Copyright © Hans Högman 2017-10-27
The Many Swedish
Wars - 1700s
A Summary of the Russian War of
King Gustav III 1788 - 1790
King Gustav III:s Russian War 1788 - 1790 -
Introduction
See Map of Gulf of Finland.
This war in known as the Russo-Swedish War 1788 -
1790 in English literature.
The Swedish King Gustav III started a war with Russia
in 1788. His purpose was to gain domestic and
international advantages.
This was a very unstable period for the royalties in
Europe. In France, for example, there was the French
Revolution where the French king was executed.
In Sweden King Gustav III was strengthening his
position. A war would take the tension away from
the domestic affairs. As early as in the beginning of
the 1780’s the king was planning a war with
Denmark. The aim was to take Norway away from
Denmark (Norway belonged to Denmark). A problem
was that Denmark was an allied of Russia and a
Swedish attack on Denmark would mean a Russian
involvement.
King Gustav III even made a trip to the Russian
capital S:t Petersburg to see the empress Catharine.
The purpose of the trip was to persuade her to stay
out of a Swedish-Danish war. However, she refused
to stay out of the war if Sweden attacked Denmark.
The plans of a war with Denmark were therefore
abandoned.
The King now saw Russia as a new
target. An aim with a war with
Russia would be to regain land lost
in the wars with Russia 1700 – 1721
and 1741 – 1742.
Another reason for a war with
Russia was the Russian
interference with Swedish internal
affairs.
The image to the right show King
Gustav III of Sweden.
In September 1787 Gustav III received information
that Russia was in a war with Turkey. Now, when the
Russians were occupied with the Turkey war, the
King began planning for a war with Russia. The plan
was to launch an attack on S:t Petersburg from the
sea. The landing was to be made just outside the
city.
This scenario was built on the assumption that the
Swedish Navy could beat the Russian Navy. Sweden
had at the time a strong navy, a navy that has been
increased during the last decades. The brain behind
the plan was General Major Johan Christopher Toll.
There was one problem though. According to the
Swedish constitution, the King did not have the legal
power to start an aggressive war. He had the right to
mobilize the armed forces if Sweden was being
attacked. However, he needed the Parliament's
(Riksdagen) approval to launch an assault on Russia.
Getting approval from the Parliament to start a war
with Russia was out of the question.
Gustav III was now occupied on how to provoke the
Russians to start a war.
Preparations for War
During the spring of 1788 the Navy was made ready
to go to war. On May 23, 1788, the Army was
mobilized. The King’s motivation for this was the
Russian armament due to the Turkey war.
Finland belonged to Sweden and at this time there
were about 18,000 soldiers stationed in Finland. The
plan was to enlarge this force with another 8,000
men. This was a race against time, because the King
wanted to strike while Russia still was at war with
Turkey.
On June 9, 1788 the Swedish Navy went to sea. The
Navy was under command of Grand Admiral Duke
Karl, brother of King Gustav III.
On July 22 the Swedish Navy met up with a Russian
squadron. Duke Karl had strict orders not to open
fire first and the Russians were avoiding a battle. The
King needed the Russians to start the war.
On June 23, 1788 the Swedish squadron of the galley
fleet left Stockholm for Helsinki. The King left
Stockholm together with the Galley Fleet on the
yacht “Amphion”.
During the night of June 27, 1788, there was a
exchange of shots between a Swedish border
patrol and Russian troops at Puumala in the
province of Savolax on the Russian border.
It hasn’t been fully proved, but the “Russians” were
probably Swedes dressed up in Russian uniforms
shamming a Russian attack.
When the King arrived at Helsinki on June 2 he
received the report on the border incident. This was
the reason the King needed to start a war. Most
likely he knew about the event before it happened.
On June 29, Swedish forces crossed the Russian
border east of S:t Michel, Savolax. The Russian
fortress at Nyslott was besieged.
Instead of a “blitzkrieg” the war came to be a drown-
out war. Only a small group of commanders had
planned the war and it wasn’t really submitted for
consideration by the parties concerned. The plan
needed precision and punctuality and important
parts of the Army and the Navy had been shut out of
the planning.
The Swedish forces in Finland, the Navy included,
counted 32,000 men during the fall of 1788.
The army was organized in:
•
A coast division under command of colonel
Gustav Mauritz Armfelt.
•
A division in Savolax under command of colonel
Berndt Johan Hastfehr
•
The force shipped from Sweden was under
command of Lieutenant General Gustav Adolf
Siegroth. He was also in command of the two
squadrons of the galley fleet.
On July 11, 1788 the Armfeldt division crossed the
border at Kymmene river. His destination was
Högfors, however he went as far as Summa. At the
same time a Swedish force crossed the border at
Anjala and went to Liikala and later to Hussala.
Gustav III now planned to strike S:t Petersburg,
however the Swedish Navy first had to gain control
of the Gulf of Finland by beating the Russian Navy.
Naval Battles
On July 17, 1788 there was the major naval battle
of Hogland in the Gulf of Finland. The battle
caused a lot of damage to both Swedish and Russian
vessels. About 300 Swedish seamen and 600
Russians died in the battle.
Both forces were of equal strength and neither side
managed to gain control of the battle. A decisive
reason why the Swedes didn’t manage to beat the
Russian was the fact that they more or less run out
of ammunition. In most respects the battle is
considered to have been a draw.
Another naval battle was fought near the Swedish
island of Öland on July 26, 1789. Also in this battle
the Swedes failed to destroy the Russians.
When King Gustav III got information on the
outcome of these two naval battles he abandoned
the original war plan. Since the Swedish Navy hadn’t
managed to get a total control of the seawaters of
the gulf, the plans of landing the army outside S:t
Petersburg had to be postponed.
Instead the King decided to launch an attack on the
fortress at Fredrikshamn. On August 1, 1788 a
squadron of the Swedish galley fleet headed for
Fredrikshamn.
On the same very day an uprising broke out in the
Army. The soldiers were stirred up by their officers.
The King personally had to calm down the soldiers.
However the attack on Fredrikshamn had to be
aborted.
The Anjala Uprising
There was a discontent among the Swedish officers.
In August 1788 in Finland, there was an uprising
among the Swedish Army officers. In the middle of
the war a group of officers declared the war illegal
and decided to put down their weapons. On their
own responsibility they contacted empress
Catharine to negotiate for peace. This uprising was
called the Anjala uprising. The act was signed at
Anjala, thereby the name.
The uprising started by the so-called Liikala
memorandum (Liikala-noten) of August 9 1788. The
memorandum was for empress Catharine and in the
memorandum the officers offered peace since the
war, according to them, was started against the
Swedish constitution.
On July 12, the real Anjala memorandum was signed.
The content of this memorandum was about the
same as the previous one and was signed by 113
officers. In another memorandum from August 25
they also demanded the King to resign.
The answer from empress Catharine was a
disappointment to the officers. The empress refused
to deal with them.
At the end of 1788 these officers were arrested and
many of the rebellious officers were sentenced to
death. However, only one officer was executed.
About the same time as the Anjala uprising, the King
got another problem on his hands. At the end of
August, Denmark declared war on Sweden.
The King now had to leave Finland to deal with this
new threat. However, the threat from Denmark was
averted by mediation from Great Britain and Prussia.
For more information on this, see the Theatre War.
On September 25, 1788, the Swedish forces on
Russian territory withdrew back to Finland to set up
winter camp.
The War in 1789
In May 1789 two Russian units of 2,000 men each
crossed the border to Finland just north of Lake
Saimen. The Russian main force of 10,000 soldiers
crossed the border south of Saimen.
On June 13 and 19 the Swedish forces in the area,
about 5,000 men, stopped the advancing Russian
forces.
At the same time King Gustav III advanced in to
Russian territory further south. On June 25 he did
beat a Russian force and forced them to retreat.
On August 24, 1789 the Swedish Galley Fleet was
involved in the First Naval Battle of Svensksund
(Ruotsinsalmi). The battle ended with a Russian
victory. This defeat forced the Swedish coast army to
retreat to Abborfors.
The War in 1790
During 1790 the Swedes put all their efforts on
the naval war. During the winter of 1789/1790 the
Swedish Navy and the Galley Fleet were increased.
The Galley Fleet nearly doubled in numbers. In the
spring of 1790 the galley fleet counted 349 ships with
nearly 3.000 canons and 21,000 men. About 2/3 of
the crews were from the Army.
The Navy had 21 ships of the line, 8 frigates and 13
smaller ships. In total the navy crews counted 16,300
men. Duke Karl was in charge of the Navy and King
Gustav III was personally in charge of the Galley
Fleet. The flag-captain of the Navy was Admiral O H
Nordenskiöld and the flag-captain of the Galley Fleet
was colonel George de Frese.
On land, the war in 1790 began with a Swedish
attack in Savolx and two important passes were
taken on April 15. On the southern front the Swedes
met the Russians in the battle of Valkeala on April 29.
However, the Russians started a counter-offensive
and forced the Swedes back across river Kymmene.
The Russian advance was stopped at “Keltis
baracker” on May 19 and 20.
In May 13, 1790 Duke Karl ordered the Swedish
Navy to destroy the Russian navy squadron under
Admiral Tjitjagov in the harbor of Reval (present day
Tallin, a city in Estonia).
Unfortunately, when Duke Karl’s launched the
assault the weather got really bad with gale force
winds. It was almost impossible to use the guns in
the severe weather. The Russian ships were better
off anchored within the protected areas of the
harbor. They could use their guns much more
effectively.
The weather made it impossible to continue the
attack. As a result, the Swedish force had to retreat.
Sweden lost 2 ships and 652 men in the battle. 520
of the men lost were actually captured by the
Russians. The Russian force only lost 8 dead and 27
wounded. No Russian ships were lost.
Two days later, May 15, King Gustav III launched an
attack with 100 ships of the Galley Fleet on a
squadron of the Russian Galley fleet in the harbor of
Fredrikshamn (Hamina). The Swedish assault was a
success and a large number of the Russian vessels
were destroyed.
After this achievement King Gustav was ready to
make an assault further eastward in the Gulf of
Finland. He was now aiming for the Russian naval
base at Kronstadt (an island just outside the
Russian capital at the time, St. Petersburg).
Admiral Nordenskiöld warned the King about the
winds deep in the Gulf of Finland. The gulf stretches
in a west/easterly direction. If the wind changed into
an unfavorable direction they could get into trouble.
However, the King had the last word. Both the
Swedish Navy as well as the Swedish Galley Fleet (the
real name of the fleet was the Army Fleet) were
heading eastward towards Kronstadt.
Another target was a squadron of the Russian galley
fleet that had anchored in the Vyborg Bay, just
outside the city of Vyborg.
The Swedish Navy went ahead of the Army fleet and
launched two assaults on Kronstadt in June 3 and
June 4 1790.
A few days after the attack on the Kronstadt naval
base the Swedish Navy and the Army Fleet joined
up at the mouth of the Vyborg Bay.
Now the wind changed to a southwesterly wind.
This was exactly what admiral Nordenskiöld had
warned the King about a few days earlier.
As described in the Navy page, the heavy, shallow-
draught Navy ships were difficult to navigate if the
wind didn't come from astern.
This made it difficult for the Swedish forces to head
toward Swedish waters in southeastern regions of
Finland. The change of wind also made it impossible
for the Swedish Navy to prevent the two Russian
navy forces from joining.
King Gustav made a decision to take a defensive
position a bit further up in the Vyborg Bay and to
wait for the winds to once again change. This was in
the beginning of June 1790.
The wind didn't change and the Swedish forces
got caught in the Vyborg Bay.
The Russian navy started a blockade to prevent
the Swedes from leaving the Bay. The blockade
was in effect on June 8th. The blockade itself was not
a threat to the two Swedish fleets. On the contrary,
the Swedish presence this close to the Russian
capital St Petersburg was a threat on Russia and put
a strain on the Empress Catharine II.
The wind kept blowing in the same direction for a
month. After a while, water and food became in
short supply on the ships.
The Naval Battle of Vyborg Bay 3 July 1790
This battle is known as the Gauntlet of Vyborg Bay
or the Viborg Gauntlet (Viborgska gatloppet) in
Swedish literature. Vyborg is Viborg in Swedish.
On July 2nd the wind finally shifted. Now a
northerly wind, which made an breakout possible.
The supreme command of the fleet had a meeting.
Orders for the breakout were given during the
night of July 3, 1790. The real outbreak was set of at
07.00 (7 AM).
First out in the line of Swedish Navy ships was the
64-gun ship of the line "The Dristigheten" (The
Daring). The Navy took a direct course in the channel
out of the bay. The Army fleet was instructed to go
west of the Navy, a bit closer to the shore. Their
course was parallel to the Navy course and on the
protective side of the Navy ships.
Behind "The Dristighten" was her sister ship, "The
tapperheten" (The Bravery) followed by the rest of the
ships of line and the Navy frigates.
"The Dristigheten" sailed closer to the first Russian
lock and had a course directly between two of the
Russian ships in the lock. The first lock had 5 ships of
the line with its broadsides towards the approaching
Swedish fleet. One of the Russian ships was hit by a
number of broadsides from "The Dristigheten" and
was literary torn a part. More than 700 Russians
were killed. The two Russian ships were also badly
hit by the fire from "The Tapperheten".
The breakout started off very well. However at 10.00
hours (10 AM) in the morning a series of accidents
occurred that influenced the remainder of the
breakout.
There were three fire barges at the rearguard of the
Navy line. They were loaded with tar and aboard
each of them was a commanding officer with a
burning torch. The fire barges were supposed to be
used to set fire to the Russian ships at the first lock.
One of the fire barges was towed by the ship of line
"The Enigheten". Commanding officer onboard "The
Postiljonen" was Ensign Sandels.
Sandels had had one too many drinks before the
battle and set fire to his fire barge too early.
"Postiljonen" drifted towards "Enigheten" and set her
on fire.
"Enigheten" then collided with the frigate "Zemire".
Both ships caught fire and exploded with an
enormous cascade. Smoke from the two ships on fire
was soon covering the entire channel.
It became very difficult for the Swedish ships to
navigate in the dangerous channel after the
explosion due to the dense smoke.
In total the Swedish Navy lost 5 ships of the line, 3
frigates and about 38 smaller vessels. About 4.000
Swedes were lost.
The Swedish Army fleet was better off, all of the
Archipelago frigates, for example, made it through
the blockade.
Remarkably, none of the Swedish ships was lost due to
Russian gunfire. All of the lost ships ran aground due
to the poor visibility caused by the smoke from all
the fires.
Despite the losses of ships, the breakout was a
Swedish success.
The objective of King Gustav III was to get as many
ships out of the bay in one piece and save the
Swedish Navy and the Army fleet.
The Swedish breakout of the Vyborg Bay is known in
Sweden as "The Viborgska gatloppet" (“The Viborg
Gauntlet”) but in English as The Naval Battle of
Vyborg Bay.
After the breakout the Navy ships headed for the
Swedish naval base at the fortress of Sveaborg just
outside Helsinki to do repairs.
The Army fleet also headed westward but took a
course closer to the shores of Finland where they
were more protected from rough sea and from the
Russian navy. The destination for the Army fleet was
Svensksund just outside Kotka . The Army Fleet
arrived at Svensksund on July 5.
A few days later the Russian Galley fleet followed the
Swedish Army fleet westward.
The Sea Battle of Svensksund 9 July 1790
On June 9th and 10th 1790 the Swedish Army fleet
and the Russian Galley fleet were involved in the very
bloody Naval Battle of Svensksund where more or
less the entire Russian galley fleet was destroyed.
The defeat was a disaster to the Russians. They lost
50 to 60 of their largest ships. This was the
equivalent to about a third of their entire Galley fleet.
In addition, 9,500 men were lost. Of this amount, the
Swedes captured about 6,000 of them.
The victorious Swedes on the other hand lost only
about 700 men including both dead and wounded.
The Swedish ship losses were limited to 6 galleys.
The battle of Svensksund is regarded the as the
greatest naval victory in Swedish history as well
as the largest maritime battle ever occurring in
the Baltic Sea.
The peace of Värälä on August 14, 1790
The Swedish victory at Svensksund radically changed
the political situation in the Swede's favor. Despite
the fact that the Swedes had started the war, they
were able to keep the support of the important
European countries of Great Britain and Prussia. So
even though there was no change in the amount of
territory that either the Swedes or the Russians
controlled, the Swedes maintained a political
advantage, which resulted in a peace treaty, signed
in Värälä, Finland on August 14 1790.
Terms of the treaty:
•
No adjusting of the Swedish-Russian border was
to be made
•
All prisoners of war was to be released without
paying a ransom
•
Sweden was granted permission to annually
bring out grain from Russian ports for 50,000
roubles without payment of duty.
