The Finnish War 1808-1809 started in February 1808 by a Russian attack on Finland and ended by the peace treaty of Fredrikshamn in September 1809. The peace meant the dissolution of the six-hundred-year old Swedish-Finnish realm. The Finnish War 1808-09 was fought in the poor and isolated areas of the north of Sweden and Finland. This thesis deals with the preconditions for the supply of an army and warfare in the northern parts of Finland and Sweden in the period 1808 – 1809. The problems of the supply service and the role of local civilian society within the military supply system are the focus of attention. The thesis aims at posing new questions as well as supplying a new perspective on the nature of warfare at this period of time. A modified picture of the Finnish War of 1808-1809 will also be presented. Three areas of problems are addressed: 1) The resources in the war zone, war plans and supply organization; 2) Logistical problems; 3) The role of civilian society as a resource within the military supply system. Both the Swedish Army and the Russian Army are examined. Geographically the scope of the thesis is restricted to three counties in northern Sweden and Finland, namely Västerbotten in Sweden, Oulu and Vaasa in Finland. The most significant findings of this thesis are that the preconditions for supply during the Finnish War 1808-1809 are to a large extent equal to the ability and the will of the local population to offer provisions and render services. It can also be shown that supply was instrumental in the warfare during certain critical periods, especially in the summer of 1808. The difference between the Russian and the Swedish supply systems is to a large extent indicative of the outcome of the war. The Russian decentralized supply system proved more flexible than the Swedish did, despite an apparently superior organization of the latter. Additionally, it is an important realization that supply as a key factor in warfare is not made up of just delivery of food stuff and forage but also comprises vital functions like grinding of flour and baking of bread. From a European perspective the issue of supply proves to be a difficult one in Finland as well as in other peripheral states, e.g. Spain. When the local resources are sparse a supply system based on storage is required on the one hand and systematic co-operation with the local population on the other. Keywords: The Finnish War 1808-09, logistics, war and society, war, supplies, military supply system, artels, farmers, civilian administration, burghers, Sweden and the Napoleonic Wars. / digitalisering@umu

Les réformes menées sous Dioclétien et Constantin établirent des circonscriptions et des hiérarchies administratives qui demeurèrent stables dans les Gaules, les Espagnes et en Bretagne, tout au long du IVe siècle. Suite aux usurpations du début du Ve siècle et aux installations des groupes barbares, le pouvoir préfectoral arlésien perdit progressivement le contrôle sur ces provinces, ce qui perturba le fonctionnement de l’appareil fiscal. Au Ve siècle, des membres des familles sénatoriales les plus en vue, souvent originaires du diocèse des Sept Provinces, accaparèrent la charge de préfet du prétoire des Gaules. L’administration des provinces gauloises et hispaniques qui reconnaissaient encore le pouvoir impérial fut alors de plus en plus décentralisée. À partir de la fin des années 460, des aristocrates gallo ou hispano-romains apparaissent comme étant au service des rois, un phénomène qui indique que ces pouvoirs barbares devenaient des acteurs politiques incontournables. La disparition de l’autorité impériale en Occident et le fait que les royaumes romano-barbares devinrent des entités politiques autonomes parachevèrent les fragmentations territoriales, politiques et sociales initiées depuis le début du Ve siècle. Ces nouveaux pouvoirs n’eurent d’autres solutions que de conserver une partie des instances de l’administration judiciaire et fiscale romaine et de les adapter aux nouveaux espaces. Ainsi, c’est à l’échelle locale et, surtout, au niveau de la cité que l’essentiel des fonctions de l’administration civile furent dès lors accomplies et que les trois acteurs majeurs de la vie administrative dans la Gaule franque et l’Hispanie wisigothe, à savoir le comte, l’évêque et les élites des cités, évoluèrent. / Reforms established under the age of Diocletian and Constantin set up circumscriptions and administrative hierarchies that remained stable throughout the IVth century in Gaul, Spain and Britain. As a consequence of usurpations at the beginning of the Vth century and of Barbarians’ settlements, the Arlesian prefectoral power progressively lost the control of these provinces, thus perturbing the fiscal system. In the Vth century, the prominent senatorial family members, who were often from the Seven Provinces diocese, monopolized the position of praetorian prefect of Gaul. The administration of Gallic and Spanish provinces, which still recognized the imperial power, became more and more decentralized. As of the late 460's, Gallic and Spanish aristocrats are established as kings' servants, which indicates that these Barbarian leaders were becoming very important political players. In the western territories, the disappearance of the imperial power, together with the fact that the Romano-Germanic kingdoms became autonomous political bodies, finished the territorial, political and social fragmentation process that had started at the beginning of the Vth century. These new power entities had no other solution than keeping some of the Roman legal and fiscal administration authorities and adapting them to the new territories. As a consequence, it is at the local scale, and mostly at city level, that most of the positions in civil administration were located and involved the three main players in the Frankish Gaul and Visigothic Spain administration, namely the count, the bishop and the city élites.