Russian nationalists consider the autonomous state of…
1888 CE to 1899 CE
First, continued suspicions about Finnish separatism gain plausibility with the rise of Finnish nationalism.
Second, Finnish commercial competition began in the 1880s.
Third, Russia fears that Germany might capitalize on its considerable influence in Sweden to use Finland as a staging base for an invasion of Russia.
The Russian government is concerned especially for the security of St. Petersburg.
Fourth, there is a growing desire that the Finns, who enjoy the protection of the Russian Empire, should contribute to that protection by allowing the conscription of Finnish youths into the Russian army.
These military considerations are decisive in leading the tsarist government to implement Russification, and it is a Russian military officer, Nikolai Ivanovich Bobrikov, who, in October 1898, becomes the new governor general and the eventual instrument of the policy.
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North Europe
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