Åland War

The Åland War was the operations of an Anglo-French naval force against military and civilian facilities on the coast of the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1854–1856, during the Crimean War between Russia and the allied France and Britain. The war is named after the Battle of Bomarsund in Åland. Although the name of the war refers to Åland, skirmishes were also fought in other coastal towns of Finland in the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland.

Russia, advancing on the Romanian front, had provoked the Ottoman Empire to declare war on 4 October, 1853, and Britain and France decided to support the Ottomans. The purpose of the Åland War was to sever Russia's service routes and foreign trade and force it to sue for peace, and to involve Sweden in the war against Russia. The blockade was to be carried out in such a way as to render the Russian navy in the Baltic Sea inoperable by destroying the coastal defensive forts, the navy and the trade warehouses which served as foreign trade depots. A significant part of the damage was caused to Finland, as a large part of the merchant fleet flying the Russian flag at that time was in Finland, an autonomous Grand Duchy under the Russian crown since 1809.

The war had a major impact on the subsequent demilitarization of Åland.