Krigsdepartementet som central beställare : Proviant, furage och sjötransporter under Finska kriget 1808-1809

Sammanfattning

This thesis examines how the Swedish War Department during the Finnish War of 1808–1809, organised and executed central military supply. Using Rafael Torres-Sánchez’s Contractor State perspective, complemented by a focus on bureaucratic and organisational capacity, the study asks how central procurement functioned as an expression of state capability and structural dependence on civilian and private actors. Empirically, the thesis is based on a systematic reading of account books, ledgers and vouchers from the War Department’s third division, responsible for pay, provisions, forage and sea transport. A qualitative accounting analysis is combined with descriptive quantitative tabulations to identify suppliers, actor types, transaction frequency and value concentration. The results show that the War Department’s practical capacity lay less in direct control of supply chains than in initiating purchases and recording obligations. Procurement was channelled through a small number of capacity-rich intermediaries—merchant houses, shipmasters and specialised functionaries—who coordinated sub-suppliers, transport and credit. Credit-based purchasing was pervasive, and recorded debts were concentrated to a few large civilian actors. This configuration increased flexibility under crisis conditions but also shifted liquidity risk and implementation bottlenecks onto intermediaries, helping to explain how centralisation could coexist with local shortages and distribution failures. The study thus reframes Swedish wartime logistics as a governance problem of contracts, credit and coordination rather than a simple absence of stores.