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Sweden, and Finland, outside direct Russian control,the newly acquired Baltic provinces and Russia properwere essential for naval stores (hemp and flax, cordageand sailcloth, pitch and tar), long before the partitionsof Poland and the acquisition of Finland still furtherstrengthened the position of Russia. At the end of theeighteenth century Great Britain was still overwhelminglydependent on Russian hemp and only slightly lessso on Russian flax. When in 1807 Napoleon forcedAlexander I to join the Continental System againstEngland, one result was that hemp and flax prices inEngland more than doubled within a year. Baltictimber prices soared, and until the reversal of Russianpolicy in 1811 England was desperately hard put to itto obtain sufficient naval supplies.If the deepest result of the Great Northern War wasthe economic and cultural effects of Russia's Balticdoorway, another great result was the changed relationof Russia to Sweden during the century that closed withthe conquest of Finland (1809).It has often happened that war so far from setting upwatertight barriers has acted as a conduit of influence.Russia in the past had gained much from prisoners ofwar, and Peter the Great not only made the very mostof his Swedish prisoners but closely studied Swedishgovernmental and military organization for the purposeof his own internal reforms (cf. pp. 106-107). As hasalso been pointed out in an earlier chapter (p. 84)Swedish oligarchic constitutional ideas had their repercussionsin Russia after Peter's death. On the otherside, Russian influences upon Sweden were almost solelyconfined to political influence. This was one of theoutstanding issues in Swedish history during the halfcenturyafter the death of Charles XII, known as 'theperiod of freedom' (1719-72), when Sweden abruptlychanged from one of the most absolutist of monarchiesto one of the most limited and rival oligarchies in theestates of the Riksdag disputed for power with the lavishaid of foreign subsidies—Russian, French, Prussian, andBritish.Russia, usually in alliance with Prussia and almost268