Finland was a part of Sweden for more then 700 years and the modern history of Finland don’t start until 1809 when Sweden is forced to surrender it to the Russia in a peace treaty.

Autonomous Grand Duchy

Russia let Finland become an autonomous Grand Duchy with a lot of privileges which lasted until 1917. During the Russian era a lot of nationalism grew within Finland concentrating of the recognition of the Finnish language and the national epic, The Kalevala, was published in 1835. As the second country in the world, Finland adopted universal suffrage in 1906. The Russian government made moves to restrict the Finnish autonomy and as the revolution broke out in Russia in 1917, Finland declared themselves as an independent nation which was recognized by the Bolshevist Russia.

Civil War

A bitter civil war that lasted for 4 months broke out in 1918 between the forces of The Whites (non- socialist conservatives) and The Reds (social democrats). The Reds were supported by the Bolshevist Russia while The Whites were supported by the German Empire. The Whites won the civil war and tried to establish a Finnish monarchy under the German king but with the German defeat in World War I, Finland became a democratic republic instead. The civil war is the most controversial and emotional loaded event in Finnish history and it divided the country for many years.

The second war

The legislators of the new republic tended to be anti-communist and the relationship between Finland and Soviet Union became tense. Soviet Union attacked Finland in November 1939 and started what to be known as “The Winter War”. It ended after four months when the Finns signed the treaty ceding about 10% of its territory and 20% of its industrial capacity to Soviet. This was the first of two wars between the nations as the Finns attacked Soviet, together with the Germans, in what to be known as “The Continuation War” which lasted until September 1944 when Finland, again, signed a peace treaty with the Russians.

Post-war era

After the war, Finland became a more or less grey neutral zone between Soviet and the western countries. It acted as a “neutral” country but had heavy relations with the Russians when it came to politics. The Russians had leverage in the domestic politics which was extensively used by President Urho Kekkonen to give him the status of being “only choice for president” for 25 years until he had to resign due to dementia.

The phenomenon was given the name Kekkoslovakia.

Finland was hit by a depression in 1990 which lasted until 1993, but the economy survived the collapse of the Soviet Union and it grew rapidly.

Finland joined European Union together with Sweden and Austria in 1995.