Siege of Sveaborg

The Siege of Sveaborg was a short siege by Russia that took place at Sveaborg (Finnish: "Suomenlinna") in early 1808, during the Finnish War.

The siege

Russian forces under Friedrich Wilhelm von Buxhoeveden laid siege to Sveaborg after the fall of Helsinki on March 2, 1808. Carl Olof Cronstedt, the commander of Sveaborg, bombarded the besiegers so heavily he started running low on gunpowder. The bombardment of the mobile Russian troops proved ineffective. On March 23 he parleyed with Russian representatives on the island Lonnan. On April 6 Cronstedt agreed with Jan-Peter van Suchtelen, the Russian commander in Helsinki, on an honorable capitulation on May 3 in case Swedish reinforcement didn't reach Sveaborg by then. The Swedish couriers bearing the requests for reinforcements were delayed by the Russians and didn't reach Stockholm until May 3, the same day Cronstedt capitulated and surrendered the fortress to the Russians, along with 7,500 soldiers and a fleet of 94 ships. Even if the couriers had arrived earlier, Sveaborg probably could not have been relieved by the fleet, as that winter was unusually cold and the Baltic sea was frozen.

Aftermath

The capture of Sveaborg helped the Russian conquest of Finland greatly, as it removed the threat of a counterattack from the south and west. To Sweden it was a devastating blow as it made the resupply of the battered Finnish army much more difficult. It was considered by many as one of the major reasons (if not "the" major reason) Finland was lost. Cronstedt was subsequently considered a traitor by many Swedes and Finns, notably Johan Ludvig Runeberg in his epic "The Tales of Ensign Stål".