| |||||||
| Anthem | "Our Land (Maamme)" | ||||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Helsinki | ||||||
| Other cities | Nevajoki, Viipuri, Tampere, Turku, Oulu | ||||||
| Language official |
Finnish, Swedish | ||||||
| others | Karelian, Estonian, Russian | ||||||
| Religion main |
Evangelical Lutheranism | ||||||
| others | Finnish Orthodoxy | ||||||
| Demonym | Finnish, Finn | ||||||
| Government | Constitutional Monarchy | ||||||
| Legislature | Parliament | ||||||
| Monarch | King Kustaa I | ||||||
| Prime Minister | Juho Kusti Paasikivi | ||||||
| Population | 6,330,969 (2010 Census) | ||||||
| Independence | from Russian Empire | ||||||
| declared | 6 December 1917 | ||||||
| recognized | 4 January 1918 | ||||||
| Currency | Baltic Markka (Finnish Markka) | ||||||
| Time Zone | EET (UTC+2) | ||||||
| summer | EEST (UTC+3) | ||||||
| Organizations | Baltic Confederacy | ||||||
Finland, officially the Kingdom of Finland is a sovereign state in Northern Europe. The country borders Sweden, Norway and Russia. The Gulf of Finland separates Finland to Estonia. Finland's population sits around 4.2 million (1920 census).
History[]
Birth of Independent Finland[]
Declaration of Independence[]
Following the October Revolution in the Russian Empire, Finland quickly declared independence for itself and was inevitably recognised by the then established Soviet Russia in early 1918.
Finnish Civil War[]
The peaceful independence was short lived as tensions between revolutionaries, Finnish Reds, and anti-revolutionaries, The White Guard, escalated to total civil war. The conflict lasted the throughout 1918, and internally resulted in a victory for the White forces.
However, the victory had cost total independence for Finland. The German Empire had provided immense leverage for the White forces, even taking Helsinki. This, combined with the German-Soviet treaty of Brest-Litovsk resulted in Finland to be a protectorate of the German Empire. Furthermore, a de facto Regent of Finland rose to power, Rüdiger von der Goltz, albeit only for a short few months until the German Empire's surrender marking the end of The Great War.
During the regency of Rüdiger von der Goltz, the Finnish senate elected Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse to become King of Finland yet renounced the throne upon suggestion as the German Empire surrendered.
Invasion of Russia[]
Simultaenously, a similar situation was occuring in the remains of the Russian Empire. Despite recognition from Soviet Russia, Finnish officials were skeptical of Russian non-aggression. In order to secure Finland's security, Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Chief of Army, designed an invasion of Russia. After summer 1919, the invasion had been a success and Finland had successfully captured the Western Baltic Coast from Soviet Russia, including the city of Petrograd.
Monarchism[]
The success of the war and Treaty of Petroskoi enabled Finland to secure it's own independence. Mannerheim's contribution and lead throughout the war made him intensively popular both politically and publicly. With thanks to his heritage, Mannerheim became King of Finland with support from pro-Monarchists in Parliament with little opposition from pro-Republicans. His coronation marked the beginning of a new era for independent Finland and his cooperation with the British Empire concreted the nations' ongoing relationship.
Roaring Twenties[]
Urbanization and Industrialization[]
The era saw rise to popular nationalism through romaniticism, cultural influence, self-determination and to an extent, conservatism. Agrarian reforms began to take place which would naturally, over time, release large estates and divide nobility equity to provide new opportunities for the upcoming ambitious working class farmers. Incentives were introduced to attract rural farmers to live and work in boom towns. A major contributor to the job market were agricultural machinery manufacturers which not only provided extensive work for capable adults in cities but also increased yields of crop and the milling industry. Due to this unique industrialisation with focus on agriculture, Finland was not reliant on an economy similar to Western Europe nations and the US and thus swift in recovering from the Great Depression.
The Gulf of Finland became the world's largest exported of timber and paper products. With Petrograd under Finnish control, Finland had total domination over the Russian-Siberian import/export industry, imposing heavy tariffs to goods passing through. Throughout the 1920s Finland used it's position in order to starve Soviet Russia of sought after resources stunting it's modernisation all the while promoting and conducting business with Siberia.
Åland[]
The Åland Islands were overwhelmingly Swedish-speaking and sought retrocession to Sweden. Finland was willing to cede the islands on the condition Finland was permitted to place military headquarters or forces on the islands in cooperation with Sweden. These demands were accepted by Sweden whom counter-offered mutual defensive support should either nation be provoked into war.
Prohibition[]
Finland enacted prohibition in 1919. Smuggling emerged and enforcement was slipshod. Criminal convictions for drunkenness went up by 500%, and violence and crime rates soared. Public opinion turned against the law, and a national plebiscite went 70% for repeal, so prohibition was ended in early 1932.
Finnicization[]
Finnicization was a movement since the late 19th century that comfortably transitioned into Finlands independence. After the War of Liberty, Finnicization spread into Karelia and Ingria. With the aquisition of the Karelian and Ingrian regions, Finland saw a surge of non-Finnish population. In Karelia, the majority of the population considered themselves Karelian with miniorities of Finnish, Russian and Sami people (to the North). White Karelians were particularly patriotic to Finland. Karelian communist symapathisers emmigrated south and east into Soviet Russia with little to no opposition by Finnish officials.
Finnish public schools were open across the Karelian region. These were almost entirely freely available to the general public and solidified Finnish as a written language for Karelians moving into the latter half of the 20th century. This was particularly successful in the eastern region of Karelia where the dialect and language had taken more influence from Russia. As the 20th century went on, Karelianism, unlike the previous centuries, began to wither out. Karelian language became a dialect and closer to Finnish, informally using slang from their Karelian roots.
Ingrian Finns fluidly assimilated into Finland. Throughout 1900-1920, Ingrian people had supported Finnish self-determination. Since the immigration of Swedish-Finns to the region during the Swedish Empire, Ingrians have considered themselves Finnish. Unlike Karelian, Ingrian identity prospered. Majority of immigrating peoples to Nevajoki were predominantly Ingrians from the surrounding region. Nevajoki acted as a bastion of Ingrian identity but maintained a Finnish undertone. The 20s saw rise to increased popular opinion of Finland from both Karelian and Ingrian peoples. The economic success combined with increased liberal freedoms compared to their lifestyles under Imperialist Russia solidified Finnish patriotism.
Demographics[]
Historical Population[]
| Year | Population | % Change | Year | Population | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1750 | 421,000 | - | 1890 | 2,380,100 | 15.49% |
| 1760 | 490,000 | 16.39% | 1900 | 2,655,900 | 11.59% |
| 1770 | 560,000 | 14.29% | 1910 | 2,943,400 | 10.82% |
| 1780 | 660,000 | 17.86% | 1920 | 3,662,300 | 24.42% |
| 1790 | 706,000 | 6.97% | 1930 | 4,028,530 | 10.00% |
| 1800 | 837,000 | 18.56% | 1940 | 4,298,442 | 6.70% |
| 1810 | 863,000 | 3.11% | 1950 | 4,685,301 | 9.00% |
| 1820 | 1,177,500 | 36.44% | 1960 | 5,228,796 | 11.60% |
| 1830 | 1,372,100 | 16.53% | 1970 | 5,437,343 | 3.99% |
| 1840 | 1,445,600 | 5.36% | 1980 | 5,641,824 | 3.76% |
| 1850 | 1,636,900 | 13.23% | 1990 | 5,886,046 | 4.33% |
| 1860 | 1,746,700 | 6.71% | 2000 | 6,110,063 | 3.81% |
| 1870 | 1,768,800 | 1.27% | 2010 | 6,330,969 | 3.62% |
| 1880 | 2,060,800 | 16.51% |
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Cities[]
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Finland's largest cities
| Rank | City | Province |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Helsinki | Uusimaa |
| 2 | Nevajoki | Ingria |
| 3 | Viipuri | Viipuri |
| 4 | Tampere | Häme |
| 5 | Turku | Turku and Pori |
| 6 | Oulu | Oulu |
| 7 | Kuopio | Kuopio |
| 8 | Petroskoi | Karelia Proper |
| 9 | Vaasa | Vaasa |
| 10 | Rovaniemi | Oulu |
| 11 | Mikkeli | Mikkeli |
| 12 | Kemijoki | White Karelia |
| 13 | Muurmanni | Kola |