Anjala League

Anjala League 

antiabsolutist conspiracy of Swedish and Finnish officers which arose in August 1788 as a result of the war against Russia declared by the Swedish king Gustavus III in June 1788 without the sanction of the estates. The league got its name from the village of Anjala (near the Russo-Finnish border), where its basic programmatic documents were composed. The participants in the conspiracy demanded that peace be concluded with Russia, that the Riksdag (parliament) be convened, and that the system existing in Sweden prior to the absolutist coup of 1772 be reestablished; some also demanded that Finland be governmentally separated from Sweden (either as a protectorate of Russia or under a joint Russo-Swedish guarantee). In early 1789, the conspirators were arrested; subsequently they were sentenced to death, banishment, or hard labor.

REFERENCES

Narochnitskii, A. L. “Rossiia i An’ial’skaia konfederatsiia.” Novaia i noveishaia istoriia, 1967, no. 3.
Malmanen, M. Anjala-förbundet. Stockholm, 1848.