The "War of the Hats"...


In the "Great Northern War" (1700-1721) against Tsar Peter I's Russia, Sweden had lost all its Baltic possessions and thus its supremacy in the Baltic region.

In the years that followed, the political system was consolidated into a parliamentary monarchy. While King Frederick of Sweden (1676–1751) had little power...



...two parties faced each other in Parliament. On the one hand there were the Mössorna (= "caps"), who were more pro-Russian and primarily pursued economic interests.

Opposite them were the Hattarne (= "hats"), most of whom represented the higher nobility and pushed for a violent revision of the results of the Northern War...:



Meanwhile, things are going haywire in Russia.

The rightful Tsarina, Jelisaweta Petrowna...



...illegitimate daughter of Peter the Great and a peasant girl, has refused to accept the crown and prefers to amuse herself with all sorts of losses outside the capital Saint Petersburg.

So Russia was leaderless - a catastrophe in the system of autocracy created by Peter I, in which all decision-making processes were geared towards the one ruler at the top.

In addition, Russia was - once again - involved in a war with the Ottomans...:



The "Hats" in the Swedish Reichstag smelled the morning air!

The Swedish parliament then declared war on Russia on August 8, 1741. For the limited purpose of the war and perceived Russian weakness, the small Swedish army of about 20,000 men seemed perfectly adequate.

But just a few weeks later, on September 3rd, the Swedish army suffered a first heavy defeat in the Battle of Villmanstrand (Finish: Lappeenranta)...:



The actually defeated Russians fought like devils against the invaders of their homeland!

At this moment Regentin, Anna Leopoldowna...



... the - still living - wife of Peter the Great acts:

Jelisaweta Petwowna is given a choice: either she can be crowned tsarina immediately or she is banished to a monastery.

Faced with this choice, Elisabeth reacted very quickly: On an ice-cold night in 1741, she had loyal guardsmen carry her through the snow to the Winter Palace...







... and a little later she was the new Russian Tsarina under the name of Elizabeth I!



Peace was immediately made with the Ottomans, troops were freed, and the new tsarina ordered her army to launch an immediate counter-offensive.

In 1742, Russian troops under General Peter Graf von Lacy (1678–1751) ...



... march into southern Finland and take Hamina, Porvoo and Hämeenlinna without much resistance. In August, Lacy succeeds in encircling the approximately 17,000 strong Swedish main army near Helsinki and forcing it to capitulate...:




The tide had turned - and the "hats" are squeezing out of their country and their people what is only possible in order to replenish and supply their own troops.

This was followed by several peasant uprisings, which soon assumed threatening proportions.

At the same time, the superior Russian army marched on Turku (Åbo).

In this militarily hopeless situation, the Swedish government had no choice but to strive for a quick peace agreement. The negotiations that led to the conclusion of the Peace of Åbo on August 7 began in the summer...:



Instead of recapturing the lost territories from Russia, the Swedes lost more provinces:

All southern Finnish areas up to the Kymijoki river with Olofsborg Fortress and the towns of Villmanstrand and Fredrikshamn...:



Sweden's dreams of becoming a great power are finally over...

Despite her reign, Tsarina Jelisaweta found enough time to enjoy herself.

When she died, 15,000 dresses alone were found in her possession! Nobody counted her lovers and affairs - but there were a lot.

King Fiedrich II of Prussia (known for his loose mouth, the suffering of all Hohenzollerns) once called the tsarina a "crowned whore", earning him the implacable enmity of Jelisaweta Petrowna (including the enmity of Russia during the Seven Years' War!) that lasted until her death in 1762...