The Russo–Swedish War of 1741–1743, known as the Hats' Russian War in Sweden and the Hats' War in Finland, which results in the Lesser Wrath, or the occupation of Finland, is instigated by the Hats, a Swedish political party that aspires to regain the territories lost to Russia during the Great Northern War, and by French diplomacy, which seeks to divert Russia's attention from supporting its long-standing ally, the Habsburg monarchy, in the War of the Austrian Succession.

While eight thousand Swedish and Finnish troops are being deployed at the Russian border, near Lappeenranta (Swedish: Villmanstrand) and Hamina (Swedish: Frederikshamn), Sweden declares war on August 8.

The objective of these maneuvers is to threaten Saint Petersburg and to set the stage for a coup d'état, engineered by French and Swedish diplomats and aimed at toppling the pro-Austrian regime of Anna Leopoldovna.

Henrik Magnus von Buddenbrock, born on July 22, 1685, in Swedish Livonia, was the son of the landed gentleman and Swedish Empire army officer Henrik Gotthard von Buddenbrock (1648-1727) and Charlotta Cronman.

He had enlisted as an officer of the Swedish army, becoming a captain of the Livgardet in 1711, Major of grenadiers in 1715, and Major General in 1721.

He had been elevated to friherre (matricle number 206) in 1731 and promoted to Lieutenant General of the infantry in 1739.

As such, he is in 1741 commander of the troops in Finland, under General Charles Emil Lewenhaupt, at the onset of the Russo-Swedish War.

Major General Carl Henrik Wrangel, who leads one of the two divisions of the Swedish Army in Finland, with a strength of four thousand men, is ordered by Buddenbrock to lead his force into battle against General Peter Lacy's numerically superior Russian force in order to defend Villmanstrand, at the long disputed frontier between Sweden and Russia.

The battle of Villmanstrand is fought in Karelia during the Russo-Swedish War on August 23, 1741 (September 3, NS), when twenty thousand Russian forces, under the command of General Peter von Lacy, advance from Vyborg (Swedish: Viborg, Finnish: Viipuri) to assault Villmanstrand (Finnish: Lappeenranta).

Fighting begins around two PM, but the Swedes withdraw at five PM before Swedish baron and Lieutenant General Henrik Magnus von Buddenbrock, less than ten kilometers away, can come to the assistance of General Wrangel.

Swedish casualties amount to two thousand men killed or wounded and  one thousand captured, among them Wrangel, who had lost his right arm during the battle.

Russia loses twenty-four hundred men.

The threat to the Russian capital thus relieved, Lacy does not continue his movement after the battle.

The Swedish defeat in the war had been blamed on Lewenhaupt and Buddenbrock.

Dismissed from Finland in August 1742, they had immediately arrested by Vice Admiral Ritterstolpe upon their return.

Buddenbrock had been brought on the night of September 28 to Stockholm, where he is imprisoned and closely guarded.

A court martial is convened on October 8 under Field Marshal Hamilton to investigate the two cases.

The prosecutor is Chancellor of Justice Silverschildt, who submits an extensive indictment.

Buddenbrock is accused of, among other things, not assembling his troops in a timely fashion to cross the Russian border, as planned.

In addition, he had not arrived at Villmanstrand in time to rescue Major General Wrangel.

General von Buddenbrock had defended himself so well that, had he faced only the nobility, he would have left with his life.

The other Estates of the Riksdag, in particular the peasants, are embittered, however, and demand a scapegoat.

The verdict of the commission had been announced on May 29 to a large congregation.

Buddenbrock is to be dishonored, his property confiscated, and he himself beheaded with an axe.

In an appeal, Buddenbrock had written a comprehensive account in which he detailed his services to the kingdom, but despite this and the pleading of his family the verdict had been confirmed by the Estates the following day.

Even a request to be beheaded with a sword as befitting a nobleman, or to be executed by firing squad, had been denied.

The date of his execution had been set to July 20 but King Frederick had postponed it another week.

Buddenbrock is executed on July 27, 1743, in Stockholm.

His wife, Magdalena Elisabeth Rahm, and their four children leave Sweden for Holland.