Russia continues to expand.

The Congress of Vienna creates the Kingdom of Poland (Russian Poland), to which Alexander grants a constitution.

Thus, Alexander I becomes the constitutional monarch of Poland while remaining the autocratic tsar of Russia.

He is also the limited monarch of Finland, which had been annexed in 1809 and awarded autonomous status.

In 1813 Russia gains territory in the Baku area of the Caucasus at the expense of Persia.

The empire is by now firmly ensconced in Alaska also.

The Russo-French alliance gradually becomes strained.

Napoleon is concerned about Russia's intentions in the strategically vital Bosporus and Dardenelles straits.

At the same time, Alexander views the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, the French-controlled reconstituted Polish state, with suspicion.

The requirement of joining France's Continental Blockade against Britain is a serious disruption of Russian commerce, and in 1810 Alexander repudiates the obligation.

In June 1812, Napoleon invades Russia with six hundred thousand troops—a force twice as large as the Russian regular army.

Napoleon hopes to inflict a major defeat on the Russians and force Alexander to sue for peace.

As Napoleon pushes the Russian forces back, however, he becomes seriously overextended.

Obstinate Russian resistance combines with the Russian winter to deal Napoleon a disastrous defeat, from which fewer than thirty thousand of his troops return o their homeland.

As the French retreat, the Russians pursues them into Central and Western Europe and to the gates of Paris.

After the allies defeat Napoleon, Alexander becomes known as the savor of Europe, and he plays a prominent role in the redrawing of the map of Europe at the Congress of Vienna in 1815.

In the same year, under the influence of religious mysticism, Alexander initiates the creation of the Holy Alliance, a loose agreement pledging the rulers of the nations involved—including most of Europe — to act according to Christian principles.

More pragmatically, in 1814 Russia, Britain, Austria, and Prussia had formed the Quadruple Alliance.

The allies create an international system to maintain the territorial status quo and prevent the resurgence of an expansionist France.

The Quadruple Alliance, confirmed by a number of international conferences, ensures Russia's influence in Europe.

Alexander's primary focus is not on domestic policy but on foreign affairs, and particularly on Napoleon.

Fearing Napoleon's expansionist ambitions and the growth of French power, Alexander joins Britain and Austria against Napoleon.

Napoleon defeats the Russians and Austrians at Austerlitz in 1805 and trounces the Russians at Friedland in 1807.

Alexander is forced to sue for peace, and by the Treaty of Tilsit, signed in 1807, he becomes Napoleon's ally.

Russia loses little territory under the treaty, and Alexander makes use of his alliance with Napoleon for further expansion.

He wrests the Grand Duchy of Finland from Sweden in 1809 and acquires Bessarabia from Turkey in 1812.

The Berlin Decree of 1806 had forbidden French, allied or neutral ships trading with Britain.

By this means, Napoleon hopes to destroy British trade, disrupt its growing industrial expansion and diminish its credit.

Great Britain responds with the Orders in Council of 1807, issued November 11, 1807, as an attempt to channel all neutral trade in continental Europe.

These forbid French trade with the United Kingdom, its allies, or neutrals, and instruct the Royal Navy to blockade French and allied ports.

Napoleon, after Britain' passage of the Orders in Council (1807), retaliates with the Milan Decree, issued on December 17, 1807, which declares that all neutral shipping using British ports, or paying British tariffs, are to be regarded as British and seized.

The decree authorizes French warships and privateers to capture neutral ships sailing from any British port or from any country that is occupied by British forces.

It also declares that any ships that submit to search by the Royal Navy on the high seas are to be considered lawful prizes if captured by the French.

The Russian Emperor Alexander I, after concluding the 1807 Treaty of Tilsit with Napoleon, had written to the Swedish King Gustav IV Adolf on September 24, 1807, informing the king that the peaceful relations between Russia and Sweden depend on Swedish agreement to abide by the limitations of the Treaty of Tilsit, which in practice means that Sweden will be been required to follow the Continental System.

The king, who views Napoleon as the Antichrist and Britain as his ally against Napoleon's France, is apprehensive of the system's ruinous consequences for Sweden's maritime commerce.

He instead enters into negotiations with Britain in order to prepare a joint attack against Denmark, whose Norwegian possessions he covets.

In the meantime, the Royal Navy had attacked Copenhagen and the Anglo-Russian War had been declared.

Referring to the treaties of 1780 and 1800, the emperor had demanded that Gustav Adolf close the Baltic Sea to all foreign warships.

Although he reiterated his demand on November 16, 1807, it had taken two months before the king responded that it is impossible to honor the previous arrangements as long as the French are in control of the major Baltic ports.

King Gustav Adolf does this after securing an alliance with England on February 8, 1808.

Meanwhile, on December 30, 1807, Russia had announced that should Sweden not give a clear reply Russia would be forced to act.

Although most Swedish officers are skeptical about their chances in fighting the larger and more experienced Russian army, Gustav Adolf has an unrealistic view of Sweden's ability to defend itself against Russia.

In Saint Petersburg, his stubbornness is viewed as a convenient pretext to occupy Finland, thus pushing the Russo-Swedish frontier considerably to the west of the Russian capital and safeguarding it in case of any future hostilities between the two powers.

The situation is problematic for Sweden, since it once again faces both Denmark and Russia as potential enemies requiring the Swedes to split their forces.

The king thinks it impossible to defend Finland should the enemy attack during the winter and chooses largely to ignore the repeated warnings of the Russian threat he had received in early 1808.

Most of the Swedish plans assume that warfare will be impossible during winter, disregarding the lessons from recent wars.

In addition, several new good roads have been built into Finland, greatly reducing the earlier dependency on naval support for any large operation in Finland.

The Swedish plan is mostly based on passively defending and on holding on to the critical fortifications in southern Finland, then counterattacking with naval support in the spring and retaking the lost areas.

Some advocates for taking a more active approach include Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Möller, who advocates for taking an immediate offensive, and Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt, who supports actively delaying the advancing enemies in co-operation with the garrisons in the southern coast.

In the end, the instructions that the new Swedish commander in Finland, General Wilhelm Mauritz Klingspor, receives from the king are an unsuccessful and open-ended mixture of ideas from these very different plans.

Russia has gathered a wealth of information from Finland using spies and other sources.

The level of detail is so great that Russian maps of Finland are in many respects more accurate than their Swedish counterparts.

The Russians had the services of General Georg Magnus Sprengtporten when forming their plans.

Sprengtporten had suggested going on to an offensive during the winter since Finland is mostly isolated when seas are frozen.

His ideas had been further developed by General Jan Pieter van Suchtelen before General Friedrich Wilhelm von Buxhoeveden was appointed as the commander of the Russian army in Finland in December 1807.

The plan involves using the series of fortifications built after 1790 as staging grounds for the Russian advances into Finland.

In southern Finland, armies are to isolate the fortifications and first take control of the whole of southern Finland before advancing further to the north.

Forces in Savolax are to press hard against the Swedes and reach the Gulf of Bothnia towards Uleåborg and Vasa to cut off the retreat of the main body of the Swedish army.

The Swedish fortress of Svartholm outside Lovis, under command of Major Carl Magnus Gripenberg. is ill-prepared for a war.

While the garrison is seven hundred men strong, only a third of the men have actual functioning weapons, while most of the fortress' guns have no carriages.

The fortress has fallen into disrepair and lacks both adequate food and ammunition stores.

Even the wells are found to be unusable.

The Russians, after starting the siege on February 21, issue a surrender demand for the fort, but this is refused by the Swedes.

Twenty-four thousand Russian troops under Friedrich Wilhelm von Buxhoevden cross the border in Ahvenkoski and take the town of Lovisa on February 21, 1808.