Anjala conspiracy

The Anjala conspiracy (Swedish: Anjalaförbundet) of 1788 was a scheme by disgruntled Swedish officers to end Gustav III's Russian War of 1788–90. Declaring Finland an independent state was part of the plot, although it is disputed what importance the conspirators connected to that aspect.

As the war was badly prepared and without the expected initial success, anger rose against the king within the military ranks deployed to Finland, where the memory of the harsh Russian occupations of 1713–21 (the "Greater Wrath") (Isoviha in Finnish) and 1741–43 (the "Lesser Wrath") (Pikkuviha in Finnish) remained vivid. The war was clearly initiated by Sweden, and in the view of a strong opinion, particularly among noble officers, a clear violation of the authoritarian Instrument of Government that the king, with support of the common estates of the parliament, had imposed in 1772.

It was no secret that the war was conceived to increase the king's popularity and influence, and diminish that of his, mostly noble, opponents. The anger was fueled also by Cabinet members who felt duped to support the war plans by the king's selective quoting of diplomatic reports from Saint Petersburg. The failed attempts to besiege and recapture Hamina and Savonlinna, both of which had been in Russian hands since 1743, ultimately ignited a vehement opposition among the officers, and it was said that even the king wished for peace.

The leaders of the Anjala conspiracy met in Liikkala to secretly open communications with Tsarina Catherine the Great. Major Johan Anders Jägerhorn delivered the Liikkala note dated August 8, 1788 to the empress. The letter note was signed by several officers, including Armfelt, Commander-in-Chief of the Savo forces and the king's closest confidant. The officers declared the war to be illegal, asked for the restoration of the Finnish borders according to the Treaty of Nystad of 1721, and for peace negotiations with representatives of the Finnish nation, which they understood as representatives for the eastern and northern half of Sweden, which during the 18th century had twice been harshly occupied, and whose population overwhelmingly were ethnic Finns.

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