Nonetheless, frequent dissolutions at the hands of the tsar permitted the Eduskunta to achieve little before independence. The second Russian revolution allowed Finland to break away from the Russian empire, and independence was declared on December 6, Within weeks, domestic political differences led to an armed struggle among Finns themselves that lasted until May , when right-wing forces, with some German assistance, were able to claim victory.
Whether seen as a civil war or as a war of independence, the conflict created bitter political divisions that endured for decades. As a consequence, Finland began its existence as an independent state with a considerable segment of its people estranged from the holders of power, a circumstance that caused much strife in Finnish politics.
In mid, Finns agreed on a new Constitution, one that constructed a modern parliamentary system of government from existing political institutions and traditions.
The seat unicameral parliament, the Eduskunta, was retained. A cabinet, the Council of State, was fashioned from the Senate of the tsarist period. A powerful presidency, derived, in part at least, from the office of governor general, was created and provided with a mixture of powers and duties that, in other countries, might be shared by such figures as king, president, and prime minister. Also included in the new governmental system was an independent judiciary.
The powers of the three branches of government were controlled through an overlapping of powers, rather than a strict separation of powers. Finland faced numerous political and economic difficulties in the interwar years, but it surmounted them better than many other European countries.
Despite the instability of many short-lived governments, the political system held together during the first decades of independence. While other countries succumbed to right-wing forces, Finland had only a brush with fascism.
Communist organizations were banned, and their representatives in the Eduskunta arrested, but the SDP was able to recover from wounds sustained during the Civil War and was returned to power. In the party formed the first of the so-called Red-Earth coalitions with the ML, the most common party combination of the next fifty years, one that brought together the parties representing the two largest social groups.
The language problem was largely resolved by provisions in the Constitution that protected the rights of the Swedish-speaking minority. Bitterness about the past dominance of Swedish-speaking Finns remained alive in some segments of the population, but Finnish at last had a just place in the country's economic and social life.
Finland's economy diversified further during the the s and the s. Timber, the country's "green gold," remained essential, but timber products such as pulp and paper came to displace timber as the most important export. Government measures, such as nationalization of some industries and public investment in others, encouraged the growth and strengthening of the mining, chemical, and metallurgical industries.
Nevertheless, agriculture continued to be more important in Finland than it was in many other countries of Western Europe. Government-enforced redistribution of plots of land reduced the number of landless workers and fostered the development of the family farm. Survival during the Great Depression dictated that Finnish farmers switch from animal products for export to grains for domestic consumption. Finland's official foreign policy of neutrality in the interwar period could not offset the strategic importance of the country's territory to Nazi Germany and to the Soviet Union.
The latter was convinced that it had a defensive need to ensure that Finland would not be used as an avenue for attack on its northwestern areas, especially on Leningrad. When Finland refused to accede to its demands for some territory, the Soviet Union launched an attack in November A valiant Finnish defense, led by Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, slowed the invaders, but in March the Winter War ended when Finland agreed to cede to the Soviets about 10 percent of Finnish territory and to permit a Soviet military base on Finnish soil.
In what Finns call the Continuation War, Finland confined its military actions to areas near its prewar borders. In the fall of , Finland made a separate peace with the Soviet Union, one that was conditional on its ceding territory, granting basing rights, agreeing to onerous reparation payments, and expelling German forces from its territory. However, although Finland suffered greatly during World War II and lost some territory, it was never occupied, and it survived the war with its independence intact.
Finland faced daunting challenges in the immediate postwar years. The most pressing perhaps was the settlement of , Finns formerly residing in territory ceded to the Soviet Union. Most were natives of Karelia. Legislation that sequestered land throughout the country and levied sacrifices on the whole population provided homes for these displaced Finns. This payment entailed a huge effort, successfully completed in A less concrete problem, but ultimately a more important one, was the regulation of Finland's international relations.
The Treaty of Paris, signed in , limited the size and the nature of Finland's armed forces. Weapons were to be solely defensive. Under the terms of the treaty, Finland is bound to confer with the Soviets and perhaps to accept their aid if an attack from Germany, or countries allied with Germany, seems likely. The treaty prescribes consultations between the two countries, but it is not a mechanism for automatic Soviet intervention in a time of crisis.
The treaty has worked well, and it has been renewed several times, the last time in What the Soviet Union saw as its strategic defensive need--a secure northwestern border-- was met. The Finns also achieved their objective in that Finland remained an independent nation. The Finnish architect of the treaty, Juho Kusti Paasikivi, a leading conservative politician, saw that an essential element of Finnish foreign policy must be a credible guarantee to the Soviet Union that it need not fear attack from, or through, Finnish territory.
Because a policy of neutrality was a political component of this guarantee, Finland would ally itself with no one. Another aspect of the guarantee was that Finnish defenses had to be sufficiently strong to defend the nation's territory. This policy, continued after Paasikivi's term as president by Urho Kekkonen and Mauno Koivisto , remained the core of Finland's foreign relations. In the following decades, Finland maintained its neutrality and independence.
It had moved from temporary isolation in the immediate postwar years to full membership in the community of nations by the end of the s. In mid, Finland joined the Council of Europe. The policy of neutrality became more active in the s, when Finland began to play a larger role in the UN, most notably in its peacekeeping forces.
Measures aiming at increasing world peace have also been a hallmark of this policy. By the end of the s, the most serious question for Finland in international relations was how the country's economy, heavily dependent on exports, would fare once the EC had achieved its goal of a single market in Finland's neutrality seemed to preclude membership in an organization where foreign policy concerns were no longer left to individual member nations.
Finland also dealt effectively with domestic political problems in the postwar era. By the early s, the patterns of postwar Finnish politics were established.
No one group was dominant, but the ML under the leadership of Kekkonen, who became president in , became an almost permanent governing party until the late s. In it changed its name to the Center Party Keskustapuolue--Kesk in an attempt to appeal to a broader segment of the electorate, but it still was not successful in penetrating southern coastal Finland. The SDP remained strong, but it was often riven by dissension. As a consequence, nonsocialist parties never had to face a united left.
In the s, the communists had severe problems adjusting to new social conditions, and they split into several warring groups. As a result, their movement had a marginal position in Finnish politics. The SFP, a moderate centrist party with liberal and conservative wings, had a slightly declining number of seats in the Eduskunta, but its position in the middle of the political spectrum often made it indispensable for coalition governments.
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Expand Raahe. Moving to Raahe. Expand Life in Raahe. Settling in Raahe. Work and enterprise in Raahe. Finnish and Swedish in Raahe. Housing in Raahe. Education in Raahe. Health care in Raahe. In the Winter War Finland stood alone; other countries offered only sympathy and modest assistance.
Finnish ski troops inflicted heavy casualties on the Russian army. In August , Germany and the Soviet Union signed a nonaggression pact, which included a secret protocol relegating Finland to the Soviet sphere of interest. When Finland refused to allow the Soviet Union to build military bases on its territory, the latter revoked the nonaggression pact of and attacked Finland on November 30, When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in the summer of , Finland entered the war as a cobelligerent with Germany.
The terms of the armistice were confirmed in the Paris Peace Treaty of Marshal Mannerheim was made president of the republic towards the end of the war. He was succeeded in by J. Paasikivi — , whose aim was to improve relations with the Soviet Union.
Among the major achievements of Nordic cooperation were the establishment of a joint Nordic labour market in and a passport union in This was evident for instance in initiatives taken by Finland, such as the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe held in Helsinki in summer Kekkonen led Finland for a quarter of a century before resigning because of poor health.
Mauno Koivisto was elected president in Spring marked a turning point in the government, when the conservative National Coalition Party and the Social Democrats formed a majority government that remained in power until After the election, the Social Democrats were left in opposition, and a new government was formed by the Conservatives and the Centre Party formerly the Agrarian Party.
The upheaval that took place at the end of the s and early s, including the dissolution of the Soviet Union, was evident in Finland in both a liberalised intellectual atmosphere and in greater latitude in foreign policy. The need and opportunity for Finnish membership in the European Community EC increased greatly when Sweden submitted its membership application and the Soviet Union was dissolved in In a referendum held in Finland in October , 57 percent of the voters supported membership, and in November Parliament approved Finnish EU membership as of the beginning of by a vote of In the parliamentary elections the Finnish Centre Party suffered a crushing defeat and Paavo Lipponen, the new chairman of the Social Democratic Party, formed a unique government by Finnish standards.
Parliamentary elections in spring also changed the political composition of the government. In , an unexpectedly close presidential election took place. In the elections of , the Parliament shifted noticeably to the right when the National Coalition Party scored a big victory and the Social Democratic Party suffered a marked loss.
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