Alternative History
Kingdom of Finland
Suomen kuningaskunta (Finnish)
Königreich Finnland (German)
Flag of Finland (1918-1920) Finland Greater Coat of Arms
Motto
"Maamme" (Finnish))
"Unser Land" (German)
("Our Land")
Finland Map
CapitalHelsinki
Official languages Finnish, German
Recognised regional languages Karelian, Veps, Sami, Swedish
Also spoken Russian, local Finnic languages, Swedish
Demonym Finnish
Government Constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy
 -  King Donatus I
 -  Field Marshal Theodore Mannerheim
 -  Prime Minister Johann Wirkaala
Legislature Parliament
Population
 -   estimate 6,032,320 
Currency Markka

The Kingdom of Finland (Finnish: Suomen kuningaskunta; German: Königreich Finnland), also known as Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the west, Russia to the east and south, and Norway to the north, and is defined by the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea across Russia to the south.

Finland covers an area of 338,455 square kilometres (130,678 sq mi), with a population of 5.5 million. Helsinki is the country's capital and largest city, but together with the neighboring cities of Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa, it forms a larger metropolitan area. Finnish, the native language of the Finns, is among the few Finnic languages in the world. The climate varies relative to latitude, from the southern humid continental climate to the northern boreal climate. The land cover is primarily a boreal forest biome, with more than 180,000 recorded lakes.

From the late 13th century, Finland gradually became an integral part of Sweden as a consequence of the Northern Crusades. In 1809, as a result of the Finnish War, Finland was annexed by Russia as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, during which Finnish art flourished and the idea of independence began to take hold. In 1906, Finland became the first European state to grant universal suffrage, and the first in the world to give all adult citizens the right to run for public office. Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia, tried to Russify Finland and terminate its political autonomy, but after the 1917 Russian Revolution, Finland declared independence from Russia. In 1918, the fledgling state was divided by the Finnish Civil War.

However, the effects of the Russian Civil War spilled over into Finland, with the victory of the Whites, monarchists and the ascent of Nicholas II's cousin, Cyril I, recognized the independence of Finland.

Finland is a member of the North European League, Protestant Alliance and United Nations. It is considered a regional power, and in a friendly way, competes with Sweden as being the penultimate power of Northern Europe, with both nations being dwarfed by the neighboring Russia as the ultimate power by-far.

History[]

Establishment of Independent Finland[]

In 1918, with the Bolshevik uprising in Russia and a seemingly imminent victory of the Bolsheviks, the Finnish Parliament declared independence from Russia. The effects of the Russian Civil War spilled over Finland. Unlike our OTL, certain factions of Russian Whites not loyal to Alexander Kolchak do help their Finnish counterparts, mostly monarchists. The Russian Whites and Finnish Whites are both allies, and with the fallen German Empire, the Finnish Whites now considered Russia their ally. Cyril the Reformer supported Finnish independence.

Interwar Period[]

After brief experimentation with monarchy, when an attempt to make Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse King of Finland was unsuccessful, thanks to League of Nations demands, Finland became a presidential republic, with K. J. Ståhlberg elected as its first president in 1919. As a liberal nationalist with a legal background, Ståhlberg anchored the state in liberal democracy, supported the rule of law, and embarked on internal reforms. Finland was also one of the first European countries to strongly aim for equality for women, with Miina Sillanpää serving in Väinö Tanner's cabinet as the first female minister in Finnish history in 1926–1927. The Finnish–Russian border was defined in 1920 by the Treaty of Tartu, largely following the historic border but granting Pechenga (Finnish: Petsamo) and its Barents Sea harbour to Finland. Finnish democracy did not experience any Soviet coup attempts and likewise survived the anti-communist Lapua Movement. Nevertheless, the relationship between Finland and the Soviet Union remained tense. Army officers were trained in France, and relations with Western Europe and Sweden were strengthened.

In 1917, the population was three million. Credit-based land reform was enacted after the civil war, increasing the proportion of the capital-owning population. About 70% of workers were occupied in agriculture and 10% in industry. The largest export markets were the United Kingdom, Russia and Germany.

In spite of declaring independence from Russia, Finland declared close-knit relations with its southern neighbor. In addition, monarchists and conservatives in the Finnish Parliament not only sided with Russia, but were also supported with Russian sympathies.

Rise of Nazis in Finland and entry into the Axis[]

C.G.E Mannerheim was very attracted to the Nazis, and while he didn't join their party, much like Erwin von Rommel, Mannerheim sympathized with them and welcomed their formation in Finland.

World War II & Cold War[]

During the Second World War, Finland was initially a neutral state, and didn't have much of a reason to go to war against Russia. However, with the Russian buildup of forces near the Baltics, the Finnish military elite was thoroughly convinced that Russia was planning to go to war against Finland. although C.G.E Mannerheim was very doubtful of this, and argued that no Russian forces were building up in Karelia, where he would expect such an invasion. Finnish scouts did indeed report that no Russian forces were building up in Karelia.

Hitler was growing very impatient, and soon, German leaders began to seriously pressure Mannerheim into siding with the Axis. Hitler began to court with monarchists, promising to crown Phlipp I as the King of Finland. Therefore, the 1941 coup overthrew the Finnish republic, and established Prince Phllip of Hesse as King Phillip of the I of Finland, akin to King Tomislav (from the Italian House of Savoy) being crowned King of Croatia. C.G.E. Mannerheim knew he couldn't resist this, since he was a monarchist. Therefore, he reluctantly joined the Axis war effort, but also made preperations just in case the Russians ended up victorious. In total, Finland contributed 250,000 troops for the Axis war effort. As the Russians reversed the invasion, Marshal Boris Smyslovsky invaded Karelia from the east, and Marshal Anatol von Lieven south from the Baltics. The Battle of Karelia ended up in a Russian victory, to which C.G.E Mannerheim conducted post-war negotiations, on his own, due to him having once-served in the Imperial Russian military and being a fluent Russian-speaking himself.

The post-war negotiations between Finland and Russia were independent of the Allied, in spite of pressure from the United Kingdom and United States to get involved. Both sides agreed that Karelia will be ceded to Russia and in return, the Russians continued to recognize Phillip I as the King of Finland.

During the early Cold War, Finland remained neutral, and was considered an economic gateway between Russia and the West. The two countries cooperated in the construction of the Finnish Railway, which would allow easy transportation of goods, services and capital between the two countries, In addition, as a gesture of goodwill towards Finland, Russia enacted visa-free travel for Finns into Russia, where Vyborg, Saint Petersburg, Talinn and Riga received heavy Finnish foreign workers and migrants.

In spite of having a monarch that sympathized with Nazi Germany, Finland refused to hand over King Philipp I to the western allies, this decision was backed by Russia. After several espionage attempts to assassinate the King, Finland signed a new defense pact with Russia, joining the Warsaw Pact.

Much like the Baltic Germans of the country's Russian neighbor, Finland received an influx of German migrants who too, would come to form an elite class of sorts in the country. This led to German being officialized in the country, in which it replaced Swedish as being as language of noble leite, making Finland the third country of the Warsaw Pact to officiate German as an official language. These Finnish Germans held high contacts with Baltic Germans to the south as well as in the Prussian homeland. This migration of Germans into Finland would continue on even after the Cold War, and much like the Baltic Germans, many become some of Finland's most important military leaders. The next two Marshals of Finland would be ethnic Germans.

In 1950, 46% of Finnish workers worked in agriculture and a third lived in urban areas. The new jobs in manufacturing, services, and trade quickly attracted people to the towns. The average number of births per woman declined from a baby boom peak of 3.5 in 1947 to 1.5 in 1973. When baby boomers entered the workforce, the economy did not generate jobs quickly enough, and hundreds of thousands emigrated to the more industrialized Russia and Sweden, with emigration peaking in 1969 and 1970. Finns would go on to form one of the largest groups of foreign workers in Russia and Prussia.

During the 1990s, Finland received an influx of migrants from the Baltics, after the failed insurrection of the 1990s. Finland's relations with Russia were not affected by the Tumultuous 1990s, and the country returned to being neutral. The Finns started to develop very close relations with the re-unified German state, which too, had reunified and declared political neutrality between the Western and Eastern blocs. In the 1990s, Finland's foreign relations were dominated by Germany and the United States.

Much of the 21st century of Finland is uneventful, and quite peaceful. Shortly before the 2008 global recession, Finland, as well as Russia and Germany, dropped the U.S. dollar as the currency to compare their's against. Both Finland and Germany agreed to use the ruble for petrol transections.

Politics[]

King of Finland's crown2

The crown of the King of Finland

Finland currently runs on a constitutional monarchy. The monarchs of Finland belong to the House of Hesse. The King is currently Finland's Head of State, with the Field Marshal as the Acting Head of State, while the Prime Minister is the Head of Government.

The Finnish monarchy is a hybrid of British, German, Swedish and Russian style. Like other constitutional monarchies, the King is a theocratic and constitutional position, and in Finland's case - must be a Lutheran, and is not a mere figurehead as commonly believed, and can, wield powers. It still retains and follows elements of old Swedish rites. In addition, the King (or Queen in case of the lack of male heirs), is to be a member of the House of Hesse.

However in the recent days, most of Finland's kings have embraced modernization and chosen to vest their powers in elected officials, who control the Assembly. In addition, like the United Kingdom, Finland allows for political parties, and in the most recent of days, the Social Democratic Party of Finland has become the dominant party.

However like Britain, Finland has Royal Companies, comparable to a British Crown Corporation, making the Finnish nobility extremely wealthy, and not just a family bearing courtesy titles.

Language[]

Currently, Finnish is the national language, and is one of three major Finnic languages spoken, with the other two being Karelian and Estonian (spoken in northern Russia to the south). However as the name Finland suggests, the country is also home to other Finnic languages outside of Finnish proper. Karelian is spoken in Karelia, along with Veps and Sami.

Finnish has been designated as the sole national language of Finland.

German is co-official to Finnish, however is truly more of a language of nobility (resembling the case of the Russia just to the south where German is one of the local official languages alongside Russian and Baltic languages in Courland and Livonia). Finland's monarchs are of German background, and still speak fluent German, in addition to Finnish.

In addition, they have high ties to the Baltic German nobilities to the south, contributing to their use of German, and Russian, almost as much as Finnish. Finland also has the world's 5th-highest ethnic German population, migration began after World War II, went en masse during the Cold War and continued up to even today.

Swedish was once the official language of administration in Finland. During the Cold War, as German migrants to Finland increased, saw the decrease of Swedish, and by 1970, it was removed from official recgonition, though remained a regional official. It is also spoken in the coastal areas of Ostrobothnia, Southwest Finland and Nyland where the percentage of Finland Swedes partly is high, with Swedish being spoken by more than 90% of the population in several municipalities, and on Åland.

Additionally, the nobility has also became fluent in Russian due to high ties with Russia, as well as employment opportunities as OFWs in Russia. Russian is the third-most spoken language in Finland, even higher than English, where approximately 254,420 Finns reported being fluent and/or proficient in Russian. However, Russian didn't recieve the same officiation as Finnish and German, namely that Russian language is associated with Orthodoxy and the Slavic peoples, and many Finns, without any feeilngs of hostility against Russia, believe it would be culturally inappropriate. C.G.E Mannerheim himself, was a Russian-speaker. King Donatus I, also speaks Russian on a fluent level (in addition to German, Finnish and Swedish), and has publicly been seen speaking all three languages when performing bilateral visits to Russia, Germany and Sweden.

Economy[]

Finland is a very industrialized country. With a per capita output similar to that of western European economies such as France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The largest sector of Finland's economy is its service sector, which contributes 72.7% to the country's gross domestic product (GDP); followed by manufacturing and refining at 31.4%; and concluded with the country's primary sector at 2.9%.

Finland's key economic sector is manufacturing. The largest industries are electronics (21.6% - very old data), machinery, vehicles and other engineered metal products (21.1%), forest industry (13.1%), and chemicals (10.9%). Finland has timber and several mineral and freshwater resources. Forestry, paper factories, and the agricultural sector (on which taxpayers spend around 2 billion euro annually) are politically sensitive to rural residents. The Greater Helsinki area generates around a third of GDP. Due to Finland's cold weather, and general lack of natural resources (other than timber), it is heavily reliant on trade and tourism with the neighboring countries. Russia is currently Finland's largest trade partner, and a visa-free agreement has been signed between the two countries. The next is Germany, and the Nordic states. Russia provides Finland with practically all of its energy.

Although not a member of the Vostok Bloc, Finland has signed a partnership agreement with the Vostok Bloc, where Finns form some of the highest OFW community in Russia and Germany.

Sports[]

Football/soccer is by-far Finland most popular sport, typical of all of Europe. Sport-shooting, basketball and horse-back riding are Finland next-three most-popular sports. The Finnish men's national soccer team competes in FIFA, and its basketball team competes in FIBA Europe and FIBA World.