Travel Reference
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Ugric). And therein lie clues to the geographic origins of Finnish speakers: Ural, from the
mountains that join Europe and Asia, and Altaic, from an area even further east.
Finland was conquered by Swedes in the thirteenth century, and ties with Sweden were
strengthened by language and Lutheranism. At the end of the Great Northern War (1721), a
large chunk of Finland was claimed by Peter the Great, and after Waterloo, Russia claimed
the remainder of Finland as its booty. As a Russian grand duchy (the Tsar was its duke)
Finns enjoyed far more freedom than Russians. Even so, in 1917 when the tsarist regime
collapsed, Finland declared its independence. In 1918, Red Guards, supported by 40,000
Soviet troops, fought to nullify that independence; but led by Marshal Carl Mannerheim,
Finland prevailed, and in 1920 the Soviets acceded to Finnish independence.
WHO IS CARL MANNERHEIM?
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, the revered Finnish hero, was born near Turku, Finland, in
1867 and served as a Russian officer for nearly thirty years before taking up Finland's fight
for independence. When the Czar was murdered by Russian revolutionaries, Mannerheim
considered that his officer's oath to the Czar had been severed. The newly formed Finnish
Parliament appointed him commander-in-chief of the Finnish army, and his “army of patri-
ots” quashed revolutionary Red Guards and expelled Soviet troops from Finnish terrain.
Figure 11.5. Carl Mannerheim (on left next to Hitler)
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