For the first time, the border between Russia and Sweden was defined in 1323 according to the Treaty of Orekhovka, according to which all of modern Finland went to Sweden. In 1581 Finland received the title of Grand Duchy. According to the Peace of Nystadt, Sweden returned South-Eastern Finland and Vyborg to Russia. After the Northern War, anti-Swedish sentiments intensified in Finland, and according to the Peace of Abos in 1743, South-Eastern Finland was ceded to Russia. And only in 1809, after the Russian-Swedish war of 1808-1809, all of Finland was ceded to Russia. While being part of Sweden, Finland a) bore the burden of the Swedish wars, b) was a raw material appendage of Sweden, c) was completely dependent on Sweden and c) bore the economic burden.
After the war of 1808-09. Finland's situation has changed greatly. The cause of the war was the Peace of Tilsit between Fr. and Russia, after which England found an ally in the Swedes and sent it against Russia. The Swedish king announced the impossibility of reconciliation with Russia as long as it held Eastern Finland. Russia began military operations first. Its goal was to conquer all of Finland and secure the northern borders by eliminating the common border with Sweden.
After successful military operations in 1808, a declaration was issued on the accession of “Swedish Finland” to Russia. In 1809, the Treaty of Friedrichsham was signed, according to which all of Finland went to Russia. The Borovsky Diet of 1809 approved the entry of Finland into Russia. The annexed lands received the status of the Grand Duchy of Finland.
The foundations of the autonomy of the Grand Duchy of Finland were laid by the decisions of the Borgo Diet with the participation of deputies from all classes of Finnish society, when the Emperor (Grand Duke) pledged to “inviolably preserve and protect” Finnish laws. Then the Sejm took the oath of allegiance to Alexander I as the All-Russian Emperor and Grand Duke of Finland and swore allegiance to serving the country. The same manifestos (“certificates”) were issued by subsequent Russian sovereigns upon their accession to the throne. Finnish laws were based on such state legal documents as the “Form of Government” of 1722 and the “Act of Union and Security” of 1789, which regulated the position of the Grand Duchy of Finland within Sweden. These documents endowed the monarch (formerly the Swedish king, and now the All-Russian Emperor) with great power, which at the same time was limited to the estates. Thus, the Grand Duke, having the sole right to convene the Sejm, could not, without his consent, approve new and change old laws, introduce taxes and revise the privileges of the estates, that is legislature belonged to the Grand Duke together with the Sejm. The Grand Duke was assigned broad powers in the field of economic (economic) legislation: he could issue, without the participation of representatives of the estates (i.e., without the Sejm), government decrees that had the force of law; they related to the public economy and public administration, income and taxes received from use of crown property and customs. Moreover, if a resolution of the Sejm had already been issued on a specific issue, it could be changed or canceled only with the consent of the Sejm. Grand Duke could come up with a legislative initiative before the Sejm, approved or rejected the laws and budget of Finland, had the right to pardon and elevation to count and knighthood. Representing the country's interests in foreign policy and defense issues was his exclusive competence.
Alexander I gave assurances to the Borgo Diet that “except for the establishment of the militia and the formation of regular troops at His Majesty’s own funds... no other method of recruitment or military design will take place in Finland.” In accordance with this assurance, until 1867, the Grand Duchy of Finland had mercenary troops, the number of which in other years reached 4,500 people. With the introduction of universal conscription, Finland received not only in fact, but also legally, its own special national army, which, however, could not be withdrawn outside the principality and was intended only for defense.
In the Grand Duchy of Finland, the king had the rights of a constitutional monarch. The main authorities in the country were the Sejm, the Senate, as well as the Governor-General and the Minister of State. The Sejm consisted of four class chambers that met separately; it represented: knighthood, nobility, clergy, burghers (citizens) and peasants. In July 1809, Finland for the first time during its stay as part of Russia received the right to create a government. The Government Council was established as such a body. The representative of the supreme imperial power - the governor-general - was appointed by the king and was ex-officio chairman of the Finnish Senate.
In administrative-territorial terms, Finland in 1811 consisted of eight provinces, and this structure remained until December 1917.
The official languages of Finland were Swedish and Finnish. If at the end of the 18th century in Finland there was one newspaper published in Swedish, then at the end of the 19th century there were 300 newspapers, with 2/3 published in Finnish. During the years of its stay as part of the empire, the Finnish economy, which developed under the shadow of protective duties and various privileges, began to progress even in comparison with the industrialized parts of the Russian Empire (Central Industrial Region, St. Petersburg, Donbass, mining Urals). The level of industrial production in Finland in 1905 increased 300 times compared to 1840. Under Nicholas I, the post of Minister-Secretary of State was established for greater control over Finland, otherwise Nicholas I guaranteed the rights assigned to Finland.
An important historical milestone in modern history Finland was born in 1863, when the Finnish Sejm met in Helsingforss after more than half a century, according to the decisions of which the four-part Sejm system, democratic privileges, etc. were finally formed, after which the Sejm began to convene more often, and political parties began to form. Under Alexander III, there was a tendency towards the unification of Finnish legislation with Russian legislation. By the Manifesto of 1890, issues “of national importance” were removed from the jurisdiction of the Finnish Sejm and transferred to the supreme authorities of the empire. From now on, all such questions concerning Finland, after their discussion at the Diet, were to go through State Council empire with the participation of Finnish representatives. After this, they could submit for final approval by the king. The course towards limiting the autonomy of the Grand Duchy of Finland was clearly expressed in the course of the Governor-General of Finland N.I. Bobrikov: he liquidated the Finnish armed forces, strengthened the Russification of the administration and school education; completely or partially closed 72 periodicals and a number of public organizations, expelled opposition political figures from the principality. He was granted “special powers,” including the right to close commercial and industrial establishments, private societies, and to expel unwanted persons abroad administratively. In 1904 Bobrikov was killed by E. Schauman. After the “red strike” in Finland in 1905, Nicholas II signed the “highest” manifesto, which canceled all decisions of Governor General Bobrikov, previously adopted without the consent of the Finnish Sejm. A new parliament was convened by popular vote. But already in 1909 a law was passed according to which the Duma and the State Council were given the right to pass laws for Finland.
The Finns lived well in the Russian Empire. The Grand Duchy of Finland enjoyed unprecedented autonomy. Russians went there to work and sought permanent residence. Finnish language and culture flourished.
Accession
In 1807, Napoleon defeated the coalition of Prussia and Russia, or rather, defeated the Russian army led by the German Bennigsen. Peace negotiations began, during which Bonaparte met with Alexander I in Tilsit (now Sovetsk, Kaliningrad region).
Napoleon sought to make Russia an ally, and explicitly promised her both Finland and the Balkans. It was not possible to agree on a close alliance, but one of the main demands on Russia was to facilitate the naval blockade of England. For this, if necessary, a war with Sweden was implied, which provided the British with its ports.
In February 1808, the Russian army, led by the Ostsee resident Busgevden, entered Finland. The hostilities continued for a whole year under awkward leadership Russian generals of German origin. Tired of the war, the parties made peace on conditions that seemed obvious from the very beginning (it is not for nothing that in Swedish historiography the war is called Finnish) - Russia acquired Finland.
Grand Duchy of Finland: creation
Finland became part of the Russian Empire with the preservation of all possible rights and freedoms that existed before. This was declared personally by Alexander I at the very beginning of the war, and then at the Diet in Borgo (the Swedish name of the city of Porvoo, where the film “Behind the Matches” was filmed) even before the formal end of the war with Sweden.
Thus, the main Swedish code of laws - the General Code of the Kingdom of Sweden - has been preserved in Finland. The legislative body and supreme judicial body of Finland became the Government Council, independent from the St. Petersburg bureaucracy, and later the Imperial Finnish Senate, which held meetings in Swedish.
The main legislative body was formally the Sejm, but it began to act actively only with mid-19th century. Governors-general were extremely nominal until the end of the 19th century. Alexander I ruled the principality personally through a special committee, later transformed into a secretariat of state, headed by Finns. The capital was moved in 1812 from Turku (formerly Swedish Abo) to Helsingfors (Helsinki).
Simple Finnish peasant
Even before joining Russia, the peasants in Finland lived, in the words of Prince Vyazemsky, “quite fairly well,” better than the Russians, and even sold grain to Sweden. Thanks to the fact that the Grand Duchy of Finland did not pay anything to the treasury of the Russian Empire, the well-being of the people there, of course, improved significantly. There was a large stream of peasant walkers from nearby provinces - both Russians and Finns. Many sought to go to Finland for permanent residence. Peddlers were not liked in Finland; a village policeman could detain them without cause. There are eyewitness accounts that when the peddlers decided to run away, the policeman shouted: “Kill the damned Russians, nothing will happen to you.” Men also went to Finland to work in factories, cutting fields, deforestation, and were often hired for agricultural work. As Bubnovsky, a researcher of the Russian North, wrote, “The real breadbasket of Karelia and its gold mine is Finland.”
Old Finland and new Finland
This episode in the history of the Grand Duchy of Finland shows how different the structure of the annexed territory and the Russian lands bordering it were. In 1811, Alexander I annexed the so-called Old Finland - the Finnish province - lands conquered from Sweden in previous wars - to the new principality. But legal issues arose. There was no serfdom in Swedish legislation, peasants were tenants with broad rights to land, and imperial order had already reigned in the Finnish province - the lands belonged to Russian landowners.
Because of this, the inclusion of old Finland into the principality was accompanied by conflicts, so acute that the Diet even proposed in 1822 to abandon the idea. But in the end, the laws of the principality were introduced on the territory of the province. The peasants did not want to become free tenants in Finland, and riots even broke out in a number of volosts. Only by 1837, those peasants who did not sign the lease agreement were evicted from their former lands.
Fennomania
Thanks to greater autonomous rights, the Finnish culture movement, Fennomania, flourished in Finland. Its adherents advocated the Finnish language instead of Swedish, and for a deep study of Finnish traditions. IN early XIX centuries, Finnish was the language of the common people, Swedish remained the official language. The Fennomans published newspapers, conducted educational work at universities, etc.
In 1826, Finnish was taught at the University of Helsingfors. During these same years, Finnish literature flourished. For several reactionary years after the European revolutions of 1848, the Finnish language was de jure banned, but the ban had almost no effect, and was lifted in 1860. With the cultural revival of the Finns, the national liberation movement is growing - for the creation of their own state.
Unlimited autonomy
There are a lot of examples that confirm this definition: an autonomous legal system and its own legislative assembly - the Sejm (which met every five years, and since 1885 - every three years, and received the right of legislative initiative); separate army legislation - they didn’t take recruits there, but the Finns had their own army.
Historians and legal scholars identify a number of other signs of Finnish sovereignty: separate citizenship, which the rest of the empire’s inhabitants could not obtain; restriction of Russians in property rights – real estate it was extremely difficult to buy in the principality; separate religion (Orthodox could not teach history); own post office, customs, bank and financial system. At that time, such autonomy rights for an annexed territory were unprecedented.
Finns in the Emperor's Service
As for the opportunities for Finns in Russia, by the time they join Russian army There was a Finnish regiment, which in 1811 became the Imperial Life Guards Guards Regiment, a very honored one. It consisted, of course, of representatives of the so-called. "Old Finland", but also new Finns could build a career in the Empire. Suffice it to recall Mannerheim, who learned Russian for the sake of military education and made a brilliant career. There were many such Finnish soldiers. The Finnish regiment included so many officers and non-commissioned officers that the latter were commissioned as soldiers.
Restriction of autonomy and Russification: a failed attempt
This period is associated with the work of the Finnish Governor-General Nikolai Bobrikov. He submitted a note to Nicholas II on how to change the order in the too “sovereign” autonomy. The Tsar issued a manifesto in which he reminded the Finns that they were, in fact, part of the Russian Empire, and the fact that they retained internal laws “corresponding to the living conditions of the country” does not mean that they should not live according to general laws. Bobrikov began reforms with the introduction of general military service in Finland - so that Finns would serve outside the country, like all citizens, the Diet opposed. Then the emperor resolved the issue single-handedly, once again recalling that Finland was subordinate to the governor-general, who carried out the policy of the empire there. The Seimas called this state of affairs unconstitutional. Then the “Basic provisions on the drafting of laws” were published for the Grand Duchy of Finland, according to which the Sejm and other structures of the principality had only an advisory role in lawmaking. In 1900, the Russian language was introduced into office work, and public meetings were placed under the control of the governor-general. As a result, in 1904 Bobrikov was killed by the son of the Finnish senator Eigen Schauman. Thus ended the attempt to “take control” of the territory.
Grand Duchy of Finland at the beginning of the 20th century
Taking this opportunity, the Diet radically modernized the legal system of Finland - the four-estate system was replaced by a unicameral parliament. The electoral law passed in 1906 established universal suffrage and gave voting rights to women for the first time in Europe. Despite this democratization, the subjects of the empire and the Orthodox were deprived of their rights in Finland.
Stolypin tried to correct this arbitrariness by issuing a law that once again proclaimed that the Seimas had only an advisory voice on all issues, including internal ones. However, this law remained on paper. In 1913, laws were passed that made it possible to take money from the treasury of the Grand Duchy of Finland for defense needs, as well as on the equality of Russian citizens in Finland.
A hundred years after the conquest of Finland, all subjects of the empire were finally equal in rights on the territory of the principality, but this was the end of the policy of the “center” - then war and revolution. On December 6, 1917, Finland declared independence.
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 estimated the united military power 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. In castles and palaces reigned Swedish language, Swedish customs, Swedish culture. 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 Russian empire grown by 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.
TO end of the 19th century 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, he was approached by Johan Snellman, a prominent statesman principalities 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 language state language in Finland, all paperwork 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 Winter Palace and declared the ministers of the Provisional Government who were in it 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 the majority European countries, including France and Germany, and in 1919 they were joined by Great Britain.
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 and suffered from childhood infections ( civil war) and stood up. 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 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, in Once again pitted Russia against Sweden.
During the hostilities of 1808 Russian troops On March 22, Abo (Turku) was taken without a fight, 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 political life The Finns themselves began to participate more and more actively in 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 in 1840-1905 it increased 300 times. 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 the autonomy of Finland. In 1890-1899, regulations were adopted, according to which a number of internal political issues were removed from the competence of the Sejm and transferred to the central authorities of the empire for consideration, and liquidation was launched armed forces and the currency system of Finland, the scope of use of the Russian language expanded, gendarmes fighting separatism began to work on the territory of the principality.
“The actions of Nicholas II cannot be considered outside the international context. A crisis was beginning in Europe, everything was going to 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 met halfway and were allowed to conduct parliamentary elections, in which the right to vote was granted to women 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 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.
In the fighting on both sides of the front line, former tsarist officers. 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, which ended with the signing of a peace treaty in 1920, according to which 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 the Second World War, Finland became one of the closest allies of the Third Reich, providing the Nazis with a springboard for attacking the Soviet Union, trying to break into Leningrad and destroying concentration camps Karelia has tens of thousands of Soviet citizens.
However, after the turning point in the Great Patriotic War Finland turned its back on the Third Reich and signed an armistice with Soviet Union.
Motto foreign policy For many years, Finland was inspired by the words of its post-war president Urho Kekkonen: “Do not look for friends far, but for enemies close.”
According to archaeological data, it is known that people settled in Finland back in the Paleolithic era. The first information about this country in historical documents dates back to 98, when the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus mentioned the Finns as an unusually wild and poor tribe.
In 800-1100, the lands of Finland became military and trading bases for the Swedish Vikings. And in 1155, King Eric IX of Sweden launched a crusade against the pagan Finns, which marked the beginning of more than 650 years of the “Swedish period” in the history of Finland.
Finland is part of Russia
During the 18th-19th centuries, relations between Russia and Sweden were full of tension and dramatic moments, which could not but affect history of Finland.
The first Finnish lands became part of the Russian Empire in 1721, after the end of the Northern War. More large areas Finland, including South Karelia, Russia received as a result Russo-Swedish War in 1743.
Final annexation of Finland to Russia happened under Emperor Alexander I, after the end of the war of 1808-09. The country received the status of the Grand Duchy of Finland, its own Constitution and parliament, becoming one of the most autonomous parts of the Russian Empire.
Finland becomes an independent state
Independent history of Finland began on December 6, 1917, when at a meeting of parliament it was decided to change the government system to a republican one and secede from Russia. Since then, Independence Day has been celebrated as one of the main public holidays Finland.
Although the first state to officially recognize the independence of Finland was Soviet Russia, further relations between the two countries were not easy. In 1939-40, the USSR and Finland fought the so-called Winter War, during which a significant part of Finnish territory was annexed in favor of a more powerful neighbor.
The opportunity to restore historical justice presented itself to the Finns with the beginning of World War II. In 1941, when Germany attacked the USSR, Finland actively supported the Allies, occupying a large part of Karelia, and later taking part in the siege of Leningrad. The Russian-Finnish war continued until 1944, when Finland concluded a separate peace with the USSR, thus drawing itself into fighting with former ally Germany (Lapland War).
Modern history of Finland
After the end of World War II, Finland, like many of the USSR's European neighbors, did not become a socialist country. While remaining in line with capitalist development, Finland was able to build the warmest and most neighborly relations with the Soviet Union, receiving considerable benefits from the latter's intermediary services in trade with the West.
The rapid economic growth that began in the mid-80s brought Finland closer to the countries Western Europe. And at the national referendum held in 1994, the majority of Finns voted for this country to join the European Union. On January 1, 1995, Finland became a full member of the EU and the European Monetary Union.