History History

Territory once again accessible following the melting of the ice, with many lakes and prolific forests for hunting and fishing.

The territory began to be occupied by the Finns. The Roman historian Tacitus speaks of the "Fenni", probably the first nomadic Sami.

The Åland Islands are populated by Swedes.

First Swedish crusade, a gradual colonization of the southwestern Finnish peninsula. After subduing the Finns by force of the sword, the English missionary Henry converted them and founded a bishopric with its seat in Åbo (Turku). This was the time of the Christianization of the country.

The war between Sweden and Novgorod ends with the Treaty of Pähkinäsaari; Sweden gets Finland (Suomi), Tavastia and part of Karelia.

A visionary, King Vasa provided Sweden with a modern state apparatus. Convinced by Luther's theses, and anxious not to give all his possessions to the Pope, he opted for Protestantism and demanded the conversion of his subjects. A number of Swedish and Finnish priests who had studied in Germany, especially in Wittenberg where Luther lived, were also deeply influenced by the theses of the German religious revolutionary.
It was in this context that Mikael Agricola, Bishop of Turku, translated the Bible into Finnish, which was published for the first time in 1548, the first written testimony of a unique language whose roots had nothing to do with the Indo-European branch.

Gustav I Vasa founded Helsinki (Helsingfors) by royal decree in 1550 at the mouth of the river Vantaa. From its very beginnings, the new city was conceived as a perfect rival to Tallinn in the Baltic trade and a second commercial port.

The Peace of Täyssinä, following a Russian-Swedish war, establishes Finland's eastern borders.

Europe is torn apart. Many Finnish soldiers were requisitioned. Among them were the famous hakkapelites - from the war cry " haaka päälle ", which literally means "knock on it". The Catholic Church in Rome used to say of them "A horribile haccapælitorum agmine libera nos, Domine" ("Lord, deliver us from this horrible army of hakkapelites"). Over the years and centuries, many poets and musicians have paid tribute to the Hakkapelites.

Queen Catherine of Sweden established the first Finnish university in Turku.

In 1703, Russia, led by the young Tsar Peter the Great, became increasingly powerful and defeated Sweden several times. In order to give his empire access to the Baltic Sea, the tsar built the fortified city of St. Petersburg at the gateway to Finland. At the beginning of the 18th century, Helsinki had only about 1,600 inhabitants.

The period of the Great Wrath when Russian armies occupy and ravage the country. The Treaty of Nystad in 1721 cuts off Karelia and Ingria from Finland.

The period of the Little Wrath with a new Russian invasion that ends with the Treaty of Åbo and the cession of part of Savonia to the enemy.

Sweden begins construction of the fortress Sveaborg (Suomenlinna) opposite Helsinki.

Peace Treaty of Hamina: Finland, ceded by Sweden to Russia, becomes a grand duchy of the Russian Empire, with a large autonomy.

The Tsar chooses Helsinki as the new capital of Finland. Numerous works and constructions followed to turn the city into a real imperial city, so that the most important institutions of the Grand Duchy of Finland were established here.

After centuries of war and destruction, Finland could finally reap the benefits of peace. Little by little, the Finnish political and intellectual class took up the claim of Adolf Ivar Arwidsson, a Finnish journalist and historian: "We are not Swedes, we do not want to become Russians, we must be Finns. "This slogan is followed to the letter by thousands of families who replace their Swedish names with Finnish ones. Publication of the Kalevala written by Elias Lönnrot, a Finnish national epic based on Finnish mythology transmitted orally (popular poems collected from the population). Major work symbolic of Finnish national identity.

The Finnish mark becomes the official currency of Finland.

Finnish becomes an official language on a par with Swedish.

The Finnish pavilion is admired at the World Exhibition in Paris. This was the golden age of Finnish art with painters such as Edelfelt, Gallèn-Kallela, Järnefelt, Halonen and the composer Sibelius.

Finland establishes its own national parliament elected by universal suffrage; Finnish women become the first in the world to gain full recognition of their civil rights (the right to vote and to be elected).

The Russian Revolution of 1917 and the rise to power of the Bolsheviks marked a major turning point. Lenin, during his long years in hiding, had indeed stayed in Finland several times. In contact with the Finnish socialists, who were very active, he promised them independence in the event of a victory for his party. Once in power, he kept his word. Independence was declared on 6 December 1917.

But in January 1918, a civil war, as brief as it was ruthless, broke out between supporters of socialism and Finnish conservatives. The Socialists, commonly known as Reds, took over Helsinki. The Finnish government took refuge in Vaasa on the west coast. General Mannerheim, a former officer in the Tsarist army, organised the government army and led the conservative counter-offensive.

A new period of war followed. National reconciliation was encouraged by the threat of foreign aggression. In November 1939, the Soviet army invaded Karelia in the east of the country. This was the beginning of the Winter War, which lasted one hundred days. The poorly trained and ill-equipped Red Army initially suffered from the exceptionally harsh weather conditions of the winter of 1939-1940 and met with fierce resistance. The Finnish soldiers, camouflaged in their white uniforms, also found the snow a precious ally. To compensate for the lack of anti-tank weapons, they also invented a makeshift bomb (a flaming bottle of petrol), the "Molotov cocktail", named after the man they hated the most: the Soviet Prime Minister. Many women, the Lotta Svärd, also joined the sanitary sections and the staffs.

Taking advantage of Hitler's turn against Stalin in 1941, the Finns went on the counter-offensive and took back the territories lost a year earlier. This was the beginning of the Continuation War (1941-1944). The German army settled in Lapland while the Finns reclaimed their land. However, the Finnish government did not agree with the extermination objectives of the Nazi Third Reich. No alliance treaty was signed. The armistice finally concluded with the USSR in September 1944 obliged Finland to cede 10% of its territory and to pay an exorbitant war debt. During this period, the city was bombed many times. The government decided to completely extinguish the city and to light the islands as bait, so they could preserve the city and the damage was relatively low.

The Helsinki Olympic Games are finally taking place, 12 years after the scheduled date!

Finland is finally admitted to the UN and a year later joins the Nordic Council. This marked the beginning of Urho Kaleva Kekkonen's long presidency, which pursued a policy of cooperation with the Nordic countries and friendship with the USSR. His presidency lasted until 1981, i.e. 25 years!

As a neutral country, Finland will try to prevent armed conflicts. President Kekkonen's lobbying of Paris, London and Washington led to the holding of the European Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in Helsinki (1973 and 1975). The final act, signed by 35 countries, contained numerous provisions on the free movement of people and ideas between East and West. From this conference was born the expression "spirit of Helsinki": the aspiration of states to resolve their differences by peaceful means. The Finnish capital has since been given the nickname "Geneva of the North".

Finland becomes a member of the Council of Europe.

The Finnish student Linus Torvalds develops the Linux operating system. At the same time, a serious economic and banking system crisis starts following the credit explosion and the real estate bubble. It will last until 1993, before Finland becomes an example of financial crisis resolution by finding the balance in only 3 years: the GDP falls by 11% and the unemployment rate goes from 3% to 18%.

First presidential election by direct universal suffrage. Martti Ahtisaari, the SPD (Social Democratic Party) candidate, won the election ahead of Elisabeth Reine, representative of the Swedish minority. He remained at the head of the country until 2000. In the same year, a referendum was held on Finland's accession to the European Union. Voters voted 57% in favour. Finland became a member of the European Union one year later.

Entry into the Economic and Monetary Union; Presidency of the Council of Europe.

New Constitution which increases the parliamentary provisions of the Finnish system. Tarja Halonen is elected President of the Republic with 51.6% of the vote. For the first time, a woman leads Finland.

The new European currency, the euro, becomes the official Finnish currency.

Parliamentary elections. The two major winners of the election, the Centre Party and the left-leaning SPD, form a centre-left coalition. Matti Vanhanen is appointed Prime Minister.

The municipal elections confirm the SPD's dominance of the Finnish political landscape. The Centre Party, of which the Prime Minister is a member, was weakened by the elections.

Tarja Halonen is re-elected President against the conservative Sauli Niinitö.

Finland is holding the^second six-month Presidency of the Council of the European Union. During its term of office, it faces several challenges, including the war in Lebanon and the enlargement of the EU.

Parliamentary elections: the Centre Party remains the leading party in Finland against the Conservatives (by only one seat). Matti Vanhanen retained his position as head of government. However, the Conservatives made significant gains.

Two school shootings within a year of each other call into question the national policy on the sale of weapons. Finland ranks^third in the number of weapons per capita, behind the United States and Yemen. In this country of five million inhabitants, many of whom are hunters, there are about two million weapons.

Martti Ahtisaari, former diplomat and president, received the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize for his "efforts to resolve international conflicts such as in Namibia, Indonesia and Kosovo". Born in 1937, he took over the leadership of the country in 1994 for six years. It was he who organised the referendum on whether the Finns wanted to join the EU. At the end of his mandate, he became fully involved as a diplomat in numerous crises, either within NGOs or within the United Nations. In 2005, it was thanks to him that a peace agreement was signed in Helsinki between the Indonesian government and the former independence rebels of the Free Aceh Movement, which has resulted in more than 15,000 deaths since 1976. He continues his diplomatic activities as a mediator in Kosovo. He has also set up his own non-governmental organization to promote peace.

Finland takes over the chairmanship of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) for one year and agrees to join the NRF (NATO Rapid Reaction Force), breaking with its tradition of being a non-aligned country since the end of the Second World War. In the same year, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to former President Martti Ahtisaari for his contribution to peacekeeping in the world.

A shooting in a shopping centre in Espoo, which leaves six people dead including the gunman, reopens the debate on carrying weapons.

The rise of the extremist True Finns party in the parliamentary elections caused a cataclysm. Having become the third political force, the party thus obtained its potential entry ticket to the government. On 5 February 2012, the conservative Sauli Niinistö became president for 6 years. He wins after a campaign marked by the country's place in the European Union, with 62.60% of the vote. It is the great return of the right wing, absent from power since 1956; his mandate runs until 2018.

The Finnish giant Nokia, until then a national symbol of economic and technological success, had its mobile phone branch bought by Microsoft. Nokia, which at the time accounted for 4% of GDP and 25% of exports, went into national bankruptcy.

Like the rest of Europe, Finland also has to deal with the influx of refugees from the Syrian crisis. After opening its borders wide in 2015, it decided in 2016 to stop granting residence permits to asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia.

New parliamentary elections. On 19 April, the Centre Party won the elections with 49 seats. The new Prime Minister Juha Sipilä announced a coalition government with the populist True Finns and the National Coalition Party.

Centenary of Finland's independence.

Right-wing President Sauli Niinistö was re-elected in a landslide (62.65%) as an independent candidate, thanks in particular to his strategy towards Russia. His main goal was to place the country under the protection of the nuclear shield without offending its Russian neighbour. This was a clear move towards the West.

A Daily Mail study ranks Helsinki as the best capital city for raising children and having a family. Among the 16 criteria analysed are the quality of the education system, air, income, health..

Against the backdrop of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, Finland has decided to put an end to more than three decades of non-alignment by becoming the ^31st member of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) on April 4, 2023. This membership confirms the rapprochement process begun in 1994, and has been approved by Parliament.