Grand Duchy of Finland
Encyclopedia
The Grand Duchy of Finland (correctly Grand Principality of Finland; , , , ) was the predecessor state of modern Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

. It existed 1809–1917 as part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 and was ruled by the Russian czar as Grand Prince.

History

An extended Finland Proper
Finland Proper
Finland Proper or Southwest Finland , is a region in south-western Finland. It borders the regions of Satakunta, Tavastia Proper, Ahvenanmaa and Uusimaa.- Municipalities :...

 was made a titular Grand Principality
Principality
A principality is a monarchical feudatory or sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a monarch with the title of prince or princess, or by a monarch with another title within the generic use of the term prince....

 in 1581, when King John III of Sweden
John III of Sweden
-Family:John married his first wife, Catherine Jagellonica of Poland , house of Jagiello, in Vilnius on 4 October 1562. In Sweden, she is known as Katarina Jagellonica. She was the sister of king Sigismund II Augustus of Poland...

, who as a prince had been the Duke of Finland
Duke of Finland
Duke of Finland was an occasional medieval title granted as a tertiogeniture to the relatives of the King of Sweden between the 13th and 16th centuries. It included a duchy along with the feudal customs, and often meant a veritably independent principality...

 (1556–1561/63), extended the list of subsidiary titles of the Kings of Sweden considerably. The new title Grand Prince of Finland
Grand Prince of Finland
Grand duke of Finland, was from around 1580 to 1809 a title in use by most Swedish monarchs. Between 1809 and 1917, it was the official title of the head of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, who was the Emperor of Russia. The anachronistic female form of the title in English is usually Grand...

 did not result in any Finnish autonomy as Finland was an integrated part of the Kingdom of Sweden with full parliamentary representation for its counties. During the next two centuries, the title was used by some of John's successors on the throne, but not all. Usually it was just a subsidiary title of the king, used only on very formal occasions. However, in 1802 as an indication of resolve to keep Finland within Sweden in the face of increased Russian pressure, King Gustav IV Adolf
Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden
Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden also Gustav Adolph was King of Sweden from 1792 until his abdication in 1809. He was the son of Gustav III of Sweden and his queen consort Sophia Magdalena, eldest daughter of Frederick V of Denmark and his first wife Louise of Great Britain. He was the last Swedish...

 gave the title to his new-born son, Prince Carl Gustaf, who died three years later.

During the Finnish War
Finnish War
The Finnish War was fought between Sweden and the Russian Empire from February 1808 to September 1809. As a result of the war, the eastern third of Sweden was established as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland within the Russian Empire...

 between Sweden and Russia, the four Estates
Riksdag of the Estates
The Riksdag of the Estates , was the name used for the Estates of the Swedish realm when they were assembled. Until its dissolution in 1866, the institution was the highest authority in Sweden next to the King...

 of occupied Finland were assembled at the Diet of Porvoo
Diet of Porvoo
The Diet of Porvoo , was the summoned legislative assembly to establish the Grand Principality of Finland in 1809 and the heir of the powers of the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates...

 on March 29, 1809 to pledge allegiance to Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....

 who in return guaranteed that the laws and liberties as well as religion would be left unchanged. Following the Swedish defeat in the war and the signing of the Treaty of Fredrikshamn on September 17, 1809, Finland became a true autonomous grand principality, a constitutional monarchy within the autocratic Russian Empire although the usual balance of power between monarch and diet resting on taxation was not in place since the Emperor could rely on the rest of his vast Empire. The title "Grand Prince of Finland" was added to the long list of titles of the Russian Tsar. For the foundation of the Grand Principality as an entity with relatively greater autonomy within the Russian realm, and for regaining of the so-called Old Finland
Old Finland
thumb|right|260px|The areas that Sweden lost to Russia in the wars of 1721 and 1743Old Finland is a name used for the areas that Russia gained from Sweden in the Great Northern War and in the Russo-Swedish War...

 that was lost to Russia in the previous century, the Finnish-born Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt
Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt
Count Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt was a Finnish and Swedish courtier and diplomat. In Finland, he is considered one of the great Finnish statesmen. Born in Tarvasjoki, Finland, he was the great grandson of Charles XII of Sweden's general, Carl Gustaf Armfeldt...

, councillor to the emperor, was instrumental.

The history of the Grand Principality can briefly be characterised as:
  • 1809–1862: fifty years of consolidation, during which the Finnish authorities succeeded in convincing the Russian court not only of their own loyalty, but of that of all Finns.
  • 1863–1898: thirty-five years of increased independence, including the re-establishment of the Diet of Finland
    Diet of Finland
    The Diet of Finland , was the legislative assembly of the Grand Duchy of Finland from 1809 to 1906 and the recipient of the powers of the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates....

     and the elevation of Finnish
    Finnish language
    Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

     from a language for the common people to a national language equal to Swedish
    Finland-Swedish
    Finland Swedish is a general term for the closely related cluster of dialects of Swedish spoken in Finland by Swedish-speaking Finns as their mother tongue...

    .
  • 1899–1917: twenty years of attempted russification
    Russification of Finland
    The policy of Russification of Finland was a governmental policy of the Russian Empire aimed at limiting the special status of the Grand Duchy of Finland and possibly the termination of its political autonomy and cultural uniqueness...

    , ultimately unsuccessful and detrimental for Finland's relationship with the Russian Empire (and the Soviet Union
    Soviet Union
    The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

     that was formed shortly afterwards).

Politics

The constitutional status of Finland was not codified in Russian law before the February Manifesto of 1899, by which time Finns and Russians had developed quite different ideas about the status of Finland. The autonomy of Finland was at first encouraged by the Russians in part due to the relatively developed governmental structures in Finland (as compared to the emperor-centered Russia of early 19th century) and in part as a deliberate policy of goodwill to win over the minds of the Finnish people. The autonomous status led Finns to develop their own ideas of nationalism and constitutional monarchy, which they could to a large extent implement in practice with the assent of the Tsar. However, while each tsar at the time of his coronation did agree to uphold the special status of the local laws in Finland, there is no evidence that they understood their position as one of a constitutional monarch
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...

, despite the growing prevalence of such an interpretation in Finland in the latter part of the 19th century. As governmental organizations developed in Russia, and unity of the empire became one of the leading tenets of Russian politics, clashes between the Russian and Finnish governmental organizations grew frequent and led to the attempted russification
Russification of Finland
The policy of Russification of Finland was a governmental policy of the Russian Empire aimed at limiting the special status of the Grand Duchy of Finland and possibly the termination of its political autonomy and cultural uniqueness...

.

Finland nevertheless enjoyed a high degree of autonomy, until its independence in 1917. In 1917, after the February Revolution
February Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...

 in Russia, Finland's government worked towards securing and perhaps even increasing Finland's autonomy in domestic matters. On December 6, 1917, shortly after the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...

 in Russia, Finland declared its independence
Finland's declaration of independence
The Finnish declaration of independence was adopted by the Parliament of Finland on 6 December 1917. It declared Finland an independent and sovereign nation state rather than an autonomous Russian Grand duchy.-Revolution in Russia:...

.
After the Finnish Civil War
Finnish Civil War
The Finnish Civil War was a part of the national, political and social turmoil caused by World War I in Europe. The Civil War concerned control and leadership of The Grand Duchy of Finland as it achieved independence from Russia after the October Revolution in Petrograd...

, which led to a temporary majority of monarchists in the parliament, Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse
Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse
Frederick Charles Louis Constantine, Prince and Landgrave of Hesse , Friedrich Karl Ludwig Konstantin Prinz und Landgraf von Hessen-Kassel in German, was the brother-in-law of the German Emperor William II and the elected King of Finland from 9 October to 14 December 1918.-Early life:Frederick was...

 was elected the new monarch as king instead of grand duke, marking the new status of the nation, but he never reigned, as a republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...

 was proclaimed.

The emperor ruled as the Grand Prince of Finland
Grand Prince of Finland
Grand duke of Finland, was from around 1580 to 1809 a title in use by most Swedish monarchs. Between 1809 and 1917, it was the official title of the head of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, who was the Emperor of Russia. The anachronistic female form of the title in English is usually Grand...

 and was represented in Finland by the Governor-General of Finland
Governor-General of Finland
Governor-General of Finland ; was the military commander and the highest administrator of Finland sporadically under Swedish rule in the 17th and 18th centuries and continuously in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland between 1808 and 1917.-Swedish rule:...

. The Senate of Finland
Senate of Finland
The Senate of Finland combined the functions of cabinet and supreme court in the Grand Duchy of Finland from 1816 to 1917 and in the independent Republic of Finland from 1917 to 1918....

 was the highest governing body of the Grand Duchy, and was composed of native Finns. In St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

 Finnish matters were represented by the Finnish Minister Secretary of State
Finnish Minister Secretary of State
The Minister–Secretary of State for Finland represented Finnish interests in the Imperial Court in Saint Petersburg. Before 1834 the title was secretary of state...

. From 1863 onwards the Diet of Finland
Diet of Finland
The Diet of Finland , was the legislative assembly of the Grand Duchy of Finland from 1809 to 1906 and the recipient of the powers of the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates....

 convened regularly. In 1906, the Diet, with its hereditary rather than universally elected representation, was dissolved and the modern Parliament of Finland
Parliament of Finland
The Eduskunta , is the parliament of Finland. The unicameral parliament has 200 members and meets in the Parliament House in Helsinki. The latest election to the parliament took place on April 17, 2011.- Constitution :...

 was established. Finland was one of the first regions in the world to implement universal suffrage
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...

 and eligibility
Eligibility
Eligibility may refer to:* The right to run for office , sometimes called passive suffrage or voting eligibility* Desirability as a marriage partner, as in the term eligible bachelor...

, including for women and for landless people.

Geography

The Grand Principality of Finland lay approximately within the same borders that had existed before the Moscow Peace Treaty
Moscow Peace Treaty (1940)
The Moscow Peace Treaty was signed by Finland and the Soviet Union on 12 March 1940, and the ratifications were exchanged on 21 March. It marked the end of the 105-day Winter War. The treaty ceded parts of Finland to the Soviet Union. However, it preserved Finland's independence, ending the Soviet...

 of 1940. The main difference was Petsamo
Pechengsky District
Pechengsky District is an administrative and municipal district , one of the five in Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It is located to the northwest of the Kola Peninsula on the coast of the Barents Sea and borders with Finland in the south and southwest and with Norway in the west, northwest, and north...

, which was ceded to Finland only in the Treaty of Tartu
Treaty of Tartu (Russian–Finnish)
The Treaty of Tartu between Finland and Soviet Russia was signed on 14 October 1920 after negotiations that lasted for four months. The treaty confirmed the border between Finland and Soviet Russia after the Finnish civil war and Finnish volunteer expeditions in Russian East Karelia. Ratifications...

 in 1920.

Historical population of Grand Duchy

1810: 863,000
1830: 1,372,000
1850: 1,637,000
1870: 1,769,000
1890: 2,380,000
1910: 2,943,000
1920: 3,148,000

Provinces

The administrative division of the grand duchy followed the Russian imperial model with provinces ( governorate, ) headed by governors. However few changes were made and as the language of the administrators was still Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

 the old terminology from during the Swedish time continued in local use. The Viipuri Province
Viipuri Province
The Viipuri Province was a province of independent Finland from 1917 to 1947 but had already been founded in 1743.-History:The province was established in 1743 by separating the city of Viipuri and territories ceded from the Swedish Empire to Russia by the Treaty of Nystad in 1721, from the Saint...

 was not initially part of the grand duchy, but in 1812 it was transferred by Tsar Alexander I
Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....

 from Russia proper to Finland. After 1831 there were eight provinces in the grand duchy until the end and that continued in the independent Finland:
  • Turku and Pori Province
    Turku and Pori Province
    Turku and Pori Province was a province of independent Finland from 1917 to 1997. The province was however founded as a county in 1634 when today's Finland was an integrated part of Sweden. It is named after the cities of Turku and Pori ....

     
  • Kuopio Province
    Kuopio Province
    The Kuopio Province was a province of Finland from 1917 to 1997. The province was named after the city of Kuopio.In 1960 the eastern part was separated as the Northern Karelia Province...

     
  • Vaasa Province 
  • Uusimaa Province
    Uusimaa Province
    The Province of Uusimaa was a province of Finland from 1831 to 1997.In 1831 the Nyland-Tavastehus Governorate was divided into the Tavastehus Governorate and Nyland Governorate, and was thus formed....

     
  • Mikkeli Province
    Mikkeli Province
    The Mikkeli Province was a province of Finland from 1831 to 1997. The province was named after the city of Mikkeli.Parts of the province were transferred to the Central Finland Province in 1960. In 1997 it was merged togeather with Kuopio Province and Northern Karelia Province into the new Eastern...

     
  • Häme Province
    Häme Province
    The Province of Häme was a province of Finland from 1831 to 1997.In 1997 the southern parts with Tavastia Proper, Päijänne Tavastia was merged together with the province of Uusimaa and Kymi into the new Province of Southern Finland...

     
  • Oulu Province
    Oulu Province
    Oulu was a province of Finland from 1775 to 2010. It bordered the provinces of Lapland, Western Finland and Eastern Finland. It also bordered the Gulf of Bothnia and Russia.- Historical Province :For History, Geography and Culture see: Ostrobothnia...

     
  • Viipuri Province
    Viipuri Province
    The Viipuri Province was a province of independent Finland from 1917 to 1947 but had already been founded in 1743.-History:The province was established in 1743 by separating the city of Viipuri and territories ceded from the Swedish Empire to Russia by the Treaty of Nystad in 1721, from the Saint...

     

Heraldry

Main articles: Flag of Finland
Flag of Finland
The flag of Finland , also called Siniristilippu , dates from the beginning of the 20th century. On a white background, it features a blue Nordic cross, which represents Christianity. The state flag has a coat of arms in the centre, but is otherwise identical to the civil flag. The swallow-tailed...

, Coat of Arms of Finland
Coat of arms of Finland
The coat of arms of Finland is a crowned lion on a red field, the right forepaw replaced with an armoured hand brandishing a sword, trampling on a saber with the hindpaws...



The arms were originally designed for the sarcophagus of Gustav Vasa
Gustav I of Sweden
Gustav I of Sweden, born Gustav Eriksson of the Vasa noble family and later known simply as Gustav Vasa , was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death....

 around 1580. The arms were adopted also for the grand duchy, though the position of the "eastern" sword was changed later in the 19th century so that the lion was holding it in his other arm instead of walking over it.

In the 1860s talk about a Finnish flag started in the fennoman
Fennoman
The Fennomans were the most important political movement in the 19th century Grand Principality of Finland. They succeeded the fennophile interests of the 18th and early 19th century.-History:...

 movement. In 1863 numerous proposals were presented for a national flag. http://flagspot.net/flags/fi!prop1.html The two main proposals were flags based on red/yellow and blue/white. The flag proposals never had a chance to be presented to the Diet
Diet of Finland
The Diet of Finland , was the legislative assembly of the Grand Duchy of Finland from 1809 to 1906 and the recipient of the powers of the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates....

, so none of them ever became an official flag. However people used different designs for flags of their own choosing.

See also

  • Diet of Finland
    Diet of Finland
    The Diet of Finland , was the legislative assembly of the Grand Duchy of Finland from 1809 to 1906 and the recipient of the powers of the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates....

  • Military of the Grand Duchy of Finland
    Military of the Grand Duchy of Finland
    Between 1809 and 1917 Finland was an autonomous part of the Russian Empire as the Grand Duchy of Finland. Between 1881 and 1901 the Grand Duchy had its own army. Before that several other military units had also been formed....

  • Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic
    Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic
    The Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic was a short-lived Finnish socialist government, established by a revolution just prior to the Finnish Civil War and in the aftermath of the October Revolution...

  • Congress Poland
    Congress Poland
    The Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...

     – Kingdom of Poland (1815–1831), another constitutional monarchy
    Constitutional monarchy
    Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...

     within the Russian Empire
    Russian Empire
    The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

  • Grand Principality of Lithuania
  • Russification
    Russification
    Russification is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attributes by non-Russian communities...


Further reading

  • Alenius, Kari. "Russification in Estonia and Finland Before 1917," Faravid, 2004, Vol. 28, pp 181-194
  • Huxley, Steven. Constitutionalist insurgency in Finland: Finnish "passive resistance" against Russification as a case of nonmilitary struggle in the European resistance tradition (1990)
  • Jussila, Osmo, et al. From Grand Duchy to a Modern State: A Political History of Finland Since 1809 (Hurst & Co. 1999).
  • Kan, Aleksander. "Storfurstendömet Finland 1809-1917 -- dess autonomi enligt den nutida finska historieskrivningen" (in Swedish) ["Autonomous Finland 1809-1917 in contemporary Finnish historiography"] Historisk Tidskrift, 2008, Issue 1, pp 3-27
  • Polvinen, Tuomo. Imperial Borderland: Bobrikov and the Attempted Russification of Finland, 1898–1904 (1995)
  • Thaden, Edward C. Russification in the Baltic Provinces and Finland (1981).

External links

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