page_title: Grand Duchy of Finland
section_title: Alexander's death and the assimilation of Finland: 1820s–1850s
hierarchical_section_title: Grand Duchy of Finland / History / Alexander's death and the assimilation of Finland: 1820s–1850s
caption_attribution_description: English: City Hall Square in Helsinki, Finland in 1820, before the rebuilding of Central Helsinki Suomi: Helsingin raatihuoneentori vuonna 1820, ennen keskustan uudelleenrakentamista Svenska: Rådhustorget, Helsingfors i 1820
context_page_description: The Grand Duchy of Finland was the predecessor state of modern Finland. It existed between 1809 and 1917 as an autonomous part of the Russian Empire.
  Originating in the 16th century as a titular grand principality held by the King of Sweden, it became autonomous after the Russian annexation in the Finnish War. The Grand Prince of Finland, usually rendered in English as the Grand Duke of Finland, was the Romanov Emperor of Russia, who was represented by the Governor-General. Due to the governmental structure of the Russian Empire and Finnish initiative, the grand duchy's autonomy expanded until the end of the 19th century. The Senate of Finland was founded in 1809, which became the most important governmental organ and the precursor to the modern Government of Finland, Supreme Court of Finland and the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland.
  The economic, social and political changes in the Grand Principality of Finland were closely connected with those in the rest of the Russian Empire and the rest of Europe. The economy grew slowly during the first half of the 19th century.
context_section_description: In 1823, Count Arseny Zakrevsky was made Governor-General of Finland and quickly became unpopular among both Finns and Swedes alike. Zakrevsky abolished the Committee for Finnish Affairs and managed to obtain the right to submit Finnish affairs to the Russian Emperor, bypassing the Finnish Secretary of State. Two years later, Alexander I died ( 1 December  [O.S.  19 November]  1825). Zakrevsky seized the opportunity to require Finland to swear an oath of fealty which would refer to the Emperor as the absolute ruler of Finland - expecting that Emperor would be  Constantine, Alexander's next-eldest brother. However,  Nicholas, younger brother of Constantine and Alexander, became Emperor despite the Decembrist revolt against him in December 1825. Nicholas assured Finland's secretary of state, Robert Henrik Rehbinder, that he (Nicholas) would continue to uphold Alexander's liberal policies regarding Finland.
  In 1830 Europe became a hotbed of revolution and reform as a result of the July Revolution in France.  Poland, another Russian client state, saw a massive uprising against Saint Petersburg during the November Uprising of 1830-1831.  Finland made no such move, as Russia had already won over Finnish loyalty. Thus, Russia continued its policies respecting Finnish autonomy and the quiet assimilation of the Finns into the empire. Zakrevsky died in 1831; Knyaz Alexander Sergeyevich Menshikov succeeded him as Governor-General of Finland and continued Finnish appeasement.  The appeasement of the Finns could be seen as a prototype of the later Russification, as educated Finns moved to Russia in mass, seeking jobs within the Imperial Court to rise within Russian imperial society. The Russian language was studied excitedly as well, with more Finns seeking to learn Russian language, politics, culture, and to assimilate into Russian society.  Even though Nicholas had no intentions on doing this, his inner office, specifically Nicholas's Interior Minister, Lev Perovski (in office: 1841-1852), advocated for Count Zakrevsky's ideas and further pushed the ideas of subtle Russification during the 1840s.
  However, Finland did experience a nationalistic revolution in the 1830s - one based around literature. This marked the beginning of the Fennoman movement, a nationalistic movement that would operate in Finland until its independence. In 1831, the Finnish Literary Society was founded, which formed on the basis of appreciation of the Finnish language. Finnish was not represented as language of the scholarly elite, as most printed academic works, novels, and poetry was written in either Swedish or Russian. Copying the German reading rage, Lesewut, and subsequent Swedish mania, Finland entered the reading craze by the 1830s.  This fad peaked in 1835 with the publication of The Kalevala, the Finnish epic. The Kalevala's influence on Finland was massive, and strengthened Finnish nationalism and unity, despite the epic being poetry or stories about Finnish folklore. The quest for literature expanded into the 1840s and 1850s and caught the eye of the Finnish church and the Russian crown. Finnish newspapers, such as Maamiehen Ystävä (The Farmer's Friend), began publication in both urban and rural areas of Finland. However, the Swedish academic elite, the church, and the Russian government opposed Finland's literature movement. Edvard Bergenheim, Archbishop of Turku from 1850 to 1884, called for double censorship on works opposing the church and works appearing socialist or communist. The reactionary policies of the Lutheran Church convinced the also reactionary  Nicholas I (r. 1825–1855) to prohibit (1850) the publishing of all Finnish works that were not religious or economic in nature, as such works would have been considered revolutionary and might encourage the Finnish majority to revolt against the church and crown. However, the censorship only fueled Finland's language strife and the Fennomanian movement.
caption: Central Helsinki in 1820
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