FINLAND AND NORWAY, 1808–1917

Abstract

In 1800 there were two Scandinavian kingdoms, the Swedish and the Danish. As a result of the Napoleonic Wars, Finland, which had been part of the Swedish realm for over 600 years became a self‐governing dependency of the Russian empire. Norway, after more than 400 years under Danish rule, meanwhile became a separate kingdom in dynastic union with Sweden. The gradual process of nation‐building, both political and cultural, down to Norway's full independence in 1905 and Finland's by 1917 reveals striking similarities, but also significant differences.

Notes

1. Tommila, La Finlande, 33–34; Klinge, Kejsartiden, 24–25. Note that my usage here is to use the Swedish names by which most Finnish towns were traditionally and officially known during the period covered here, followed by the Finnish names in parentheses.

2. For the events described above, see my Scandinavia. Cf. Tommila, La Finlande; Höjer, Carl XIV Johan, II; Steen, Det frie Norge, 1; Weibull, Carl Johan och Norge.

3. On the overall history of Norway between 1814 and 1905, see esp. Norges historie , ed Mykland, vols 10–12; Derry, History of Modern Norway; Sørensen, “Det nye Norge,”; For Finland, 1809–1917, esp. Klinge, Kejsartiden; Jutikkala, History of Finland; Wuorinen, History of Finland; Engman, “Storfurstendömet”.

4. See Höjer, Carl XIV Johan, II; Raymond E. Lindgren, Norway‐Sweden; my Sweden and Visions, chapts. 2, 3.

5. Tommila, La Finlande; Klinge, Kejsartiden. For the pamphlet war in 1838–1842, see Klinge, “Nordens säkerhet”; also my “Scandinavianism”.

6. See Kaartvedt, “1814–1905,” 246–47; Jansson, “Två stater ‐ en kultur,” 153–54, 160–61. Cf. Kan, “Carl Johan”.

7. See my Scandinavia, 367; Engman, “Storfurstendömet,” 151; Särkilax, Fennomani och Skandinavism, I:16.

8. Carlsson, “Norrmän i Sverige”; Myhre, “Kajsa”; Engman, Lejonet, Peterburgska vägar, esp. 282–83, and “Storhertigdömet,” 165–72; Klinge, Kejsartiden.

9. See Clausen, Skandinavismen; Hemstad, “Nordisk samklang”; Jorgensen, Norway's Relation; Juva, “Skandinavismens inverkan”; my “Scandinavianism”.

10. See Sørensen, “Det nye Norge”; Derry, History of Modern Norway, 34–36; Engman, “Storfurstendömet”; Klinge, Kejsartiden, 197–200, 244.

11. See esp. Lindgren, Norway‐Sweden. There is a considerable literature, much of it polemic, on the dissolution of the Norwegian‐Swedish union.

12. See Nygaard, Nordmenns syn; Schnitler, Slægten fra 181; Klinge, Kejsartiden.

13. Elviken, “Genesis”; Falnes, National Romanticism; Sørensen, Kampen, 23–51; Klinge, Kejsartiden; Wuorinen, Nationalism.

14. Cf. Klinge, et al., Kejserliga Alexanders universitet.

15. Bonsdorff, Opinioner och stämningar, 224; Tommila, La Finlande, 267; Klinge, Kejsartiden, 38.

16. See esp. Dahl, Norsk historieforskning; Falnes, National Romanticism; Seip, “Nation‐Building”; Jakten på det norske , esp. Chapts. 13 and 14.

17. See esp. Wuorinen, Nationalism; Klinge, Den politiske Runeberg; Wilson, Folklore and Nationalism; Engman, “Storfurstendömet,” 151–52, 173, 177, and “National Conceptions.”; Nurmiainen, “Frågan om ‘etnisk nationalism.’” Cf. Lönnerot, Vandraren.

18. Wuorinen, Nationalism; Snellman i urval ; Klinge, Kejsartiden, 40–41.

19. Falnes, National Romanticism; Hoel, Nasjonalisme i norsk målstrid and “Ivar Aasen”; Seip, “Det norske ‘vi,” 107.

20. See Sørensen, Kampen, 345–49; Seip, “Det norske ‘vi’,” 107, 103–4; Garborg, Det ny‐norske Sprog, esp. 156–58 on Finland.

21. See Stenseth, En norsk elite, 50, 142; Thorkildsen, “Nasjonal og moderne utdanning,”; Sunde, “Minority,” esp. 191–94; Klinge, Kejsartiden, 230–31, 280–81, 303, 390.

22. Sars, Udsigt, esp. 2:16, 400,4:350–52; Garborg, Den ny‐norske Sprog; Seip, “Det norske ‘vi’,” 103–4, 107; Sørensen, Kampen, 343–77; Hansen, Norsk folkepsykologi; Högnäs, Kustens och skogarnas folk.

23. Sørensen, Kampen, 345–49; Klinge, “Alla finnar är svenskar,” and Let Us Be Finns, 121 (quote). See also Engman, “Är Finland ett nordiskt land?,”; Jansson, “Två stater ‐ en kultur.”

24. Sohlman, Det unge Finland, esp. 55–60 on Munch; Högnäs, Kustens och skogarnas folk, 104–5; Sørensen, Kampen, 222–23; Dietrichson, Svundne Tider, 2:297–333.

25. Högnäs, Kustens och skogarnas folk, 32; Stenseth, Norsk elite, 106–7, 114–15; Amdam and Keel, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, 2:369–71. Cf. Dietrichson, Svundne Tider, vol. 2, esp. 333.

26. Jungar, “Finländska opinioner kring en union i upplösning,” 81–90.

27. Vedung, “Varför”; Nilsson, “Edvard Grieg,” 31.

28. My “Scandinavianism”; Sohlman, Det unga Finland; Klinge, “Rysshatet”; Engman, “Finland som arvtagarstat.”

29. See my Sweden and Visions, 160–61. Cf. Fra arvefiende til samboer ; Hemstad, “Nordisk Samklang.”

30. Seip, “Det norske ‘vi’,” 102–3.

31. See Malmanger, “Betryggende modernitet,” 32.