Dano-Swedish War of 1808-1809
| The Dano–Swedish War of 1808–1809 | |||||||||
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| Part of the Napoleonic Wars and the English Wars | |||||||||
 Norwegian soldiers on the march towards the Swedish-Norwegian border during the initial phase of the war |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Denmark–Norway France Russia
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 Sweden United Kingdom
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Frederik VI Christian August Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte
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Gustav IV Adolf[a] Charles XIII[a] Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt
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| Strength | |||||||||
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Danish-Norwegian army 36,000 men French army 45,000 men |
23,000 men | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 210-400 dead and wounded 152 captured |
200 dead and wounded 900-1,200 captured |
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The Dano–Swedish War of 1808–1809 was a war between Denmark–Norway and Sweden due to Denmark–Norway's alliance with France and Sweden's alliance with the United Kingdom during the Napoleonic Wars. Neither Sweden nor Denmark-Norway had wanted war to begin with but once pushed into it through their respective alliances, Sweden made a bid to acquire Norway by way of invasion while Denmark-Norway made ill-fated attempts to reconquer territories lost to Sweden in the 17th century. Peace was concluded on grounds of status quo ante bellum on 10 December 1809.
During the War of the First Coalition Denmark-Norway and Sweden had remained neutral. The two Nordic countries also intended to follow this policy during the War of the Second Coalition and had in 1800, together with Prussia and Russia, formed the Second League of Armed Neutrality in order to protect their neutral shipping against the British policy of unlimited search of neutral shipping for French contraband. The League would however, be dissolved following the British naval attack against Copenhagen and the death of Tsar Paul I of Russia in 1801. After the collapse of the alliance, and Denmark-Norway's brief war against the United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark still continued their neutrality policy.
In 1805 Sweden joined the war against France, but following the rapid French advance through northwest Germany and the defeat at Lübeck, Swedish forces had to withdraw to Swedish Pomerania. Attempts at peace negotiations between France and Sweden was initiated, and Emperor Napoleon I of France offered Sweden in the autumn of 1806, Norway in exchange for Swedish Pomerania. But the negotiations failed, and in early 1807 French forces invaded and eventually occupied Swedish Pomerania.
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