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The brought enormous changes to seven centuries of Finnish integration under Swedish his advisors bore names such as Nesselrode, Czarto- a triangular northern Europe. Of these, the disintegration of the rule — the end of ’s and ’s common his- ryski, Capo d’Istria, Stein and Laharpe. For Finland, Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and the drastic elimi- tory. the union with the — an empire that, in nation of German political entities have stood the One can view the epoch of the French Revolution the words of Zachris Topelius, reached ”from the rocks test of time; so did the creation of the new entities and Napoleonic Wars in many different ways. It is in- of Åland to Sitkas” — opened up new opportunities. at the northern periphery of the continent, that is, herent in the logic of historical narration that different Russian Alaska has had two Finnish governors; ”the fa- and Finland. Other political units created perspectives create new narratives with new climaxes, ther of the Finnish elementary school”, Uno Cygnaeus, drama at by Napoleon and the Vienna Congress, such as Il- main characters and environments.3 found employment there as Russian Alaska’s first Lu- lyria, the United Netherlands and the Grand Duchy The Thirty Years’ War was a devastating European theran priest. Looking back on his Russian years, Mar- of Warzaw, proved more ephemeral. civil war. So were the Napoleonic Wars. These, how- shal Mannerheim noted in his memoirs: ”New views ever, also represented a globalization, a move in the and conditions had opened up for me, which gave me direction of the World Wars of the twentieth century. a broader outlook on things than I could have gotten the periphery Napoleon invaded Egypt and occupied Moscow. There in Finland in the decades around the turn of the cen- were rebellions in the Caribbean. Haiti became inde- tury.” Those who stayed at home also had their out- pendent in 1804; this was a first step on the path to- looks broadened, at least those who lived in the larger ”The Nordic rockade” divided the declining great po- wards independence for the South American colonies, cities. While Sweden, in the years between 1809 and wers, Sweden and Denmark. Sweden lost Finland, but which followed a few decades later. England acquired the mass emigration in the late nineteenth century, was was united with Norway in a loose-linked union. Den- the Cape Colony, Trinidad and Tobago, Ceylon and Sin- exceptionally introverted, Helsinki and Viborg could of a world mark lost Norway, but kept its — originally Norwegian — gapore. be experienced as surprisingly multi-national. Within Atlantic possessions. These changes created, or laid the Even if one focuses exclusively on the regional, Swed- a short time, the capitals of the thoroughly Lutheran basis for,”the new North”. Norden, as it was called, gai- ish-Finnish context of the 1809 ”break-up” — riksspräng- Grand Duchy became home to two orthodox churches, ned institutional shape in the so-called Nordic Council, ningen, a term minted by the Finnish-Swedish historian a Catholic church, a synagogue and a Muslim house of instituted after Norway, Finland and Iceland had achie- Eirik Hornborg4 — one can or must, still, make a choice worship. ved independence in the 1900s. During the nineteenth among different historical perspectives: The birth of the Finnish nation. In 1809, Finland War century, the Nordic nations had tried to create a com- The defeat of Sweden — which meant, for Finland, be- changed from constituting one-third of a centralized, mon identity and sense of community through a com- ing torn loose from a community that had in the words homogeneous state, to being a small (or at least thinly bination of Scandinavianism, old Norse literature and of J. L. Runeberg in ”Björneborgarnas marsch” (The populated) autonomous Grand Duchy within a great Viking romanticism. When all is said and done, howe- March of the Pori Regiment) been formed on ”Narva’s multinational empire. In one sense, the timing was for- ver, what did most to unite the three countries was, per- moorlands and Lützen’s hills” as well as through the tuitous. Russia under the early reign of Alexander I was haps, their strategic insignificance, their relative ethnic Finnish trade in fire-wood and Baltic herring in Stock- experimental or ”liberal”, a period interposed between homogeneity and the fact that they were small states holm. The peace terms were the most severe ever im- the two centralizing reigns of Catherine II and Nicholas located at the periphery of a continent that to a large posed on Sweden. The treaty sealed Sweden’s fate, fi- I. Alexander I actually consulted with representatives extent was dominated by multi-national empires.1 nalizing the decline that had begun at Poltava in 1709. of Russia’s minorities, that is, people such as Czarto- The new Norden was also new in that earlier, dur- Sweden lost about one-third of its area and population. ryski, Capo d’Istria and Gustav Mauritz Armfelt. ing the eighteenth century, Russia, Poland and Prus- Sweden could still call itself a rike, which can mean One must also remind oneself that a part of the sia had been included among the ”Nordic powers”, in both Kingdom and Empire, and it also kept Stockholm, Grand Duchy had been on the side of the victor. The accordance with an older, north-south division of the its old ”imperial” capital, but it lost both its dynasty and county of , which the Russians after 1809 called continent. As the east-west division gained in salience, constitution. Bernadotte’s ”Little Sweden” — ”Lillsver- Old Finland, had become Russian in 1721 and 1743, and Russia gradually became the core in a slavonic Eastern ige” — was just as much of a new creation as was the au- had, in Petersburg’s shadow, oriented itself towards Europe, while Germany was seen as a part of Central tonomous . the empire’s capital. David Alopaeus, the Russian am- Europe. The new Nordic countries were thus redefined A Russian victory — which meant, for Finland, uni- bassador to Stockholm and later peace negotiator in By max engman as a sort of residual category, with Finland as a border- fication with a multi-national empire. For Russia, the Fredrikshamn, was the son of Viborg’s cathedral dean. illustration line case, linguistically as well as politically.2 conquest of Finland was overshadowed by the great While ”Swedish” or New Finland was allowed to keep Riber Hansson For the Nordic countries, the most dramatic event struggle against Napoleon, described by Tolstoy in his its laws and its accustomed, Swedish social structure, had been Finland’s severance from Sweden during the epic War and Peace. Russia’s victory has been incor- Old Finland, which was with rather a hard hand added Napoleonic Wars. Norway’s separation from Denmark, porated into the master narrative of Russia’s growth to the Grand Duchy in 1812, was forced to conform to after three centuries of being part of the Danish com- in power, an expansion that was to make it Europe’s ”Swedish” conditions in Finland. monwealth, was also dramatic; but the new union with dominant power in the years between Catherine II and This was the basis upon which the subsequent Sweden had, after all, allowed the country to regain its Nicholas I, a period during which Russia — notwith- creation of Finnish institutions, state and nation was long-lost position as an individual nation. As a relatively standing the opinions of the Marquis de Cuistine — had, founded. As a result, Finland in 1917 had virtually all equal partner, the union also allowed Norway to exer- perhaps, a more Western outlook and image than it the features and institutions found in an independent cise a large measure of self-government. For Finland, had ever had before, or would have again. Few ethnic state — separate from Russia and to a great extent built being torn loose from Sweden meant the end of six or Russians advised Alexander I at the Vienna Congress; on traditions derived from centuries of union with Swe-

1 The subject was a theme at the Nordiska historikermötet [Nordic Meeting of Historians] 2004: Max Engman & Åke Sandström (eds.), Det nya Norden efter Napoleon [The new Norden after Napoleon], 25:e Nordiska historikermötet, Stockholm 2004. 2 Larry Wolff,Inventing Eastern Europe. The Map of Civilization on the Mind of the Enlightenment, Stanford, Cal 1994; Hans Lemberg, ”Zur Enstehung des Osteuropabegriffes im 19. Jahrhundert. Vom ‘Norden’ zum ‘Osten” Europas’”, Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas NF 33 (1985); pp. 48–91, Max Engman, ”’Norden’ in European History”, in Gerald Stourzh (ed.), Annäherungen an eine europäische Geschichtsschreibung, Archiv für österreichische Geschichte Bd 137 (Wien 2002), pp. 15–34; ”Är Finland ett nordiskt land?” [Is Finland a Nordic country?], Petersburgska vägar [Petersburgian Paths], Esbo 1995, pp. 275–298. 3 Max Engman, ”Vad och hur skall vi fira 2008–2009” [What and How Shall We Celebrate 2008–2009],Historisk Tidskrift för Finland 2007, pp. 156–167. 4 Eirik Hornborg, När riket sprängdes. Fälttågen i Finland och Västerbotten 1808–1809 [When the Realm Fell Apart: The Campaign in Finland and Västerbotten 1808–1809], Helsingfors 1955. 24 essay feature interview reviews 25

den. The creation of the new central bureaucracy laid the historian Yrjö Koskinen a century and a half ago, These two views can, roughly, be equated or as a primary or independent war objective. otherwise there never would have been a Finland — at or to accept Russian expansion without compensation. the ground for the nation’s administrative organiza- but it is still legal tender, especially as time has relieved tied to the political dividing line that was created by The outcome was something no one in Finland had least, not as we know it today. The old Swedish Realm It proved very difficult to get him to agree to the con- tion. For several decades, the new central bureaucracy it of some of its metaphysical5 content. This approach Finland’s language issue and its political relations to asked for, and something that — at least as long as the had been divided against the will of the inhabitants, tinued existence of a maimed Prussia, as a buffer-state embodied Finland. It became the frame within which emphasizes the nation as based on language. The na- Russia. Old Finns tended to emphasize the Finnish lang- Napoleonic Wars endured — might have been revers- and the Finns were given an embryonic state they had between himself and Russia; he did leave behind an both nation and civil society developed. At the national tion is virtually eternal and proceeds through an organ- uage and nation when establishing national continuity, ible. But once the outcome was certain, it was of de- never requested. This reality is not affected by the fact occupation force. At the same time, the Grand Duchy jubilees celebrated in 1859, 1909, 1959 and 1984, Fin- ic process of maturation, according to its own specific while New Finns, and others with loyalties to Sweden, cisive importance. According to this view, 1809 is not that both sides, Swedes and Finns, soon convinced of Warsaw was created out of Prussia’s Polish posses- land’s government authorities stressed that the coun- logic. A nation can, like Sleeping Beauty, fall into cen- saw continuity as depending on the country’s parti- only an important turning point in Finland’s history, it themselves that the processes that had put an end to sions; this was to provide a French bridge-head against try has unusually old and unbroken state traditions, turies of enchanted sleep; but this is nothing more than cular legal legacy and state. The two groups differed is the defining event — Year Zero. The year 1809 marks the entity in which they had lived for six centuries were both Prussia and Russia. Alexander, as the vanquished dating back to 1809 — that is, they predate the nation’s a state of rest. In this view, the foundation of the Grand in their views of history. The Finnish-national concept Finland’s birth as a nation. This was the year that the both unavoidable and beneficial – when the ”ultrama- party, had to content himself with the assignment of independence. Duchy in 1809 is an important landmark, and yet is also found national continuity to extend far back into pre- Finnish state came into being; and the state, in its turn, rine” possessions fell away, what remained was the forcing Sweden to join the Continental Blockade. The perspectives outlined above are not in them- a logical, necessary stage in a process that is almost law- history, at least as far as the Finnish people’s migration defined the contours of the nation that grew up in its ”true” Sweden. As Ernest Renan pointed out, a nation Finland played no role in these deliberations, except selves theoretical constructs, but rather reflect the bound. As Fabian Collan put it in 1841: into Finland is concerned. The Swedish conquest in the shelter. Accordingly, 1809 is, indirectly, the year of birth is created, not least, by forgetting aspects of history to- indirectly. As a part of Sweden, its harbors, too, were of praxis of former jubilees, providing us with different early Middle Ages was, according to this perspective, a of both the Finnish state and the Finnish nation. This gether. course to be closed to the British; and any future Rus- ”places of commemoration”. The Swedish defeat, But also [and] particularly with respect to misfortune that ended the Finnish people’s indepen- meant that as of 1809 — or, to be quite exact, as of 1812, sian military pressure on Sweden could only be exerted which Finland’s national poet J. L. Runeberg rede- the Finnish people’s national culture, the dence. In 1809, the nation of Finland was in fact libera- when Russian or Old Finland was incorporated into the through Finland. These types of self-evident facts were fined as a Finnish moral victory in his tremendously catastrophe of 1809 was of almost incal- ted from the Swedish — that is, alien — strangle-hold. For Grand Duchy — Finland acquired a history, stretching The years preceding Tilsit had given Napoleon a not even written up in the minutes, either in the con- influentialThe Tales of Ensign Stål, can best be com– culable importance. With the knitting of the those who emphasized judicial continuity, on the other both backwards and forwards in time. The argument virtually unbroken series of triumphs. In 1805, he de- ference’s official documents or in secret agreements. memorated in the battlefields. Amost all the battle- new bond, an older one had to be broken hand, Finland’s history began, and was set on its pro- was put into concrete terms in Topelius’s answer to his stroyed the third coalition against him, in his victories There is no indication, in the conference material, that fields have been given monuments, those raised before off; and the Finnish cultural spirit, which per path, when the Finnish tribes (these became ”the own question, ”Do the Finnish people have a history?” at Ulm and Austerlitz. Napoleon initiated a new poli- Finland was even discussed. 1917 as part of an everlasting tug-of-war with the Rus- for centuries, without a direction of its own, Finnish people” only after the Swedish conquest) were As a young Hegelian, he answered ”no” (that is, no his- tical order in Germany by raising Bavaria and Würt- The concessions in Tilsit were extremely unpopular sian authorities. The Russian victory is best commem- had walked in leading strings belonging to incorporated into Sweden on terms of equality with tory until 1809, since Finland had not previously been a temberg to the status of kingdoms, and by assembling in Russian public opinion, not least because of the rapid orated in Fredrikshamn, where peace was concluded an alien, who was superior to it, now found those who lived in the commonwealth’s center. This in- state); as a history professor, he set out to write it. his vassals and dependents in the Confederation of the reorientation from British to French alliances and dis- in September 1809. Finland’s birth as a nation is best itself thrown back on its own resources: it corporation into the West (the Western church, consti- After a short period between 1809 and 1812, during Rhine. Prussia opposed him, but Napoleon vanquis- appointment that the Danubian Duchies, which were celebrated in Borgå, where the lantdag (an Estates Par- was the child who must be weaned; for the tutional state government and free peasant population) which there was talk of ”both ” — Old Finland hed the famous Prussian army at Jena and Auerstädt in occupied by the Russians, were not to be definitively liament, modeled on the Swedish four-estate Riksdag) time was now due. 6 provided Finland’s history with its content. In this per- (the county of Vyborg, which was united with the Grand October of 1806. The Prussian king fled to Königsberg, annexed by Russia. After the Empire’s expansion and swore allegiance to the Emperor and he, in his turn, spective, 1809 was a threat; for although the constitu- Duchy in 1812) and New Finland — the geographical and where he was protected by the Russian army, at least strengthened international status under Catherine II, proclaimed that he had ”raised Finland to count as This weaning could have happened earlier, or later, tion protected a large and central part of the country’s political/institutional entity emerged within which Fin- for a while; but after the inconclusive battle at Eylau the Corsicans had humiliated the country on the battle one in the number of nations”; or in Turku, where Fin- and in other guises, but the nation would have taken legal legacy, it was not shared by the overwhelmingly land’s history unfolded. It did so somewhat incongru- and the victory of Friedland on June 14 1807, Napoleon field and nullified the goals that had directed its foreign land’s new state bureaucracy started its work in early equivalent steps sooner or later, because this was larger Russian Empire. Indirectly, its legal continuity ously, as the country combined the traits of a nation- forced Alexander to enter into peace negotiations. policy for a lengthy period. Although one cannot speak October 1809. its destiny. Viewed from this perspective, 1809 is im- gave Finland the role of ”guardian in the east”, an state and those of an area within an empire. The his- Napoleon came, then, to Tilsit — at Njemen on the of ”Russian public opinion” in the modern sense, still The chief question really concerns the meaning of portant — yet it is just one episode in the nation’s long antemurale christianitatis, a role somewhat similar to tory of that new entity was now written — that is, it and border between Prussia and Russia — at the peak of his there were opinions held and aired in the army and the course of events that we could call ”From Tilsit to master narrative.”The national awakening” had to that claimed by the two noble-estate-based nations Po- its borders were now projected back through time. In power, as the ruler of Europe. Only one power stood the court; the discontented, assembled around the Fredrikshamn”. In Finland, one can distinguish be- come sometime, because it has been programmed into land and Hungary in relation to Russians and Turks. this perspective, 1809 is Finland’s Archimedian point. against him. The battle of Trafalgar in October 1805 had Emperor’s mother, held that Russia should not have tween three basic, sharply divergent but not necessar- the nation’s internal logic. If not Napoleon and Alexan- Even if the Finnish-national and the constitutional From here, one can move the world; from here, a his- destroyed the better part of the French and Spanish given up, it should not have demeaned itself by becom- ily incompatible views on Finland’s separation from der in Tilsit in 1807, then somebody else at some other perspectives differed, or even opposed each other tory is constructed — as all history is constructed — both fleets. This had ruled out an invasion of England, which ing Napoleon’s tool in the north. This was not just a Sweden and unification with the Russian Empire (1808– time — History, or the National Spirit, would have found when it came to key points, they are identical in that forwards and backwards in time. But the events of 1809 in its turn meant that Napoleon’s grip on Europe was question of Napoleon’s power, but of a tug-of-war: the 1809). One gains additional perspective if one adds the an appropriate tool. From this perspective, Russia both are essentialistist and teleological. Finland’s his- also had their own repercussions. Out of the vagaries of under threat. Napoleon’s counter-strategy was eco- French made it clear that if Russia did not take meas- Swedish and the Russian views on the subject. The functioned as the National Spirit’s or the Finnish tory and the Finnish people have an essence, some- chance and construction there developed — under the nomic warfare — or ”liberation of the seas”, as he called ures against Sweden, it would get nowhere on the ques- Finnish-national view (conception/paradigm) empha- people’s unwitting redeemer. thing that makes up the core of the nation’s existence protection of a manifold Empire — a reality so convinc- it. The Continental Blockade, formally proclaimed in tion of the fate of the Danubian Duchies. sizes national continuity. This viewpoint was minted by The second variety of a narrative of continuity, and history — for history, in its turn, has both direction ing that Finnish nationalists were, after half a century, Berlin in November 1806, was to exclude English goods which might be termed the parenthesis conception, or and final goal. The essence can be either the nation, the no longer able to imagine anything other than that its and English trade from European harbors, and thus the constitutional interpretation, focuses on continuity people or the legal legacy; the purpose of Finland’s his- center, the nation, had existed forever. force the country to its knees. In Tilsit, Napoleon made The resultant war was, likewise, very unpopular on an administrative-judicial level. The continuity re- tory is the full realization of this potential. The emphasis on the political constellations includes sure of support from Russia and Prussia; but Portugal, in Russia. The Winter War of 1939 was overshadowed ferred to is the Swedish7 — or Western — judicial legacy, A perspective that emphasizes discontinuity, going an implicit acknowledgement that Finland’s borders Denmark and Sweden remained to be persuaded. Por- by the Great Patriotic War; similarly, the which, according to this view, was in hibernation dur- so far as to explain the events of 1809 as the outcome could have been drawn in other ways. In that case, that tugal was attacked by the French army in Spain, and was overshadowed by the great patriotic war against ing ”the Russian parenthesis” (an expression minted of random chance, does not acknowledge this type of which we know, today, as Finland, might never have Denmark changed sides after the British attack on Co- Napoleon. It is striking that this war has not been gi- by Bernhard Estlander in the 1920s)8. From this point essence. It may be possible to include a sense of histori- emerged. The deep woods had, as yet, no economic penhagen and the British confiscation of the Danish ven any standard name in Russian or in Russian his- of view, Finland did indeed belong to the Russian Em- cal direction, as provided by Russia’s increasing power value, and the Russians’ strategic interests directed fleet. But what about Sweden? tory; one speaks, rather generally, of the ”War of 1808– pire for some time, but on terms that meant that the and penetration of the Baltic Region, highlighted, in their attention to the southern coast. The Russian war- Napoleon, thus, had two closely related goals to 1809”, ”Finland’s unification” with the Empire; in some country ”really” was, in fact, the fourth Nordic nation. its turn, by the foundation of Petersburg in 1703. But plans were premised, during much of the nineteenth achieve in Tilsit: to regulate his relation to Russia and contexts one finds the term ”the Finlandish war”. The Despite the long period 1809–1863 (stadsnatt) when the Finland’s transfer to the Russian Empire was, after all, century, on the idea that the inland was dispensible and Prussia, and to complete the Continental Blockade by French envoy in Petersburg, General Caulaincourt, re- Diet was not convened and there were constitutional the result of accidental power shifts in great-power the west coast indefensible. A border drawn according closing the last harbors that remained open to British ported that Petersburg opinion was ”strongly” against conflicts, the young republic was, in 1917, able openly relations, of political constellations affecting the rela- to these logics — say, from Turku to Kajana — would have trade. Alexander had very different goals. His priorities the war, and that all eyes were directed towards Wal- to resume its true historic path. In this perspective, tionship between Napoleon and Alexander — reminis- given us a completely different Finnish history. were Constantinople and the Duchies on the Danube lachia. 1809 denotes an episode — a regrettable, but luckily cent of the constellations that produced the Molotov- In this perspective, which emphasizes the role of the (Moldavia and Wallachia). Napoleon spoke grandly of a The reactions to the conquest of Finland were also non-decisive and temporary discrepancy. In this per- Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. In both cases, indeed, the hand of Fortuna, or God, Tilsit becomes decisive. There common attack on India, of the division of Europe into negative. The acquisition was felt to be a ”gift” from spective, too, Russia emerges as a threat: it represented signing of an initial treaty was followed by a Russian at- was no main goal, and therefore, no alternative, substi- westerly and easterly empires, and of Russia’s future in Napoleon (the Beast of the Book of Revelations), and a divergent tradition. tack on Finland. In neither case did Russia see Finland tute routes to this goal. It had to happen there and then, the East; but he proved unwilling to give anything away, many felt that an injustice had been done towards

5 Yrjö Koskinen, Oppikirja Suomen kansan historiassa, Helsinki 1869–1873, Swedish translation: Finlands historia, Stockholm 1874. 6 Helsingfors Morgonblad, 1841.01.04. 7 With ”Swedish” I do not mean something external to Finland, which comes from without, but that which the inhabitants in the old Swedish rike built up together. a triangular 8 Bernhard Estlander, ”Den ryska parentesen i Finlands historia” [The Russian Parenthesis in the ], Nordisk Tidskrift NS 2, pp. 53–75. drama at the periphery of a wor ld Wa r 26 essay feature interview reviews 27

Russia’s former ally, Sweden. This feeling was appar- jesty sees himself thereby relieved from his to disturb the sleep of the ladies of Petersburg. What trious, honorable and really useful peace. ain did its empire, but in order to remove a Swedish ently widespread, even among the common people. otherwise holy duty, to make reservations role this factor has played is unclear, but as Stalin noted If those who are dead knew, what has pas- threat and to secure Petersburg. The Russian war plans Erik Gustav Ehrström was in Moscow, on a language concerning these things to the benefit of His in 1939, Russian strategists found it an unacceptable sed here, then Peter and Catherine would during the nineteenth century were based on the idea stipend, and was evacuated to Nizny Novorod during former Subjects. (Art. VI.) 10 thought that an enemy power — or any power which be joyous at what they then would see, that an attacker — who, when he landed, might be Napoleon’s attack. After the burning of Moscow and was not, beyond possible doubt, willing and ready to that their dearest dream has become rea- backed by Sweden — could be stopped at the earliest at the meeting between Alexander I and Bernadotte, in The article was referring to the Diet (lantdag) at Borgå, guarantee peace and security — should have a national lity — Sweden has been reduced to a nullity. Helsinki, and must be stopped at the latest at Vyborg. his new capacity as Swedish Crown Prince, in Turku in and meant that the Emperor considers his relationship border that ran so close to Petersburg. The conquest of Finland — is doubtless the With Finland’s southern coast secured, Russia be- 1812, he wrote in his diary: to his new subjects as regulated, bilaterally, at Borgå; Just a few years after its founding, Petersburg, the most valuable acquisition since the taking came a satisfied power in the North, at least until the this was no longer something that concerned Sweden. new capital of the Russian Empire, was a geopolitical of the Crimea, because Finland is a border rise of Germany at the end of the nineteenth century. I have scarcely spoken to anyone who has The Swedish King’s inability to affect the course of reality that could not be ignored, neither by those who country, not to mention that it has value, This, and Sweden’s ”neutralization” after the political not admitted that the Swedes are a brave events was veiled by the statement that the generosity sat in the Winter Palace nor by those who sat in Stock- also, in itself. 13 events of 1812, created a favorable foreign relations cli- people and who has not spoken respectfully and honor of the Emperor had, he felt, freed him from holm. As P.D.A. Atterbom put it in 1844, some hundred mate for Finland. If Sweden had, after 1809, decided to of the unfortunate Gustaf Adolf — ”Our his duties towards his earlier subjects. years after the founding of Petersburg: We are far, here, from the ”worthless wastelands” and follow a revanchist political line, as did, for instance, Government did the Swedes a great injus- On the other hand, precisely because Tilsit was a a shameful territorial expansion. Kutuzov evidently re- Hungary in the inter-war period, Finland’s nineteenth tice, by taking away Finland” I have many disappointment, and unpopular, it was important For from this moment, when the latter Em- presented a minority opinion among his contempora- century would have been very different. The ”Pax Rus- time heard whispered. — The Swedes’ most that Alexander be able to show that Russia had gained pire had its new capital city situated right ries, but it is, on the other hand, scarcely insignificant sica” of 1809–1914 was interrupted only by the British recent choice of Crown Prince made an something by the treaty — the Continental Blockade next to Finland’s border, the desire to gain that this judgment was passed by a military man in a fleet’s attacks on the coast during the Crimean War, unpleasant impression on the Russians, not benefitted only Napoleon. Caulaincourt emphasized power over Finland at the first suitable opp- high position, used to thinking in terms of large-scale and was Finland’s longest period of peace. only for political reasons, but also, and per- to Napoleon that Alexander really needed to be able ortunity, became, unwaveringly, one of the strategy. Both the Swedish ambassador Curt Stendingk The second precondition for the extension of Finn- The Possibilities haps still more, for moral reasons. — ”Thus to point to concrete progress when faced with those Russian Government’s main goals […] In a and Caulaincourt — both of them generals — spoke in ish autonomy was the fact that Russia was not a nation- in the North will also this proud and independent Nation who accused him of being cheated at Tilsit. Evidently, few words: as soon as Petersburg lay at the their reports from Petersburg of Finland as something state but an empire, with its own logic and its own, Norway has no natural borders with the Baltic bow down under Napoleon’s oke” was the Caulaincourt wanted to throw Finland as a bone to sat- gulf that is called the ”Finnish”, it became, that Russia had long dreamed of taking over. long-established ways of dealing with territorial growth Sea. Norway is nonetheless — for both historical general voice. — The more recent events jus- isfy the Russian ministers. The discontent among the for Russia, just as pressing a necessity to The eighteenth century laid, precisely because of and the co-optation of the elites in newly acquired ar- and cultural, as well as economic and political tify Sweden.9 aristocracy and the army should be stilled at Sweden’s only admit the Baltic Sea itself as its natural the founding of Petersburg, the basis for a sharpened eas. The Empire’s character as a conglomerate state reasons — part of the Baltic Sea Region. Sweden, expense, not Turkey’s. border on the Swedish side, as it had for- struggle for control over, first and foremost, the Gulf made it possible to extend Finland’s autonomy on the for example, is Norway’s largest export mar- The Swedes had, to be sure, chosen a French revolutio- This is what lies behind Rumjantsev’s proclamation, merly been for Sweden, to never let Peters- of Finland. The Swedish wars of aggression in 1741 and basis which had been laid during the six preceding cen- ket. In the Nordkalotten (literally: ”Cap of the nary Marshal and one of Napoleon’s men for the Swe- which, after a month of war, declared that Finland had burg come into existence. 11 1788 and the building of Sveaborg fortress outside Hel- turies shared with Sweden. After 1809, Finland built North”) Cooperation, which includes the Baltic dish throne, but it transpired, in the end, that he — and been incorporated into the Russian Empire. This put sinki demonstrate this. As the Russian historian Zlobin further on that foundation in its own direction, yet Sea states of Finland, Russia and Sweden, Nor- the Swedes — had in fact chosen wisely. the invasion beyond the point of no return. This time, This view became, with time, as a consequence of the wrote, the Russian government paid particular attten- there is much truth in Harald Hjärne’s — perhaps overly way is the leading player. Russia did not intend to draw itself back after it had oc- politics of 1812, a piece of wisdom that the Swedes took tion, throughout the eighteenth century, to the rela- drastic — statement, made in May 1918: ”It is the old ”Today there is a strategic axis that runs cupied the country, or content itself with a little strip of to heart — to the extent that many of them doubted tionship between Sweden and Russia: Sweden that has arisen again, divided to be sure, but from Oslo via Karlstad to Stockholm,” says The Contintental Blockade was central to the Finland (as it had done in 1721 and 1743). whether Finland’s independence was at all possible, still, re-awakened to new life. […] Hereafter there exist, Norway’s ambassador to Sweden, Odd L. Peace of Fredrikshamn. The first two treaty articles This scenario unavoidably makes Finland seem like or, if it was achieved, whether it could be maintained. The reason for this was not Sweden’s power, we can with all justification say, two Swedish states, on Fosseidbråten. ”There is a concentration here deal with the restoration of peace and concord. In the a sort of consolation prize. This is underlined by Alex- The former Foreign Minister Albert Ehrensvärd stated or the extent of the trade relations between either side of the Bothnian Gulf; Finland and the mod- of tremendous knowledge and potential for third, the King of Sweden promised — as a convincing ander’s complaint that they had tried to tempt him with in 1915: these two relatively poor states, but the ern Kingdom of Sweden.”15 This view holds that the old innovation. And it is very easy to extend this response to the country’s desire to establish a rela- ”a waste-land which no one wants”. The statement mir- circumstance that the Empire’s new capital Swedish rike that had gone under in 1809 had two suc- strategic axis to Helsinki and St. Petersburg.” tion of trust – to join the ”Continental System with the rors the Russian picture of Finland as an empty waste Tsar Peter’s choice of capital city has made city lay only a few versts’ distance from cessor states. To this should be added that Finland — in The development potential of the northern adjustments the particulars of which are to be determi- consisting of granite cliffs and impenetrable woods. it a matter of life and death for the Russian the border of that state, which more than addition, and with very significant consequences for regions is a particular focus of an anthology ned” in coming negotiations between Sweden, France We have, thus, on the one hand, something that ap- Empire to be master of the . any other had suffered from our mother the country’s twentieth-century history — inherited that has been produced on the initiative of the and Denmark. After ratification, the Swedish harbors pears to be a pure matter of chance: for lack of any- Finland’s endurance as an independent country’s rapid growth and bloom and the security problems that Russia thought that it had Norwegian Embassy — Skandinaviska vägval were to be closed to both British war and merchant thing better, and for the sake of the Continental Block- state will be possible only in a world where which, in consequence, could not harbor solved in 1809. ¯ [Scandinavian Directions] (Atlantis, Fall 2008). ships. Not until the fourth article do we read of stipu- ade, Alexander was forced into Finland. On the other the lamb and the wolves peacefully graze friendly feelings towards us.14 Among the authors who have written texts for lations of territorial concessions of Finnish counties as hand — Alexander’s statement about Finland was part side-by-side. 12 The essay is based on a lecture for the the volume are Professors Magnus Henrekson, well as Västerbotten as far as Torne River. The peace of his negotiation strategy; it was no sudden whim that In Swedish historiography, the wars of the 1700s, espe- Swedish National Committee for the Key Year 1809, Kjell A. Nordström, Francis Sejersted, Henrik treaty concerned itself strictly with the conditions of made the Russians attack Finland’s southern coast. Because vegetarianism had not yet become current cially the one initiated by the so-called in 1741, are under the chairmanship of Foreign Minister Carl Bildt. Stenius, Sverker Sörlin, and Uffe Østergård. peace and certain liquidation issues, but in addition among states, Russia, at least with its capital at Peters- often presented as pathetic failures. But as Zlobin puts The Norwegian and Swedish foreign minis- the treaty quietly notes that the Emperor has already burg, and Sweden had contradictory interests when it it:”Finland’s position was such that it seemed to be ters have also contributed. ¯ regularized his relations to his new subjects. The acquisition of Finland in Fredrikshamn came to Finland. From a strategic perspective Finland made for an enemy landing with the intention to opera- looks quite different if one places it in an alternative was much more than an uninteresting wasteland. Of te against St. Petersburg.” Zlobin repeated Napoleon’s Since His Majesty the Emperor of all the narrative, a long line that could be called ”the issue this the Russians were fully aware in 1809. In an essay, words about Sweden as Russia’s geographical enemy. Russians has already given the most ma- of Petersburg’s security”. In this perspective, 1703 be- as yet unpublished, Osmo Jussila has quoted a com- In 1788, Gustav III had — drawing on Swedish resources nifest proofs of the mercy and the justice, comes more important than either 1807 or 1809. The ment made by the General Lieutenant L.I. Golenitsev- alone — threatened Petersburg. The fortification of the with which His Majesty has decided to founding of Petersburg in our part of the world is one Kutuzov, a relative of the famous Field Marshal M.I. Kymmene-river line after the war, for some time un- a triangular govern the inhabitants of the country He of these hinges upon which history turns. Once it has Kutuzov, who led the Russian army in 1812 at Borodino der the leadership of Generalissimus Suvorov himself, has newly acquired, in assuring them, ge- turned, nothing is like it was before. Petersburg’s eleva- and Smolensk. Golenitsev-Kutuzov noted in his diary: showed that Russia took the threat seriously. drama at nerously, voluntarily and of his own will, of tion to the capital city and its rapid growth created the Finland was perhaps a consolation prize, but by no the periphery the free practice of their religion, their pro- need for an ever-larger security zone. Napoleon men- Monday, September 6. A great piece of means a worthless one. Russia did not acquire Finland perty rights and privileges, His Swedish Ma- tioned that Swedish canon fire should not be allowed news. Peace has been concluded. An illus- ”in a fit of absentmindedness”, as — supposedly — Brit- of a wor ld Wa r

9 The diary has been published in an unsatisfactory manner, here quoted in translation from the original in the Helsinki City Archives. 13 Cited in Osmo Jussila, ”Från ärelöst till ärofullt. 1808–1809 års krig med ryska ögon” [From Infamy to Glory: The 1808–1809 War through 10 Translator’s note: translated from the French text. Russian Eyes], Max Engman (ed.), Fänrikens marknadsminne. 1809 i eftervärldens ögon [The Ensign at the fair: 1809 Through the Eyes of 11 P.D.A. Atterbom, Minnes-ord öfver högsalig H.M. Konung Carl XIV Johan talade i Upsala universitets namn den 31 maj 1844 [Commemorative words about the estimable H. M. King Carl XIV Johan, spo- Posterity] (working title, forthcoming). ken on Behalf of Uppsala University on the 31st of May, 1844], Uppsala 1844, pp. 31, 26. See also Max Engman,”Fiktion och verklighet. S:t Petersburg i Finlands politiska historia” [Fiction and Reality: 14 K.K. Zlobin, De diplomatiska förbindelserna mellan Ryssland och Sverige under de första åren af kejsar Alexander I:s regeringstid intill Fin- St. Petersburg in the Political History of Finland], M. Engman (ed.), Väst möter öst. Norden och Ryssland genom historien [West meets East: Norden and Russia through the years], Stockholm 1996, lands förening med Ryssland [The Diplomatic Relations Between Russia and Sweden during the First Years of Emperor Alexander I’s Reign pp. 149–176. through the Unification of Finland with Russia], Stockholm 1880. 12 Forum 1915.03.20, cited in Seikko Eskola, Suomen kysymys ja Ruotsin mielipide. Ensimmäisen maailmansodan puhkeamisesta Venäjän maaliskuun vallankumoukseen [The Finnish Question and Swed- 15 Reproduced in Hufvudstadsbladet, 1918.05.18. ish Public Opinion. From the Outbreak of the First World War to the Russian March Revolution], Porvoo 1965, pp. 111–112.