The Franco-Swedish War or Pomeranian War was the first involvement by
Napoleon Bonaparte
.
Background
In 1803, the
Louis-Antoine-Henri de Bourbon-Condé in 1804, the Swedish government broke all diplomatic ties with France and concluded a convention to allow the British to use Swedish Pomerania as a military base against France in exchange for payments. Russia also promised Sweden that 40,000 men would come to the aid of the country if it was threatened by French forces. Therefore, on 9 August 1805 Sweden joined the Third Coalition and declared war on France on 31 October.[1]
The war
Offensive against Hanover
In early November 1805, a combined British, Russian and Swedish force of about 12,000 men were sent from Swedish Pomerania to liberate French-held Hanover. The offensive against Hanover was repeatedly delayed because of Prussia's partial reluctance for the Swedes and the Russians to move troops through Prussian territory. However, in December 1805, after the Battle of Austerlitz, the British and the Russian forces started to evacuate Hanover and left only a small Swedish force alone to face the French. In April 1806, the Swedes were also forced to retreat to Swedish Pomerania after an agreement had been concluded between Prussia and France.
Fourth Coalition
However, during the summer of 1806 Prussia formed the
Fourth Coalition against France, which gave Sweden the right to occupy Saxe-Lauenburg. In the autumn, the French forces advanced rapidly and soon much of the western German regions were occupied, which forced the Swedish troops on a retreat towards Lübeck. The plan was for the troops from there to take the sea route to Stralsund to avoid the advancing French forces. The Swedes were still caught by the French on the 6 November while they loaded their ships at Lübeck, and after the Battle of Lübeck
, about 1,000 Swedish soldiers had to surrender to the numerically-superior French forces.
The
Stettin on 16 April and forced the left section of the Swedish army to withdraw. Another division in Ueckermünde was then cut off and later captured. On 18 April, France and Sweden agreed on a ceasefire according to which the French were to leave Pomerania. However, the Swedish government refused to join the Continental System
and denounced the armistice under the influence of British diplomacy on 8 July.
On 6 August 1807, 50,000 French, Spanish and
Guillaume-Marie-Anne Brune began an assault on Swedish Pomerania and besieged Stralsund again. On 20 August 1807, the defenders of the city capitulated and the remains of the Swedish Army were surrounded at Rügen. However, Swedish General Johan Christopher Toll managed to conclude the Convention of Schlatkow with Marshal Brune on favourable terms, and his forces withdrew to Sweden, along with all of their war munitions, on 7 September.[2]
Skåne in Sweden, but the plan was soon aborted, and the war was instead directed to the Norwegian-Swedish border. Sir John Moore's expedition, sent by the British government to protect Sweden from possible French-Danish attack, arrived on 3 May 1808 and stayed until July, when it was redirected to Portugal
.
Napoleon's plans to invade Sweden were never executed because of the British activity on the
Crown Prince after the coup d'etat in March 1809. On 30 August 1809, the new Swedish government was to conclude the Treaty of Fredrikshamn with Russia, which legitimised the Russian annexation of Finland and Åland
. A peace treaty between Sweden and Denmark-Norway was signed with no territorial adjustments on 10 December 1809.
Aftermath
On 6 January 1810, Sweden signed a Russian-mediated
war on Britain, and all British goods in Swedish Pomerania were seized. The government-supported smuggling continued, however, over the North Sea, and the Royal Navy
was informed that it would be a phantom war. The war lasted until 1812, but no military action was taken.
