Chapter 1 : King Mikael Stenfeldt and the early years.
In the summer of 1835 the Russian Tsar was wounded on the head and the time that he wasn?t sleeping in his bed he was very mentally unaware of the current situation. This coincided with a popular wave of independence in the Tsars personal Grand Duchy of Finland. Duke Mikael Stenfeldt led the nobles who demanded total independence from Russia, and several revolts against the Russian garrisons in Finland occurred. And the Russians had problems of their own at the time, the loss of a province not fully a part of the Russian empire seemed a very small matter at the time, and no-one lifted a finger to stop the independence of Finland. Mikael Stenfeldt was crowned king in the capital city of Helsinki on Jan 1st, 1836. As Finland became independent 4 frigates and a clipper-transportation unit crewed by Finns broke away from the Russian fleet and sailed for Turku.
Finland on 1st of January, 1836
The King decided that the nation should buy all the materials it might require as soon as possible, as other nations would soon lose interest in the cause of the young nation, and Finland would not be the most preferable nation to sell too for long. So machine parts and other industrial goods were ordered, as were impressive uniforms for a future army of bureaucrats. And as the state and royal family had managed to loot much gold from the former Russian estates and beg money from various European noble families, this spending spree didn?t send Finland into a debt of any kind.
To industrialize the country it was decided by the united nobility that Finland should exploit her own national resources and construct a industrial base in southwestern Finland based on the extensive timber resources of the nation. Just as the king was in a symbolic way shovelling away the first dirt to make a foundation for the first real factory a small boy came running with news that the United States of Central America had allied with Texas. Since this alliance turned out not to force the UCSA to fight Mexico, no one really bothered for more than a few minutes.
Later the same year the kings fear that Finland would be unable to purchase the goods she required turned out to be true as the governments merchants were unable to aquire cement or military goods from anywhere. A move by the king to institute some social reforms were also rejected both noble parties were in one way or another Laissez Faire.
Still, progress was inevitable, and once the first factory was up and running, everyone in Europe seemed so impressed that Finland found no troubles purchasing all the goods she required. Most of the industry was centred in and around the old capital of the Swedish era, Turku, but plans were made to industrialize the new capital Helsinki too. In the summer of 1837 Russia finally overcame her annoyance at loosing control of Finland, and instead gave a guarantee of independence to Finland. Late in July that same summer Texas finally surrendered to Mexico.
In Autumn of the same year the king decided that the middle-class must be supported, so that research would be helped. No middle-class people would have to pay any tax whatsoever. Of course the middle-class at this time consisted solely of the clergy in Finland, which paid so little taxes anyway that practically no income. Next year in January the Ottomans invaded the Egyptians, or the other way around. Everyone in Finland was too cold to care at the moment, although the king wondered if he should try and support the OE in return for a strategically placed island or who in the Mediterranean. France caused some jokes however when it first dishonoured her guarantee of independence to Egypt, then the next day signed a defensive alliance, which would naturally only go active in the next war. Around the same time the UK went to war with her old colony, the USA.
A year later nothing much had changed, only that the king had grown a bit older and hurt his leg once while riding in the forest. Finland had taken some loans to be able to create some kind of real middle-class, and the UK had annexed half of Liberia and occupied the area around Washington in the USA. The USA in turn had occupied parts of Canada and the western North-America. The UK seemed to believe itself unstoppable as it had huge parts of the area around Washington occupied by summer, it even decided to invade China over some issue that was not considered newsworthy by the state-press in Finland. The great new technological advances made by the new middle class took most of the newspaper coverage, and everyone wondered if Finland might be able to compete with the major European nations even. The difficulties of a two-front war became apparent in London soon however, and the UK signed a white-peace with the USA.
The King seemed to start developing some small-scale mental problems however, as he marched the peoples-army, a band of farmers with pitchforks and axes, trough the muddy streets of the capitol. This instance, and the loads of alcohol served, did however make the foreign diplomats who were observing a bit more amiable against the Finnish people, giving prestige to Finland. The beautiful autumn on 1840 also inspired various authors into writing dreams of how great Finland would be one day. Priding themselves as the nation with the 26th greatest industrial power (right between Saxony and Hannover), everyone was certain that sooner or later Finland would outrank even her neighbours, Sweden, ranked 10th, and Russia, ranked 4th. The King did not find these dreams too inspiring, but the young crown-prince spoke of them in such a voice that many were deeply moved by his words.
In the summer of 1835 the Russian Tsar was wounded on the head and the time that he wasn?t sleeping in his bed he was very mentally unaware of the current situation. This coincided with a popular wave of independence in the Tsars personal Grand Duchy of Finland. Duke Mikael Stenfeldt led the nobles who demanded total independence from Russia, and several revolts against the Russian garrisons in Finland occurred. And the Russians had problems of their own at the time, the loss of a province not fully a part of the Russian empire seemed a very small matter at the time, and no-one lifted a finger to stop the independence of Finland. Mikael Stenfeldt was crowned king in the capital city of Helsinki on Jan 1st, 1836. As Finland became independent 4 frigates and a clipper-transportation unit crewed by Finns broke away from the Russian fleet and sailed for Turku.
Finland on 1st of January, 1836
The King decided that the nation should buy all the materials it might require as soon as possible, as other nations would soon lose interest in the cause of the young nation, and Finland would not be the most preferable nation to sell too for long. So machine parts and other industrial goods were ordered, as were impressive uniforms for a future army of bureaucrats. And as the state and royal family had managed to loot much gold from the former Russian estates and beg money from various European noble families, this spending spree didn?t send Finland into a debt of any kind.
To industrialize the country it was decided by the united nobility that Finland should exploit her own national resources and construct a industrial base in southwestern Finland based on the extensive timber resources of the nation. Just as the king was in a symbolic way shovelling away the first dirt to make a foundation for the first real factory a small boy came running with news that the United States of Central America had allied with Texas. Since this alliance turned out not to force the UCSA to fight Mexico, no one really bothered for more than a few minutes.
Later the same year the kings fear that Finland would be unable to purchase the goods she required turned out to be true as the governments merchants were unable to aquire cement or military goods from anywhere. A move by the king to institute some social reforms were also rejected both noble parties were in one way or another Laissez Faire.
Still, progress was inevitable, and once the first factory was up and running, everyone in Europe seemed so impressed that Finland found no troubles purchasing all the goods she required. Most of the industry was centred in and around the old capital of the Swedish era, Turku, but plans were made to industrialize the new capital Helsinki too. In the summer of 1837 Russia finally overcame her annoyance at loosing control of Finland, and instead gave a guarantee of independence to Finland. Late in July that same summer Texas finally surrendered to Mexico.
In Autumn of the same year the king decided that the middle-class must be supported, so that research would be helped. No middle-class people would have to pay any tax whatsoever. Of course the middle-class at this time consisted solely of the clergy in Finland, which paid so little taxes anyway that practically no income. Next year in January the Ottomans invaded the Egyptians, or the other way around. Everyone in Finland was too cold to care at the moment, although the king wondered if he should try and support the OE in return for a strategically placed island or who in the Mediterranean. France caused some jokes however when it first dishonoured her guarantee of independence to Egypt, then the next day signed a defensive alliance, which would naturally only go active in the next war. Around the same time the UK went to war with her old colony, the USA.
A year later nothing much had changed, only that the king had grown a bit older and hurt his leg once while riding in the forest. Finland had taken some loans to be able to create some kind of real middle-class, and the UK had annexed half of Liberia and occupied the area around Washington in the USA. The USA in turn had occupied parts of Canada and the western North-America. The UK seemed to believe itself unstoppable as it had huge parts of the area around Washington occupied by summer, it even decided to invade China over some issue that was not considered newsworthy by the state-press in Finland. The great new technological advances made by the new middle class took most of the newspaper coverage, and everyone wondered if Finland might be able to compete with the major European nations even. The difficulties of a two-front war became apparent in London soon however, and the UK signed a white-peace with the USA.
The King seemed to start developing some small-scale mental problems however, as he marched the peoples-army, a band of farmers with pitchforks and axes, trough the muddy streets of the capitol. This instance, and the loads of alcohol served, did however make the foreign diplomats who were observing a bit more amiable against the Finnish people, giving prestige to Finland. The beautiful autumn on 1840 also inspired various authors into writing dreams of how great Finland would be one day. Priding themselves as the nation with the 26th greatest industrial power (right between Saxony and Hannover), everyone was certain that sooner or later Finland would outrank even her neighbours, Sweden, ranked 10th, and Russia, ranked 4th. The King did not find these dreams too inspiring, but the young crown-prince spoke of them in such a voice that many were deeply moved by his words.
keep it going! btw good start
