FINNISH NATION

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21039, 15 February 1940, Page 9

FINNISH NATION

LONG UNDER THRALL HOW IT EMERGED GLANCE AT HER HISTORY In order to view in their proper perspective the events which led to the invasion of Finnish territory by Russian military, naval and air forces on November 30, 1939, it is necessary to understand something of the history of Finland. The following account—an extract from a pamphlet published and widely circulated in Great Britain—is based on official Finnish Government sources. The inhabitants of Finland are an individual people, having neither national nor racial affinity with Russia. Her long connections with Sweden and Scandanavia have made Finland a member of the group of northern States in every respect. Thus the Finns are Nordic in character. Two thousand years ago these early Finns began to cross to the northern shores of the Gulf of Finland, which were then inhabited by the Lapps, and it was at the opening of the Christian era that the country we now know as Finland gradually began to assume shape. Under Swedish Rule In the middle of the twelfth century Sweden brought Christianity into Finland, and until the nineteenth century the country was part of the Kingdom of Sweden. In those days all social and political rights and privileges enjoyed by the people of Sweden were equally enjoyed by the people of Finland. The kings of Sweden were also the kings of Finalnd, and, hand in hand, these two peoples bulit up in Northern Europe that vicilisation which they now enjoy, and which many foreign observers have declared second to none in the world. For hundreds of years these two States have been intensely democratic. and it is interesting to notice that Finland and Sweden are among the few countries on the Continent of Europe whose people have never been serfs, or anything other than free men and women.

During the seven centuries in which Finland and Sweden were united there were many wars with the eastern nation, Russia, and owing to Finland’s geographical position her country was more than once the battleground. But until the nineteenth century the enemy was always thrown back. The Russian Conquest

In February, 1808, the Russian Government again sent her troops into Finland, but on this occasion the invasion had all the strategy of a major war effort. It was learned afterwards that the attack had been agreed upon by Napoleon. Emperor of France, and Alexander I, Czar of Russia, at their meeting in Tilsit in

1807 and one of the reasons was that the Swedes and Finns had refused to join in Napoleon’s continental blockade of England. By 1809, after an heroic resistance by the Finns, the Russian conquest was complete, and Finland became a Grand Duchy attached to Russia, with the Czar Alexander I reigning as Grand Duke. The former Constitution of Finland was preserved by Alexander I and for nearly a century the Finns were allowed to retain their cultural standards and democratic constitution. This period of 100 years was highly important in the development and consolidation of the Finnish nation. About 1890, however, the Czar Nicholas II began a systematic oppression of the Finnish people in violation of the Constitution agreed upon by Alexander I and all later rulers of Russia.

In 1899 a manifesto asserted the right of Russia to legislate in Finland without the consent of the Finnish Diet, or Parliament, on any matter deemed to have a bearing on Russian interests. In 1901 the Finnish Army was disbanded by order of the Russian Government. Finnish Revolt It seemed at this time that the free and independent Finnish people would become nothing more than a vassal State of Russia. But in the face of growing Russian oppression Finland began to resist by refusing to obey the illegal Russian decrees, and insisted that her constitutional rights should be respected. It was this period in her history which is referred to as the era of passive resistance. The collapse of Russia in the Great War gave the Finnish people their leng-waited-for opportunity. When the Russian Revolution began, representatives of the former regime in Finland were removed and patriots who had been exiled were allowed to return to their own country. While the revolution was at it height and complete anarchy reigned in Russia, the Finnish Government and Parliament took the destiny ol the country into their own hands. On December 6, 1917, Finland declared herself a sovereign and independent State. Finland Becomes Free Nation It was a great day in the history of Finland. A nation which had so gal-

lantly fought for her existence while under Russian rule and oppression was at last free to mould and shape her own destiny. The new independence was recognised by the new Bolshevik rulers of Russia and by Lenin himself on December 31, 1917. Yet Finland was even then not ree of the Russian yoke. Although ndependence had been solemnly '•ecognised, Bolshevik Russia did not recall her troops. On the contrary, these troops commenced an agitation against the Finnish Government, and Finland realised that if her independence was to become a reality, she had to drive them out by force. It must be emphasised that when the Finnish Government took the fateful decision to use force for establishing order and the real independence of Finland, it acted with the wholehearted approval of Parliament, which had been elected on the basis of universal suffrage, established, with votes for men and women, in 1906. Military operations commenced at the end of January, 1918, and by the middle of May the enemy had been driven out of Finland and Finland had won her independence. In April, 1918, German troops landed in Finland. But it is important to record that when they arrived all decisive battles against Bolshevik troops had already been fought by the Finnish Army under the leadership of General Baron Mannerheim. By the Peace Treaty negotiated with Russia at Dorpat, Estonia, on October 14, 1920, the centuries-old frontier between Finland and Russia was confirmed. The Soviet Union ceded to Finland the Petsamo district on the coast of the Arctic Sea to conform with a promise made long before the Czarist Government.