The Battle of Oravais (Finnish: Oravaisten taistelu, Swedish: Slaget vid Oravais) is sometimes regarded as the turning point of the Finnish War: the last chance for Sweden to turn the war to her advantage. It was the bloodiest battle of the conflict, which some historians attribute to the exhaustion, resignation and desperation of the Swedish army: it was losing the war.
At the beginning of the war, Swedish forces had retreated to Oulu. They had ...
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The Battle of Oravais (Finnish: Oravaisten taistelu, Swedish: Slaget vid Oravais) is sometimes regarded as the turning point of the Finnish War: the last chance for Sweden to turn the war to her advantage. It was the bloodiest battle of the conflict, which some historians attribute to the exhaustion, resignation and desperation of the Swedish army: it was losing the war.
At the beginning of the war, Swedish forces had retreated to Oulu. They had then managed to repel the Russians and reach Savonia despite the capitulation of the fortress of Sveaborg by the end of summer 1808. Russia recuperated quickly, and by the end of August the Swedish army was again retreating northwards along the coastal road. To avoid being encircled, colonel Georg Carl von Döbeln was sent in advance to Nykarleby with a brigade. The threat of encirclement was exaggerated, but the Swedish army was at this point showing signs of panic and collapse. On September 13 the army left for Oravais and it halted to await...
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