As a result, officer benefits of the allotment system became practically pensions, as payment was based on passive availability, not on actual service.
In March 1810, Tsar Alexander I ordered the dissolution for 50 years of the Finnish units that had been part of the Swedish Army.
[1] Upon Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812, the Minister–Secretary of State for Finland in St. Petersburg, Count Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt, advocated for a recruited force of 2,400 light Jäger, who would operate on skis in the winter.
Essentially in accordance with Armfelt's proposals, Tsar Alexander on 16 September 1812 ordered the establishment of three Jäger regiments, each with a strength of 1,200 men.
The recruits were supposed to be volunteers, but already by early October 1812, vagabonds and men without legal protection were being impressed into service in the regiments.
[2] As was typical for the era, military training was a matter of formality, with the Viipuri Jäger Regiment only receiving gunpowder and cartridges after pulling security duty in St. Petersburg for two months.
A Finnish Grenadier Sharpshooter Battalion [fi; sv] (Suomen krenatööritarkk’ampujapataljoona, Finska grenadjärskarpskyttebataljonen) was founded in 1846, but later disbanded in 1860.
The ships were mostly small sailing vessels, but also comprised a couple of bigger steam frigates, the Rurik and the Kalevala, named after the Finnish national epic.
Finnish Navy artillery-men fought against the British and French fleets from the Santahamina island shore batteries during the siege of Fortress Sveaborg in Helsinki.
All Finnish line units wore the dark green uniforms of the Imperial Russian infantry and dragoons but with light blue facings as a distinction.
This was part of the political "oppression years" which saw a downgrading of the autonomous status of the grand duchy within the Russian Empire.