NOVEMBER 10, 1810

The Anglo-swedish War of 1810 isn’t a conflict that has gone down in the annals of history.

It only really existed on paper and, possibly uniquely, it was between two erstwhile allies who remained on good terms throughout the “war”, which lasted a year-and-a-half. Events began when Napoleon’s forces defeated the Swedes in the Pomeranian War, part of the wider Napoleonic Wars.

Under the ensuing Treaty of Paris, Sweden was forced to join his Continental System, a trade embargo against Britain in retaliation for the Royal Navy’s blockade of France.

But the fact that Britain was Sweden’s biggest trading partner meant this would cause economic hardship, so the trade continued through smuggling. Unimpressed, “Old Boney” delivered an ultimatum to the Stockholm Government, threatening a resumption of hostilities unless Sweden declared war on Britain, which they finally did on November 17. And that was pretty much that. No military acts followed, though Britain did invade the Swedish island of Hano in order to station ships there.

They did this without Swedish hindrance as they welcomed the continuing Baltic trade.