Finnish War - Analysis

Analysis

Sufficient stocks of supplies had not been prepared for the army since the King Gustaf IV Adolf thought it might be taken as provocation by the Russians. Furthermore Swedish strategy relied on the outdated plans for Finland which took neither the advances in weaponry and mobility of the armed forces or the greatly improved road networks of Finland. Most of the fortifications in Finland had been left unfinished and those that were completed that mostly fell into neglect. Not even Sveaborg's land side fortifications had been built.

In 1808 English expeditionary force under sir Moore arrived to Sweden but after months of idleness departed for what became to be known as the beginning of the Peninsular War. Had the king accepted the force of 10 000 English troops to Skåne where the English expeditionary force had been authorized to disembark it would have enabled Swedes to release at least 10 000 trained soldiers to the Finnish War. As it happened the bulk of the Swedish army, including the best units, were kept out of the Finnish War by the king who reserved them for his plans for conquering either Sjælland or Norway. Swedish landings were invariably made with poorly equipped and trained forces often with troops that had very low morale. Landings were further complicated by the Swedish Navy's failure to tightly block the coastal sea route past Hangö.