The Diet of Finland is more or less pro-Russian at the moment so not happening
Osman Reborn; The Survival of Ottoman Democracy [An Ottoman TL set in the 1900s]
- Thread starter Sarthak
- Start date
It depends. Much like anti-Russianism in Finland, the ethnic Swedes of Finland also faced a lot of hatred for being the 'old elite' of Finland. It was only when Finnish Swedes like Mannerheim showed themselves sympathetic to Finnish Independence that the attitude began to soften. So really, it will largely depend on how the Russian Government treats the Diet of Finland.
Since you did mention the Turkish crisis of 1923 (I assume it's a crisis between Turkey and Greece concerning tensions between their population?), I wonder if it's going to have impacts to that.....scale for the Swedish-speaking Finns. I hope not, but it's going to be interesting if it would provoke some sort of crisis between Sweden and Russia, though I don't think Sweden is going to take a military approach considering Russia is a strong military power of their own at the time, afaik.
from a legal point of view, Russia's revocation of the privileges is a good move for 90% of the common populace, so a valid move on Nicholas II's part. There is nuance to be involved after all.
Sweden is not suicidal to try for a military solution against Russia alone. Its more of a developing diplomatic crisis.
Ah, well... I still hope Finland gets free when the Russian Civil War happens.
Not really. The Baltics were more or less apathetic and neutral to russian rule under the imperial government otl.
I am not really buying the revolt of the Swedish-speakers. Like you correctly pointed out, they made a big part of the elite in Finland. The issue you probably did not take into account is that being among that elite, a major part of the leading Swedish-speakers were highly connected with industry and trade in Finland. And Finland did a lot of trade with Russia, at this point the industry of the Grand Duchy would sell a lot of goods to the Russian capital and beyond. The Swedish-speaking industrialists and businessmen were among the groups in Finland that would lose the most from open confrontation with the Russian government. For many of the people in this group, it would spell personal ruin to take up arms against the Russian empire.
Another point to consider: these days, the Swedish-speakers in Finland are not really considered a different ethnicity from the Finnish-speakers. The difference is considered to be primarily linguistic. and to an extent cultural in also other ways. Some might argue that dividing the Swedish- and Finnish-speaking Finns into different ethnic groups would in fact be akin to a racist idea, or at least nearly so.
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It's just really the start. Finland has gone through a lot of different things the past decade leading up to this. I tend to elaborate slowly later on with the background as events roll by.
I could sort of understand a *general* Finnish rebellion, but the Swedish-speakers singling themselves out like this, when they do surely know that the repercussions will be severe, doesn't ring true to me. Too little to gain, and too much to lose, on balance.