Talk:The Commodore

Assessment comment
Substituted at 08:04, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

Historical comparison with WW2
The text states "Russia similarly occupied other Baltic territories (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) raising doubts about the correct response among the British government." The text originally mentioned Finland in this context, but Russia (the USSR) did not succeed in occupying Finland in 1939 though it did occupy all three Baltic states. In the Napoleonic era, however, though Russia did conquer Finland from Sweden in 1808-9, Estonia and Latvia had already belonged to Russia since the Great Northern War a hundred years earlier and Lithuania had been annexed in connection with the division of Poland in the late 1700's, so the situation was quite different. The idea of a Finnish person trying to assassinate the Czar in 1812 is ludicrous; after occupying Finland in 1808-9 Czar Alexander I quickly convened the first Finnish Diet in Porvoo in March 1809, in which connection Finland was elevated to an autonomous Grand Duchy, "a Nation among Nations", having previously been a mere province of Sweden. There were few refugees from the Russo-Swedish War of 1808-9; the soldiers -- who were mostly Finns -- were allowed to return to their homes once peace was established, and this included those members of the Swedish-speaking nobility who had served as officers. Alexander I was popular in Finland and there were no attempts against his life by Finns, either in Finland or elsewhere. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jarmo K. (talk • contribs) 16:51, 28 December 2020 (UTC)

Arctic convoys and Swedish neutrality in 1812?
"In The Commodore (but not in the real Napoleonic period) as in the Second World War, the Royal Navy offered substantial help to Russia: at the siege of Riga and by guarding the arctic convoys." There would have been no point in arctic convoys during the Napoleonic wars since there were no transportation routes such as the later Murmansk Railway or White Sea Canal to carry large amounts of supplies from the arctic coast to inland Russia. Russia was an ally of Napoleon from 1807 (the Treaty of Tilsit) up to 1812 and before that in league with Britain, Prussia and Sweden against Napoleon. At no stage was it cut off from trade through the Baltic as it was during WW2 after Barbarossa commenced (June 1941), so there would have been no need for arctic convoys. It is also inaccurate to say that "Sweden remained neutral and traded with both sides" during the Napoleonic wars. Gustavus IV, the King of Sweden, considered Napoleon to be the Beast of the Apocalypse and joined the Fourth Coalition against Napoleon in 1807. A result of this was that after Napoleon defeated the Russians at Friedland in 1807, he obligated Czar Alexander I to force Sweden out of the coalition, which led to Alexander attacking Sweden and annexing the eastern part of Sweden now known as Finland in 1808-9. Losing some 2/5 of its land area is a rather drastic consequence of "neutrality"! Another consequence was that Gustavus IV was forced to abdicate and one of Napoleon's Marshals, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, was elected heir-presumptive, being crowned Charles XIV John in 1818 and siring the present Swedish Royal Family. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jarmo K. (talk • contribs) 18:27, 28 December 2020 (UTC)