From Swedish province to modern independent state

It is a sad truth that few people in the English-speaking world are aware of even the bare bones of Finnish history. I will not try here in any systematic way to redress this deficiency, which is in any case substantially self-imposed. For there are already a number of good accounts in English of the main outlines of the history of the country. I will, however, try to give sufficient information, both on Finland's past and on the more particular history of my research area in North Karelia, to serve as a background against which contemporary developments can more easily be understood. At the same time, I am conscious of the problems posed by such a task and of my limitations for it. The account I present is based mostly on a reading of the works of others, and it does not claim to constitute a contribution to historical debate. It is also clear that there is commonly no simple uncontested history to be summarised, especially in a society which has seen tumultuous events and sharp and sometimes violent disagreements over fundamental issues within living memory.

Finland became independent in 1917 after a long period of inclusion within Sweden and, thereafter, in the Russian empire. Alapuro (1980a) and Allardt (1985) have both stressed the wide-ranging significance of Finland's interstitial situation between these two zones of influence.