Swedish-Norwegian War (1814)

Swedish-Norwegian War
Part of Napoleonic Wars
The Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814
Date 26 July – 14 August 1814 Location Norway Result Convention of Moss Norway entered a personal union with Sweden. Swedish approval of the Norwegian Constitution Christian Frederik abandon all claims to the Norwegian crown
Belligerents
Norway	Sweden
Commanders and leaders
King Christian Frederick	Crown Prince Jean Baptiste Bernadotte
Strength
30,000 men 8 field batteries 7 brigs 150 gunboats	45,523 men 117 field artilleries 5 ship of the line 70 gunboats
Casualties and losses
1 600 dead and wounded 300 captured	400 dead and wounded 300 captured

The Swedish-Norwegian War, also known as the Campaign against Norway, (Norwegian: Det norske felttoget; Swedish: Fälttåget mot Norge) was fought between Sweden and Norway in the summer of 1814. The war resulted in Norway entering into union with Sweden, but with its own constitution and parliament.

Background

By the Treaty of Kiel (January 1814) the King of Denmark-Norway had to cede Norway to the King of Sweden, due to the alliance of Denmark-Norway with France during the later phases of the Napoleonic Wars. This treaty was however not accepted by the Norwegians. Prince Christian Frederick of Denmark, heir presumptive to the throne of Denmark and Viceroy of Norway, took the lead in the insurrection, and he called for a constitutional assembly. This adopted the liberal constitution of 17 May, and it also elected Christian Frederick as the king of an independent Norway. As the head of the new state, he desperately tried to gain support from Great Britain to maintain its independence. However, Allied diplomats gave no hope for any outside support to the Norwegians.

Armies

The Norwegian Army mustered 30,000 men, and it had taken up positions away from the border with Sweden, in the fear of being outflanked. The Norwegian navy had few vessels, and most of them stationed at the islands of Hvaler, close to Sweden.

The Swedish Army consisted of 45,000 men, experienced and well-equipped soldiers. The Swedish Navy had a number of large vessels and a capacity for moving and landing troops.

Major Commanders

• Jean Baptiste Bernadotte - Swedish general and heir presumptive to the throne
• Magnus Fredrik Ferdinand Björnstjerna - Swedish general
• Johannes Klingenberg Sejersted - Norwegian major general
• Frederik Gottschalck von Haxthausen - Norwegian minister of finance and Oberhofmarschall

The War

The hostilities opened on 26 July with a swift Swedish naval attack against the Norwegian gunboats at Hvaler. The Norwegian army was evacuated and the vessels managed to escape, but they did not take part in the rest of the war. The main Swedish offensive came across the border at Halden, bypassing and surrounding the fortress of Fredriksten, and then continuing north, while a second force of 6,000 soldiers landed at Kråkerøy outside of Fredrikstad. This town surrendered the next day. This was the start of a pincer movement around the main part of the Norwegian army at Rakkestad.

On the front towards Kongsvinger the forces were more evenly matched, and the Norwegian army eventually stopped the Swedish advance at Lier on 2 August, and won another victory at Matrand on 5 August. On 3 August, King Christian Frederick reached the front at Østfold and was persuaded to change his strategy^{[citation needed]}, this time he should use the 6,000 men stationed at Rakkestad in a counterattack against the Swedes^{[citation needed]}. The order was given to counterattack on the 5th of August, but the order was recalled a few hours later^{[citation needed]}. The Norwegian forces therefore withdrew over the Glomma river at Langnes in Askim. The last major battle of the war was fought on 9 August at the bridgehead at Langnes, where the Swedish forces once more were driven back.^[1]

Although the Norwegian Army had won at Langnes, it was nevertheless clear to both the Norwegian and Swedish military authorities that a defeat was inevitable.^[1] Even as they had managed to deliver several minor offensive blows to the Swedes, thus applying pressure on the Swedes to accept Norway as a sovereign nation^{[citation needed]}, it was considered impossible to try to stop the Swedes in the long run.^[1] The Swedish offer of negotiations was therefore accepted as the war had put a heavy strain on the Norwegian finances. Every day of delay in securing Norway by the Swedes brought uncertainty to them regarding the outcome, so both parties were interested in a quick end to the war.

For the ordinary Norwegian soldier the war had seemed ill-prepared and ill-fought,^[1] the allegations of the loss were against Christian Frederick and the Norwegian general Haxthausen; the latter was accused of treason. For the Norwegian government it probably^{[citation needed]} had been more of a matter of getting the best possible bargaining position, as without the support of major powers Norway's independence was impossible to secure. But by agreeing to talks following the victory at Langnes they were in a situation where they could avoid an unconditional surrender.

Aftermath

Negotiations started in Moss, Norway on 10 August 1814, and after a few days of hard negotiations, a cease fire agreement, called the Convention of Moss, was signed on 14 August 1814. King Christian Frederick was forced to abdicate, but Norway remained nominally independent within a personal union with Sweden, under the Swedish king. Its Constitution was upheld with only such amendments as were required to allow it to enter into the union, and the two united kingdoms retained separate institutions, except for the King and the foreign service and policy.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Syv-aars-krigen for 17de mai 1807-1814 (1914) by Henrik Angell (1995), ISBN 82-90520-23-9

Literature

• Steen, Sverre(1989) - "1814"(J. W. Cappelens Forlag A/S) ISBN 82-02-11935-9
• Dyrvik, Ståle og Feldbæk, Ole(1996) - "Aschehoughs Norgeshistorie - Mellom brødre - 1780-1830" (H. Aschehough & Co. Oslo) ISBN 82-03-22020-7

See also

• Gunboat War
• Norway in 1814