English Wars (Scandinavia)

Last updated

English Wars
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars
The Battle of Copenhagen, 2 April 1801 RMG BHC0528.tiff
Battle of Copenhagen , by John Thomas Serres
Date1801, 1807–1814
Location
Result

AngloSwedish victory

Territorial
changes
Norway ceded to the King of Sweden
Heligoland ceded to United Kingdom
Swedish Pomerania ceded to Denmark
Belligerents

Supported by:

Supported by:

Commanders and leaders
  1. Spain was allied with France until the outbreak of the Peninsular War in 1808.
  2. Sweden first entered the war in 1808 following a declaration of war from Denmark-Norway.
  3. Gustav IV Adolf was deposed by a coup d'etat on 9 March 1809, and Charles XIII was appointed king.
  4. Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was originally in French service, but was in 1810 elected crown prince of Sweden. He therefore changed sides in the war after Sweden declared war on France in 1812.

The English Wars (Danish : Englandskrigene, Swedish : Englandskrigen) were a series of conflicts pitting the United Kingdom and Sweden against Denmark-Norway as part of the Napoleonic Wars. It is named after England, the common name in Scandinavia for the United Kingdom, which declared war on Denmark-Norway due to disagreements over the neutrality of Danish trade and to prevent the Danish fleet falling into the hands of the First French Empire. It began with the Battle of Copenhagen (1801) and its latter stage from 1807 onwards was followed by the Gunboat War, the Dano-Swedish War of 1808–09 and the Swedish invasion of Holstein in 1814.

Contents

Prelude

After the death of Denmark-Norway's foreign minister Andreas Peter Bernstorff in 1800, Crown Prince Frederick began exerting his will in all areas. This meant that the finance minister Ernst Heinrich von Schimmelmann ignored protests from the foreign minister Christian Bernstoff to finally grant the Dutch-born merchant Frédéric de Coninck's repeated requests for a naval convoy to accompany 40 merchantmen. This convoy transported mainly French and Dutch products from the Dutch East Indies to Copenhagen. This led to an 'armed neutrality' and though it gave mixed signals to the rest of the world as to that neutrality Denmark-Norway continued to insist on the inviolability of ships sailing under neutral flags. Several other such convoys set out the following day and these were given orders to resist if foreign naval ships attempted to examine the papers or cargoes in ships under the Danish flag, whatever the size of the force the convoy was faced with. This was a high-risk strategy since many non-Danish ships were sailing under the Danish flag to gain their neutrality benefits, and though the policy proved profitable in its first year it also drew diplomatic protests from Great Britain.

In December 1799 an English sailor attempting to check a Danish-flagged ship at Gibraltar was killed. When in 1800 it appeared that Russia would head a new League of Armed Neutrality Great Britain reacted, in summer that year having a squadron of 130 guns try to inspect a Danish convoy escorted by the 40-gun frigate Freya at Ostend. In accordance with his orders the captain of the Freya refused and gave battle, but was forced to strike its flag after an hour. This led to Denmark-Norway asking Russia to join the Armed Neutrality, though in August a British fleet arrived off Copenhagen. Under threat of a British bombardment Christian Bernstorff promised to stop convoys temporarily while Denmark and Great Britain set up common rules on how and when convoys were to be used.

The following month a Russian ambassador arrived in Denmark with a formal invitation for the country to join the League of Armed Neutrality together with Sweden, Russia and Prussia (headed by Tsar Paul I of Russia) which it did in December 1800. However, in 1801 the tsar signed an alliance with France, and Russia and France then forced through the closure of all European ports to British trade, leading the United Kingdom to demand that Denmark-Norway immediately leave the League. However, such a departure would make Denmark-Norway appear to ally itself with the United Kingdom and thus almost certainly lead to its being invaded by one of France or Russia's allies (Sweden had an eye to gaining Norway from Denmark and, if Prussia could conquer Jutland at the same time, British access to the Baltic Sea could be completely cut off). Denmark-Norway, believing it would be able to conduct a naval war with Britain far more successfully than a land war with Prussia, Russia and Sweden, rejected all British proposals for negotiations. The United Kingdom thus sent a fleet against Denmark on 12 March 1801 to remove Denmark-Norway from the League via a military action.

Course

Copenhagen (1801)

The Danish ships of the line, Kronborg and Dannebrog, in battle. 02041801-neumann.jpg
The Danish ships of the line, Kronborg and Dannebrog, in battle.

The Danes had begun to prepare for a possible attack from the British, but much of the fleet was, in late March, not ready after the winter and would take up to six weeks to make it ready. So the Danish defense plan was that the ships available should protect the entrance to Copenhagen by lying anchored in the curved line from Trekroner Fort to Amager. Command was given to Olfert Fischer, who placed himself in the middle of the formation, with his ship Dannebrog. Crew was lacking on various ships so additional crew was acquired by offering 15 "rigsdaler" in wages, followed by a quick training in how to use a cannon and an order to fight bravely for "king and country".

The British fleet passed Kronborg unimpeded on 30 March and continued towards Copenhagen along the Swedish coast. Crown Prince Frederick had, out of fear that the Swedes would be exempted from the Sound Dues, refused offers of help from them for the upcoming battle. The Swedish Navy was still, at the initiative of King Gustav IV Adolf, on their way to help the Danes, but was impeded bad weather. [1] By midday the British fleet had anchored at Taarbæk reef. Admiral Sir Hyde Parker's plan was that half of his fleet would attack the Danish fleet from the south, while the rest would engage the Danish blockade in Kronløbet. The attack was then to be concluded by an attack on the island of Trekroner. In the following days the British prepared to attack, and they sailed further south, past Copenhagen, to avoid the Danish land batteries at Sixtus, Quintus and Trekroner. [2]

Lord Horatio Nelson had been given command of twelve of the British ships of the line, and had the task of getting them through the tight defense that surrounded Copenhagen's reef, which was already extremely difficult to navigate through. He nevertheless took the initiative to attack, and four of his largest ships (Elephant, Defiance, Russell and Bellona) quickly became grounded. [3] The battle lasted long and after four hours of intense fighting it was not yet decided who would win. Parker, who was with the rest of the fleet, 200 meters from the Danish line of defense, was fired upon from the cannons at Trekroner Fort, and signaled to Nelson that he should withdraw the fleet. Nelson, however, was determined to win the battle and ignored the order. [4] Nelson had noticed that many of the Danish ships that had hoisted white flag of surrender, were still firing. Because of this, Nelson sent a curiae with a letter to Crown Prince Frederick in which he argued that he could not account for the remaining crew on board Danish ships if they continued the fight after they had surrendered. Crown Prince Frederick could from his position at the port see that the battle no longer had any purpose and agreed to a truce without consulting the Danish-Norwegian commanders, Olfert Fischer and Steen Bille. [5] [6]

Battle of Copenhagen (1801) Nicholas Pocock - The Battle of Copenhagen, 2 April 1801.jpg
Battle of Copenhagen (1801)

Aftermath

While the British fleet were heading to Denmark the political situation changed drastically. On 21 March the British had entered into peace negotiations with France, and on 24 March, they had sent diplomats to Russia in order to clear the way for a political understanding. The British did not know that shortly afterwards the tsar was to be assassinated, and his son Alexander would take over the throne. [7] Tsar Alexander would also prove to be much more interested in improving diplomatic relations with the British than his father had been. Due to the death of Tsar Paul, the League of Armed Neutrality was to be dissolved.

The Swedish King, Gustav IV Adolf, chose to look at Denmark-Norway's truce with Britain as treason against the League of Armed Neutrality, and exploited this by playing on Denmark-Norway's weak position in St. Petersburg. The reason for this was because Sweden in fact had great expectations about acquiring Norway from Denmark. The plans still had to be abandoned because of the lack of support from any of the other major powers in Europe.

Prussia, who Denmark-Norway had contributed to push into the League of Armed Neutrality, had withdrawn from the league as soon as the news of Tsar Paul's assassination reached Berlin. At the same time Prussia now demanded that Denmark-Norway should cede Hamburg, while Prussia kept both Hanover and Saxe-Lauenburg. Denmark-Norway, who had been forced to accept several bitter diplomatic defeats due to their neutrality policy, now turned to Britain through direct negotiations with Lord Hawkesbury. Christian Bernstorff had in late May traveled to London in order to negotiate the return of the parts of the Danish-Norwegian fleet that had been captured by the British during the Battle of Copenhagen. At the same time, Bernstorff also negotiated regarding a possible British withdrawal from the Danish-Norwegian colonies they had occupied during the short conflict. But the negotiations between Denmark-Norway and the United Kingdom would prove to be useless since Denmark had neither anything to offer nor anything to threaten the United Kingdom with.

Interval

Although Denmark-Norway had to give up parts of its neutral policy after the defeat in 1801, the country could continue its trade with both Britain and France until the war broke out again between the two countries in May 1803. The war led to further hostilities between France and the Austrian Empire, and after Napoleon's victory over Austrian and Russian troops at Austerlitz on 2 December 1805, the French ruled over most of Central Europe. During the summer of 1806 war also broke out between France and Prussia, and French forces began to advance rapidly towards Denmark's borders after the decisive victory over Prussia at Jena, on 14 October 1806.

Denmark was now forced to react and Crown Prince Frederick stationed the majority of his army in Holstein, both as a proof that he did not want to participate in the hostilities in northern Germany and as protection in case of a French invasion. But it would gradually get worse for Denmark-Norway to maintain its neutrality, and especially after Napoleon's final defeat of Prussia in the autumn of 1806, when the French emperor on 21 November that year declared the founding of the Continental System against the United Kingdom. This blockade that would close the entire European continent from trading with Britain, led the United Kingdom, as a reaction, to declare prohibition of neutral ships to trade with France and its allies.

After the Treaties of Tilsit on 7 July 1807 Russia also joined the Continental System, as well as France, and Russia agreed to force the other neutral European countries to join the blockade. When this became known, the British government decided to issue Denmark-Norway an ultimatum: Denmark should either join the British alliance, and place its fleet under British command, or disclose the fleet as collateral for its continued neutrality. The reason for this ultimatum was the existing of suspicions that Denmark would incorporate its fleet with the French, or the fear that the French would secure the Danish fleet through military means. For Crown Prince Frederick, the British demands were unrealistic, because if Denmark allied itself with Britain the country would be attacked by France, and the possibilities for Swedish and British forces to be able to help Denmark in defending the country was minimal. [8]

Copenhagen (1807)

Copenhagen on fire Copenhagen on fire 1807 by CW Eckersberg.jpg
Copenhagen on fire

Since Denmark-Norway refused to accept the British ultimatum, Britain chose to land a major force in Zealand at Vedbæk on 16 August 1807 without any formal declaration of war, and since King Christian VII and Crown Prince Frederick were in Holstein with the majority of the Danish army, the newly appointed commander Ernst Peymann had to face the British landing force with an inferior number of untrained militia. [9] The British quickly initiated the siege of Copenhagen and minor skirmishes occurred south of the capital. On 29 August, a large force of the Danish Militia were also defeated at Køge by British forces under the command of Sir Arthur Wellesley. [10]

Since any attempt to defeat the British land forces failed and since the Danish fleet were not ready for battle, the Danes prepared for a British assault on the capital. But the attack never came, because instead of attacking Copenhagen the British began to bombard the city. The bombardment lasted from 2–6 September, and saw the deployment of Congreve rockets to bombard Copenhagen. After the bombardment on 6 September Peymann gave up and surrendered the city unconditionally to the British, this decision resulted in that he was sentenced to death, but later pardoned.

The British now captured all the Danish ships that they could take back to England, while they burnt the rest, and took everything of value on the Danish naval base at Holmen. An offer of a British-Danish alliance was also given to Crown Prince Frederick after the attack on Copenhagen, but this was rejected, as France had already set an ultimatum to either join the Continental System, or prepare for war.

In December, the British Navy also seized the Danish West Indies and occupied them for nearly eight years. The settlements of Danish India was also occupied by Britain, from 1808-1815.

Alliance with France

The British attack on Copenhagen resulted in Denmark-Norway deciding to form an alliance with France, and on 31 October, the French-Danish alliance was signed at Fontainebleau. Denmark-Norway was now officially at war with Britain, which led to the British occupation of all the Danish colonies. [11] At the same time, the British also initiated a blockade of shipping between Denmark and Norway, which led to supply shortages in Norway which were compounded by the suspension of the Pomor trade with Russia.

Since Sweden had been an ally of Britain in the war against France since 1805, and since Russia after the peace treaty with France at Tilsit had formed an alliance with Napoleon, Tsar Alexander saw this as an opportunity to attack and take Finland from Sweden. So in February 1808 the Russians initiated the Finnish War by marching with 24,000 men into Finland and occupying Hämeenlinna. [12] After the Russian attack on Sweden, Crown Prince Frederick also saw an opportunity to take advantage of Sweden's weak position and to take back the areas that Denmark-Norway had lost to Sweden after the Treaty of Brömsebro and the Treaty of Roskilde. Denmark had also through the agreement at Fontainebleau promised to help the French and the Russians in a possible attack against Sweden, so on 14 March 1808, one day after the death of King Christian VII, Denmark-Norway also declared war on Sweden. As a result of this declaration of war, Napoleon had chosen to send an auxiliary corps, consisting of troops from France, Spain and the Netherlands, to Denmark. The troops were led by the French Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, and should along with the Danish-Norwegian troops have launched an invasion of Skåne. But Bernadotte's troops never got further than Zealand since the ice began to break up in the straits between Kattegat and the Baltic Sea as early as in mid-March, and the appearance of the British fleet made it difficult to cross over to Sweden. Bernadotte's troops then had to be accommodated in Kolding, where they also started the fire at Koldinghus. With Bernadotte's troops stranded on Jutland, the war was instead directed towards the Swedish-Norwegian border, where the Swedish troops in mid-April invaded Norway. The invasion was, however, halted and there were during the spring and summer only local skirmishes between the Norwegian and Swedish forces, before the Swedish troops in the late summer retreated back across the border.

A Danish gunboat captures the British brig HMS Turbulent on 9 June 1808 Kanonbade 1808.jpg
A Danish gunboat captures the British brig HMS Turbulent on 9 June 1808

In August, the news about the Dos de Mayo Uprising reached the Spanish troops stationed in Denmark. This led to a mutiny among the Spaniards, and the subsequent evacuation of the La Romana Division, where the British evacuated the majority of the Spanish troops in Denmark back to Spain, where they fought against the French in the Peninsular War.

State bankruptcy

From 1807 to 1813 the war was characterised by high inflation, with wages increasing several hundred percent and grain prices even more. It was not cheap for Denmark to keep an army operating in Holstein and although in 1810 the Danish government introduced a progressive income tax to cover the deficit, it did not have the administrative machinery needed to get this new system to work but instead tried to make up the deficit by printing more and more banknotes. From 1806 to 1813 the currency's total face value increased sixfold but the notes' real value significantly decreased. Thus the state itself went bankrupt, trying to remedy the situation by rushing through a regulation on 5 January 1813 for a change in the monetary system. The regulation determined that a new foreign bank would replace the old banks and start minting new coins with values fixed against foreign banknotes. This made minor savers, people with their money tied up in government bonds, or people holding higher-value banknotes relatively poor.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Copenhagen (1801)</span> Part of the War of the Second Coalition and the English Wars

The Battle of Copenhagen of 1801, also known as the First Battle of Copenhagen to distinguish it from the Second Battle of Copenhagen in 1807, was a naval battle in which a British fleet fought and defeated a smaller force of the Dano-Norwegian Navy anchored near Copenhagen on 2 April 1801. The battle came about over British fears that the powerful Danish fleet would ally with France, and a breakdown in diplomatic communications on both sides.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick VI of Denmark</span> King of Denmark (1808–39) and Norway (1808–14)

Frederick VI was King of Denmark from 13 March 1808 until his death in 1839 and King of Norway from 13 March 1808 to 7 February 1814. He was the last king of Denmark–Norway. From 1784 until his accession, he served as regent during his father's mental illness and was referred to as the "Crown Prince Regent". For his motto he chose God and the just cause and since the time of his reign, succeeding Danish monarchs have also chosen mottos in the Danish language rather than the formerly customary Latin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franco-Swedish War</span>

The Franco-Swedish War or Pomeranian War was the first involvement by Sweden in the Napoleonic Wars. The country joined the Third Coalition in an effort to defeat France under Napoleon Bonaparte.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War of the Sixth Coalition</span> 1813–1814 conflict during the Napoleonic Wars

In the War of the Sixth Coalition, sometimes known in Germany as the Wars of Liberation, a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain, Great Britain, Portugal, Sweden, Sardinia, and a number of German States defeated France and drove Napoleon into exile on Elba. After the disastrous French invasion of Russia of 1812 in which they had been forced to support France, Prussia and Austria joined Russia, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Portugal, and the rebels in Spain who were already at war with France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Copenhagen (1807)</span> Part of the Gunboat War and Napoleonic Wars

The Second Battle of Copenhagen was a British bombardment of the Danish capital, Copenhagen, in order to capture or destroy the Dano-Norwegian fleet during the Napoleonic Wars. The incident led to the outbreak of the Anglo-Russian War of 1807, which ended with the Treaty of Örebro in 1812. The attack on Denmark, a neutral country, was heavily criticized internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of Kiel</span> 1814 treaty between the UK, Sweden, and Denmark–Norway

The Treaty of Kiel or Peace of Kiel was concluded between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Kingdom of Sweden on one side and the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway on the other side on 14 January 1814 in Kiel. It ended the hostilities between the parties in the ongoing Napoleonic Wars, where the United Kingdom and Sweden were part of the anti-French camp while Denmark–Norway was allied to France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff</span> German-Danish statesman

Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff was a German-Danish statesman and a member of the Bernstorff noble family of Mecklenburg. He was the son of Joachim Engelke Freiherr von Bernstorff, chamberlain to the Elector of Hanover.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War of the Fourth Coalition</span> 1806–1807 conflict of the Napoleonic Wars

The War of the Fourth Coalition was a war spanning 1806–1807 that saw a multinational coalition fight against Napoleon's French Empire, subsequently being defeated. The main coalition partners were Prussia and Russia with Saxony, Sweden, and Great Britain also contributing. Excluding Prussia, some members of the coalition had previously been fighting France as part of the Third Coalition, and there was no intervening period of general peace. On 9 October 1806, Prussia declared war on France and joined a renewed coalition, fearing the rise in French power after the defeat of Austria and establishment of the French-sponsored Confederation of the Rhine in addition to having learned of French plans to cede Prussian-desired Hanover to Britain in exchange for peace. Prussia and Russia mobilized for a fresh campaign with France, massing troops in Saxony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Sehested</span> 1813 battle during the War of the Sixth Coalition

The Battle of Sehested was fought between Danish and Russian-Prussian-British troops at Sehested on 10 December 1813 during the War of the Sixth Coalition. The Danish Auxiliary Corps, which fought on the side of the French defeated the coalition forces commanded by Major General Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andreas Peter Bernstorff</span> Danish diplomat

Andreas Peter Bernstorff, also known as Andreas Peter Graf von Bernstorff, was a Danish diplomat and Foreign Minister. He was a guardian of civil and political liberty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swedish–Norwegian War</span> War fought between Sweden and Norway

The Swedish–Norwegian War, also known as the Campaign against Norway, War with Sweden 1814, or the Norwegian War of Independence, was a war fought between Sweden and Norway in the summer of 1814. According to the Treaty of Kiel, Norway would enter a union with Sweden under Charles XIII of Sweden. The war resulted in Norway being forced into the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, but with its own constitution and parliament. The war marked the last time Sweden participated in an armed conflict with another nation, and its conclusion signalled the beginning of the country's long period of military neutrality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denmark–Russia relations</span> Bilateral relations

Denmark–Russia relations are the relations between the countries of Denmark and Russia. The Kings of Denmark and the Russian Tsars interacted from the 15th century onwards – subsequently Denmark's control of access to and from the Baltic Sea had considerable significance for the trade and naval flexibility of the Russian Empire, while rivalries between Denmark and Sweden on the one hand and between Sweden and Russia on the other led to alliances and military support. Denmark and the USSR established diplomatic relations on 18 June 1924.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danish state bankruptcy of 1813</span> Economic crisis after the Napoleonic wars

The Danish state bankruptcy of 1813 was a domestic economic crisis that began in January 1813 and had consequential effects until 1818. As Denmark-Norway struggled with the financial burden that the Napoleonic Wars had on the economy, the devaluation of the currency had negative effects on merchants, citizens and businesses alike.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denmark–United Kingdom relations</span> Bilateral relations

British–Danish relations are foreign relations between the United Kingdom and Denmark. The United Kingdom has an embassy in Copenhagen and Denmark has an embassy in London. Both countries are full members of Council of Europe and NATO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First League of Armed Neutrality</span> European Naval Alliance (1780-1783)

The First League of Armed Neutrality was an alliance of European naval powers between 1780 and 1783 which was intended to protect neutral shipping against the British Royal Navy's wartime policy of unlimited search of neutral shipping for French contraband during the American Revolutionary War and Anglo-French War. According to one estimate, 1 in 5 merchant vessels were searched by the Royal Navy under this policy. By September 1778, at least 59 ships had been taken prize – 8 Danish, 16 Swedish and 35 Dutch, as well as others from Prussia. Protests were enormous by every side involved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second League of Armed Neutrality</span> 1800 Alliance during the War of the Second Coalition

The Second League of Armed Neutrality or the League of the North was an alliance of the north European naval powers Denmark–Norway, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia. It existed between 1800 and 1801 during the War of the Second Coalition and was initiated by Tsar Paul I of Russia. It was a revival of the First League of Armed Neutrality (1780), which had been quite successful during the American War of Independence in isolating Britain and resisting attempts to interfere with their shipping. However, unlike the First League, the Second League was considered to be much less successful.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steen Andersen Bille (1751–1833)</span> Danish Naval Officer

Steen Andersen Bille (1751–1833) was a Danish naval officer and a member of the Bille family. He rose to the rank of admiral and became a Privy Counselor during the period of Denmark's policy of "armed neutrality" following the Gunboat War. He was instrumental in the rebuilding of the Danish Navy after 1814.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Invasion of the Danish West Indies</span>

The second British Invasion of the Danish West Indies took place in December 1807 when a British fleet captured the Danish islands of St Thomas on 22 December and Santa Cruz on 25 December. The Danes did not resist and the invasion was bloodless. This British occupation of the Danish West Indies lasted until 20 November 1815, when Britain returned the islands to Denmark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of Tsarskoye Selo</span> 1773 treaty between Russia and Denmark–Norway

The Treaty of Tsarskoye Selo also called (Mageskiftetraktakten) in Danish, was a territorial and dynastic treaty between the Russian Empire and Denmark–Norway. Signed on 1 June 1773, it transferred control of ducal Schleswig-Holstein to the Danish crown in return for Russian control of the County of Oldenburg and adjacent lands within the Holy Roman Empire. The treaty reduced the fragmentation of Danish territory and led to an alliance between Denmark–Norway and Russia that lasted into the Napoleonic Wars. It also made possible the construction of the Eider Canal, parts of which were later incorporated into the Kiel Canal.

References

  1. Lindqvist, pp. 190-191
  2. Feldbæk, pp. 98-133
  3. Oman, Carola. The Battle of Copenhagen. britishbattles.com.
  4. Pocock, p. 237
  5. Feldbæk, pp. 150-157
  6. Feldbæk, pp. 212-225
  7. Benito & Jensen, p. 203
  8. Benito & Jensen, pp. 204-205
  9. Lindeberg, pp. 94-95
  10. Lindeberg, pp. 110-111
  11. Benito & Jensen, p. 206
  12. Sundberg, p. 368

Bibliography