Russo-Swedish War (1741–43)

Russo-Swedish War
Part of the War of the Austrian Succession
Date 1741–1743 Location Mainly Finland, Russian Empire Result Russian victory
Belligerents
Russian Empire	Sweden
Commanders and leaders
Peter Lacy	Charles Emil Lewenhaupt

The Russo–Swedish War of 1741–1743, known as the Hats' Russian War in Sweden and the Hats' War in Finland, which resulted in the Lesser Wrath (Finnish: Pikkuviha, Swedish: Lilla ofreden), or the occupation of Finland, was instigated by the Hats, a Swedish political party that aspired to regain the territories lost to Russia during the Great Northern War, and by French diplomacy, which sought to divert Russia's attention from supporting its long-standing ally, the Habsburg monarchy, in the War of the Austrian Succession.

In the summer of 1740, the commander of Swedish forces in Finland, General Carl Cronstedt, was removed from his post due to his opposition to the planned war and Charles Emil Lewenhaupt was elevated to the vacant position. However, Finnish defenses had fallen into disrepair as most of the funds for their support were used elsewhere in the kingdom. Neither had any preparations been made as a result of what had taken place in the Great Northern War. In the end what funds that were allocated for Finland were used for preparations for offensive war instead of strengthening the defenses.

The Swedish war plan was to first capture Vyborg and then advance further towards Saint Petersburg. The objective of these maneuvers was to threaten Saint Petersburg and to set the stage for a coup d'état engineered by French and Swedish diplomats and aimed at toppling the pro-Austrian regime of Anna Leopoldovna. The coup did take place in December, but the new empress, Elizaveta Petrovna, reneged on her promises to return the Baltic provinces to Sweden and continued the vigorous prosecution of the war, under the guidance of her pro-Austrian chancellor, Aleksey Bestuzhev.

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