ABSTRACT

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of why the question of supreme authority in Finland was interpreted by different parties the way it was. It explains the most essential features of the unstable phase in Russian–Finnish relations that followed the Finnish declaration of independence. In March 1917, the provisional Russian government declared null and void all the oppressive measures that the tsarist regime had directed against Finland during the period of Russification since 1890. The Russian monarchy collapsed under the weight of social unrest and military defeat including huge casualties and territorial losses, and Emperor Tsar Nicholas II abdicated on 15 March. The revolutionary elements among the Finnish Socialists gained strength by the radical trends in Russia. The influence spread either directly from Petrograd or through Russian troops stationed on Finnish soil. Independence could become a reality only after the foreign powers had granted recognition to it and the Russian troops had withdrawn from the country.