Officers as Creditors during the Ingrian War (1609–1617)

This chapter illustrates how the officers of the Swedish army largely financed the Ingrian War (1609–1617), in which the Swedes conquered the provinces of Ingria and Kexholm from Russia. As half a century of almost uninterrupted warfare had emptied the treasuries of the Swedish Realm, and as it was simultaneously fighting another war against the Danes, the Ingrian War became almost a private enterprise of the high officers of the army. The article shows that, without the officers, their capital and connections, and their willingness to finance the warfare, the Ingrian War would have ended in catastrophe, instead of becoming one of the founding stones of Sweden’s Age of Greatness.

The Supply Challenges of the Swedish Army during the Russo-Swedish War of 1741–1743

This chapter discusses the maintenance challenges of the Russo-Swedish War of 1741–1743, arguably one of the biggest military catastrophes in Swedish history. Hatakka shows that maintenance problems were one of the root causes for the catastrophe. The war was declared without proper preparations, and the decision makers in Stockholm realised only too late that Finland lacked grain storages, mills and bakeries. The crown’s hastily attempts to improve the situation by building new infrastructure and outsourcing bread-making to civilians were of little avail, thanks to scarce population, limited resources, and transportation difficulties. Thus, the Swedish army had to use the critical first months of the war for solving maintenance problems instead of fighting, a fact that contributed heavily to its loss.

Manufacturing Saltpetre in Finland in the Late 16th and Early 17th Centuries

This chapter analyses the manufacturing of potassium nitrate in late 16th- and early 17th-century Finland. In order to secure its self-sufficiency in gunpowder manufacturing at the eve of its Age of Greatness, the Swedish crown built a network of state-owned saltpetre works and obliged peasants to deliver the raw materials. The system did not function as hoped for several reasons, not least because of the burdensome ‘saltpetre tax’, which created conflicts between the local peasants and the crown’s men, and it was fairly quickly abandoned for other solutions.

The Burghers of Nyen as Creditors and Suppliers in the Great Northern War (1700–1714)

This chapter focuses on the burghers of Nyen (the Swedish settlement and largest trading town in Ingria) and their role as financers of the Great Northern War (1700–1721), which marked the end of Swedish Ingria and the ceding of the area back to Russia. As the battle over Ingria and Finland prolonged, the Nyen merchants – and particularly the wealthiest of them, Johan Henrik Frisius – became indispensable for the crown as suppliers and financiers. Even though Frisius and his colleagues were refugees from their destroyed hometown, they had better international connections and credit standing than the Swedish crown and managed to operate more efficiently at the markets than the royal officials.

Army Maintenance Shaping the Local Burgher Community in 18th-Century Helsinki

This chapter focuses on the town of Helsinki during the construction of Fortress Sveaborg. Founded in 1747 to be the keystone of the Swedish Realm’s eastern defence, Sveaborg was the biggest construction project in the history of the old realm and turned the small Finnish town of Helsinki into a massive building site. The fortress needed massive amounts of construction materials, as well as food, drink and accommodation for its many thousands of soldiers and workers. The article traces the evolution of the Helsinki burgher community during the fortress construction years, arguing that the close and long-lasting interaction between the town and the fortress gave birth to a special ‘military town bourgeoisie’. Guided by the forces of supply and demand, through the process of trial and error, the local burgher community slowly evolved into a shape that was ideal in serving the military.

Maintenance of Armies and Its Impact on Rural Everyday Life Local Experiences 1550–1750

This chapter offers a long-term microhistorical perspective of the effects of the military on the rural population by following the history of two southern Finnish villages, Hyvinkää and Kytäjärvi, from the 16th to the 18th century. Although the villages were directly touched by war only a couple of times during the period, they were continuously shaped by the indirect presence of warfare and military readiness. They paid taxes to finance the military, lost a significant amount of their male workforce in wars, were obliged to provide upkeep for passing troops, and had to endure new manor lords who gained land grants in return for military service and disturbed the local power balance.

The Sales of Crown Farms and State Finances 1580–1808

This chapter analyses the sales of crown farms as a form of financing the war. The early modern Swedish crown was a major landowner, as, under Swedish law, all farms deserted or unable to pay their taxes three years in a row became crown property. The article shows how the selling of these farms to private buyers became an important source of revenue in the 18th century, first to finance the Great Northern War and later to cover the massive public debt created by the war. By purchasing crown farms, private Swedish and Finnish individuals became indirectly important financers of war.

Billeted Soldiers and Local Civilians in 1750s Helsinki

This chapter discusses the soldier billeting system, in which the townspeople were obliged to lodge soldiers in their homes. The article shows that, even though the billeting was a heavy burden to the local burghers in Helsinki, the co-existence of soldiers and civilians in same houses and rooms was in itself surprisingly peaceful. One of the reasons is that the garrison soldiers began, from an early stage, to interact closely with the local community, demonstrated for example by the numerous marriages between them and the local women.