Status of Finland within the Russian Empire. Finland became part of the Russian Empire. Prerequisites for joining Russia
To the question: In what year did Finland become part of the Russian Empire? given by the author Kisa the best answer is 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. 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.
As a result of the Russian-Swedish war of 1808-1809, all of Finland, which previously belonged to Sweden, was included in Russia as the Grand Duchy of Finland.
In 1809, according to the Treaty of Friedrichsham, Russia annexed the entire territory of Finland.
From 1809 to 1917, Finland (Grand Duchy of Finland) was part of the Russian Empire, enjoying the broadest autonomy (for example, it had its own currency - the Finnish mark). On December 11 (23), 1811, the Vyborg province was transferred to the Grand Duchy, which included lands that were ceded to Russia under the peace treaties of 1721 and 1743. As a result, the administrative border of Finland moved closer to St. Petersburg. Immediately before the October Revolution - October 23 (November 6), 1917 - the Finnish Sejm proclaimed Finland an independent state
Source: www.ulver.com/frg/20.html
Answer from Jekky-boy[guru]
1806 After the war with Sweden, Finland was annexed
Answer from JNV[guru]
In 1908.
For about 600 years, Finland was under the rule of the Swedish crown, and from 1809 to 1917. was part of the Russian Empire with autonomy rights as the Grand Duchy of Finland.
Answer from Alexey Belyaev-Avdeev[guru]
in general, until 1809, back in the 9th century it sailed near Novgorod, and after that it was recaptured as a result of the war with Sweden in 1808-1809
Answer from Alina Bardina[newbie]
actually in 1808-1809.
Answer from Mikhail Basmanov[expert]
In 1809.
People moved to Europe no earlier than 6,000 years ago because it was under a glacier. Finland -Finland - Finnish land (land). Suomi - Suomi - from Omi, a river in Russia that flows into the Irtysh River, in ancient times part of the territory of Belovodye. The name of the people - Suomi - was preserved by the Finns because this word was used among the people, but over time its meaning was forgotten. It is no coincidence that Slavic runic inscriptions are found on the territory of Scandinavia. Finns (more correctly - Finns) are ancient Slavic-Russians, like the Icelanders, Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, British, Scots, etc. The single people were territorially divided into countries after the collapse of the Slavic-Aryan empire. By replacing their writing with the Latin alphabet and writing a new history, they got different languages, although previously, the differences between the peoples were only in the dialect, the dialect. In 1697, the Swedish court master of ceremonies Sparvenfeld, in an official speech, also called himself “a true date of bitter heart.” Moreover, he wrote in Latin in Russian. Finland, like many countries that were Slavic, was made non-Slavic. To do this, they made it autonomous and imposed a language, rewriting history. Isn’t that what they’re trying to do in Ukraine now?
Finland or Suomi, due to its geographical location, has long remained a tasty morsel for neighboring more developed countries - Sweden and Russia. And despite the fact that Finland existed under the influence of the Swedes for more than 600 years, the period within the Russian Empire (just over 100 years) is no less important.
In this article we will talk about the Principality of Finland, which is what Finland was called as part of Russia.
The most significant episode in the history of the Russian-Swedish wars for Finnish lands and access to the Baltic Sea (for Russia) in modern times was the Great Northern War of 1700 - 1721, in particular, the Finnish campaign of 1713, during which Russian troops entered the territory of Finland, and the new Russian fleet defeated the Swedes at sea for the first time. As a result, Russia recaptured the Karelian Isthmus with Vyborg (that is, the so-called Old Finland), and the rest of Finland, however, remained with Sweden.
Russian military control in 1713–1717 extended over almost the entire territory of Suomi: back in 1710, the Vyborg Commandant’s Office, whose jurisdiction included southern Finland, and the General Government of Western Finland, governed from Turku, were created. Moreover, in addition to southern Finland, the Vyborg Commandant’s Office was under the jurisdiction of the Izhora and Estland Governorate Generals. Western Finland was generally in a special position at that time - Russian troops were concentrated here, and a further invasion of Sweden was also planned from here.
Much of the history of this time indicates that Peter the Great had plans to annex Finland to Russia (for example, recruiting recruits from the local population and sending them to training camps inland), but in the end he was forced to abandon these plans.
One of the possible reasons for such a refusal could be the partisan war against Russian troops and the military, and then the civil administration, unleashed by local peasants with the support of the Swedish military. Let us also note that the local Finnish population suffered to a much greater extent from the actions of the partisans, who perceived their compatriots who had gone into the impenetrable forests as one of the parties to the armed conflict.
In late Swedish-Finnish historiography of the 18th century, this period is called the “great hard times.”
However, ten years before the Russian troops marched on the historical lands of Finland, St. Petersburg was founded at the mouth of the Neva, and after 1721, the border of the eastern Swedish possessions in the Baltic was moved several hundred miles to the west, and Russia, which overnight became an Empire, received the long-awaited access to the sea.
Thus, as a result of the Northern War, Russia retained part of the former Swedish Kexholm fief and most of the former Vyborg-Neishlot fief, which in the new grid of administrative-territorial division of the Russian Empire were united into the Vyborg province of St. Petersburg province.
After the Russian-Swedish war of 1741 - 1743, the lands of southern Finland with the cities of Neyshlot, Vilmanstrand, Friedrichsgam, which were first included in the Vyborg and later in the Finnish province, were added to the territorial acquisitions of Russia.
It is clear that in the new territory conquered from the Swedes and included in the Russian Empire, there remained an indigenous Finnish or, as it was then called, Chukhon population, living according to the customs of their ancestors, mainly fishing, with their usual way of life, ancient traditions and habits.
As a historical anecdote, they say that in 1757 Empress Catherine the Second gave birth to a girl and that this girl was immediately given to the family of a Chukhon fisherman in one of the villages in the vicinity of St. Petersburg, and in return they took from the same family a newly born boy, who was then baptized under named after the Heir Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich. But this, we repeat, is a historical anecdote, another myth from the life of Catherine the Second, an idle fiction of contemporaries and nothing more.
When Finland became part of the Russian Empire
The entire ancestral territory of Finland, which remained in the possession of the Swedish crown, finally became part of the Russian Empire after the defeat of Sweden in the last Russian-Swedish war in the history of the two states of 1808 - 1809.
When Finland seceded from the Russian Empire
The process of Finland's secession began immediately after the events of the February Revolution in Petrograd in 1917. At the legislative level, the fact of Finland’s secession from Russia was established by the Finnish Senate after the so-called. October Revolution, in December of the same year, when the local parliament approved the provisions of the Declaration of Independence of Finland with the declaration of the Finnish Republic.
Two weeks later, this fact was also confirmed in the Republic of Soviets by a special resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, which recognized the “state independence of the Finnish Republic.”
One of the reasons for such a hasty decision by the Soviet government was the presence in Finland of a large number of social democrats and the predominance of social democratic sentiments in Finnish society at that time. Thus, recognizing the independence of Suomi, the Bolsheviks counted on the support of the new Finnish state in the international arena.
In addition, this was a kind of gesture of gratitude to the Finns on the part of the then chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, Ulyanov-Lenin, for the fact that they once sheltered him on their territory from the political persecution of the tsarist government.
It is clear that the borders of sovereign Finland were thus in close proximity to Petrograd.
Finland as part of Russia 1809-1917
In 1812, to the territories that went to Russia after the Russian-Swedish war of 1808–1809, unofficially called New Finland and forming the Grand Duchy of Finland, the so-called lands conquered almost a hundred years earlier by Peter the Great were added. Old Finland - Finnish province with its renaming to Vyborg.
The Grand Duchy of Finland was granted a number of privileges by His Majesty, and the procedures established by the Swedish administration were not abolished. In general, Swedish influence remained in these lands for quite a long time - over the next several decades, until, finally, in the middle of the 19th century, during the time of Alexander II, the Finns themselves began to fully participate in the affairs of the principality.
It is also interesting to note that from 1815 onwards there was an increase in the Finnish population: for example, from 1 million in 1815 it increased to 1 million 750 thousand people in 1870.
At the same time, Finland was gradually turning into an industrial region; the pace of industrialization here was then even higher than at the same time in Russia, including in the Donbass and the Urals.
How Finland became part of the Russian Empire: the annexation of Finland to Russia under Alexander I
According to the Treaty of Friedrichsham in 1809, all of Finland and with it the Åland Islands and the eastern part of the province of Västerbotten (Västerbotten) and up to the borders of the rivers Torneo (in the Swedish borderland) and Muonio, a tributary of the former, were transferred to Russia “for eternity.”
Soon after joining Russia, provincial Helsingfors (now Helsinki) became the Finnish capital instead of the former Turku (Abo).
Finland as part of the Russian Empire until 1917
In modern times, the bulk of the Finnish population always, until the February Revolution of 1917, remained loyal to Russia and the Russian administration of Finland.
Throughout its history, the Grand Duchy of Finland enjoyed the broadest rights of autonomy within the Russian Empire: Suomi retained its own monetary unit - the Finnish mark. A significant portion of tax revenues also remained in the country.
The principality had its own constitution, the country lived according to its own laws.
In addition, from the very beginning of its entry into Russia, the principality had its own senate, appointed by the emperor (Grand Duke of Finland) from Finnish subjects, and in St. Petersburg, a special committee was in charge of the affairs of the principality, also consisting of subjects of the Grand Duchy of Finland.
And, as mentioned above, by the middle of the 19th century, the native population themselves were directly involved in governing their country.
And in 1863, the Suomi language was officially recognized as the official language of the principality, along with Swedish. The Russian language was introduced into local office work only in 1900.
In March 1918, the territory of the “new” Russia was invaded by White Finnish troops from the Finnish nationalist movement, which had manifested itself back in 1092, and the main motive for their invasion of Soviet territory was to repel the threat of “Sovietization of Finland”: this invasion of Eastern Karelia itself was a consequence of persecution they were the “Finnish Reds” - the Civil War was in full swing in Finland.
And only after the invasion and defeat of the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic on May 15, 1918, the bourgeois government of Finland declared war on Soviet Russia.
The first Soviet-Finnish war, which in domestic historiography is usually considered as a component of the Civil War in Russia and foreign military intervention, ended with the signing of the Tartu Peace Treaty on October 14, 1920, which deprived the RSFSR of a number of its territories - the western part of Rybachy Island, a large part of Sredny Island and Pechenga region (later, until 1944, the province of Petsamo) in the Arctic. These lands were returned back to the USSR only following the results of the Soviet-Finnish War of 1940 and the Second World War of 1939-1945.
By the way, as a result of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1940, the Soviet Union managed to move the country’s state border with Finland to the west of Leningrad.
The Great Patriotic War
During the Great Patriotic War, Finland fought on the side of Nazi Germany. Becoming, in fact, one of the springboards for the Third Reich's attack on the Soviet Union. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Mannerheim, refusing to lead the offensive of the Finnish troops on Leningrad (here, obviously, his past as a retinue general of Nicholas II affected), nevertheless, carried out a successful offensive in the Ladoga region, blocked the Kirov railway, the famous White Sea Canal and the Volga-Baltic waterway, thus cutting off Leningrad from cargo supplies.
And the then Finnish president generally proposed to the German ambassador to liquidate Leningrad as a large city.
During the war, tens of thousands of Soviet citizens, including children, died in Finnish concentration camps in Karelia.
Was Finland part of the USSR?
Finland as such was never part of the USSR; some of its territories included the Republic of Karelia and part of the Leningrad region.
Former territories of Finland in Russia
The former Finnish territories in modern Russia are mainly the Republic of Karelia and part of the Leningrad region: Vyborg with its surroundings, the villages of Kuznechnoye (Kaarlahti), Repino, Roshchino (Raivola), the cities of Kolpino, Kingisepp, Svetogorsk and others.
Brief history of Finland before joining the Russian Empire
Finland or Suomi is an extraordinary, wonderful country in the Baltic with a very ancient history, a harsh northern region rich in forests and lakes, whose population, the Sami or Suomi, have been engaged in hunting and fishing since time immemorial. This, in particular, is evidenced by the very name of this country, given to it by neighboring Scandinavian tribes in the early Middle Ages - “country of hunters” or “land of hunters”.
Already in the 13th century, the toponym, somewhat different from the modern form we are used to, Finnland (with a double “n”, where finn is “hunter”, and land is “land”, “country”), was mentioned by a popular Icelandic skald (poet) and historian in Scandinavia Snorri Sturluson in his Ynglinga Saga.
It is the primordial hunting trades, the extraction of game and fish for food or sale and exchange, as well as beekeeping that make Finland historically close to Ancient Rus', and the Finno-Ugric Suomi or Sami (Lapps in Russian) and Karelians - to the Slavic tribes of Ladoga and Novgorod the Great. The developed trade and economic ties of these peoples even in ancient times are absolutely obvious - to the envy of all Scandinavian neighbors.
It is clear that such a region rich in fur and fish could not remain without the attention of the latter for long, which ultimately led to the fact that the entire territory of the current Republic of Finland, the Republic of Karelia and the current Leningrad region became the scene of a fierce struggle between the Swedes and Russians.
Moreover, for the former, the Finnish lands were a kind of springboard for further expansion deep into the “country of cities” of Gardariki (North-Western Rus'): it happened that the Vikings (Varangians) reached with devastating raids as far as the Northern Dvina, into the lands of the modern Arkhangelsk region, which they, along with North Karelia, the Murmansk region and the Kola Peninsula, in their sagas they were called Biarmia or Biarmaland, and the just mentioned Gardarika in the same sagas was inhabited by their kings. Traces of Biarmia - Bjarma, the country of the North, are also found in the Karelian-Finnish folk language.
In later historical studies (for example, the Swede Philip von Stralenberg, who “stayed” in Russian captivity during the time of Peter the Great), Biarmia was identified with the legendary Perm the Great with its capital in Cherdyn. The same point of view was subsequently held by Russian historians V.N. Tatishchev, M.V. Lomonosov and N.M. Karamzin.
The famous Novgorod ushkuiniki also did not remain in debt: in 1187, we especially emphasize, together with their allied tribes of Karelians and Komi, they carried out a raid on the then Swedish capital of Sigtuna (today it forms the capital conglomeration of Stockholm), as a result of which this city was ruined to the ground and, Having never recovered from the coordinated actions of the Russian-Komi-Karelian international landing, it forever lost its functions as a capital.
However, in the Middle Ages and until the modern era, Swedish influence on Finland was much more significant than Russian. To a large extent, this was facilitated by the constant crusades of the Swedes in these lands and their active Christianization of the native Finnish population - around 1220, a Swedish episcopal see appeared in the country of Suomi with an Anglo-Saxon Catholic at its head.
Two decades later, in 1240, in an armed skirmish between the Swedish crusaders and the Novgorod detachment led by Alexander Nevsky on Izhora, the Swedes of Jarl Birger suffered a crushing defeat and barely escaped with their feet, and the jarl himself allegedly lost an eye.
At the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th centuries, the eastern coast of the Gulf of Finland turned into a real theater of military operations - in 1293, the Swedes, led by Torkel Knudson, made another raid on the Novgorod lands, simultaneously crushing the entire west of Karelia and erecting the Vyborg Castle, and seven years later , in 1300 - Landskrona fortress on the Neva. True, a year later the Novgorodians, led by the son of Alexander Nevsky, Andrei Gorodetsky, came and took this very Landskrona by storm, after which it was demolished.
And in 1318, Novgorod boats and ushkui penetrated the Abo-Aland skerries and then reached the Aurajoka (“Full River” flowing into the Archipelago Sea) to the Finnish capital Abo (modern Turku), where at that time the Swedes were already in full control, and took there is a church treasury - a tax that has been collected to be sent to the Vatican over the previous five years.
The continuous war for Finnish lands and comprehensive, comprehensive influence in this region between the Swedes and Russians continued until 1323, when, through the mediation of the famous Hanseatic League, the Orekhovsky (Orekhovets) Peace was concluded between the warring parties, establishing the eastern border of Swedish possessions. The latter circumstance, however, did not at all prevent the Swedish king Magnus from carrying out the next and last crusade against the Novgorod lands in 1348-49. The response to this campaign was the sea raid of the above-mentioned Novgorod ushkuiniki in 1349, during which they took the well-fortified Swedish citadel of Bjarkøy (now a commune in Norway).
The Swedish border established by the Treaty of Orekhovets in 1323, which captured the Karelian Isthmus and reached almost to Ladoga itself, was not only a political phenomenon and not so much an administrative-territorial one; it secured de jure Swedish rule over the entire territory of present-day Finland and put an end to cultural, trade and economic ties between the indigenous peoples of Suomi and the inhabitants of Northwestern (Novgorod) and Moscow Rus' for the next four hundred years.
Another epic episode in the history of the Russian struggle for these lands was the long-term (it lasted a quarter of a century - from 1558 to 1583) Livonian War. In short, as a result of this long war, the northwestern outskirts of Muscovite Rus' were depopulated, the ancient Russian cities of Ivangorod, Koporye, Narva, Yam (now Kingisepp, Leningrad region) and part of the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland were lost, which, however, were soon return - following the results of the Russian-Swedish war of 1590 - 1595. In fairness, we note, however, that at the end of the Livonian War, Muscovite Rus', the Russian state during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, having lost territorial claims to the former Livonian lands, received a number of border lands.
According to the Friedrichsham Peace Treaty, the newly conquered region became the property and sovereign possession of the Russian Empire.
Even before the conclusion of peace, in June 1808, there was an order to summon deputies from the nobility, clergy, townspeople and peasants to submit opinions on the needs of the country. Arriving in St. Petersburg, the deputies submitted a memorial to the sovereign, in which they outlined several wishes of an economic nature, having previously indicated that, not being representatives of the entire people, they could not enter into the judgments belonging to the zemstvo officials, convened in the usual and legal manner.
In February 1809, an order was issued to convene a Diet in the city of Borgo. On March 16, the tsar personally opened it, having signed the manifesto on the state structure of Finland the day before. At the opening of the Sejm, Alexander I delivered a speech in French, in which, among other things, he said: “I promised to preserve your constitution (votre constitution), your fundamental laws; your meeting here certifies the fulfillment of my promises.”
The next day, the members of the Sejm took an oath that “they recognize as their sovereign Alexander I the Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia, the Grand Duke of Finland, and will preserve the indigenous laws and constitutions (loisementales et constitutions) of the region in the form in which they currently exist ".
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.
Regarding the tax and financial system of the grand duchy in general, the emperor announced that they would be used only for the needs of the country itself. The Russian ruble is the accepted monetary unit. In 1811, the Finnish Bank was established; it received a modern structure based on control and guarantee of zemstvo officials, which the Borgo Sejm petitioned for only in 1867.
A government council was placed at the head of local administrative institutions, which in 1816 was transformed into the Imperial Finnish Senate. In 1811 (manifest of December 11 (23)) there was an order to annex the so-called “Old Finland” to the Grand Duchy, that is, that part of Finland that passed to Russia under the Treaty of Nystadt.
The general change in the policy of Alexander I was reflected in Finnish affairs by the fact that Diets were no longer convened. During the reign of Nicholas I, the country was governed by local authorities on the basis of local laws, but the Sejm was never convened. This did not constitute a violation of Finnish laws, since the frequency of the Diet was established only by the Diet Charter of 1869. By avoiding major reforms, the government could govern without the Diet, taking advantage of the very broad rights granted to the crown in the so-called area. economic legislation. In some urgent cases, they did without the Sejm even when the participation of the latter was necessary. Thus, in 1827, it was allowed to accept into public service persons of the Orthodox faith who had acquired the rights of Finnish citizenship. In the highest resolution on this, however, there is a reservation that this measure is carried out administratively due to its urgency and the impossibility “now” of convening zemstvo officials.
During the Crimean War, the allied fleet bombarded Sveaborg, took the fortress of Bomarsund on the Åland Islands and devastated the shores of Österbothnia. The population and the leading circles of intelligent society remained loyal to Russia.
The reign of Nicholas I, poor in reforms, was rich in cultural phenomena. National self-awareness awoke in Finnish educated society. Some signs of such an awakening were discovered at the end of the 18th century. (historian Portan); but only after Finland was separated from Sweden and took, in the words of Alexander I, “a place among nations,” could a national movement begin in it. It was called phenomania.
According to the conditions of the time, Fennomanism took a literary and scientific direction. At the head of the movement were Professor Snellman, the poet Runeberg, the collector of the Kalevala Lönnrot, and others. Later, the opponents of the Fennomans in the political arena were the Svekomans, who defended the rights of the Swedish language as an instrument of Swedish cultural influence. After 1848, the Finnish national movement was suspected, without basis, of demagogic tendencies and was persecuted. It was forbidden, by the way, to print books in Finnish; an exception was made only for books of religious and agricultural content (1850). Soon, however, this order was canceled.
Emperor Alexander II in 1856 personally presided over one of the meetings of the Senate and outlined a number of reforms. Carrying out most of the latter required the participation of zemstvo officials. They started talking about this in society and the press, and then the Senate, on one particular occasion, spoke out in favor of convening the Sejm. At first, it was decided to convene a commission of 12 representatives from each estate instead of the Sejm. This order made a very unfavorable impression in the region.
The public excitement subsided after the official clarification that the commission’s competence was limited to preparing government proposals for the future Sejm. The commission met in 1862; it is known as the "January Commission". In September 1863, the Tsar personally opened the Sejm with a speech in French, in which, among other things, he said: “You, representatives of the Grand Duchy, will have to prove by the dignity, calm and moderation of your debates that in the hands of a wise people ... liberal institutions are far from Having become dangerous, they become a guarantee of order and security." Many important reforms were then carried out.
In 1866, the reform of public schools took place, the main figure of which was Uno Cygneus. In 1869, the Sejm charter was published, the Finnish bank was transformed and placed under the control and guarantees of zemstvo officials. In 1863, an order was issued on the initiative of Snellman to introduce the Finnish language into official records, for which a 20-year period was established. The Diet of 1877 adopted a statute on conscription for Finland.
Sejms were convened every five years. The Reformation era was marked by an extraordinary revival of political and social life, as well as a rapid rise in general well-being and culture. At the beginning of the reign of Emperor Alexander III, some measures were taken that were decided in principle or conceived during the previous reign: Finnish military units were formed, the Sejm received the right to initiate legislative issues (1886). Zemstvo officials convened every three years.
At the end of the 80s, the government's policy towards Finland changed. In 1890, the Finnish Postal and Telegraph Office was subordinated to the Ministry of the Interior. At the end of the same year, there was a suspension of the criminal code adopted by the Sejm and approved by the emperor. In recent years, the unification policy has found an energetic executor on the spot in the person of Adjutant General N.I. Bobrikov, who was appointed Governor-General of Finland in 1898. The Manifesto of June 20, 1900 introduced the Russian language into the office work of the Senate and local main departments. Provisional regulations on 2 July 1900 placed public meetings under the direct control of the Governor-General.
During the reign of Nicholas II, a new policy was adopted aimed at the Russification of Finland. First, an attempt was made to force the Finns to do military service in the Russian army. When the Sejm, which had previously made concessions, rejected this demand, General Bobrikov introduced military courts. As a result of this, in 1904 there was an attempt on Bobrikov’s life, and after his death, unrest began in the country. The Russian Revolution of 1905 coincided with the rise of the Finnish national liberation movement, and all of Finland joined the All-Russian Strike. Political parties, especially the Social Democrats, took part in this movement and put forward their reform program.
Nicholas II was forced to cancel decrees limiting Finnish autonomy. In 1906, a new democratic election law was adopted, which gave women the right to vote. 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.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the woodworking and pulp and paper industries predominantly developed in Finland, which were oriented towards the Western European market. The leading branch of agriculture was livestock farming, the products of which were also mainly exported to Western Europe. Finland's trade with Russia was declining. During the First World War, due to the blockade and the almost complete cessation of external maritime relations, both the main export industries and the domestic market industries that worked on imported raw materials were curtailed.
After the February Revolution in Russia in March 1917, the privileges of Finland, lost after the 1905 revolution, were restored. A new governor-general was appointed and a diet was convened. However, the law on the restoration of the autonomous rights of Finland, approved by the Sejm on July 18, 1917, was rejected by the Provisional Government, the Sejm was dissolved, and its building was occupied by Russian troops. After the overthrow of the Provisional Government, Finland declared its independence on December 6, 1917.
The exhibition is dedicated to the 200th anniversary of Finland's entry into Russia.
Part 1. Russian-Swedish war of 1808-1809 and the conquest of Finland
Map of the Russo-Swedish War 1808-1809. From the book by M.M. Borodkin “History of Finland. Time of Alexander I" (St. Petersburg, 1909). | The war between Napoleonic France and the Russian Empire ended in July 1807 with the Peace of Tilsit. Tsar Alexander I became an ally of France and pledged to put pressure on Sweden in order to force it to follow the lead of French policy. Napoleon left Alexander complete freedom of action against Sweden, even to the extent of seizing part of its territory. For several months, Russian-Swedish negotiations were difficult and unsuccessful: the Swedish king Gustav IV took an irreconcilable position, and then the Russian emperor had to take on a thankless mission. On February 9, 1808, Russian troops entered the territory of Finland, then a private Swedish province, without declaring war. Numerical superiority was on the side of the Russian army. The Swedes avoided active hostilities. The southern and central regions of the country were occupied very quickly, and after the capture of Abo (modern Turku), Alexander signed a manifesto on the transfer of Finland to Russian rule (June 5 (17), 1808). |
A truce was reached between the warring parties, which Napoleon did not approve of: even after the loss of Finland, Sweden remained adamant about the break with Great Britain. The war had to continue. At the end of winter - beginning of spring of 1808, when the waters of the Gulf of Bothnia were covered with people, the offensive began: detachments of generals Bagration, Kulnev, Barclay de Tolly walked across the ice of the bay and invaded Sweden's own territory. The detachment of General Ya.P. came closest to Stockholm (up to 75 km). Kulneva, causing severe panic in the Swedish capital.
Part 2. Diet in Borgo and the creation of the Grand Duchy of Finland
Alexander the First. Painting by F. Gerard. 1814. Fragment | Before completion, Alexander I decided to formalize the annexation of Finland by convening The war had not yet been completed when Alexander I decided to formalize the annexation of Finland to Russia by convening an all-class meeting of Finnish residents (Sejm). Representatives of the four classes of Finland gathered in the city of Borgo, where Emperor Alexander solemnly entered on March 15, 1809. The day before, he signed a letter confirming the preservation of religion, primordial laws and traditions of the newly annexed country. |
On March 16, the Sejm began work in the building of the Borgo Gymnasium. Those present listened to the appeal of Alexander, who promised to preserve the fundamental laws of the country. Then representatives of the estates took an oath of allegiance to Russia for themselves and those they represented. The Diet worked until July 1809 and legally formalized the accession of Finland to the Empire.
Oath of office in the Borgo Cathedral on March 17 1809. From the book by M.M. Borodkin "History" Finland. The time of Alexander I." St. Petersburg, 1909 | The Diet in Borgo had some features of a constituent assembly, since it laid the foundations of the Grand Duchy of Finland - a new political entity in the territory that had previously been an ordinary province within the Kingdom of Sweden. Finland, conquered by Swedish crusaders in the mid-12th century, received autonomy rights only in 1809. Supreme power was created in the form of the throne of the Grand Duke of Finland - a throne inextricably united with Russia. The political system given to this country by Alexander I could not be rejected by the representatives of the estates: they were convened only to confirm the new order. By annexing Finland to his possessions, Alexander I understood perfectly well that this region would live its own separate life as part of the Empire, that the rules of the rest of Russia could not be extended to it: serfdom and centralized government, that the task of protecting the northwestern borders of Russia required him to gain favor and loyalty of new subjects. |
Played a decisive role in the formation of Finnish politics MM. Speransky
The Russian Tsar, himself a liberal and reformer at heart, patronized Speransky's liberal course. Thus, the Swedish laws in force in Finland were recognized as retaining their force with those amendments introduced by the fact of the Russian conquest. The main Swedish laws: the Form of Government of 1772 and the Act of Union and Security of 1789 - received the status of “indigenous laws” in Alexander’s interpretation.
In September 1809, a peace treaty was signed between Russia and Sweden in the town of Friedrichsham. He drew a line under the two-year war and secured the annexation of Finland to Russia. The text says that “by the sole motives of his magnanimous permission” the All-Russian Emperor leaves the faith, property and advantages of the Finns intact.
In the last third of the 19th century, the decisions of the Diet in Borgo became the object of heated political debate regarding whether the Diet constituted an agreement between the Russian Tsar and the Finnish people (in the terms of the time, state or zemstvo officials). Was Finland an equal party to this agreement? Can the decisions of the Sejm be considered a constitution, or did it confirm the existence of one before the time of the conquest? Based on the analysis and speculation around the Borgo Diet, the theory of a “special state” and the discussion of its supporters and opponents arose.
Part 3. Finland as part of Russia: autonomy and the struggle to preserve it
| The Russian Empire included two regions that had more freedom than any other part of it: the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Finland. Twice in the 19th century Poland raised national liberation uprisings, but Finland remained calm. Russia applied the principle of separation of powers in Finland, which, however, was very different from its modern understanding. The Russian Emperor was at the same time the Grand Duke of Finland, which is enshrined in the title of the Romanov dynasty. Executive power belonged to the Senate, headed by the Governor General, the formal representative of Russia. Senators were appointed from among the Finns, their term of office was limited to three years. The Senate had two departments: legal and economic. |
The governor-general was appointed from among those close to the tsar. As a rule, governors-general did not interfere in the internal affairs of Finland, since, firstly, they lived in St. Petersburg, and secondly, Senate meetings were held in an unfamiliar Swedish language.
The Grand Duchy had an all-class Sejm, which was in charge of civil and criminal legislation, the foundations of military and church legislation, and financial affairs. The Diet could approve or reject the emperor's decision to introduce new taxes or repeal any law. The convening of the Sejm was the prerogative of the Russian Tsars, who did not exercise this right until 1863. According to the new Sejm Charter of 1869, the frequency of convening was established at five years, and since 1882 it has met every three years.
| The building of the Finnish Diet, Helsingfors (Helsinki). From the book “Finland”, under ed. D. Protopopova. St. Petersburg, 1898 | Judicial power was divided between the Senate, the Attorney General and the old Finnish courts of the Gofterichts. Alexander I showed great interest in the governance of Finland, so a Commission (later Committee) for Finnish Affairs headed by Speransky was created in St. Petersburg. The affairs of the committee were reported directly to the autocrat, bypassing the ministries. In 1826, under Nicholas I, the Committee was abolished, and its functions were assumed by the State Secretary of the Grand Duchy with the rank of minister. Finland had its own citizenship, separate from Russian citizenship. The Finns had equal access to public service and enjoyed full rights in the Empire. At the same time, Russian subjects who lived in Finland and did not acquire its citizenship encountered restrictions on their rights. |
The Grand Duchy had an bureaucracy consisting entirely of local residents; your postal system; a railway with a gauge different from the Russian one; its financial system, bank and budget. Finally, Finland had an army of up to 2,000 people and customs borders with Russia, which Finnish goods, unlike Russian ones, crossed duty-free. The powers of foreign policy representation and strategic defense of the Grand Duchy were delegated to the central imperial authority.
With the establishment of Russian power, the capital of the principality was moved to Helsingfors. The territory of Finland expanded due to the annexation of the Vyborg province in 1811.
Joining Russia had a beneficial effect on the economic development of the country. During the period of Swedish domination, the lion's share of the budget of the Kingdom of Sweden was made up of income from Finland, but now these funds were entirely spent on its internal development. Beginning in the 1840s, Finland gradually underwent machine industrialization and became an industrialized region of the empire.
As industrial development progressed, the national identity of the Finnish people grew stronger. Since the 1860s There was a steady cultural upsurge, the progressive forces of the local intelligentsia advocated for giving the Finnish language the status of a state language, which was done by Alexander II. The growing autonomy inspired fears among influential forces in the Russian government, supporters of a “united and indivisible Russia.”
After the accession to the throne of Alexander III, at the instigation of Governor General F.L. Heyden in 1882, a commission was created to codify local legislation in order to unify Finnish law in accordance with general imperial norms and thereby seriously limit the autonomy of the Principality. Influential parties and the Seimas opposed these actions of Russia, and the work of the commission was interrupted.
At the same time, regular journalistic appearances by the Finnish lawyer and senator Leo Mechelin, an ardent supporter of autonomy and the theory of a “special state,” began. In response, writer K.F. Ordin and General M.M. Borodkin wrote major works proving that Finland was never a state and is now nothing more than one of the provinces of the Russian Empire.
In 1890, the postal autonomy of Finland was abolished; in 1891, the affairs of the Secretary of State of the Grand Duchy were divided between ministers of the all-Russian government. In 1895, Nicholas II was reported to the results of the work of the codification commission chaired by N.Kh. Bunge, but the king decided to postpone these actions until, in his opinion, better times.
In 1899, another offensive by the authorities against Finnish autonomy began. From now on, the central government could issue laws of national importance without the consent of the Seimas. In 1900, Russian became the language of official business, and a year later the Finnish army was abolished, and Finnish citizens were obliged to serve in the all-empire army (this measure was later replaced by a tax, the size of which was constantly increasing).
A pre-revolutionary situation developed in the Grand Duchy. The national upsurge in Finland in response to restrictions on autonomy coincided with the First Russian Revolution of 1905-1907. Nicholas II was forced to abolish all restrictions, and in 1906, for the first time in Europe, women received the right to vote in Finland.
In the years preceding the First World War, the imperial government, with the support of conservative layers, still tried to limit the autonomy of the Principality, but the war and revolutions of 1917 led the country to complete independence.
Part 4. Faculty of Law in the discussion about the special status of Finland.
| Professors and private assistant professors of the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University took an active part in the political and legal discussion around the question of whether Finland is a special state within Russia or a simple province? The discussion about a “special state” began with the appearance in 1838 in Stockholm of a pamphlet by Professor I. Wasser, in which he called the principality a state with a representative form of government, established through a separate peace treaty between the liberated Finnish people and Alexander I. The discussion began in the form of an exchange of pamphlets between Wasser and his opponents did not initially attract much attention. This issue became relevant when a political need arose to defend the autonomy of the Grand Duchy from the claims of the Russian central government to codify and unify Finnish law in accordance with national law. |
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| Prominent legal scholars of that time took part in this socio-political discussion. Among the teachers of the Faculty of Law there were both supporters of Finland’s special position among the peoples of the Russian Empire and opponents. In other words, the dispute boiled down to the question of whether Finland has the right to such broad autonomy and what obliges Russia to take it into account: the agreements in Borgo in 1809 or the current structure of the Grand Duchy? |
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| Proponents of the “special state” theory: | |
| Gradovsky Alexander Dmitrievich (1841–1889). Ordinary professor of the Department of State Law, Faculty of Law, St. Petersburg University. Finland is a separate state in its internal governance, believed A.D. Gradovsky, - because she retained all the local features of her position. |
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| Sergeevich Vasily Ivanovich (1832–1910) Honored Ordinary of the Department of History of Russian Law, Faculty of Law, St. Petersburg University. IN AND. Sergeevich recognized that Finland became part of Russia as a special state initially, based on the results of negotiations and agreements in 1808. |
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| Chicherin Boris Nikolaevich (1828 - 1904) Prominent figure of liberalism, lawyer, historian. The founder of the “state school” of Russian historiography. Honorary member of St. Petersburg University. In Chapter XI “Complex States” in “General State Law” B.N. Chicherin wrote: “Finland... retained its political independence and its special structure. At the conquest, she was promised the preservation of existing institutions. The Seimas, vested with legislative power, belonged to these.” |
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| Opponents of the “special state” theory: | |
| Eduard Nikolaevich Berendts (1860 – after 1924) First Professor of the Department of Finnish Law, Faculty of Law, St. Petersburg University E.N. Behrendts was born on December 9, 1860 in St. Petersburg, into a merchant family. He received his legal education at the Faculty of Law of the Imperial St. Petersburg University. After completing his university course, he was appointed to the Ministry of Finance. In 1891, he defended his master’s thesis on the topic “History of the state economy of Sweden until 1809” at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University. In the same year, he was appointed to the position of extraordinary professor in the department of state and administrative law at the Demidov Legal Lyceum in Yaroslavl. In 1894, he became a doctor of financial law, defending a dissertation on the state economy of Sweden at St. Petersburg University. In the late 1990s, Behrendts's research focused on financial law and the financial management system in Finland. In 1900, as a specialist in this field, he was appointed assistant secretary of state of the State Council and an official of special assignments under the minister of state secretary of the Grand Duchy of Finland. On May 23, 1901, the Department of Finnish Law was established at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University. On June 4 of the same year, Doctor of Financial Law E. N. Behrendts became a supernumerary ordinary professor at St. Petersburg University in this department. For two years, he lectured to law students on the administrative law of the Grand Duchy of Finland, combining teaching with service in the government apparatus. After him, private associate professor M.B. taught at the department. Gorenberg (1905-1906). In 1907 the department was renamed the Department of Local Rights and existed until 1918. In 1904, Behrendts returned to Yaroslavl - he was appointed to the position of director of the Demidov Legal Lyceum. In 1906, he moved to the School of Law to the position of ordinary professor of financial law, history of Russian law and Finnish law. After the Bolsheviks came to power, Behrendts left Russia. He settled in Estonia, continued teaching and probably ended his days here. |
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| Korkunov Nikolai Mikhailovich (1853–1904) Extraordinary Professor of the Department of Public Law; ordinary professor of the Department of Encyclopedia and History of Philosophy of Law, Faculty of Law, St. Petersburg University. N.M. Korkunov denied the doctrine of a real union, supposedly connecting Russia and Finland, focusing only on the political argument that the conquering power cannot create states separate from itself in the annexed territories. He saw no distinction between a "non-sovereign state" and an "autonomous province", considering this discussion to have no practical value. |
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| Martens Friedrich-Fromgold (Fedor Fedorovich) (1845–1909). Honored Ordinary Professor of the Department of International Law, Faculty of Law, St. Petersburg University. F.F. Martens firmly believed that Finland was a province based on the Treaty of Friedrichsham and the fact that the autonomous institutions of the Principality were not the result of an agreement between equal counterparties, but were introduced by the will of the Empire. (“Modern International Law of Civilized Nations”). |
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| Parchment Mikhail Yakovlevich (1866–1932). Ordinary professor of the Department of Civil Law, Faculty of Law, St. Petersburg University. M.Ya. Parchment believed that the Grand Duchy was an incorporated part of the Russian Empire, differing only in the peculiarities of local legislation. He denied the existence of Finnish sovereignty, citizenship and territory. (“The legal nature of a real union”). |
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| Tagantsev Nikolai Stepanovich (1843–1923). Ordinary professor of the Department of Criminal Law, Faculty of Law, St. Petersburg University. N.S. Tagantsev denied the special status of the Grand Duchy of Finland and justified its position within Russia solely by conquest. “Confirmation of previous laws by Russian sovereigns,” he noted, “does not exclude the possibility of their repeal.” |
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In this material we will tell you when and under what circumstances Finland joined Russia. The Peace of Tilsit, signed in 1807 between France and Russia, radically changed the balance of opposing forces in Europe. It must be said that Napoleon’s policy of conquest included the use of Russia to fight England. As we know from history, it was at his insistence that Russia broke off all relations with Great Britain. But on her side was Sweden, which categorically refused to join the continental blockade and entered into an alliance with England. For Russia, the war with Sweden was caused by serious strategic considerations.
It included Finland, and Russia needed to secure St. Petersburg from the north, which was located quite close to the border. In the winter of 1808, the Russian army crossed the Finnish border. Heavy fighting continued throughout the year, plus there was an uprising of local residents who began to unite into partisan detachments. But already in the last months of 1808, our troops occupied almost all of Finland. Emperor Alexander I was not fully pleased with the events taking place, since in general, the Swedish troops retained their combat effectiveness and strength, which means that the end of hostilities was still far away.
The Russian army began its new offensive on Stockholm in rather difficult winter conditions. Let us note that in these battles the detachment commanded by Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration distinguished itself. His corps was tasked with occupying the Åland Islands and then reaching the Swedish coast along the frozen ice of the Gulf of Bothnia. As a result of a heroic campaign, in March 1809, troops captured Aland and entered the square indicated by them. In the midst of the attack on Sweden, Alexander I convened the Finnish Diet in the city of Borgo. Shortly before its convocation, an act recognizing Finnish autonomy was published, and it was declared a province of Russia.
Photo: Miguel Virkkunen Carvalho / flickr.com
The Russian sovereign promised the local authorities to preserve in unbreakable force its traditions, religion and primordial laws. At the same time as the start of the Sejm meeting, peace negotiations between Russia and Sweden took place. They ended on September 5, 1809 in Friedrichsham, where a peace treaty was signed. Under its terms, Sweden ceded to Russia previously conquered Finland, the Åland Islands, as well as the eastern part of Vestro-Bothnia. And the King of Sweden announced that he was joining other European states that were blockading England.
After Finland joined Russia, it was transformed into the Grand Duchy of Finland, and Tsar Alexander I added to his other regalia the title of Grand Duke of Finland. There was no strong relocation of the Russian-speaking population to new lands and the largest concentration of residents was in the region and. When the first Russian revolution happened in Russia in 1905, the Finns created their own liberation movement and joined the strikers. It must be said that there were quite difficult living conditions; the peasants did not have their own lands, which remained in the hands of Finnish and Swedish landowners. They rented out their plots for long periods.
Photo: Markus Trienke/Wikimedia Commons Tenants - “torpari”, as payment for the use of these plots, were required to work on the owners’ land for a certain amount of time. In even more difficult conditions were the peasants - Karelians, who carried out primitive shifting farming on small rocky patches of land, and also hunted and fished. Double oppression - from Russia on the one hand, and Finnish and Swedish landowners on the other - often caused unrest among the Finnish peasants, suppressed by the joint actions of tsarism and large local landowners. Local political parties began to put forward their own reform programs and Nicholas II had to cancel the decrees that limited Finnish autonomy.
Until 1917, the country harbored hopes of its Independence, and after the well-known events in Russia in 1917, the Council of People's Commissars, headed by V. Lenin, recognized the State Independence of the Republic of Finland, and today the country celebrates this holiday on December 6. In total, Finland was part of Russia for about 108 years, from 1809 to 1917. In our next article we will tell you where you will learn about its borders, you will be able to see a map and their history of occurrence.
