Finnish War

The Finnish War was fought between the Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire from 21 February 1808 to 17 September 1809 as one theatre of the Napoleonic Wars. Its outcome reshaped northern Europe: Sweden lost roughly its eastern third, which became the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland inside the Russian Empire. The defeat also had lasting political effects inside Sweden, where parliament adopted a new constitution and, in 1818, the House of Bernadotte took the throne as the new royal house. The war is a standard example of how the wider Napoleonic struggle redrew borders far from the main French campaigns, and it marks the point at which Finland passed from Swedish to Russian rule.