Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 9,001
A bad staging leads to war!
The whole thing is so strikingly similar to the so-called "Gleiwitz Incident", which was supposed to provide the Nazi government with an excuse to invade Poland in September 1939, that one could think that SD boss Reinhard Heydrich copied the staging from a history book... :
In 1788 the Swedish king Gustav III.
...a reason to start a war with Russia.
He did not get over the fact that Sweden, after having lost two previous wars against its powerful neighbor in 1721 in the Peace of Nystad and in 1743 in the Peace of Turku, had to cede important areas to Russia.
This is how Gustav III staged it. the so-called "incident of Puumala", a town on the Swedish-Russian border:
Swedish soldiers...
... are put into mock Russian uniforms on June 26, 1788...
...and received orders to shell Swedish territory from Russian territory.
But like the "Gleiwitz Incident" almost 200 years later, the action goes terribly wrong!
Lured by the harmless (but loud) banging of the fake "Russians", real Russian troops unexpectedly appear on the scene. The fake Russians feel attacked and open fire, the real Russians feel attacked too and shoot back violently - and the next Swedish-Russian war is on!
But - and this is where the parallels to the "Gleiwitz incident" end! - while the German generals ducked compliantly in 1939, the high Swedish military showed far more backbone in 1788:
In August, after becoming aware of the fake Russians swindle, Swedish generals in Finland draft and publish the so-called "Liikala Memorandum"!
In the document they declare war illegal, demand the immediate convening of the Reichstag and demand the immediate start of peace negotiations with Russia.
Here are their signatures...:
A few days later, 113 other senior Swedish military officials signed a letter to the king expressing their support for the memorandum.
Gustavus III reacted in his own way and immediately had the officers' spokesmen sentenced to death for high treason and disobeying orders!
But only one, Colonel Johan Henrik Hästesko...
...is actually executed.
Some are deported to the Swedish Caribbean island of Saint-Barthélemy since 1784 and later pardoned.
When the bellicose King of Sweden is satisfied that he has put out the fire, it flares up again elsewhere:
When the whole affair became known in the neighboring country, the hitherto benevolently neutral Kingdom of Denmark-Norway declared its entry into the war on the side of the Russians!
10,000 Danes invade Sweden...
... from Norway come as many again...:
Gustavus III is facing a three-front war!
The first major encounter between Swedish and Norwegian troops took place on September 29, 1788 in a battle near the bridge at Kvistrum (in modern-day Munkedal in central Bohuslän), about 30 km north of Uddevalla. 800 Swedish soldiers surrounded by the superior Norwegian army. The battle lasts only 45 minutes and ends with the Swedish surrender...:
Danes and Norwegians then go straight for the city of Gothenburg and begin a siege. Gustavus III is still unyielding!
Then the English intervened discreetly and brokered a truce between the Scandinavians.
The fights between the Swedes and the Russians, on the other hand, are longer and bloodier!
A total of nine times you face each other in larger field battles:
June 13, 1789 First Battle of Porrassalmi,
June 19, 1789 Second Battle of Porrassalmi
28 June 1789 Battle of Uttismalm
July 15, 1789 Battle of Caipias
July 21, 1789 Battle of Parkumaki
April 29, 1790 Battle of Valkeala
6 May 1790 Battle of Korhois
19/20 May 1790 Battle of Keltis
4 June 1790 Battle of Savitaipale
The Swedes remain victorious six times...
...the Russians can triumph three times.
**continued next post**
The whole thing is so strikingly similar to the so-called "Gleiwitz Incident", which was supposed to provide the Nazi government with an excuse to invade Poland in September 1939, that one could think that SD boss Reinhard Heydrich copied the staging from a history book... :
In 1788 the Swedish king Gustav III.
...a reason to start a war with Russia.
He did not get over the fact that Sweden, after having lost two previous wars against its powerful neighbor in 1721 in the Peace of Nystad and in 1743 in the Peace of Turku, had to cede important areas to Russia.
This is how Gustav III staged it. the so-called "incident of Puumala", a town on the Swedish-Russian border:
Swedish soldiers...
... are put into mock Russian uniforms on June 26, 1788...
...and received orders to shell Swedish territory from Russian territory.
But like the "Gleiwitz Incident" almost 200 years later, the action goes terribly wrong!
Lured by the harmless (but loud) banging of the fake "Russians", real Russian troops unexpectedly appear on the scene. The fake Russians feel attacked and open fire, the real Russians feel attacked too and shoot back violently - and the next Swedish-Russian war is on!
But - and this is where the parallels to the "Gleiwitz incident" end! - while the German generals ducked compliantly in 1939, the high Swedish military showed far more backbone in 1788:
In August, after becoming aware of the fake Russians swindle, Swedish generals in Finland draft and publish the so-called "Liikala Memorandum"!
In the document they declare war illegal, demand the immediate convening of the Reichstag and demand the immediate start of peace negotiations with Russia.
Here are their signatures...:
A few days later, 113 other senior Swedish military officials signed a letter to the king expressing their support for the memorandum.
Gustavus III reacted in his own way and immediately had the officers' spokesmen sentenced to death for high treason and disobeying orders!
But only one, Colonel Johan Henrik Hästesko...
...is actually executed.
Some are deported to the Swedish Caribbean island of Saint-Barthélemy since 1784 and later pardoned.
When the bellicose King of Sweden is satisfied that he has put out the fire, it flares up again elsewhere:
When the whole affair became known in the neighboring country, the hitherto benevolently neutral Kingdom of Denmark-Norway declared its entry into the war on the side of the Russians!
10,000 Danes invade Sweden...
... from Norway come as many again...:
Gustavus III is facing a three-front war!
The first major encounter between Swedish and Norwegian troops took place on September 29, 1788 in a battle near the bridge at Kvistrum (in modern-day Munkedal in central Bohuslän), about 30 km north of Uddevalla. 800 Swedish soldiers surrounded by the superior Norwegian army. The battle lasts only 45 minutes and ends with the Swedish surrender...:
Danes and Norwegians then go straight for the city of Gothenburg and begin a siege. Gustavus III is still unyielding!
Then the English intervened discreetly and brokered a truce between the Scandinavians.
The fights between the Swedes and the Russians, on the other hand, are longer and bloodier!
A total of nine times you face each other in larger field battles:
June 13, 1789 First Battle of Porrassalmi,
June 19, 1789 Second Battle of Porrassalmi
28 June 1789 Battle of Uttismalm
July 15, 1789 Battle of Caipias
July 21, 1789 Battle of Parkumaki
April 29, 1790 Battle of Valkeala
6 May 1790 Battle of Korhois
19/20 May 1790 Battle of Keltis
4 June 1790 Battle of Savitaipale
The Swedes remain victorious six times...
...the Russians can triumph three times.
**continued next post**
