Kingdom of Finland (1918)
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Kingdom of Finland | |||||||||||
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1918–1919 | |||||||||||
Anthem: Finnish Orthodoxy | |||||||||||
Demonym(s) | Finnish, Finn | ||||||||||
Government | Constitutional monarchy under a regency | ||||||||||
King-elect | |||||||||||
• 1918 | Friedrich Karl | ||||||||||
Regent | |||||||||||
• 1918 | P.E. Svinhufvud | ||||||||||
• 1918–1919 | C.G.E. Mannerheim | ||||||||||
Prime Minister | |||||||||||
• 1918 | Juho Kusti Paasikivi | ||||||||||
• 1918–1919 | Lauri Ingman | ||||||||||
• 1919 | Kaarlo Castrén | ||||||||||
Legislature | Parliament | ||||||||||
Historical era | World War I / Interwar period | ||||||||||
• Independence declared (as a republic) | 6 December 1917 | ||||||||||
• Supreme authority given to regent | 18 May 1918 | ||||||||||
• King elected | 9 October 1918 | ||||||||||
3 March 1919 | |||||||||||
17 July 1919 | |||||||||||
Currency | Finnish markka | ||||||||||
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a. Friedrich Karl was elected King of Finland on 9 October 1918 and renounced the throne on 14 December 1918. |
The Kingdom of Finland (Finnish: Suomen kuningaskunta; Swedish: Konungariket Finland; 1918–1919) was a failed attempt to establish a monarchy in Finland in the aftermath of the Finnish Declaration of Independence from Russia in December 1917 and the Finnish Civil War from January–May 1918. The victorious Whites in the Parliament of Finland began the process of turning Finland into a kingdom and creating a monarchy. Although the country was legally a kingdom headed by a regent for over a year, the king-elect Friedrich Karl never reigned nor came to Finland following Germany's defeat in World War I. Republican victories in subsequent elections resulted in the country becoming a republic.
During the Finnish Civil War of 1918,
History
Finland had declared independence from what was the Russian Empire, at that time embroiled in the Russian Civil War, on 6 December 1917. At the time of the declaration of independence, monarchists were a minority in the Finnish Parliament, and Finland was declared a republic. A civil war followed, and afterwards, while the pro-republican Social Democratic Party was excluded from the Parliament and before a new constitution was adopted, Frederick was elected to the throne of Finland on 9 October 1918.
At independence, Finland, like the Baltic provinces, had close ties with the
The adoption of a new monarchist constitution had been delayed because it did not get the required
Member of parliament Gustaf Arokallio suggested the monarchical designation "Karl I, King of Finland and Karelia, Duke of Åland, Grand Duke of Lapland, Lord of Kaleva and the North" (Finnish: Kaarle I, Suomen ja Karjalan kuningas, Ahvenanmaan herttua, Lapinmaan suuriruhtinas, Kalevan ja Pohjolan isäntä; Swedish: Karl I, Kung av Finland och Karelen, hertig av Åland, storhertig av Lappland, herre över Kaleva och Pohjola).[3]
By 9 November 1918 the German Emperor Wilhelm II had abdicated and Germany was declared a republic. Two days later, on 11 November 1918, the armistice between the belligerents of World War I was signed. Little is known of the Allied powers' view regarding the possibility of a German-born prince as the King of Finland. However, warnings received from the West convinced the Finnish government of Prime Minister Lauri Ingman – a monarchist himself – to ask Prince Friedrich Karl to give up the crown, which he had not yet come to wear in Finland.
The king-elect Friedrich Karl renounced the throne on 14 December 1918. Svinhufvud resigned and Lieutenant General Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, the leader of the Whites during the Finnish Civil War, was appointed as Regent of Finland.[4] Republican parties won three-quarters of the parliament's seats in the election of 1919 and Finland adopted a republican constitution. In July 1919, Finland's first president Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg replaced Mannerheim as the first President of the Republic.[5]
See also
- Finnish Civil War
- Finnish crown jewels
- Grand Duchy of Finland
- House of Hesse
- Kingdom of Finland (1742)
- Monarchy of Finland
- Prince Wolfgang of Hesse
- United Baltic Duchy
References
- ^ "Gemstone Gallery". visit Kemi. Archived from the original on 29 May 2018. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
- ^ Solsten, Eric; Meditz, Sandra W., eds. (1988). "The Establishment of Finnish Democracy". Finland: A Country Study. GPO for the Library of Congress. Archived from the original on Aug 11, 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2017 – via Country Studies US.
- ISBN 951-37-0729-6. pp. 188–189
- ^ "MANNERHEIM - Regent". mannerheim.fi. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
- ^ "Why Finland deserves to celebrate its independence". Finland Politics. 5 December 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
- Nash, Michael L (2012) The last King of Finland. Royalty Digest Quarterly, 2012 : 1
External links
- Foreign Ministry maker of a King in 1918 Archived 2017-11-07 at the Wayback Machine Foreign Ministry
- 1918: The First and Only Finnish King was German and Never Set Foot in Finland History Info