Finland (Fins: Suomi, uitspraak: swô'mi), officieel de Republiek Finland, is een land in Noord-Europa met 5,25 miljoen inwoners, dat ligt tussen Rusland in het oosten, Noorwegen in het noorden en Zweden in het noordwesten.
Finland is onderverdeeld in 20 regio's (Fins: maakunta, Zweeds: landskap).
Finland was een deel van het het Zweedse koninkrijk van 1200 tot 1809.
Lapua Movement (Lapuan liike) was a political movement in Finland, started in 1929, initially dominated by ardent anti-Communists, emphasizing the legacy of the nationalist activism, the White Guards and the Civil War in Finland, however soon turning into more of a Fascist movement.
Finland's foreign relations and reputation were without doubt damaged by the broad support the Lapua Movement initially was shown by Finland's elite, and by the ties between the Movement, the White Guards and Finland's army.
Old deep-rooted perceptions of Finland as a threat and as a continuation of the ancient tsarist rgime were enhanced — both among ordinary citizens and in the Bolshevist leadership — further contributing to the development leading to the Winter War.
Agrarförbundet som bildades av småbrukare i norra och östra Finland år 1906 representerade ett politiskt agrart tänkande och var ett likadant massparti som sdp.
Partiet var såsom varande revolutionärt förbjudet i Finland.
Finlands småbrukarparti strävade efter att utnyttja förändringen av ideologi och namn inom agrarförbundet/centerpartiet.
Wikinfo | Continuation War(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-31)
Public opinion in Finland longed for the re-acquisition of the homes of the 12% of Finland's population who had been forced to leave Finnish Karelia in haste, and put their hope to the peace conference that was generally assumed to come to follow the World War.
Finland took no part in the initial German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, since the Finnish government did not wish to appear as the aggressor; the popular support for such a move was deemed insufficient, and international relations would have suffered in vain.
Finland's army was to demobilize in haste, and Finland was required to expel all German troops from its territory.
Finland's main goal during World War II was, although nowhere literally stated, to survive the war as an independent country, capable of maintaining its sovereignty in a politically hostile environment.
Finland also warned Germany that an attempt to establish a Quisling government would cut co-operation and that they considered it very important that Finland not be the aggressor and that no invasion should be launched from Finnish soil.
Finland feared that the Soviet Union would occupy Åland as soon as possible and use it to close naval routes from Finland to Sweden and Germany (together with Hanko base), so Operation Kilpapurjehdus (Sail Race) was launched in the early hours of June 22 to occupy Åland.
Its strongholds are in the region of Kainuu, in north-eastern Finland.
One of its enemies in Finland is the small group of Zhirinovsky-supporters among the Russians in Finland.
The other new radical right movements and groupings existing in Finland are either one-issue movements, centred around such issues specific to Finnish political history, such as acting against the EU or wishing to return the lost Carelian areas to Finland, or such marginal groupings that are not known to the general public at all.
White Finland's main leaders, Svinhufvud, Mannerheim, and Paasikivi, retired from public life in 1918 and 1919, but each of the three would later be recalled to serve as president at a crucial moment in Finland's development--in 1931, 1944, and 1946, respectively.
It is a tribute to the strength of the democratic tradition in Finland that the country was able to undergo a bloody and bitter civil war and almost immediately afterward recommence the practices of parliamentary democracy.
Although in many ways Finland was predominantly nationalist and introspective in spirit, it participated increasingly in the outside world, both economically and culturally, a trend that contributed to its gradual integration into the international community.
Continuation War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-31)
Finland officially raised the question of East Karelia several times in the League of Nations, demanding a referendum for the future of the area similar to those arranged in Saarland, Silesia and Schleswig.
Finland was able to mobilize 16 infantry divisions, one cavalry brigade, and two "Jäger" brigades, which were practically normal infantry brigades, except for one battalion in the 1st Jaeger Brigade (1.JPr), which was armoured using captured Soviet equipment.
Finland also signed a pact of co-operation and mutual assistance that guaranteed that in the event of a war between the western powers and the Soviet Union, Finland would defend her territory and airspace against the western powers.
Continuation War(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-31)
Public opinion in Finland longed for the re-acquisition of the homes of the 12% of Finland's population who had been forced to leave Karelia in haste, and put their hope to possible future peace conference after the World War, so "Välirauha"("Interim peace") term was introduced immediately after the peace.
Finland put her hope in the fragility of the Nazi–Soviet bond, and in the many personal friendships between Finnish and German athlets, scientists, industrialists and military officers.
Finland negotiated with Britain after the Winter War, and at the end of March the treaty was signed which would have provided Finland with modern equipment, fuel and food in exchange of raw materials.
Finland was at war with the Soviet Union from November 30 1939 to March 13 1940 (The Winter War) and then again from June 25 1941 to September 4 1944 (The Continuation War).
Finland was contacted, secretly, already in the mid thirties with proposals for different forms of military co-operation and minor (?!) border adjustments.
Finland considered all the Russian proposals unacceptable as they on one hand meant actions contrary to the official neutrality policy of the country and on the other hand forced Finland to cede areas containing parts of the fortified defence line constructed specifically to protect the country against Russian aggression.
The Parliament of the Republic of Finland, called the Eduskunta in Finnish and the Riksdag in Swedish, is composed of 200 members directly elected by universal adult suffrage for a four-year term of office.
Finland's present-day party system traces its origins to the Parliamentary reform of 1906, when the Diet of the four estates - nobles, clergy, burghers and peasants - was replaced with an unicameral legislature, the Eduskunta, composed of 200 members chosen by universal suffrage and proportional representation.
Since 1809, Finland had been a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire, and the newly established Eduskunta had limited powers: it had no control over the country's government, and was repeatedly dissolved by the Russian Tsar.
Finland; Suomi in Finnish, is situated between Sweden to the west, the tip of Norway in the north, a long border with Russia to the east, and Estonia to the south, across the Gulf of Finland.
Finland is the northernmost country in the world after Iceland.
Finland is also the land of lakes, almost 200,000 at the last count.
In the 1930s Helanen participated in the Lapua movement, which campaigned to root out all vestiges of Marxism, and he was an active member of the nationalistic party IKL (People's Patriotic Movement).
For his work in creating contacts between Finland and Estonia Helanen was awarded in 1931 a diploma and an Estonian badge of honour.
Helanen believed that Finland will be occupied by the Soviet troops and grew mustache to make his identification more difficult.
