Finnish War - Summer 1809

Summer 1809

In August, Charles XIII, anxious to reach a better peace settlement, ordered Sandels to land in the north of Sweden and to attack Kamensky's rear. The last engagements of the war, at Sävar and Ratan, proved inconclusive and Kamensky succeeded in neutralizing this belated counter-offensive.

Royal Navy fleet under Admiral Saumarez arrived already in May to Sweden and concentrated his ships, 10 ship of the line and 17 smaller ships, to the Gulf of Finland. Presence of the English naval units kept Russian battlefleet strictly confined to Kronstadt and after the English constructed artillery batteries to Porkala cape they cut off the coastal sea route from Russian ships. Total English control of the Gulf of Finland was a heavy burden for Russian supply network and required sizable garrisons to be posted all along the Finnish coast. Royal Navy captured altogether 35 Russian ships and torched 20 others before leaving the Baltic Sea on 28 September 1809.

Sandels's action was only a prelude to the peace negotiations that opened in August and resulted in the Treaty of Fredrikshamn (September 17), in which Sweden ceded the whole of Finland and part of Lapland east of the Torne River (part of Norrlands län) to Russia. Sweden closed its harbours to British ships and joined the Continental System, leading to the formal declaration of war on Great Britain. A few months later, on January 6, 1810, the Russian government mediated the Treaty of Paris between Sweden and France.

Russia would attach areas ceded earlier during the 18th century by Sweden to the newly formed Grand Duchy of Finland including so-called Old Finland. The Grand Duchy of Finland was to retain the Gustavian constitution of 1772 with only slight modifications until 1919. Almost all Finnish soldiers in Sweden (most of them in the Umeå area) were repatriated after the war.