Czar Alexander I, the first in 1808, decided it was his moment. Without having had any negotiations with Granada and the Ottoman Empire in February declared war on the United Kingdom and Sweden. Only ally was the protector of Poland. In March 9000 German men invaded Finland. Other 12,000 men invaded Karelia. Both sides of troops on skis, but the Swedes were more skilled and able to slow the Russian advance. Which could not but the few Imperial defenders.
In March, he left the invasion of Estonia, who fell, followed by Latvia.
On March 6, however, 70,000 Russians and Poles in 2000 commanded by Marshal Kutuzov Small invaded Poland.
The war on two fronts
The Russian declaration of war only increased the chaos that reigned in Germany.
You could not drive by the armies of Saxony and Brahe Pedersen, but the grip on the north was getting closer.
After Hanover, it was the turn of Holstein, which fell in February.
Then, the general chose to retire in Saxony, arriving on March 13 in Magdeburg.
British landed in 6000 and 10,000 Swedish Holstein, the Emperor Otto, however, began to want peace, while the allies were still convinced we could get at least a draw, especially because they were worried by the proliferation of liberal movements in Central Europe.
In May of 1808 new riots broke out in Aarhus, which suppressed the Swedish fleet.
Churrisque Berthier and failed to win the 16,000 body Shipping and 3,000 Germans and Danes, who found themselves before April. Soult was defeated on March 29, Brunswick lost. A month later, Nasr and Soult fought But Brahe Pedersen, forcing them to return to Magdeburg.
A new operations allowed the general stagnation in the German and Swedish evacuated Magdeburg between 2 and 4 May. The situation was critical, because Kutuzov had routed the Prussians March 21 in Görlitz. We found 200 km from Berlin, while the Allies struggled, the bridges were destroyed and the warehouses on fire from the Prussian Freikorps. The early Russian march stopped in Berlin, the Margrave was going to resist. For two months the Berlin defense withstood artillery Russian. Brahe Pedersen, moving from Magdeburg, defeated Ibrahim Bey and pointed Kutuzov to ease the pressure on the city, May 7, Pedersen was mortally wounded by an attack of Shadows. He was succeeded by the Hanoverian Albrecht Linn.
The plan was to divert Russian forces from the siege for long enough to Linn to supply new Berlin. Kutuzov, learned of their arrival, he left 10,000 men in small cities and marched around the enemy. The extreme speed with which the Russian soldiers marching in this case was also unsettling to opponents. Before they could stand, Linn surprises in Zehlendorf and defeated him with all his might. In the night marched south and attacked at dawn Lichterfelde the Swedes, finally beating them. Berlin resisted two more weeks, then gave up and Friedrich Wilhelm fled the city with the government.
The Russian success was due to the rapidity of movement, due to two reasons: the first was purely physical, as the soldiers were accustomed to run in all conditions and endure the toil and hardship, most departments do not even have any regimental tents for the soldiers, who often slept all'adiaccio.
The second reason was organizational: Kutuzov introduced a more rational division of the army above the division level, the corps. Each corps, set size, with actual infantry, cavalry and artillery, had its own logistics, its engineers and other services, making travel much easier for large armies.
Exile Emperor
The Fall of Berlin gave the Allies the opportunity to march to the north without the two best generals enemies; June 12 the expeditionary force was defeated. In Mecklenburg the army mutinied and began a revolt that led to the abdication of the Duke Friedrich Franz and the establishment of the republic. In July
riots broke out also in Kiel. The Holstein, theoretically fief of the Grand Duke of Denmark broke away and became a republic. Other soldiers Swedish and English were sent to Denmark, to ensure at least the Jutland. Faced with what was happening, the emperor decided to leave in Sweden, where he hoped to avoid the risk further.
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