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A cornerstone in the official Finnish Russomania, is the claim that Russia wants to consume the whole of Finland.

Our subscriber came across a historic step-by-step summary demonstrating the absolute inconsistency of such an accusation, which we published in a two-part post at “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”:

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They didn’t, at any point from 1809-1947. That is the hallucination that Finns have, that Russia wants their lands.

In 1945 Roosevelt insisted that Finland gives up all the territories that Soviet Union had suggested in negotiations of 1938 with Finland, just to secure their second largest city against Finnish aggression, with Nazi Germany alliance and their troops in Finland.

Remember, the secret clause in the Molotov-Rittentrop agreement dictated that Finland belonged to Soviet Union sphere of influence. That there is not to be German troops etc in there. And what did Germans and Finns do? Exactly the opposite!

As well, Finland was the country for Nazi Germany’s submarine design and research, that is why Finland had own submarines as it did the designs for Nazi Germany, that was denied having submarines according to WWI peace treaty. So having it in Finland made it possible to circumnavigate those treaty limitations.

The Soviet Union had all the legitimate reasons to worry about the Finnish agenda and objectives, seeing what Finns did in 5 years after getting independence from Soviet Union.

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🔹 Russia formed Finland in 1809 by defining its borders for the first time in history, when Sweden lost their eastern territory to Russia.

🔹 Russia gave Finns their language, by making Finnish the official language in the country, before that you only had Swedish language for everything.
And no, Russia didn’t even demand Russian language be used.

🔹 Russia formed schooling system for Finns, demanding that every child is educated at schools, not just the elite.
And no, Russian language wasn’t enforced in the schools.

🔹 Russia gave Finns their monetary currency, Finnish Mark, before that only Swedish Kronar was allowed as currency.
And no, Russia didn’t enforce their rouble.

🔹 Russia gave Finland their first independence 1809, by building parliament and making it the highest power in Finland, the Swedish laws were kept but taught to Finns to form their own laws and court system in transition phase.
Russian system wasn’t enforced at all.

🔹 Russia gave Finland their own postal office, own stamp and own postcards, and own country code, so people could write Letters and cards as Finns.
No, Russia didn’t enforce their postal office or addresses on Finns.

🔹 Russia gave Finns their own taxation office, as all the taxation money was denied to be moved to Russia, but be kept inside Finland for the Finns development. No, Russia didn’t receive tax from Finland like from other republics under it’s flag.

🔹 Russia gave Finns their first military, where only Finns were allowed to serve and Finns were set so that they are only to defend their own territory, not to be used outside of Finland’s borders unlike for other governorships in the Russia. This was changed in the late 19th century, when the law was changed so that Finnish soldiers might need to fight in other Russian territorial wars if required. This was called “russification” in Finns minds.

🔹 In 1917, Soviet Union gave Sovereignty and Independence for Finland, after over a century of being autonomic area with privileges. Signatories were such people as Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky…

🔹 Finland was the first country to recognise Soviet Union. Doing so, legitimatised Finland’s independence, and no other western country dared recognise Finland before Russia did so.

🔹1917-1922 Finland constantly invaded Soviet Union, “Greater Finland” was the ideology among Finnish governments, that had part of Sweden, Russia all the way to Ural mountains, little bit of Lithuania, and the whole of Estonia.

🔹1922 Finland was forced to peace, but they were gifted an “arm” by access to the Northern sea.

🔹1938 Finland prepared again to invade Russia, with the help from Germany that was preparing to conquer the Soviet Union.

🔹1939 – 1945 Finland had two wars with the Soviet Union. A “Winter War” and “Continuity War”. First was being caught pants down when Ukrainians fought against the Finns. And second one was Finland’s invasion of Russia and participation in encircling of Leningrad and killing civilians in the city by being responsible in holding the northern side of the city.

After the war, Finland was forced to give up territory as the US president Roosevelt insisted on it to Stalin. And Finns blame Russia for that, not the USA as they should.

🔹And to add, in 1938 Finland demonstrated to international media their capability to strike Leningrad (St.Petersburg) from their side of the border.

The Soviet Union took that as an alarming threat and started negotiations with Finland for border move. Where the border was to be moved to the west (toward Finland) by 42 km from west side of Leningrad, and in exchange Finland to receive twice as much territory a little further North. This so that Finland would not be able strike at Russia’s second largest city, and having a small demilitarised buffer zone around it.

Four rounds of negotiations were held, the Soviet Union did shrink the border shift demands considerably, but Finns laughed and were trying to do only 3-5 km in very small areas to straighten the border.

The fifth negotiations round didn’t come, as in Soviets’ minds the Finns didn’t take the threat they posed to Russia seriously.

And so, the Winter War was started. Where Soviet Union decided to take the border shift unilaterally.

NOT THE WHOLE OF FINLAND, and Finland’s independence was NEVER UNDER THREAT!

All that Russia asked for was to take seriously Russia’s security concern after what Finland demonstrated in the first place, and building invasion bases against Russia’s border in 1938.

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And while we are on this topic…

On February 1, 1809, Russian emperor Alexander I established the Parliament of Finland

Finland was under Swedish rule for 600 years. After the Russian Empire won the Russo-Swedish War of 1808–1809, the Treaty of Fredrikshamn made all of Finland part of the Russian Empire.

For the Russian Emperor, this region became a testing ground for enlightenment ideas.

Alexander established the Grand Duchy of Finland as part of the Russian Empire and even expanded its borders by annexing the Karelian Isthmus, which Russia had conquered from Sweden at the beginning of the 18th century, to the principality.

Finland retained the influence of the Lutheran Church and the established administrative culture.

Finland had its own customs, postal service and justice bodies; the principality’s income did not flow into the general imperial treasury, but was used for its own needs.

The Finnish parliament, the Landtag, symbolised Emperor Alexander’s ideas about the supremacy of law over autocracy.