The Swedes made the biggest naval victory in their history over the Russians, but that did not take them back to the great power club.

During almost the entire 17th century, Sweden based itself on the glory of great power status. Its army and fleet, considered among the strongest in Europe, won a series of brilliant victories in many wars, and with them enormous new possessions along the shores of the Baltic Sea, which actually made it a Swedish lake.

This situation changed radically during the Great Northern War of 1700-1721, where the Swedes locked horns with a coalition of Russia, Denmark, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Saxony. Despite some early successes, the defeat at the Battle of Poltava on July 8, 1709 was followed by further failures on land and at sea. Finally, in 1721, Sweden was forced to sign the Treaty of Nystadt, under which it ceded to Russia the territories of Livonia (central and northern Latvia), Estonia (Estonia), Ingria (today’s Leningrad Oblast and the city of St. Petersburg) and southeastern Finland.

Alexander Kotzebue. The victory at Poltava.

The Hermitage

In Stockholm, however, the defeat was only seen as a temporary setback. The Swedes were convinced that they would soon regroup and take revenge. It was a question of when, not about. In 1734, at a meeting of the secret committee of the Riksdag (the national legislature), which dealt with foreign policy and defense, it was decided to do everything necessary “to return to Russia to her former limits. Active preparations for military action began four years later when hawks longing for war with Russia came to power — the so-called “hats” faction, known for wearing the distinctive tricorn hat. (Their contemptuous opponents contemptuously called them “Caps” – nightgown cards.)

Gustaf Cederström. Recruitment of sergeants.

National Museum

On August 8, 1741, the Kingdom of Sweden declared war on Russia, the official cause being the assassination two years earlier of Russian officers by the Swedish diplomatic courier Malcolm Sinclair, who were actively working to establish a Swedish-Turkish military alliance. After learning from Sinclair’s documents about Swedish war plans, the Russian Empress Anna Ioannovna introduced a ban on bread exports to the country’s northern neighbor, which became a second casus belli. The campaign’s goal was to regain all of Sweden’s lost territory, or at least, if it does not go according to plan, Ingria.

Johan Henrik Scheffel. Portrait of Malcolm Sinclair.

Europeana

Stockholm believed that a war with Russia would be quick and victorious. By this time, the young Ivan VI had ascended the Russian throne, and a power struggle had broken out between rival court factions. But the Swedish threat was neutralized by the Irish-born Russian commander Peter von Lacy. In August 1741, he led the enemy at the Battle of Lappeenranta, and exactly one year later, his troops surrounded and forced the capitulation of the Swedish army’s main forces in Helsinki (Helsinki). “From now on, almost the entire territory of Finland came under Russian control. Sweden’s defeat was practically a matter of course, ” wrote Baron Ivan Cherkasov to Principal Alexey Bestuzhev-Ryumin. Swedish commanders Henrik Magnuss von Buddenbrock and Karl Emil Loewenhaupt were found responsible for the failure, recalled and executed.

Portrait of Peter von Lacy.

General goods

Under the terms of the Treaty of Turku, which ended on February 3, 1743, gave Russia back Finland’s captured territory to the Swedes, except for a small piece of land with the fortress of Neishlot (Savolinna). This made it possible to push the border even further away from St. Petersburg. In addition, the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, who had replaced Ivan VI on the throne after a palace coup, demanded that Prince-Bishop Adolf Frederick of Lübeck is recognized as the heir to the Swedish throne. He was the uncle of Prince Karl Peter Ulrich (the future Peter III of Russia), whom the Russian Empress, as his aunt, chose as her successor. Elizabeth’s protégé really became king of Sweden in 1751, but it did not pay dividends to Russia.

Gustaf Lundberg. Portrait of Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden.

The Hermitage

A new attempt to restore Sweden to great power status and throw Russia back from the Baltic coast was made in 1788 by Gustav III. This time the Swedish approach was more cautious and cunning – they started hostilities in the middle of the Russo-Turkish war 1787-1791, when the main part of the Russian army and navy were tied up in the south. As a pretext for declaring war, a group of Swedish soldiers, dressed in Russian uniform, carried out a false flag attack on the Swedish border crossing at Puumala.

Pehr Hilleström. King Gustav III of Sweden and a soldier. Excerpts from the Russian War of 1789.

National Museum

The Swedish army won a number of victories in Finland, but advanced to Russian territory with caution. The plan focused on achieving victory at sea and landing troops near St. Petersburg. Military action in the Baltics continued with varying success until the battle of Vyborg on July 3, 1790, when the Swedish fleet was blocked in Vyborg Bay. Lost almost 20 ships and about 5,000 men, the Swedes managed to break out, but had to abandon plans to take the Russian capital.

Ivan Aivazovsky. Sea battle near Vyborg.

General goods

Russia was on its way to victory when the Swedish fleet managed the incredible and defeated the enemy on July 10, 1790 in Svensksundsundet. More than 500 ships on both sides took part in the largest naval battle ever seen in the Baltic Sea. The Russian navy lost 35 ships and 7,000 killed and wounded. Another 22 ships were captured by the Swedes, whose own losses were limited to only five small ships.

Johan Diedrich Schoultz. The battle of Svensksund.

The Maritime Museum

“The destruction of the enemy was terrible, and the last moments of the battle were terrible and horrible”, the commander of the Swedish navy, Gustav III, wrote to his wife Sofia Magdalena in Denmark: “The night fell, it burned and screamed around … I hope that if we continue to act, we will kindly force the arrogant Katarina [Empress Catherine II] to forgive us for our mistakes and vote for peace. “When the dust settled, neither side had achieved a decisive advantage, and the Värälä Treaty was concluded on 14 August of the same year on status quo terms.

Alexander Roslin. Portrait of Gustav III of Sweden.

National Museum

After failing in its attempt, Sweden gave up the attempt to force a renegotiation of the Nystadt Treaty. Less than 20 years later, the country itself had to go on the defensive. In 1808, with the support of Napoleon Bonaparte, Russia launched a war against its northern neighbor, culminating in “the biggest national disaster in the long history of the Swedish state ”- the loss of all of Finland.

Helene Schjerfbeck. Wounded warrior in the snow.

National Gallery of Finland

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