Russia and Sweden were allies in the fight against France. King Gustav IV Adolf (ruled Sweden in 1792-1809) was hostile to the French Revolution and initially oriented his foreign policy towards Russia. The Swedish king dreamed of getting Norway with Russian help. Back in 1799, a Russian-Swedish convention on mutual assistance was signed in Gatchina, and only a sharp turn in Paul's policy towards France prevented Sweden from entering the war with France. Sweden in 1800 signed the anti-British convention, which was supposed to prevent the penetration of England into the Baltic region. After Paul's death, Russia made peace with England, followed by Sweden. Sweden joined the third anti-French coalition (1805), and then the fourth (1806-1807). In the fall of 1805, the Swedish army was sent to Pomerania, but the military campaigns of 1805-1807 ended in complete failure for the enemies of France. Nevertheless, the Swedish king, even after the Peace of Tilsit in 1807, did not break with London, continuing his anti-French policy. This spoiled Russian-Swedish relations.
Russian-Swedish war 1808-1809
Under the terms of the Treaty of Tilsit, Russia was to exert influence on Sweden so that the Swedish government would join the continental blockade of England. Despite lengthy negotiations - Alexander I offered the Swedish king Gustav IV his mediation to reconcile him with the French emperor, the problem could not be solved diplomatically. The British put a lot of pressure on Sweden. On November 7, Russia declared war on Britain as an ally of France and because of the British attack on Denmark. There was no real military action between England and Russia, but London was able to make Sweden its instrument. For the war with Russia, the British gave Sweden a military subsidy - 1 million pounds sterling monthly, while there is a conflict with the Russians. In addition, it became known that Sweden is preparing to help Britain in the war with Denmark, seeking to recapture Norway from the Danes. With Denmark, Russia was linked by allied relations and dynastic ties. Napoleon also pushed Russia towards war and even told the Russian ambassador that he agreed to Petersburg acquiring all of Sweden, including Stockholm.
All these circumstances gave the Russian Emperor Alexander I an excuse to seize Finland belonging to the Swedish crown, in order to ensure the safety of St. Petersburg from the close proximity of a power hostile to Russia.
By the beginning of 1808, 24 thousand army under the command of Fyodor Buksgewden was concentrated on the border with Finland. In February-April 1808, the Russian army captured all of southern, southwestern and western Finland. On March 16 (28), 1808, Emperor Alexander I issued a manifesto on the annexation of Finland to the Russian Empire. The Russian emperor undertook to preserve its previous laws and the Diet and give the status of the Grand Duchy. On April 26, Sveaborg surrendered: 7, 5 thousand people were captured, more than 2 thousand guns, huge military supplies, over 100 ships and vessels were captured.
At the end of April 1808, the Swedish army launched a counteroffensive from the Uleaborg region and defeated the Russian vanguard near the village of Siikayoki, and then Bulatov's detachment near Revolax. The Swedes recaptured the Aland Islands and the island of Gotland, which the Russian army captured at the beginning of the war. In mid-May, 14,000 British auxiliary corps and a British squadron arrived to help the Swedes. But Gustav IV and the British command could not agree on a plan of common action, and the British took their troops to Spain. True, they left their squadron to Sweden. In June, Fyodor Buksgewden had to withdraw his troops to southern Finland to the Bjerneborg - Tammerfors - St. Michel line. In early August, Count Nikolai Kamensky led a new offensive of the Russian forces: on August 20-21 (September 2-3), the Swedes were defeated at Kuortane and Salmi, and on September 2 (14) in the battle of Oroways. On October 7 (19), Kamensky signed the Pattiok truce with the Swedish command. Under its terms, the Swedes left Esterbotten and retreated beyond the river. Kemiyoki, and Russian troops occupied Uleaborg.
Alexander did not approve the truce and replaced Buxgewden with the infantry general Bogdan Knorring. The new commander-in-chief received an order to cross the ice of the Gulf of Bothnia to the Swedish coast.
At this time, an internal political crisis ripened in Sweden: war was not popular in society. Despite the setbacks, Gustav IV Adolf stubbornly refused to conclude an armistice and convene the Riksdag. The king personally imposed an unpopular war tax and, moreover, insulted dozens of Guards officers from the most noble families, demoted them to army officers. In Sweden, a conspiracy matured and on March 1 (13), 1809, Gustav IV Adolf was overthrown. On May 10, the Riksdag deprived Gustav and his descendants of the right to occupy the Swedish throne. The new king of the Riksdag proclaimed the Duke of Südermanland - he received the name of Charles XIII.
At this time, the Russians launched a new offensive: the corps of Peter Bagration and Mikhail Barclay de Tolly made a transition on the ice of the Gulf of Bothnia from Finland to Sweden. Bagration's forces occupied the Aland Islands, reached the Swedish coast and captured Grislehamn 80 km northeast of Stockholm. The troops of Barclay de Tolly, reaching the shores of Västerbotten, occupied Umeå. At the same time, Pavel Shuvalov's northern corps forced Kemijoki, took Tornio, crossed the Swedish-Finnish border and forced significant enemy forces to surrender - the Kalik (northern) Swedish grouping. On March 7 (19), the new commander-in-chief Knorring went to the Åland armistice, he agreed to withdraw Russian troops from Swedish territory. But on March 19 (31), it was canceled by the Russian emperor.
In early April Barclay de Tolly was appointed to replace Knorring. In April, Russian troops launched an offensive in northern Sweden, in May they captured Umeå for the second time, and in June defeated the Swedish forces that were covering the approaches to Stockholm. This forced the Swedes to negotiate peace.
On September 5 (17), a peace treaty was signed in Friedrichsgam. Under this agreement, Russia received the Aland Islands, Finland, Lapland up to the Torniojoki and Muonioelle rivers. Sweden broke off its alliance with Britain, entered the continental blockade and closed its ports to British ships.
Further Russian-Swedish relations
Charles XIII officially ruled until 1818, but he suffered from dementia and had no real influence on politics. All real power levers were in the hands of the Swedish aristocracy. In 1810, Marshal of the French army Jean Bernadotte (Bernadotte) was elected heir to the childless king. Bernadotte was adopted by King Charles and became regent, the de facto ruler of Sweden.
This event came as a surprise to Europe. The French emperor greeted him coldly, relations with the marshal were ruined by his independent policy. In Russia, they were worried that the Riksdag made such a hasty decision, electing a French marshal as regent (at this time, relations with France were deteriorating). In addition, Sweden has declared war on England. There were fears that we had received an ally of Napoleon in the northwestern borders. But these fears did not materialize. Bernadotte was very restrained towards Napoleon and showed a desire to establish good-neighborly relations with Russia. The Regent of Sweden proposed to Russia to conclude an alliance. "The future fate of all of us depends on the preservation of Russia," said the commander. Petersburg was also interested in peace on its northwestern borders. In December 1810, A. I. Chernyshev arrived in Sweden for negotiations with Bernadotte. He outlined Alexander's position. Letting go of Chernyshev, Bernadotte said to him: "Tell his majesty that with my arrival in Sweden I became a completely man of the north, and assure him that he can look at Sweden as his faithful lead" (leading - an advanced guard detachment). Sweden, for its benevolent position towards Russia, counted on help in joining Norway, which sought to free itself from Danish dependence. The Russian emperor promised assistance in this matter.
Bernadotte's policy was based on the interests of aristocratic circles. They originally expected Napoleon to help reclaim Finland. But the demand of Paris to start a war with Britain and the introduction of financial levies in favor of France, led to an increase in anti-French sentiment. In addition, Napoleon expressed no desire to give Norway to Sweden.
Bernadotte asked to ease the conditions of the continental blockade and reduce financial levies. At the beginning of 1811, the regent proposed to Paris to conclude an agreement that would provide for the neutrality of Sweden in the event of a war between Russia and France. The French emperor instructed the French ambassador to Sweden Alquier to begin negotiations on Sweden's participation in the war with Russia. But these negotiations did not lead to a positive result. At the beginning of 1812, the Swedish envoy Levengelm arrived in the capital of the Russian Empire. At the same time, Russia sent General Pyotr Sukhtelen to Stockholm. He had to agree on the sending of a Russian auxiliary corps to Sweden and begin negotiations with London (British envoy Thornton secretly arrived in Sweden to negotiate with Russia). The instructions given to Sukhtelen also contained the "Great Plan for the Unification of the Slavs." England had to support this plan: 1) by the actions of its naval forces in the Baltic and Adriatic seas; 2) the supply of weapons, military supplies for the Slavs and German deserters from the army of the Rhine Confederation; 3) the financing of the Slavic and German movement, which was to strike a blow at Austria, allied to Napoleon and the French Illyrian provinces. The process of creating the VI anti-French coalition began.
The French emperor, having learned about the negotiations between Russia and Sweden, ordered Davout to occupy Swedish Pomerania. At the end of January 1812, French troops occupied Pomerania.
Negotiations between Sweden and Russia continued until the end of March 1812. On March 24 (April 5), an anti-French alliance of the two powers was concluded. At the same time, negotiations were underway for the provision of financial subsidies by the British to Sweden - London joined the union in the summer. The Swedish Riksdag approved this agreement. Both powers guaranteed each other's borders. Petersburg undertook to assist Sweden in joining Norway. Sweden was supposed to send 30 thousand army under the command of Bernadotte, Russia to attach 15-20 thousand auxiliary corps to it. These forces were planned to be used in Norway, and then to land them in Germany.
Subsequently, the Russian-Swedish alliance was confirmed during the August negotiations of Abo. A convention was signed, according to which Russia provided Sweden with a loan of 1.5 million rubles. Petersburg reaffirmed its readiness to assist the Swedish government in the annexation of Norway.
On the eve of the invasion of Napoleon's "Great Army" into Russia, the Swedish government proposed to St. Petersburg to unite its naval forces and close the access of French ships to the Baltic Sea. The Russian government agreed to this measure and proposed another - to land a Russian-Swedish 45 thousand landing army in Pomerania. Russia began to prepare amphibious forces: the amphibious corps under the command of Thaddeus Steingel was concentrated in Sveaborg, Abo and on the Aland Islands. But the allies of Russia - Sweden and England, were not ready for such a bold operation and it did not take place.
Thus, on the eve of the war with the French Empire, Russia was able not only to strengthen the north-western borders (by annexing Finland), but also to acquire an ally in the person of Sweden. This made it possible not to be afraid of an attack from the north and to free up significant forces from the northwestern borders, using them in those areas that came under attack from a formidable enemy.
