European War: Sweden-Norway invades Finland

Hey Guys,

Just need to put a quick scenario to y'all. Let's say at some point from 1843-1845 there's a war in Europe between a Grand Coalition (including Britain, Prussia, Austria and Sweden-Norway) possibly allied with the US, against Russia.

Now the reasons for this are a little obscure and everything, but my point is that let's say Russia loses. During the war numerous Russian lands have been occupied by the Grand Coalition. Specifically in one part the Åland Islands and FInland have been occupied, this is the second war against Russia in the space of a few years. The first one was quick and simple, this one isn't and is much bloodier.

But my main questions are, who in Finland at the time could be a good revolutionary to overthrow the Russians? Could he be influential in gaining anti-Russian support? And lastly What would be the best tactic for the Swedish-Norwegians to take in Finland to capture it? Also how well would the people of Finland work with the Swedish-Norwegian troops? Let's say the troops are relatively well disciplined and all that, IOTL when the Russians took Finland over at first they rebelled (or at least in a small area they did). Would they welcome the Swedish-Norwegians here or not?
 
I don't know how war between Sweden-Norway and Russia could begin but I can say that it is very difficult get finnish rise against Russians. Finland has very large autonomy and there haven't intrested about became again part of Sweden. Finnish people had already developing their own culture and nationalism was strong but hardly anybody want depart from Russia.
 
I don't know how war between Sweden-Norway and Russia could begin but I can say that it is very difficult get finnish rise against Russians. Finland has very large autonomy and there haven't intrested about became again part of Sweden. Finnish people had already developing their own culture and nationalism was strong but hardly anybody want depart from Russia.

I partially agreed, but again the elite still talk Swedish, and for better being part of sweden-norway(now with the fin, the possibility of become scandinavia), in fact, Sweden-Norwat has a gold chance against russia(the crimean war) and they didn't take it... in fact, that is the favorite POD for a Scandinavia unificatio a la Germany
 
I don't know how war between Sweden-Norway and Russia could begin but I can say that it is very difficult get finnish rise against Russians. Finland has very large autonomy and there haven't intrested about became again part of Sweden. Finnish people had already developing their own culture and nationalism was strong but hardly anybody want depart from Russia.

Therein lies the rub. This was the time the Russians were keeping up their end of the bargain (the autonomy, as the Finns saw it, was intrinsically connected with loyality) and left the Grand Duchy pretty much to its own devices. Finnish de facto autonomy was growing and the Finnish elite was already being integrated in the Russian imperial system. The economy was growing due to the opportunities in the Russian market, and the prospects looked good.

The leading groups would need guarantees from the Swedo-Norwegians that Finland will receive pretty much similar benefits and a position of autonomy under the new management. Without that, there would be very little incentive to rock the boat.

There is of course the possibility that, due to butterflies, the Russian policies regarding Finland have in the 1830s diverged becoming more repressive, antagonising some of the leading groups in the country. This way an Finnish uprising would be more plausible.

NordicBrit, for a Finnish leader, look no further than Johan Vilhelm Snellman, the OTL national philosopher of Finland. In the late 1830s he was considered a revolutionary by the Russian authorities and in the turn of the century he chose a part-exile himself. He was still something of an intellectual, but make up some events to radicalize him further, and he might just fit the bill for an enlightened political revolutionary leader. A learned man, he would not have problem with addressing an international audience.

Another political figure to take part in a revolutionary government could be, frex, Adolf Iwar Arvidsson, an older radical Fennoman. With the right sorts of circumstances, you might draw in some of the other fathers of Finnish nationalism too, like Runeberg or Lönnrot. But they were a highly academic bunch, so making them martial heroes might get a bit contrived...

Thus you need a military side, too. For that I don't have a clear candidate at this point. But after several Finnish military units were disestablished in 1830, there would bound to be some appropriate unemployed officers floating around. Maybe I'll do some research on that for you... An interesting character to look at would be August Myhrberg, a Finnish adventurer who had fought both in the Greek War of Independence and for the Polish rebels and was IOTL in 1843 in Swedish employ as a Major. He would make an plausible field commander for a Finnish revolutionary army.
 
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