Thoughts of the Professor: Nicholas II

Showing posts with label Nicholas II. Show all posts

6 December 2025

Independence and the Sword of Damocles

Finland became independent exactly 108 years ago. Has that been a long or a short time?

One way to look at it is that Finns of my age have lived through and experienced most of the country’s independence. And our grandparents were born in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland within the Russian Empire.

On the other hand, Finland’s independence has lasted as long as the time it spent as part of Russia. The Finnish War was fought in 1808–09, and in the ensuing peace agreement the eastern parts of the then Kingdom of Sweden—those along the Gulf of Bothnia and in the north along the Tornio and Muonio rivers—were ceded to Russia.

During its 108 years, the autonomous Grand Duchy had only five grand dukes. The first was Alexander I, who decided to make Finland autonomous and incorporated into it the territories east of the Kymi River that Russia had previously conquered. Our last grand duke was Nicholas II, who set out to dismantle Finland’s autonomous status—something that caused widespread dissatisfaction and ultimately led to Finland’s independence.

Independent Finland has had thirteen presidents and seventy-seven governments. At the beginning of independence, strong powers were granted to the president because there was considerable monarchist sentiment among the people. Since the 1980s, however, constitutional reforms have made the government and its prime minister the country’s de facto wielders of power—excluding foreign policy, where strong presidents Sauli Niinistö and Alexander Stubb have kept the reins firmly in their own hands.

* * *

History belongs to the past, and although it is pleasant to recall, the fate of our people will be decided in the future. And so our descendants will see whether Finland is still Finnish after another 108 years—that is, in 2133.

As history shows, a great deal can happen over such a long span of time, and predicting the outcome is impossible—just as it was in December 1917. Few people back then could have imagined our life as members of the European Union and of the Western defence alliance 108 years later. And such long-term foresight is hardly possible today either.

Nevertheless, there is reason for confidence in the future, because Finland is a democracy, and as such the country’s fate lies in the hands of its people. Yet hidden within this fact is a kind of Sword of Damocles: with good decisions, the future of Finns can be at least as bright as the past 108 years, but poor decisions could lead to national decline and a harsh future for generations to come.

That is why we—and future Finns—must exercise our rightful power with care and wisdom: to secure the success of our homeland and its Finnish people.

Despite all this — or perhaps precisely because of it — I wish all of you, my esteemed readers, a very happy Finnish Independence Day!

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Gender identity and the future of Finnishness
Finns - Among the World’s Best
Independence day of Finland now and 83 years ago

The original blogpost in Finnish:
Itsenäisyys ja Damokleen miekka

5 September 2025

Putin on His Knees Before Xi — and Running Out of Money

The Finnish Institute of International Affairs’ senior researcher Jussi Lassila commented on Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s trip to China, and in doing so, he also summarized his position in world politics remarkably well. He noted that “Putin is on his knees before Xi, which suits China. Xi can present agreements to Russia that greatly benefit China, while Russia is forced to accept deals that are unfavorable to itself.”

At the same time, Lassila reassured ordinary people worried about the growing closeness between China and Russia. He pointed out that “Of course, opposition to the United States remains the common denominator here, but I don’t see any truly unified anti-Western alliance emerging between China and Russia”—and he explained, quite rightly, that “China has benefited enormously from the prevailing global order, which is why its continuity is in its interest.”

Lassila’s comments are both credible and fact-based—and therefore most likely accurate.

Another recent piece of news certainly does nothing to improve Putin’s situation: Russia’s state coffers are beginning to run dry. The liquidity of the National Wealth Fund, calculated in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP), has fallen below 155 billion euros. At the central bank, the state has net reserves of 200 billion euros (PPP). In other words, Russia’s assets are sufficient to cover the budget for only about one year—until August 2026.

In that situation, hard facts will catch up with Putin’s so-called “special operation.” After all, you cannot draw something out of nothing, and waging war is not free. It may, therefore, very well be that the fate of Tsar Nicholas II will begin to haunt the dictator who imagines himself omnipotent—sooner or later.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
The Free World Needs America’s Leadership Now
Number of Predators is Increasing in Russia
The Price of Xi´s and Putin's Game Is Paid by Ordinary Russians

20 July 2023

History of Finland XI: Finnish democracy and gender equality for women

This is the eleventh part of a blog post series where I go through the significant phases of Finnish history. In the tenth entry, I described how the Finnish nationalism led to the formation of a unified, yet bilingual Finnish identity.

However, the next change occurred when the development of the Russian society progressed to a level where the country could dream of standardizing the administration of the empire. As a result, Tsar Nicholas II decided to end Finland's autonomous status as a part of the empire - in other words, the first period of oppression began in our country, which lasted from 1899 to 1905.

The beginning of the period of oppression heavily politicized our country, causing the political struggle, which had previously been focused on language issues, to shift to new fronts. The Old Finns party, primarily relying on the peasantry, adopted a conciliatory policy with the aim of combining the interests of the Finns and the Tsar, while the Young Finns party of the educated and industrial circles, the Old Estates, and the Swedish-speaking industrialists formed a constitutional front that held onto autonomy as it had been known.

The first period of oppression ended when Russia stumbled in the war with Japan in 1904-05, resulting in Tsar losing his autocracy, and a parliament, called the Duma, was established in the empire. At the same time, the Tsar's grip on Finland loosened, and the people went on a general strike demanding the restoration of autonomy and their own parliament.

After a lengthy struggle, the country finally obtained a unicameral parliament that maximized democracy, and women, along with the working-class, were granted the right to vote and, gradually, an equal position with men.

It may interest my esteemed reader that the Swedish-speaking minority in our country, supported by some Young Finns, vehemently opposed women's access to positions of power. This opposition was sometimes expressed in quite interesting turns of phrase.

One of my ancient colleagues opposed women's eligibility for elections on the grounds that "women, as emotional beings, might easily sway towards too extreme positions" - expressing incontrovertibly that the opposition to gender equality was not so much ethical or political, but rather stemmed primarily from a fear of democracy. In other words, women's ability to make sound political decisions was not trusted.

The original blog post in Finnish:

Suomalainen demokratia ja naisten tasa-arvo

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