FINLAND: The Little Lion That (hopefully) Could: A History 1851 - 1951 [HoD/PoD]

Unless there are any objections then, Svenskarnas it is.

GreatUberGeek said:

MOAR UPDATE!

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Ill start writing the next one on Sunday afternoon and hopefully have it ready for that evening/night. UK time anyway.

Wow, that's awesome, thanks! I've done the writing up for the next part, just looking for an image or two to accompany it. Aslong as I get posted before midnight it still counts as Sunday night!

Following Finland’s general election and the filling of the new senate the King presided over the first official state opening of Parliament. Despite being the first of such august occasions there was little ceremony to it since Parliament did not yet have it own purpose-designed meeting place and so it mostly consisted of much shuffling as three-hundred and twelve people, MPs, Senators and Bishops, filed through the recently restored Royal Palace to take up hastily acquired seats in the main state room. Once all were present and settled the King entered to give a speech to commemorate the occasion, resulting in many banged knees as all rose from their seats[1], and laid before them several issues to consider. The appointment of each chamber’s chairman, or speaker. The approval of his budget, the commissioning of a permanent parliament building, where to meet in the mean time and which language they would conduct their business in. Gustaf had no trouble winning approval for his budget which was pleasing but it did represent the end of the almost absolute financial powers he had enjoyed since his accession. The other two matters were spun off into joint committees, one to seek more suitable rented accommodations in the meantime while the other produced a plan for the eventual Parliament House. The matter of the language however was not decidedly simply or quickly and took up by far the most time of all issues at the session.

Before 1852 Swedish dominated nearly all aspects of political life in the country and despite Finnish being constitutionally placed alongside Swedish as a co-equal official language afterwards the majority of the political class were still only fluent in the former. The Svenska party therefore argued that in the interests of ease and efficiency business should be conducted in Swedish, they were backed by their compatriots in the Senate where less than a quarter of the members were fluent in Finnish and many didn’t speak a word of it at all. The Suomalainen party however, as the champions of the Finnish language, refused to let Swedish win by default even though they spoke it quite well themselves, arguing it would unduly privilege the language over the other and as the majority party of the Diet were able to block their cultural adversaries. Unable to come to an agreement the two chambers argued with each other and their respective minorities for hours until the King intervened. Other than as a tiebreaker the Sovereign had little official role in the new parliament but did have the privilege of addressing it whenever and on whatever subject he wished. Using that privilege then he spoke at length to them about the need for unity and compromise for the good of their fledgling nation, entirely however, in French. As the lingua-franca(unsurprisingly where the term originates) of Europe’s nobility it placated the Senate and the Swedes, and as a relatively culturally-neutral language in Finland enough of the Finns were also placated to reach agreement, despite considerable rebellion on the majority benches, making french a de-facto third official language[2].



The King did have other business on that day of firsts, particularly the matter of Finland’s first Council of State, the new cabinet/official government body that replaced the old Senate after the constitution. The Council was answerable to, though not responsible to, the Parliament and was composed of the various ministers appointed by the King to carry out the governance of the country; execute its laws, implement the budget etc. Members of the Council were not required to be members of parliament or senators, nor were they barred from being such, and unlike the old Senate at least some positions on the Council were defined. Specifically it was required to have a Ministry for Finance, for Defence, for Foreign Affairs and for the Interior as well as most significantly a chair in the form of the Prime Minister. The office of the Prime Minister then however did not bear the weight it does when we think of the term these days. Finland’s early PMs were more like chiefs of staff to the King rather than heads of government in their own right. That is not to say they were a toothless non-position however, their access to the King and position as chair and nominal head of the Council allowed them to wield significant influence despite not having de jure power from a portfolio of their own to manage. For his first Prime Minister the King picked army commander Hugo Linder.

Linder was born in Turku in 1803 as the third son to a wealthy though not noble swedish mercantile family, he gained distinctions in his academic career at the Abo Gymnasium but decided against following into the family business and instead elected to go to the War College and become an officer in the then minor Finnish Army. The tuition was quite a significant investment for the family but paid off as Linder graduated with flying colours and went on to become a well regarded officer for his skill with organisation and logistics. It was to him that the Diet of Helsinki turned to in 1850 to reorganise, refit and lead the army in preparation for the declaration of independence, a task he accomplished ably and quickly. Impressed by his ability to reform and manage such a large and complex organisation like the army, the King hoped he could bring those administrative gifts to use in the new government and offered him the position of Prime Minister. Linder accepted and retired from the army, embarking on a new career on Senate Square.



[1]The ailing MP of Kajaani was accidentally bowled over in the event causing him to faint, he had to be removed to another room for an hour while he recovered
[2]French continued to be used as the "third language" until Finland adopted universal suffrage, at which point Finnish took over as the language of government

Hugo is unfortunately made up, PDM gave me the First Minister is a gifted administrator event and I had in the list of generals and admirals, where I draw random names from, someone with a matching trait so I took them for PM. It's hard to find pictures of made up people so if anyone has any suggestions for what he should look like please post, at the end I'd like to have a gallery of all monarchs, PMs and such.

Also Ill try and get back to doing individual replies, and I expect the next update to be ready for tuesday.

With his new government in place and the constitution implemented King Gustaf had already made an absolutely irrevocable mark on the history of Finland and he had not yet even finished the second year of his reign. Many might be content to settle back and enjoy the fruits of their labour, Gustaf though was still a young man full of energy and an ambition to transform his new Kingdom from an obscure backwater to a prosperous and well respected peer of the European powers. Finland’s low population and mundane, albeit abundant, natural resources might have presented a problem for such ambitions but the King had already found his solution, technology and industry. The short-lived nation of Belgium had faced a similar position but had risen to the lofty ranks of the great powers on such a basis, it’s corner of the lowlands out producing most of the continent and it’s various marvels making it the envy of almost all but the British. If they had not cut off relations with the United Kingdom by rejecting the Treaty of London and as a result been partitioned between France, the Netherlands and Prussia(Luxembourg) who knows what they might have accomplished. Belgium’s fate also served a warning though, not to become arrogant and believe too greatly in one’s self reliance, with the vast and highly populous empire of Russia only just next door Finland would always need to be vigilant. However with Tsar Constantine’s friendly and British-backed regime in charge it was not a threat for the moment.

With the runaway success of Helsinki University’s experimental railroad and the great inspiration provided by the Copenhagen World’s fair, where among over thirteen thousand exhibits were displayed the world’s most cutting-edge inventions and innovations, the King had little trouble gaining support for his agenda. The previous year Gustaf had already introduced sweeping educational reforms, known as the Finnish ‘Folkskolereformen’ as they were based on the famous Swedish laws, they did not quite go so far as establishing compulsory and state provided education but they nevertheless opened up education to the masses and they were already having a noticeable impact on the country’s literacy. The Finnish people were unquestionably eager not to be left behind, therefore among the provisions of the King’s first budget passed by the new Parliament were large funds earmarked for the investment and development of the country’s future. With these funds and the help of his new Prime Minister Hugo Linder the King established a number of institutions, some of which live on in various forms today, that would begin to transform Finland from its agrarian roots into the renowned high-tech industrial economy that it is today.


The first of these institutions and one that still existing today was the Railways Administration. The Ratahallintokeskus, or RHK is the government agency that oversees the planning, construction, maintenance etc. of Finland’s rail network and it’s first task in 1852 was to build from the experimental University Line in Helsinki a model that could roll out across the countryside and connect the various towns and cities. The RHK commision brought together university and army engineers and sought the advice and consultation of experts from across the world such as George Whistler of the United States and Robert Stephenson of the United Kingdom. It was their recommendations that persuaded the commision to abandon its initial plans to adopt the British(and increasingly, international) standard gauge of four feet eight-and-a-half inches, already a substantial departure from the university line’s narrow three foot gauge, and instead go with a broader gauge of five feet. With this also being the Russian standard it would be an additional boon if friendly relations could be maintained. Once that was done money flowed into the RHK for the construction of the first true railroads in Finland, starting with the Helsinki to Hameenlinna line and followed quickly by lines to Turku, Porvoo and Kotka, though their construction would take until 1855 to complete.

In the meantime Finland’s first true industrial facilities began to develop. With royal encouragement wealthy merchants and aristocrats turned themselves into the country’s first capitalists by pooling their money into consortiums to build these large projects, into which the government would match their investments with its own. The government would also ensure the resulting companies against losses in their delicate first years, in return retaining large shares in them and their future profits. The first of these to come to fruition was the Finnish Chemical Company which broke ground on it’s first plant near the capital in September. When finished the plant produced vast quantities of treated manures and fertilisers to satisfy the high demand by farmers all over the world looking to improve their crop yields, in fact it was so successful that in only a matter of months it had met all domestic demand and went on to become the country’s principal industrial export and third largest overall behind timber and fish.


It was also in September that a personal tragedy befell the King. The royal family of Sweden & Norway were visiting Oslo, the seat of their Norwegian Kingdom, where they all contracted typhoid fever, a dangerous disease that causes high fever, delirium and dehydration. With Gustaf safely away in Finland ruling his own Kingdom he was of course not there to be infected but he was not untouched by the matter, his youngest brother August sadly died of complications resulting from the disease and his sister Eugenie was left permanently weakened by it. In response to the tragedy the King gave several research grants to the Faculty of Medicine at Helsinki University, leading to several breakthroughs such as the antiseptic principle and the use of pressure chambers for certain surgeries, and established with Parliament Finland’s Royal Medical Society, a professional health association advancing and regulating medical practice.

Blitzzer: Thanks. As you can see I went with your second suggestion for PM.

Enewald: Well it was in Sweden, the first of the Bernadotte Kings apparantly never bothered learning Swedish his entire life but managed to get by entirely with his French. Since the Finnish Aristocracy came from the Swedes it's probably a safe bet they also knew french.

Buckingham: An army officer certainly though picked for his administrative and organisational ability. It's hard to call him a warrior though since he(and the country) have not had to fight any actual battles so far.

Idhrendur: Thanks, welcome aboard!

Derahan: I don't think the Finnish parliament would go in for stabbings, it's so hard to get blood out of carpets so they might lose the deposit on whatever hall they rent out.