British troops and warships were a missed option for Finland

John Moore reached Gothenburg in May 1808 with roughly 10,000 troops and British warships, but Gustav IV Adolf would not initially allow the soldiers to disembark. Their dispute over an offensive against Zealand became so severe that Moore escaped Sweden in disguise and took the army home. Combining the British force, Finland's mobile army of about 5,500, and roughly 5,000 additional Swedish troops could have produced a field army of about 20,000 against an initial Russian invasion force of roughly 24,000. That concentration would have forced Russia to protect its siege operations instead of dispersing freely. Alternatives included using the British as a deterrent garrison in Sweden or on the Åland Islands while Swedish troops went east. A sustained British commitment in the Baltic could also have drained Napoleon's allies or forced him to send French troops into a theatre where Alexander I would not welcome them. Moore's troops later helped form the nucleus of the Peninsular War army, showing the military capability Sweden failed to employ.