In Russian society, sometimes you come across people who claim that Finland, located in the north of Europe, has never been part of Russia. The question arises: is the person who argues this way right?
As part of the Russian Empire from 1809 to 1917, there was the Grand Duchy of Finland, which occupied the territory of modern Finland and part of modern Karelia. This principality had broad autonomy.
In June 1808, Alexander the First issued a manifesto “On the annexation of Finland.” According to the Friedrichsham Peace Treaty of 1809, concluded between Russia and Sweden, Finland passed from Sweden to Russia. Finland became part of the Russian Empire as an autonomous principality. This agreement is the result of the Russian-Swedish war of 1808 - 1809, which is the last of all Russian-Swedish wars.
Under Alexander II, the Finnish language received the status of the state language on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Finland.
The highest official of Finland was the Governor-General, appointed by the head of state, that is, the Russian Emperor. Who was not the Governor-General of Finland from 1809 to 1917? And Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly (1761 - 1818), and Arseny Andreevich Zakrevsky (1783 - 1865), and Alexander Sergeevich Menshikov (1787 - 1869), and Platon Ivanovich Rokasovsky (1800 - 1869), and Stepan Osipovich Goncharov (1831 – 1912), and Nekrasov Nikolai Vissarionovich (1879 – 1940) and others.
It should be noted that the Friedrichsham Peace Treaty of 1809 regarding Finland was in force until 1920, since according to the Tartu Peace Treaty of October 14, 1920, concluded between the RSFSR and Finland, the state independence of Finland was recognized.
On December 6, 1917, Finland declared its independence. That is, a new country has appeared on the world map. In this regard, it should be noted that some experts believe that Finland was part of Russia from 1809 to 1920. But most historians and other experts claim that Finland was part of Russia from 1809 to 1917. I note that on December 18, 1917, by the Resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, which was established on November 7, 1917 as the government of Soviet Russia, it was proposed to recognize the state independence of Finland.
Yes, Russia lost Finland. Yes, Russia sold Alaska to the United States of America. There is nothing to be done, this is the history of mankind. In the history of mankind there have been enough cases when a state loses something or, conversely, gains something.
From all that has been said, it follows that Finland was part of Russia from 1809 to 1917. That is, the Russians who claim that Finland has never been part of Russia are wrong.
Until the beginning of the 19th century, Finnish tribes never had their own statehood. This territory, inhabited by the Chukhon tribes Em and Sum, originally belonged to Novgorod, but from 1325 came under Swedish control.
After the Northern War, the Vyborg region was returned to Russia, but the rest of Finland remained under Swedish domination. Moreover, twice - in 1741 and 1788, the Swedes tried to regain these territories and even laid claim to St. Petersburg, but each time they were defeated.
In 1808, the last Russian-Swedish war to date broke out. In February 1808, units of the Russian army under the command of General Fyodor Fedorovich Buxhoeveden crossed the Russian-Swedish border and began an attack on the capital of the principality, the city of Abo. On March 10 (22), Abo was taken without a fight, after which almost all of Chukhonia was in the hands of Russian troops
In February 1809, the first meeting of the Sejm, an estate meeting of representatives of the peoples of Finland, took place in the city of Borgo.
The Sejm was asked four questions - about the army, taxes, coins and the establishment of a government council; after discussion, their deputies were dissolved. The conclusions of the Sejm formed the basis for organizing the administration of the region, although not all petitions of zemstvo officials were satisfied. Regarding the army, it was decided to preserve the settled system. The Russian ruble was adopted as the monetary unit.
Money of the Grand Duchy of Finland. While the Diet was in session, at the beginning of March 1809, Russian troops captured the Åland Islands and planned to transfer the fighting to the Swedish coast. On March 13, a coup d'etat took place in Sweden, Swedish troops capitulated. A new, so-called Åland Truce, was concluded between the Swedish and Russian commanders-in-chief. However, Alexander I did not approve it and the war continued until September 1809, ending with the Treaty of Friedrichsham.
And on March 7 (19), the Sejm submitted a petition to the Russian emperor to admit the Finns to Russian citizenship.
According to the actual results of the advance of the Russian army, the Kingdom of Sweden ceded to Russia six fiefs (provinces) in Finland and the eastern part of Westerbothnia (from Uleaborg County to the Tornio and Muonio rivers), as well as the Åland Islands, into the eternal possession of the Russian Empire. According to the Friedrichsham Peace Treaty, the newly conquered region became “the property and sovereign possession of the Russian Empire.”
The Finns were left with all their local self-government, and in 1860 they even introduced a Finnish mark equal to the French franc instead of the ruble. Unlike the Poles (See: The annexation of Poland to Russia), the Finns did not raise uprisings during the period of Russian rule, but at the beginning of the twentieth century, many Social Democrats appeared among the Finnish workers, who helped the Russian Bolsheviks in every possible way and gave them reliable shelters. The Russian Revolution of 1905 coincided with the rise of the Finnish national liberation movement, and all of Finland joined the All-Russian Strike. In 1906, a new democratic election law was passed, which gave women the right to vote. Finland became the first country in Europe to give women the right to vote.
Helsingfors at the beginning of the twentieth century. In the background is the Orthodox Assumption Cathedral
With the establishment of universal suffrage, the number of voters in the country increased 10 times, the old four-estate Sejm was replaced by a unicameral parliament. After the suppression of the revolution in 1907, the emperor once again tried to consolidate the previous policy by introducing military rule, which lasted until 1917.
Finland received independence from Lenin on December 18 (31), 1917, and already on January 27, 1918, the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic was proclaimed in Helsingfors, which existed, however, only until May 16 - Soviet power in Finland was overthrown by German troops liberated after the conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty . 8,500 supporters of the Workers' Republic were immediately shot, and 75 thousand ended up in concentration camps.
Since then, Finland has become a dangerous neighbor for us.
Despite the fact that Lenin personally granted independence to the Finns, Finland’s attitude towards our country was hostile throughout the interwar period, and from May 15, 1918 to October 14, 1920. There was even fighting between us and the Finns during the so-called First Soviet-Finnish War. This war ended on October 14, 1920 with the signing of the Tartu Peace Treaty between the RSFSR and Finland, which recorded a number of territorial concessions from Soviet Russia - independent Finland received Western Karelia up to the Sestra River, the Pechenga region in the Arctic, the western part of the Rybachy Peninsula and most of the Middle Peninsula. But already on November 6, 1921, the Second Soviet-Finnish War began. The fighting ended on March 21, 1922 with the signing in Moscow of an Agreement between the governments of the RSFSR and Finland on taking measures to ensure the inviolability of the Soviet-Finnish border.
However, Soviet-Finnish relations did not improve after this. Even when in 1932 we concluded a non-aggression pact with Finland, the duration of this pact, at the insistence of the Finnish side, was determined for only three years. The fact that Finland was definitely going to fight the Soviet Union under favorable conditions is also proven by the statements of Finnish officials at that time. Thus, Finnish Foreign Minister Tanner wrote in his letter to Swedish Prime Minister Hansson: “Previously, when we thought about the possibility of being involved in a war with the Soviet Union, we always believed that this would happen under different circumstances - that Russia would fight somewhere else "(Tanner V. The Winter War. Finland against Russia. 1939 – 1940. Stanford (Cal.). 1957, p. 46). And Finland did not hide these intentions at all. Thus, on February 27, 1935, People's Minister Litvinov was forced to hand over a note to the Finnish envoy Irie-Koskinen, which stated: “In no other country does the press wage such a systematically hostile campaign against us as in Finland. No other country is waging such an open campaign for an attack on the USSR as in Finland” (Documents of Foreign Policy of the USSR. Vol. 18. M., 1973, p. 143). When World War II began in 1939, it was already clear to the Soviet leadership that Finland would oppose the USSR regardless of who it fought with. Therefore, on October 5, 1939, Finnish representatives were invited to Moscow for negotiations “on specific political issues.” The negotiations took place in three stages: October 12-14, November 3-4, and November 9. For the first time, Finland was represented by the envoy, State Councilor J. K. Paasikivi, the Finnish Ambassador to Moscow Aarno Koskinen, Foreign Ministry official Johan Nykopp and Colonel Aladar Paasonen. On the second and third trips, Finance Minister Tanner was authorized to negotiate along with Paasikivi. On the third trip, State Councilor R. Hakkarainen was added. At these negotiations, for the first time, the proximity of the border to Leningrad is discussed. Stalin remarked: “We can’t do anything about geography, just like you... Since Leningrad cannot be moved, we will have to move the border further away from it.”
Thus began the Winter War, which ended with the defeat of Finland. However, this defeat did not teach the Finns anything, and they came out against us together with the Germans. Naturally, they were defeated this time too, after which the Finns suddenly became wiser and Finland, while remaining a capital country, Finland became for us a good neighbor and a reliable trading partner, which it remains to this day.
If this piece of northern Europe had not once ended up within the Russian Empire, it is still unknown whether such a state, Finland, would exist today.
Swedish colony Finland
At the beginning of the 12th century, Swedish traders (and part-time pirates and robbers) crossed the Gulf of Bothnia and landed in what is now southern Finland. They liked the land, almost the same as theirs in Sweden, even better, and most importantly - completely free. Well, almost free. Some semi-wild tribes wandered through the forests, babbling something in an incomprehensible language, but the Swedish Vikings waved their swords a little - and the Swedish crown was enriched with another fief (province).
The Swedish feudal lords who settled in Finland sometimes had a hard time. Sweden, which lay on the other side of the Gulf of Bothnia, could not always provide assistance - it was difficult to help distant Finland from Stockholm. The Finnish Swedes had to resolve all issues (hunger, enemy attacks, revolts of conquered tribes) relying solely on their own strength. They fought with the violent Novgorodians, developed new lands, pushing the borders of their possessions to the north, independently concluded trade agreements with their neighbors, and founded new castles and cities.
Gradually, Finland turned from a narrow coastal strip into a vast region. In the 16th century, the Swedish rulers of Finland, who had gained strength, demanded from the king for their lands the status of not a province, but a separate principality within Sweden. The king assessed the combined military power of the Swedish Finnish nobility and agreed with a sigh.
Finns in Swedish Finland
All this time, relations between the Swedes and Finns were built according to the classical scheme of conquerors and conquered. The Swedish language, Swedish customs, and Swedish culture reigned in the castles and palaces. The official language was Swedish, Finnish remained the language of the peasants, who until the 16th century did not even have their own alphabet or written language.
It is difficult to say what fate awaited the Finns if they remained under the shadow of the Swedish crown. Perhaps they would have adopted the Swedish language and culture and, over time, would have disappeared as an ethnic group. Perhaps they would become on par with the Swedes and today Sweden would have two official languages: Swedish and Finnish. However, one thing is certain - they would not have their own state. But things turned out differently.
The first is not yet a world war, but a European war
At the end of the 18th century, Europe entered the era of the Napoleonic wars. The little corporal (who in fact was of quite normal height - 170 cm) managed to start a fire throughout Europe. All European states fought with each other. Military alliances and unions were concluded, coalitions were created and disintegrated, yesterday's enemy became an ally and vice versa.
For 16 years, the map of Europe was constantly redrawn, depending on whose side military luck was on in the next battle. European kingdoms and duchies either swelled to incredible sizes or shrank to microscopic ones.
Entire states appeared and disappeared in dozens: the Batavian Republic, the Ligurian Republic, the Subalpine Republic, the Cispadane Republic, the Transpadane Republic, the Kingdom of Etruria... It’s not surprising that you haven’t heard of them: some of them existed for 2-3 years, or even less, for example, the Leman Republic was born on January 24, 1798, and died suddenly on April 12 of the same year.
Individual territories changed their overlord several times. Residents, as in a comedy movie, woke up and wondered whose power is in the city today, and what do they have today: a monarchy or a republic?
In the 19th century, Sweden had not yet matured to the idea of neutrality in foreign policy and actively joined the game, considering itself equal in military and political power to Russia. As a result, in 1809 The Russian Empire grew with Finland.
Finland is part of Russia. Unlimited autonomy
The Russian Empire in the 19th century was often called the “prison of nations.” If this is so, then Finland got a cell with all the amenities in this “prison”. Having conquered Finland, Alexander I immediately declared that Swedish legislation would be maintained on its territory. The country retained the status of the Grand Duchy of Finland with all its privileges.
The entire previously existing administrative apparatus was preserved unshakably. The country, as before, was ruled by the Sejm and the Finnish Senate, all legislative acts descending from St. Petersburg were implemented in Finland only after their approval by the Sejm, it’s just that now they came not from Stockholm, but from St. Petersburg and were signed not by the Swedish king, but by the Russian Emperor.
The Grand Duchy of Finland had its own constitution, different from Russia, its own army, police, post office, customs on the border with Russia, and even its own institution of citizenship(!). Only citizens of the Grand Duchy, but not Russian subjects, could hold any government positions in Finland.
But the Finns had full rights in the empire and freely made a career in Russia, like the same Mannerheim who went from cornet to lieutenant general. Finland had its own financial system and all taxes collected were directed only to the needs of the principality; not a single ruble was transferred to St. Petersburg.
Since the dominant position in the country was occupied by the Swedish language (all office work, teaching in schools and universities was conducted in it, it was spoken in the Sejm and the Senate), it was declared the only state language.
Finland, as part of Russia, had the status of non-autonomy - it was a separate state, whose connection with the Russian Empire was limited to external attributes: the flag, coat of arms and the Russian ruble circulating on its territory. However, the ruble did not reign here for long. In 1860, the Grand Duchy of Finland acquired its own currency - the Finnish mark.
By the end of the 19th century, only foreign policy representation and issues of strategic defense of the Grand Duchy remained with the imperial power.
Finns against Swedish dominance
By the middle of the 19th century, many ethnic Finns appeared among the intelligentsia in Finland - these were the descendants of peasants who had studied and become people. They demanded that we not forget that this country is called Finland and that most of its population are Finns, not Swedes, and therefore it is necessary to promote the Finnish language and develop Finnish culture in the country.
In 1858, the first Finnish gymnasium appeared in Finland, and at the University of Helsingfors it was allowed to use the Finnish language during debates. A whole Fennomania movement arose, whose adherents demanded that Finnish be given the status of a state language along with Swedish.
The Swedes, who occupied the upper social strata of Finnish society, categorically disagreed with this and in 1848 achieved the prohibition of the Finnish language in the principality. And then the Finns remembered that the principality is part of the vast Russian Empire and above the Senate and Sejm is His Majesty the Emperor.
In 1863, during the visit of Alexander II to Finland, Johan Snellman, a prominent statesman of the principality, approached him with a request to grant the vast majority of the people of Finland the right to speak their native language.
Alexander II, instead of sending the freethinker to the dungeons of the Peter and Paul Fortress, with his manifesto made Finnish the second state language in Finland and introduced it into office work.
The offensive of the Russian Empire on Finnish autonomy
By the end of the 19th century, this isolation of Finland became a stick in the wheel of the Russian Empire. The approaching 20th century required the unification of legislation, the army, the creation of a unified economy and financial system, and here Finland is a state within a state.
Nicholas II issued a manifesto in which he reminded the Finns that, in fact, the Grand Duchy of Finland was part of the Russian Empire and gave the command to Governor General Bobrikov to bring Finland to Russian standards.
In 1890, Finland lost its postal autonomy. In 1900, Russian was declared the third state language in Finland, and all office work was translated into Russian. In 1901, Finland lost its army, it became part of the Russian one.
A law was passed that gave citizens of the Russian Empire equal rights with citizens of Finland - they were allowed to hold government positions and purchase real estate in the principality. The rights of the Senate and the Sejm were significantly reduced - the emperor could now introduce laws in Finland without consulting them.
Finnish outrage
The Finns, accustomed to their simply unlimited autonomy, perceived this as an unheard-of attack on their rights. Articles began to appear in the Finnish press proving that “Finland is a special state, inextricably linked with Russia, but not part of it.” There were open calls for the creation of an independent Finnish state. The national-cultural movement grew into a struggle for independence.
By the beginning of the 20th century, there was already talk throughout Finland that it was time to move from proclamations and articles to radical means of fighting for independence. On June 3, 1904, in the building of the Finnish Senate, Eigen Schauman shot three times from a revolver at the Governor General of Finland Bobrikov, mortally wounding him. Schauman himself shot himself after the assassination attempt.
"Quiet" Finland
In November 1904, disparate groups of nationalist radicals came together and founded the Finnish Active Resistance Party. A series of terrorist attacks began. They shot at governors-general and prosecutors, police officers and gendarmes, and bombs exploded in the streets.
The sports society “Union of Strength” appeared; the young Finns who joined it mainly practiced shooting. After a whole warehouse was found on the premises of the society in 1906, it was banned, and the leaders were put on trial. But, since the trial was Finnish, everyone was acquitted.
Finnish nationalists established contacts with the revolutionaries. Social Revolutionaries, Social Democrats, anarchists - all sought to provide all possible assistance to the fighters for an independent Finland. Finnish nationalists did not remain in debt. Lenin, Savinkov, Gapon and many others were hiding in Finland. In Finland, revolutionaries held their congresses and conferences, and illegal literature went to Russia through Finland.
The proud Finns' desire for independence in 1905 was supported by Japan, which allocated money to purchase weapons for Finnish fighters. With the outbreak of the First World War, Germany became concerned about the problems of the Finns and organized a camp on its territory to train Finnish volunteers in military affairs. The trained specialists were supposed to return home and become the fighting core of the national uprising. Finland was moving straight towards an armed rebellion.
The clans of the republic
There was no mutiny. On October 26 (November 8), 1917, at 2:10 a.m., the representative of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee, Antonov-Ovseenko, entered the Small Dining Room of the Winter Palace and declared the ministers of the Provisional Government who were there arrested.
In Helsingfors there was a pause and on December 6, when it became clear that the Provisional Government was not able to take control even of the capital, the Eduskunta (Finnish Parliament) declared the country's independence.
The first to recognize the new state was the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian Soviet Republic (as Soviet Russia was called in the early days). Over the next two months, Finland was recognized by most European countries, including France and Germany, and in 1919 Great Britain joined them.
In 1808, the Russian Empire accepted into its fold the seed of the future Finnish statehood. For more than a hundred years, Russia carried a fruit in its womb, which by 1917 developed, grew stronger and broke free. The baby turned out to be strong, overcame childhood infections (the civil war) and got back on his feet. And although the baby did not grow into a giant, today Finland is without any doubt an established state, and God bless her.
On April 1, 1808, Russian Tsar Alexander I issued a manifesto “On the conquest of Swedish Finland and its permanent annexation to Russia,” which extended his power to the lands inhabited by Finns, conquered from Sweden.
Unnecessary lands
The Middle Ages in North-Eastern Europe were marked by competition between the Swedes and Russians. Karelia, back in the 12th-13th centuries, came under the influence of Veliky Novgorod, and most of Finland at the turn of the 1st and 2nd millennia AD. e. conquered by the Swedish Vikings.
The Swedes, using Finland as a springboard, tried to expand eastward for centuries, but for a long time suffered one defeat after another from the Novgorodians, including from Prince Alexander Nevsky.
Only in the Livonian (1558-1583) and Russian-Swedish (1614-1617) wars were the Swedes able to inflict severe defeats on our ancestors, which forced Russia to temporarily abandon the lands on the shores of the Baltic Sea.
- Painting by Mikhail Shankov “Charles XII near Narva”
However, during the Northern War of 1700-1721, Tsar Peter I defeated Sweden and took back Ingermanland (a historical region in the north-west of modern Russia), part of Karelia and the Baltic states.
“After the Northern War, Russia solved its geopolitical problems in the Baltic, when they not only opened a window to Europe, but also opened the door. However, Peter I did not go further than the Vyborg region on the Karelian Isthmus,” said Vladimir Baryshnikov, Doctor of Historical Sciences, head of the Department of History of Modern and Contemporary Times, professor at St. Petersburg State University, in an interview with RT.
According to the expert, Peter needed Vyborg in order to secure St. Petersburg. Finland itself did not represent any special value in his eyes. In the 18th century, Sweden initiated military conflicts with Russia twice more, trying to regain what was lost in the Northern War, but was unable to achieve anything. Russian troops both times entered the territory of Finland and then left it - the authorities of the Russian Empire did not see the need to annex the undeveloped northern region.
Russia's geopolitical aspirations at this time were aimed at the Black Sea region. And the fact that Alexander I nevertheless turned to the north, according to Vladimir Baryshnikov, is a great merit of the diplomatic talent of Napoleon Bonaparte, who once again pitted Russia against Sweden.
During the military operations of 1808, Russian troops captured Abo (Turku) without a fight on March 22, and on April 1, Emperor Alexander I officially announced the annexation of Finland to Russia as a separate Grand Duchy.
“Russia got Finland to a certain extent by accident, and this largely determined the attitude of official St. Petersburg towards the newly acquired territories,” noted Professor Baryshnikov.
Under the rule of Russian emperors
In 1809, the finally defeated Sweden officially transferred Finland to Russia. “Finland retained its parliament, was given a number of benefits, and did not change the rules established under the Swedes,” added Vladimir Baryshnikov.
According to Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of the Russian State University for the Humanities Alexandra Bakhturina, Swedish influence in Finland remained for several decades. However, from the middle of the 19th century, the Finns themselves began to increasingly participate in the political life of the Grand Duchy.
“Under Tsar Alexander II, Finns became full-fledged participants in the political process in Finland, and therefore many of them still respect the emperor and consider him one of the creators of the Finnish state,” noted Alexandra Bakhturina in an interview with RT.
- Painting by Emanuel Telning “Alexander I opens the Diet of Borgo 1809”
In 1863, the Tsar recognized Finnish as the official language on the territory of the principality along with Swedish. The socio-economic situation in Finland also improved in the 19th century. “Sweden squeezed all the juice out of the territories inhabited by Finns, and Russia did not even try to collect taxes, leaving a significant part of local taxes for the development of the region itself. Something reminiscent of modern free economic zones was created,” Baryshnikov explained.
From 1815 to 1870, the population of Finland increased from 1 to 1.75 million people. Industrial production increased 300 times between 1840 and 1905. In terms of the pace of industrialization, Finland was even ahead of St. Petersburg, Donbass and the Urals.
The Grand Duchy had its own postal service and its own justice system. Universal conscription was not in effect on its territory, but since 1855 Finland received the right to create its own armed forces for the purpose of “self-defense.” And in the 1860s, a monetary system separate from Russia, based on the Finnish mark, even appeared in the principality.
Although the Diet did not meet from 1809 to 1863, the Russian governors-general pursued a fairly careful policy and acted as a kind of “lawyer” for Finland in the face of the emperor. In the 1860-1880s, the Finnish parliament began to convene regularly, and a multi-party system began to form in the principality.
"Western Perimeter" of the Empire
However, Alexander III and Nicholas II set a course for curtailing Finland's autonomy. In 1890-1899, regulations were adopted, according to which a number of internal political issues were removed from the competence of the Diet and transferred to the central authorities of the empire, the liquidation of the armed forces and monetary system of Finland was launched, the scope of the Russian language was expanded, those fighting separatism began to work in the territory of the principality gendarmes.
“The actions of Nicholas II cannot be considered outside the international context. A crisis was beginning in Europe, everything was heading towards a big war, and the “western perimeter” of the empire - Ukraine, Poland, the Baltic states, Finland - was of great interest to the Germans. The tsar made attempts to strengthen state security,” Alexandra Bakhturina shared her opinion with RT.
The measures taken by the Russian authorities began to cause irritation in Finnish society. Terrorist attacks began, directed both against Russian administrators and against representatives of local government focused on St. Petersburg.
The Russo-Japanese War and the 1905 Revolution distracted the Tsar from the problems of Finland. The Finns acquiesced and were allowed to hold parliamentary elections, in which women were granted the right to vote for the first time in Europe. However, after the revolutionary events subsided, a new wave of Russification began.
Despite the fact that with the outbreak of the First World War, Finland found itself in a privileged position (there was no general mobilization, it was half provided with Russian bread), pro-German groups arose in the principality. Young people who became members of the so-called Jaeger movement traveled to Germany and fought as part of the German army against Russia.
At the next parliamentary elections, the Social Democrats won a landslide victory, immediately demanding greater autonomy for Finland, and the left-wing Diet was dissolved in 1917 by the Provisional Government. But the conservatives who came to power instead of the Social Democrats turned out to be even more radical, and against the backdrop of the acute socio-economic crisis that broke out in the fall of 1917, they raised the issue of Finnish independence head on.
From love to hate
At the end of 1917, Finnish deputies desperately tried to achieve recognition of the sovereignty of Finland, but the world community was silent - the future of the territory was considered an internal matter of Russia. However, the Soviet authorities, aware of how strong social democratic sentiments were among the Finns and hoping to gain an ally in the international arena, unexpectedly met the former principality halfway. On December 31, 1917, the Council of People's Commissars recognized Finland as an independent state.
At the end of January 1918, an uprising of Social Democrats began in Finland. Power in Helsinki and other southern cities passed to the Reds. The conservatives who won the 1917 elections fled to northern Finland. A civil war began in the country.
Former tsarist officers played an important role in the fighting on both sides of the front line. Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Svechnikov, who joined the Social Democratic Party, fought in the ranks of the Reds, and Tsarist General Karl Mannerheim became one of the founders of the Finnish White movement.
According to Vladimir Baryshnikov, the forces of the parties were approximately equal, none of them had a decisive advantage. The outcome of the war was actually decided by the Germans who landed in Finland in April 1918 and struck the Reds in the rear. The Whites, who conquered power with German bayonets, carried out a massacre in Finland, during which, according to some sources, up to 30 thousand people died.
The Finnish government turned out to be irreconcilable enemies of the Soviets. In 1918, White Finnish troops invaded Russian territory.
The First Soviet-Finnish War was fought for two years with varying success, ending with the signing of a peace treaty in 1920, according to which the territories that had been part of Russia for centuries, in particular Western Karelia, were transferred under the control of Helsinki.
The conflict of 1921-1922, initiated by Finland, did not affect the configuration of the border in any way. However, in the 1930s, against the backdrop of an international crisis engulfing Europe, the USSR authorities tried to negotiate with the Finns on an exchange of territories and the lease of a naval base in order to protect themselves from the possibility of the Germans attacking Leningrad from the territory of a neighboring state. Finland rejected Soviet proposals, which ultimately led to a new war. During the fighting of 1939-1940, the troops of the Soviet Union reached the lines where Peter I stood two centuries earlier.
During World War II, Finland became one of the closest allies of the Third Reich, providing the Nazis with a springboard for an attack on the Soviet Union, trying to break into Leningrad and killing tens of thousands of Soviet citizens in concentration camps in Karelia.
However, after the turning point in the Great Patriotic War, Finland turned away from the Third Reich and signed an armistice with the Soviet Union in September 1944.
The motto of Finland’s foreign policy for many years was the words of its post-war president Urho Kekkonen: “Do not look for friends far, but enemies close.”
At the beginning of the 19th century, an event occurred that influenced the fate of an entire people who inhabited the territory adjacent to the coast of the Baltic Sea, and for many centuries were under the jurisdiction of the Swedish monarchs. This historical act was the annexation of Finland to Russia, the history of which formed the basis of this article.
The document that became the result of the Russian-Swedish war
On September 17, 1809, on the shores of the Gulf of Finland in the city of Friedrichsham, Emperor Alexander I and Gustav IV signed an agreement, which resulted in the annexation of Finland to Russia. This document was the result of the victory of Russian troops, supported by France and Denmark, in the last of a long series of Russian-Swedish wars.
The annexation of Finland to Russia under Alexander 1 was a response to the appeal of the Borgor Diet, the first class assembly of the peoples inhabiting Finland, to the Russian government with a request to accept their country into Russia as the Grand Duchy of Finland, and to conclude a personal union.
Most historians believe that it was the positive reaction of Emperor Alexander I to this popular expression of will that gave impetus to the formation of the Finnish national state, the population of which had previously been completely under the control of the Swedish elite. Thus, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Finland owes the creation of its statehood to Russia.
Finland within the Kingdom of Sweden
It is known that until the beginning of the 19th century, the territory of Finland, where the Sumy and Em tribes lived, never constituted an independent state. In the period from the 10th to the beginning of the 14th century, it belonged to Novgorod, but in 1323 it was conquered by Sweden and came under its control for many centuries.
According to the Orekhov Treaty concluded in the same year, Finland became part of the Kingdom of Sweden on the basis of autonomy, and in 1581 received the formal status of the Grand Duchy of Finland. However, in reality, its population was subjected to severe discrimination in legal and administrative terms. Despite the fact that the Finns had the right to delegate their representatives to the Swedish parliament, their number was so insignificant that it did not allow them to have any significant influence on the resolution of current issues. This state of affairs persisted until another Russian-Swedish war broke out in 1700.
Finland's accession to Russia: the beginning of the process
During the Northern War, the most significant events took place on Finnish territory. In 1710, the troops of Peter I, after a successful siege, captured the well-fortified city of Vyborg and thus secured access to the Baltic Sea. The next victory of the Russian troops, won four years later at the Battle of Napusa, made it possible to liberate almost the entire Grand Duchy of Finland from the Swedes.
This could not yet be considered as a complete annexation of Finland to Russia, since a significant part of it still remained part of Sweden, but the beginning of the process had been made. Even subsequent attempts to take revenge for the defeat, undertaken by the Swedes in 1741 and 1788, but both times were unsuccessful, could not stop him.
Nevertheless, under the terms of the Treaty of Nystadt, which ended the Northern War and concluded in 1721, the territories of Estland, Livonia, Ingria, as well as a number of islands of the Baltic Sea went to Russia. In addition, Southwestern Karelia and the second largest city in Finland, Vyborg, became part of the empire.
It became the administrative center of the soon-created Vyborg province, which was included in the St. Petersburg province. According to this document, Russia assumed obligations in all Finnish territories transferred to it to preserve the previously existing rights of citizens and the privileges of individual social groups. It also provided for the preservation of all previous religious foundations, including the freedom of the population to profess the evangelical faith, perform divine services and study in religious educational institutions.
The next stage of expansion of the northern borders
During the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in 1741, a new Russian-Swedish war broke out. It also became one of the stages of the process that, almost seven decades later, resulted in the annexation of Finland to Russia.
Briefly, its results can be reduced to two main points - the seizure of a significant territory of the Grand Duchy of Finland, which was under Swedish control, which allowed Russian troops to advance all the way to Uleaborg, as well as the highest manifesto that followed. In it, on March 18, 1742, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna announced the introduction of independent rule throughout the territory conquered from Sweden.
In addition, a year later, in the large administrative center of Finland - the city of Abo - the Russian government concluded an agreement with representatives of the Swedish side, according to which all of South-Eastern Finland became part of Russia. It was a very significant territory, which included the cities of Vilmanstrand, Friedrichsgam, Neyshlot with its powerful fortress, as well as the Kymenegor and Savolaki provinces. As a result of this, the Russian border moved even further away from St. Petersburg, thereby reducing the danger of a Swedish attack on the Russian capital.
In 1744, all the territories included in the agreement signed in the city of Abo were annexed to the previously created Vyborg province, and together with it formed the newly formed Vyborg province. The following counties were established on its territory: Serdobolsky, Vilmanstrandsky, Friedrichsgamsky, Neyshlotsky, Kexholmsky and Vyborgsky. In this form, the province existed until the end of the 18th century, after which it was transformed into a governorate with a special form of government.
The accession of Finland to Russia: an alliance beneficial to both states
At the beginning of the 19th century, the territory of Finland, which was part of Sweden, was an underdeveloped agricultural region. Its population at that time did not exceed 800 thousand people, of whom only 5.5% lived in cities. The peasants, who were tenants of land, were subject to double oppression both from the Swedish feudal lords and from their own. This largely slowed down the development of national culture and self-awareness.
The annexation of Finnish territory to Russia was undoubtedly beneficial to both states. Alexander I was thus able to move the border even further away from his capital, St. Petersburg, which greatly contributed to strengthening its security.
The Finns, being under the control of Russia, received quite a lot of freedom both in the field of legislative and executive power. However, this event was preceded by the next, 11th, and last in history, the Russian-Swedish War, which broke out in 1808 between the two states.
The last war between Russia and Sweden
As is known from archival documents, the war with the Kingdom of Sweden was not part of the plans of Alexander I and was only a forced act on his part, the consequence of which was the annexation of Finland to Russia. The fact is that, according to the Tilsit Peace Treaty, signed in 1807 between Russia and Napoleonic France, the sovereign took upon himself the responsibility to persuade Sweden and Denmark to a continental blockade created against the common enemy at that time - England.
If there were no problems with the Danes, then the Swedish king Gustav IV categorically rejected the proposal put forward to him. Having exhausted all possibilities to achieve the desired result diplomatically, Alexander I was forced to resort to military pressure.
Already at the beginning of hostilities, it became obvious that, with all his arrogance, the Swedish monarch was not able to field against the Russian troops a sufficiently powerful army capable of holding the territory of Finland, where the main military operations took place. As a result of a three-pronged offensive, the Russians reached the Kaliksjoki River in less than a month and forced Gustav IV to begin negotiations for peace on terms dictated by Russia.
New title of the Russian Emperor
As a result of the Friedricham Peace Treaty - under this name the agreement signed in September 1809 went down in history, Alexander I began to be called the Grand Duke of Finland. According to this document, the Russian monarch took upon himself the obligation to assist in every possible way in the implementation of the laws adopted by the Finnish Sejm and received its approval.
This clause of the treaty was very important, since it gave the emperor control over the activities of the Diet, and made him essentially the head of the legislative branch. After Finland was annexed to Russia (1808), only with the consent of St. Petersburg was it allowed to convene the Sejm and introduce changes to the legislation that existed at that time.
From constitutional monarchy to absolutism
The annexation of Finland to Russia, the date of which coincides with the day of the announcement of the Tsar's manifesto of March 20, 1808, was accompanied by a number of very specific circumstances. Considering that Russia, according to the treaty, was obliged to provide the Finns with much of what they unsuccessfully sought from the Swedish government (the right to self-determination, as well as political and social freedoms), significant difficulties arose along this path.
It should be taken into account that previously the Grand Duchy of Finland was part of Sweden, that is, a state that had a constitutional structure, elements of separation of powers, class representation in parliament and, most importantly, the absence of serfdom among the rural population. Now the annexation of Finland to Russia made it part of a country dominated by an absolute monarchy, where the very word “constitution” aroused rage among the conservative elite of society, and any progressive reforms met inevitable resistance.
Creation of a commission for Finnish affairs
We should pay tribute to Alexander I, who was able to take a rather sober look at this issue, and put his liberal protégé, Count M. M. Speransky, who became famous for his reform activities, at the head of the commission he established to solve the existing problems.
Having studied in detail all the features of life in Finland, the count recommended that the sovereign base its state structure on the principle of autonomy while preserving all local traditions. He also developed instructions intended for the work of this commission, the main provisions of which formed the basis of the future constitution of Finland.
The annexation of Finland to Russia (1808) and the further structure of its internal political life were largely the result of decisions made by the Borgori Diet, with the participation of representatives of all social strata of society. After drawing up and signing the relevant document, the members of the Seimas took an oath of allegiance to the Russian emperor and the state, under the jurisdiction of which they voluntarily entered.
It is interesting to note that, upon ascending the throne, all subsequent representatives of the House of Romanov also issued manifestos certifying the annexation of Finland to Russia. A photo of the first of them, which belonged to Alexander I, is included in our article.
After joining Russia in 1808, the territory of Finland expanded somewhat due to the transfer of the Vyborg (formerly Finnish) province under its jurisdiction. The official languages at that time were Swedish, which became widespread due to the historical characteristics of the country’s development, and Finnish, which was spoken by all of its indigenous population.
The consequences of Finland's annexation to Russia turned out to be very favorable for its development and the formation of statehood. Thanks to this, for more than a hundred years, no significant contradictions arose between the two states. It should be noted that during the entire period of Russian rule, the Finns, unlike the Poles, never rebelled or tried to break away from the control of their stronger neighbor.
The picture changed radically in 1917, after the Bolsheviks, led by V.I. Lenin, granted independence to Finland. Responding to this act of goodwill with black ingratitude and taking advantage of the difficult situation inside Russia, the Finns started a war in 1918 and, having occupied the western part of Karelia up to the Sestra River, advanced to the Pechenga region, partially capturing the Rybachy and Sredny peninsulas.
Such a successful start pushed the Finnish government to a new military campaign, and in 1921 they invaded Russian borders, hatching plans to create a “Greater Finland.” However, this time their successes were much less modest. The last armed confrontation between two northern neighbors - the Soviet Union and Finland - was the war that broke out in the winter of 1939-1940.
It also did not bring victory to the Finns. As a result of hostilities that lasted from late November to mid-March and the peace treaty that ended the conflict, Finland lost almost 12% of its territory, including the second largest city of Vyborg. In addition, more than 450 thousand Finns lost their housing and property and were forced to hastily evacuate from the front line into the interior of the country.
Conclusion
Despite the fact that the Soviet side placed full responsibility for the start of the conflict on the Finns, citing the artillery shelling they allegedly launched, the international community accused the Stalinist government of starting the war. As a result, in December 1939, the Soviet Union, as an aggressor state, was expelled from the League of Nations. This war made many forget all the good things that the annexation of Finland to Russia once brought with it.
Russia Day, unfortunately, is not celebrated in Finland. Instead, Finns celebrate Independence Day every year on December 6, remembering how in 1917 the Bolshevik government gave them the opportunity to separate from Russia and continue their own historical path.
Nevertheless, it would hardly be an exaggeration to say that Finland owes much of its current position among other European countries to the influence that Russia had in former times on its formation and acquisition of its own statehood.