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the finnish population 1 the proclamation promised that russia would grant finland independence as a free country under the dominion of no power provided that the finns ceased their resistance against the russian forces 2 although the proclamation can be regarded as wartime propaganda the establishment of a finnish buffer state as well as the possible incorporation of finland into the russian empire was seriously discussed in saint petersburg 3 after the swedish forces capitulated in august 1742 and finland came under russian occupation a finnish delegation sought to petition elizabeth to appoint her nephew duke charles peter ulrich of holstein gottorp later tsar peter iii of russia as grand duke of finland hoping to avoid total annexation by russia however the delegation was not permitted to travel to saint petersburg and most of finland was returned to sweden under the treaty of åbo turku 3 nevertheless the idea of a finnish buffer state lingered and resurfaced in russian discussions in 1769 4 anjala conspiracy 1788 edit the anjala conspiracy was a scheme in 1788 1790 as a response to end gustav iii s russian war and it included the independence of finland to some degree several people involved were linked to walhalla orden russian occupations and plundering of 1713 21 the greater wrath finnish isoviha and 1741 43 the lesser wrath finnish pikkuviha were still in vivid memory when finns waged partisan warfare against the russians citation needed georg magnus sprengtporten who took no direct part in the conspiracy had written a proposal for a finnish constitution fi in 1786 sprengtporten later had a role in forming the autonomous grand duchy of finland within the russian empire as he became the first governor general of finland after sweden ceded the rest of finland to russia in 1809 at the conclusion of the finnish war 5 rise of national identity edit hyökkäys by eetu isto 1905 was a symbol of russification with the maiden of finland defending the law against the russian eagle according to professor martti häikiö before a nation declares independence it must develop a national identity and certain institutions 6 governing bodies for finland were developed after 1809 when it was elevated as a nation among nations as declared by tsar alexander i by becoming an autonomous grand duchy under the russian tsar the diet of finland met regularly from 1863 national identity grew simultaneously with pan european nationalism johan ludvig runeberg and elias lönnrot created an idealized image of finnish people and finnish nature in the 1830s and 1840s 7 also j v snellman was a central person in national romanticism and the modern nationality debate he encouraged the use of the finnish language instead of swedish among the educated classes during finland s language strife 8 the finnish markka was introduced as currency in 1860 by the bank of finland which snellman pegged to silver instead of the ruble 8 during the famine of 1866 1868 snellman worked to obtain aid and distribute it in a country with low resources and undeveloped communications 8 elisabeth järnefelt held the literary salon järnefelts skola järnefelt school which became a center of the fennoman movement during the time 1880 1910 the golden age of finnish art coincided with the national awakening the central figure of the time was akseli gallen kallela other notable people were aleksis kivi and albert edelfelt citation needed the fennoman motto was swedes we are no more russians we cannot become therefore finns we must be 9 the first period of russification of finland finnish ensimmäinen sortokausi began in 1899 with the february manifesto a legislative act given by nicholas ii when nikolay bobrikov was governor general of finland 10 11 12 as a response the cultural address pro finlandia was gathered with 523 000 names and a delegation of 500 people was sent to saint petersburg to deliver it 13 the kagal resistance movement formed at this time in 1901 russia tried to alter the nature of the finnish army with a new conscription law which demanded that finns not only defend finland but also fight for russia on any front finnish resistance grew into a mass movement and only half of the eligible men reported for duty 14 bobrikov was shot in 1904 by eugen schauman who shot himself afterwards 11 15 the finnish newspaper päivälehti which had been censored before was closed permanently as a result of an editorial written about the assassination jean sibelius composed in memoriam in memory of schauman 15 the steamship ss john grafton unsuccessfully attempted to smuggle large quantities of arms for the finnish resistance during the russo japanese war 1904 1905 the finnish general strike of 1905 temporarily halted russification a drawing by an unknown artist about the assassination of nikolay bobrikov by eugen schauman during 1905 1908 leo mechelin formed a government and created a liberal democracy with the universal right to vote and be elected in 1906 the unicameral parliament of finland was created with universal and equal suffrage 16 however the power of the parliament was limited by the tsar from 1908 to 1916 the second period of russification of finland finnish toinen sortokausi in 1908 and world war i led activist groups to unite under franz albert seyn bobrikov s successor as governor general all legislation was moved to the russian state duma which then pushed for laws restricting finnish autonomy russia demanded higher payments and the senate of finland was replaced with the admiral senate or saber senate 17 nicholas ii pushed for complete russification and the end of finnish autonomy in 1914 but this was halted by the beginning of the first world war the jäger movement was formed and sent first 200 and later 1900 finnish volunteers to germany to be trained as jägers elite light infantry for armed resistance 18 the finnish jägers formed the 27th jäger battalion and were eventually sent to libau to fight against the russian empire sibelius composed the jäger march on lyrics written by heikki nurmio who served in the 27th battalion 19 discussions in 1917 edit revolution in russia edit the february and october revolutions in 1917 ignited hope in the grand duchy of finland after the abdication of tsar nicholas ii on 2 march 15 march n s 1917 the personal union between russia and finland lost its legal base at least according to the view in helsinki as he was the grand duke of finland negotiations began between the russian provisional government and finnish authorities power act edit the resulting proposal approved by the russian provisional government was heavily rewritten in the finnish parliament and transformed into the so called power act finnish valtalaki swedish maktlagen whereby the parliament declared 20 itself to now hold all powers of legislation except with respect to foreign policy and military issues and also declared that it could be dissolved only by itself at the time of the vote it was believed that the provisional government would be quickly defeated by the rebellion in saint petersburg the provisional government survived however and disapproved of the power act and dissolved the finnish parliament citation needed after new elections and the ultimate defeat of the provisional government in the october revolution the finnish parliament decided to create a three man regency council 21 based on finland s constitution and more precisely on 38 of the old instrument of government of 1772 which had been enacted by the estates after gustav iii s bloodless coup this paragraph provided for the election of a new monarch in case of the extinction of the royal line and was interpreted in finland as vesting sovereignty in the estates later the parliament during such an interregnum the regency council was never elected however because of the strong opposition of finnish socialists and their general strike of 1917 which demanded more radical action citation needed on 2 november 15 november n s 1917 the bolsheviks declared a general right of self determination including the right of complete secession for the peoples of russia on the same day the finnish parliament issued a declaration by which it assumed pro tempore all the powers of the sovereign in finland 22 the old instrument of government was however no longer deemed suitable leading circles had long held that monarchism and hereditary nobility were antiquated and advocated a republican constitution for finland citation needed the declaration and 15 november edit main article finnish declaration of independence image of the declaration in finnish with the senators signatures image of the declaration in swedish with the senators signatures pehr evind svinhufvud formed a senate which started on 27 november 1917 its goal was to execute independence as soon as possible the senate returned to the parliament with a declaration of independence and proposal for a new republican instrument of government on 4 december 23 the declaration of independence was technically given the form of a preamble of the proposition and was intended to be agreed upon by the parliament parliament adopted the declaration on 6 december with 100 votes against 88 24 25 with reference to the declaration of 15 november the new declaration says the people of finland have by this step taken their fate in their own hands a step both justified and demanded by present conditions the people of finland feel deeply that they cannot fulfil their national and international duty without complete sovereignty the century old desire for freedom awaits fulfilment now finland s people step forward as a free nation among the other nations in the world the people of finland dare to confidently await how other nations in the world recognize that with their full independence and freedom the people of finland can do their best in fulfilment of those purposes that will win them a place amongst civilized peoples international recognition edit svinhufvud immediately asked sweden norway denmark germany and france to recognize finland s independence the west however said they would wait until the former ruler russia recognized the declaration they told svinhufvud to talk to lenin s bolshevik government svinhufvud was hesitant to do this as he did not want to recognize the bolsheviks as the legal rulers of russia besides he thought that the bolshevik government would probably fall soon so the parliament decided instead to ask for recognition from the russian constituent assembly germany which was in middle of peace negotiations with soviet russia pressured the finns to talk to lenin and the council of people s commissars svinhufvud followed their advice as finland wanted germany s recognition as soon as possible 26 on 18 december 31 december n s the soviet russian government issued a decree recognizing finland s independence 27 and on 22 december 4 january 1918 n s it was approved by the highest soviet executive body the all russian central executive committee vtsik 28 this is how the meeting is told in svinhufvud s biography svinhufvud ja itsenäisyyssenaatti written by erkki räikkönen after trying in vain to meet the soviets on december 30 1917 then sunday the next day the delegation managed to submit this letter to lenin s secretary and in the evening at 9 o clock it went to smolny to hear the decision we waited a couple of hours in the big hallway and sat at the corner of the table says svinhufvud and we had the furs on and the caps on hand because they didn t dare leave them smolna was busy despite the late hours guests came and went typists ran down the hallways even toddlers on the floor on several occasions enckell tried to rush to the soviet government s head of office vladimir bonch bruyevich but nothing helped we could only see says enckell how in one room the people s commissars sat in thick tobacco smoke and probably pondered our case despite the fact that the furs were on it became cold in the hallway while waiting finally almost at midnight bonch bruyevich brought the decision of the board of commissioners it was worded as follows we rose one after another and signed with special satisfaction the recognition of finland s independence writes i steinberg who was a justice commissioner in lenin s government we knew that finland s current hero svinhufvud once sent to exile by the tsar was our public social enemy and that he would not spare any of us in the future but if we free the finnish people from the oppression of russia there will be one less historical injustice in the world despite the fact that this letter merely announced the proposed recognition of finland s independence it actually meant full recognition of independence as the confirmation of the executive committee was only a formality thus in the last hour of the last day of the year finland had received an official certificate of resignation from russia after handing over this formal declaration of independence to the delegation bonch bruyevich planned to say goodbye and leave but then enckell pointed out when the chairman of the finnish government is here would it not be desirable for him to meet lenin in person and express his gratitude to the finnish people for the recognition of their independence bonch bruyevich now went back to the commissioners room informing the commissioners that svinhufvud was waiting in the hallway and wanted to thank lenin this resulted in great confusion lenin shrugged laughed a little embarrassed and refused what can i say to those bourgeoisie it was then suggested that leon trotsky go to greet the guests but he too refused sharply it was finally invented that justice commissioner steinberg should agree to the request what can i tell them he asked and continued i could only arrest them in my post trotsky laughed cunningly at this like you would capture now bonch bruyevich was nervous he interrupted the play and again asked lenin to go out to greet the finns in a worn suit and head presses lenin was now following bonch bruyevich while the hall was still laughing and counting dives lenin came and held out his hand to us and we introduced him to svinhufvud says enckell of this historic scene adding that lenin squeezed svinhufvud s hand cordially are you satisfied now lenin asked very satisfied replied svinhufvud russia was spoken there and answered in russian says svinhufvud adding that it only said a sad thank you for the letter of resignation the finns left now svinhufvud enckell and idman rushed quickly to the secretary of state s office a typewritten copy of the recognition of independence was urgently taken there after which we left for the station and from there continued by train to finland a few days later the russian central executive committee confirmed the recognition of finland s independence which was thus finally decided for russia 29 the independence of finland was recognized after that by germany sweden and france on 4 january 1918 by norway and denmar...