Anglo-Russian War (1807–1812)
The Anglo-Russian War of 1807–1812 | |||||||
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Part of the Napoleonic Wars | |||||||
Battle between the Russian ship Opyt and a British frigate, off the coast of Nargen Island, 11 July 1808 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Supported by: |
Supported by: |
During the
Treaty of Tilsit
After
The terms of the treaty obliged Russia to cease her maritime trade with Great Britain. This closure was a part of Napoleon's continuing efforts to establish the Continental System, strengthening economic ties between the different countries in Europe under French domination. Napoleon's objective was to close one of Britain's most important markets and thus force it economically into submission.
Military activities
On 26 October 1807,
Detention of Russian vessels
The official news did not arrive in Britain until 2 December, at which point the British declared an embargo on all Russian vessels in British ports. Some 70 vessels shared in the seizure of the 44-gun Russian frigate Speshnoy (Speshnyy), then in Portsmouth Harbour.[2] The Russian storeship Wilhelmina (Vilgemina) was also seized at the same time.[3][4]
Speshnyy had sailed from
Lisbon Incident
In August 1807, Senyavin was ordered to bring his fleet from the Mediterranean to the Baltic, where the Finnish War with Sweden was already brewing. He set sail from Corfu on 19 September and although he planned to proceed directly to Saint Petersburg, stormy weather forced him to take refuge in the Tagus river and cast anchor in Lisbon on 30 October. With a French army approaching the city, Prince Regent John VI of Portugal had fled to the Portuguese colony of Brazil and the Royal Navy blockaded Lisbon, intercepting a Russian sloop as an enemy vessel because the Anglo-Russian War had been declared. In November, the French forces under the General Jean-Andoche Junot overran Lisbon.
Senyavin, placed in a delicate diplomatic position, proceeded to distinguish himself as a diplomat. He declared himself neutral and managed to protect his ships from seizure. In August 1808 Sir
On 31 August Senyavin's squadron left Portugal for
Russia also
In May 1808 the British sent a fleet under
- Centaur and Implacable vs. Vsevolod
On 9 July, the Russian fleet, under Admiral
to join the Swedish fleet. They chased two Russian frigates on the 19th and joined the Swedes the following day.On 22 August, the Russian fleet, consisting of nine ships of the line, five large frigates and six smaller ones, moved from Hanko to threaten the Swedes. The Swedes, with the two British ships, grouped at Örö, and three days later sailed to meet the Russians.
The Russians and the Anglo-Swedish force were fairly evenly matched, but the Russians retreated and the Allied ships followed them. Centaur and Implacable were better vessels than the Swedish ships and slowly pulled ahead, with Implacable catching up with a Russian straggler, the 74-gun
Vice-Admiral Saumerez with his entire squadron joined the Anglo-Swedish squadron the next day. They then blockaded Khanykov's squadron for some months. After the British and the Swedes abandoned the blockade, the Russian fleet was able to return to Kronstadt.[9]
- Boat actions
On 7 and 8 July 1809, the boats of Prometheus, Implacable, Bellerophon and Melpomene captured or destroyed gunboats and a convoy off Hanko Peninsula in the Baltic. Among the captured vessels were Russian gun boats No.5, No.10, No. 13, and No.15.[11] In 1847 the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "7 July Boat Service 1809" to 33 surviving claimants from the action.[12]
Then on 25 July seventeen boats from a British squadron consisting of
However the successes of the Russian army on land forced Sweden to sign a peace treaty with Russia in 1809 whereby, inter alia, Sweden ceded the later Grand Duchy of Finland to Russia. Sweden sued for peace with France in 1810 and then formally joined the blockade against Britain as required by the Continental System, although in practice did little to enforce it. Sweden kept trading with Britain and the Royal Navy kept using Swedish ports.
In time, the Anglo-Russian War overlapped with the
In June 1809
Nyaden was probably the vessel whose boats in July took possession of Catherine Harbour, in the ostrog, or fortified settlement, of
British naval involvement in the region continued into 1811. On 3 August 1810, the brig Gallant captured the St. Peder. Next year, on 2 January, Gallant captured the Danish privateer Restorateur off the Norwegian coast. Restorateur was armed with six 12-pounder guns and had a crew of 19 men.[16] Four months later, on 5 April, Gallant captured the Victoria.[17] Then on 1 August 1811, the frigate Alexandria, which was operating out of the Lieth station, captured the Russian vessels Michael, Ivan Isasima, and St. Oluff, and their cargoes.[18]
Persia
During the Russo-Persian War (1804–1813), several British officers, part of Sir John Malcolm's 1809 embassy to Persia, remained in that country, providing training to the reforming Persian army. One of the British officers, William Monteith, accompanied Abbas Mirza on his unsuccessful campaign in Georgia and then commanded a frontier force and the garrison of Erivan.[19]
Outcome
Alexander I kept Russia as neutral as possible in the ongoing French war with Britain. He allowed Russians to continue secretly to trade with Britain and did not enforce the blockade required by Continental System.[20] In 1810, he withdrew Russia from the Continental System and trade between Britain and Russia grew.[21]
With war imminent between France and Russia, Alexander started to prepare the ground diplomatically. In April 1812 Russia and Sweden signed an agreement for mutual defence. A month later Alexander secured his southern flank by the Treaty of Bucharest (1812), which formally ended the war against Turkey.[21]
After Napoleon
References
- ^ Aleksandr A. Orlov, Russia and the Napoleonic Wars (Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2015) pp. 84–96.
- ^ Speshnoy was the name ship for the 34-member Speshni-class of frigate.
- ^ "No. 16276". The London Gazette. 15 July 1809. p. 1129.
- ^ Clarke & Jones 1808, p. 129.
- ^ a b c Tredrea & Sozaev 2010, pp. 198, 391.
- ^ "No. 16195". The London Gazette. 25 October 1808. p. 1460.
- ^ ISBN 978-1611210026.
- ^ "No. 16167". The London Gazette. 30 July 1808. pp. 1049–1050.
- ^ a b Tredrea & Sozaev 2010, pp. 71–72.
- ^ "No. 20939". The London Gazette. 26 January 1849. p. 242.
- ^ "No. 16447". The London Gazette. 26 January 1811. p. 166.
- ^ a b "No. 20939". The London Gazette. 26 January 1849. p. 246.
- ^ "No. 16291". The London Gazette. 22 August 1809. pp. 1345–1347.
- ^ "No. 16291". The London Gazette. 22 August 1809. p. 1347.
- ^ The Times, 29 July 1809.
- ^ "No. 16448". The London Gazette. 29 January 1811. p. 182.
- ^ "No. 16589". The London Gazette. 4 April 1812. p. 644.
- ^ "No. 16584". The London Gazette. 17 March 1812. p. 526.
- ^ Chichester 1894.
- ^ a b Nolan 2002, p. 1666.
- ^ a b Chapman 2001, p. 29.
- ^ Norie 1827, p. 560.
Sources
- Chapman, Tim (2001), Imperial Russia, 1801–1905 (illustrated, reprint ed.), Routledge, p. 29, ISBN 978-0-415-23110-7
- Chichester, Henry Manners (1894). "Monteith, William". In Sidney Lee (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 38. Vol. 38. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 280–281.
- Clarke, James Stanier; Jones, Stephen (1808), The Naval chronicle 1808 (January–June), Containing a general and biographical history of the royal navy of the United kingdom with a variety of original papers on nautical subjects ([1799–1818]), vol. 19, London: J. Gold, p. 129
- Nolan, Cathal J. (2002), The Greenwood Encyclopedia of International Relations: S-Z, The Greenwood Encyclopedia of International Relations, Cathal, vol. 4 (illustrated ed.), Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 1666, ISBN 978-0-313-32383-6
- Norie, John William (1827), The naval gazetteer, biographer, and chronologist; containing a history of the late wars, from their commencement in 1793 to their final conclusion in 1815; and continued, as to the biographical part, to the present time, j. w. Noire & Co, p. 560
- Tredrea, John; Sozaev, Eduard (2010), Russian Warships in the Age of Sail, 1696–1860, Seaforth, ISBN 978-1-84832-058-1
Further reading
- The Napoleonic Wars, Osprey Publishing