Kingdom of Finland

The Kingdom of Finland is a Scandinavian Puppet State of the German Empire that is located East of the Kingdom of Sweden, West of Soviet Rus, North of the United Baltic Duchy and Polish-Lithuanian Empire and Northwest of the Tsardom of Russia.

## History

The policies of Russification under Alexander III and Nicholas II easily sum up the time period from 1881 to 1917. In 1881, Alexander III took the throne after the death of his father and began a rule of staunch conservative, yet peaceful, rule of Russia. Finland, as well as many other outlying Russian territories, faced the burden of Russification, the cultural, social, economical, and political absorption into Russia. Compared to the early Russification of the 1830s and 1840s, the Russification of the late 19th-early 20th century was much more vigorous in its policies. Moreover, Finland faced political turmoil within its nation between various factions such as liberals, Social Democrats, Young Finns, and communists. Finland became a target for the Pan-Slavist movement, which called for Slavic unity in eastern Europe. Finland was viewed as conquered territory, and that as subjects, Finland was to respect the Tsar. Finland was also viewed as a land of settlement and that the "alien race" of the Finns were to be assimilated and protected from Western interference, thereby "blessing" the Finns with their presence. Moreover, Finnish representatives to the Tsar were replaced with Pan-Slavist advocates.

Russification only increased from there, but from the 1880s on, the conflict between the Swedish minority halted. Compared to the Baltic States, the Finnish majority was far better educated and more keen in Russian politics. The reactionary policies of Russification, which aimed to combine secular nationalism and a divine right monarchy, infiltrated the Finnish economy in 1885. Finland had managed to create a thriving modern industry based around textiles and timber that managed to rival the Russian economy at the time. Russian bureaucrats, out of both shock and jealousy, called for the revision of the Russo-Finnish Tariff. Russification had taken an economic turn as well, as the basis of the reformed tariff was economic uniformity, which only furthered economic difficulties of Finland. The tariff's revision in 1885, and subsequently 1897, was formed out of spite of Finland's commercial success and working-class unity. Russification policies continued into 1890, with the addition of the Imperial Post System in Finland, replacing the Finnish post. It was not until the mid-1890s, that the Finnish people realized the true intentions of the Russian crown.

Nicholas II ascended to the throne in 1894 after Alexander's death, and with him came General Nikolay Bobrikov, who was appointed governor-general. Under Bobrikov, the Finns had a near collective hatred of him, whose reactionary policies gave rise to socialism and communism among the Finnish working class. The Party of Active Resistance and Kagal, in particular, became very popular in Finland for the former's tactics of violence and the latter's tactic of propaganda and persuasion. At the beginning of this reign, Bobrikov almost immediately introduced a mandatory five-year military service, in which Finns had the possibility of being drafted into Russian units. Furthermore, he instituted that Russians be given the opportunity to serve in public office and that Russian be made the administrative language of Finland. In 1899, the February Manifesto under Nicholas II declared that Russian law was the law of the land, and Finland was to pledge allegiance to Russian law. The Diet was essentially downgraded to a state assembly and that Finland was a province of Russia, ignoring its autonomy. The Finnish Army as a whole was dissolved in 1901.

Bobrikov unintentionally united both Finns and Swedes against Russia, which only angered him more. With churches refusing to proclaim the law, judges refusing to carry it out, and conscripts refusing service, Bobrikov went on a frenzy with the current state of Finland. Bobrikov found little support in Finland, mainly from the Russian minority and members of the Old Finnish Party, an extreme right-wing party that found little success. Bobrikov brought in Russian officials to take government and state spots and, in an extreme act of anger, suspended the Finnish Constitution in 1903. His actions were met with extreme anger from Finns and Swedes, in which the moderate parties, the Young Finns and the Swedish Party combined to collectively fight Bobrikov. The Social Democratic Party of Finland, a Marxist party popular among peasants was also extremely hostile and advocated class warfare and took arms, in contrast to the Social Democrats elsewhere in Europe. Finally, the Party of Active Resistance, a nationalist party that advocated an armed struggle and guerilla tactics, received fame when member Eugen Schauman assassinated Bobrikov in Helsinki on June 16, 1904.

In 1905, Russia faced a humiliating defeat in the Russo-Japanese War and amidst the turmoil in St. Petersburg, Finns remade their constitution and formed a new Diet whose representation was based on universal suffrage, giving women full suffrage before any other European nation after the short-lived Republic of Corsica. However, the Diet was quickly destroyed by Pyotr Stolypin, Nicholas II's prime minister. Stolypin proved to be even more vigorous than Bobrikov, as he believed every subject should be a stoic patriot to the crown and uphold undying loyalty to Russia. Stolypin wished to destroy Finland's autonomy and disregarded native tongues and cultures of non-Russian subjects, believing them to be traditional and ritualistic at best. The Finnish Diet once again formed to combat Stolypin, but Stolypin was bent on quashing Finnish insurrection and permanently disbanded the Diet in 1909. As with Bobrikov before him, Stolypin was unaware that such actions only fanned the flames and was subsequently assassinated by Dmitry Bogrov, a Jewish member of the far-left. From Stolypin's death henceforward, the Russian crown ruled Finland as a monarchist dictatorship until Russia's collapse during the Russian Revolution and the German invasion.

### German Puppet State

After the German invasion of Russia, Finland declared independence and was unable to decide a government. Germany then rigged elections for a monarchy and Wilhelm appointed his brother in law Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse as the King of Finland. After that Finish people were pissed that Germany rigged their elections for a monarchy and appointed the Kaiser's brother in law and sister as King and Queen of their country. Norway, Sweden and Denmark declared war on Germany for interfering with the politics of a young Scandinavian Nation because Germany interfering with politics with fellow Scandinavian brothers is one step in subjugating the Scandinavian people under German hegemony.

## Government

The Government of Finland is a Constitutional Monarchy ruled by King Fredrik Kaarle I as King and governed by a Far-Left authoritarian right-wing government. The Leader of the Far Right Government is the leading body of the Diet of Finland which is known as the Privy Council. The leader of the Privy Council is the President of the Privy Council who is currently Carl Gustav Mannerheim who appoints a Prime Minister who runs the cabinet.

## Military

Finland counts on national conscription to form the bulk of the army, with its military primarily organised around defending against a potential Soviet attack. Finland lacks armored divisions, mostly due to the unsuitable Finnish terrain, which consists mainly of huge forests and thousands of lakes.

### Army

The Finnish army is comprised of 13 total divisions in January of 1936. 8 regular infantry divisons of 9 battalions, 4 infantry divisions with artillery support, and 1 mountaineer division of 6 battalions with artillery support.

### Navy

The Royal Finnish Navy is small, with the majority of funding and resources going toward the army. It's made up of 10 destroyers and 5 submarines

## Foreign Relations

* Colonial Relations with the German Empire.
* Great Relations with the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Kingdom of Denmark, the United Baltic Duchy and Polish-Lithuanian Empire.
* Bad Relations with Soviet Rus and the Tsardom of Russia.