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The Eastern Border of Finland since 1300

This feature was written for Vapaa Sana by Dr Johannes Remy, a Finnish historian and a specialist on the history of Eastern Europe

Finland’s eastern border has endured both continuity and change in the course of centuries. The oldest parts of the present-day border date from the Täyssinä treaty of 1595 and the border as a whole resembles that of the Uusikaupunki treaty of 1721. Except for the restoration of Porkkala, the border has always changed only through war. The initiative for these wars has sometimes come from the eastern, sometimes from the western side.

Pähkinäsaari 1323

Sweden and north-Russian principality of Novgorod extended their power into what is now Finland gradually from the twelfth to the fourteenth century AD. The first internationally recognised border between these two powers was defined in the treaty of Pähkinäsaari (Nöteborg, Orekhov) that was concluded in 1323. After the annexation of Novgorod by Muscovy in 1478, the Pähkinäsaari border became one between Sweden and Russia.
The southern end of the border was located in the mouth of River Siestarjoki, later called Rajajoki, “border river”. The Viipuri fortress was well on the Swedish side. However, from Siestarjoki, the Pähkinäsaari borderline proceeded to the Northwest rather unlike any later border: it divided Karelian Isthmus and Lake Saimaa into two, ending on the Gulf of Bothnia somewhat south of the present-day Oulu.

Täyssinä 1595

In the second half of the sixteenth century, Sweden and Russia were often at war with each other. Apart from the conflict of interests in the Baltics, the Swedish-Russian relations suffered from a border dispute in eastern Finland. The Swedes had built the castle Olavinlinna (Nyslott) on what was according to the Pähkinäsaari treaty Russian territory. The disagreements were finally solved to the benefit of Sweden in the treaty of Täyssinä in the 1595. Although the southern part of the Pähkinäsaari border remained unchanged, the northern part beginning on the Lake Saimaa region was moved eastwards. The disputed Savo area became Swedish. The northern endpoint of the border was now in Varanger Fiord on the Arctic Sea instead of the Bothnian Gulf. However, on the Arctic Sea the border remained rather theoretical, since the actual neighbour of Russia there was indeed Denmark. In the Kainuu region the present-day Finnish-Russian border still follows the line that was first defined in the Täyssinä treaty.

Stolbova 1617

In the beginning of the seventeenth century, Russia entered the period of inner instability that threatened its very existence. One of the conflicting Russian parties called the Swedes to help, promising in return to cede Käkisalmi province to Sweden. The Swedes soon tried to extend their rule to a larger territory, and from the allies they turned into the enemies of Russia.
In the peace treaty of Stolbova in 1617, Sweden gained large territories from Russia. For the first time, the whole of Karelian Isthmus, the present-day Finnish North Karelia, and the Border Karelia on the northern shore of Lake Ladoga became Swedish. In addition, Sweden took even Ingria, the eastern coast region of the Gulf of Finland, blocking Russia altogether from the Baltic Sea. Unlike the Finnish territories of Sweden, Ingria was governed separately from the Swedish realm proper, and cannot be considered having been a Finnish territory in the administrative sense. After the treaty of Stolbova, much of the southern part of the border was the same as it was later in the years 1812-1940.

Uusikaupunki 1721

Sweden lost its great power status in the Great Northern War against Denmark, Poland-Lithuania and Russia 1700-21. During the war, Russian emperor Peter I the Great founded the new capital city of St. Petersburg in the recently conquered area in the eastern end of the Gulf of Finland. Finally, Russia occupied the whole Finland. However, in the treaty of Uusikaupunki (Nystad) that ended the war, Russia returned most of Finland to Sweden, keeping only southeast Karelia, including Viipuri, Karelian Isthmus, and Border Karelia. The Nystad borderline was approximately the same as the present-day Finnish-Russian border.

Turku 1743

In the beginning of the 1740s, the adherents of an anti-Russian revisionist orientation, so-called Hats, took over the Swedish Diet and declared war on Russia in order to restore the lost territories.
However, the War of Hats in 1741-43 was a fiasco for Sweden: again, Russia occupied the whole Finland. In the treaty of Turku (Åbo) in 1743, Russia annexed additional territories. The borderline began on the river Kymijoki and continued through Lake Saimaa so that much of Savo, including Savonlinna, became Russian. However, even in 1743, Russia again returned most of Finland to Sweden.

Hamina 1809 and the incorporation of the Old Finland 1812

In 1807 Russian emperor Alexander I concluded peace and alliance with Napoleon’s France. Alexander pledged Russia to pressure Sweden to join the continental blockade and severe all trade with Britain and its colonies.
However, Gustav Adolph IV of Sweden persisted in his anti-French and pro-British position. As a result, Russia attacked Sweden. In the War of Finland 1808-1809, Russia occupied and this time kept the whole Finland. In the treaty of Hamina (Fredrikshamn) 1809, Russian-Swedish border was defined on the river Tornio.
Alexander’s policy was to offer concessions to the newly acquired territory in order to prevent any attempts to rejoin Sweden. Finland was administered separately according to its own laws as the Duchy of Finland with the Russian emperor as the Grand Duke. In 1812, Alexander decreed the incorporation of the so-called “Old Finland” that is the territory Russia had gained in 1721 and 1743 into the territory of the Duchy of Finland.
The boundary between the Duchy and Russia proper followed that of Stolbova from 1617, except that Rajajoki marked the limit of Finland in the Southeast. In the North, the Finnish-Russian boundary was defined only in the years 1833-49. It, too, gave Finland some additional territories.

Tarto 1920

During the Finnish civil war in 1918, the Russian Bolshevik government assisted the Red Finns. In the years 1918-20, Finnish volunteer troops tried to occupy areas in Russian Karelia.
. The situation was neither a full-fledged war nor a stable peace. The treaty of Tartu in October 1920 finally restored peace and established regular relations between the two countries. Soviet Russia rejected all Finnish claims to Russian Karelia, but ceded instead to Finland the Petsamo territory on the coast of the Arctic Sea. Petsamo had never before belonged to either Sweden or Finland. The Finns claimed it on the basis of an undelivered promise of the emperor Alexander II in the 1860s. Except for Petsamo, the borderline remained the same as it had been before the independence.

Moscow 1940

On November 30, 1939, the USSR attacked Finland. Due to Finnish resistance, the Soviet government failed in its attempt to occupy Finland, although by March 1940 it had gained the upper hand in the Winter War. On March 13, 1940, the treaty of Moscow was signed. Finland ceded to the Soviet Union a large territory in the southeast of the country following roughly the Uusikaupunki borderline from 1721. In addition, Finland had to cede small territories in the north: most of the Salla municipality and Kalastajasaarento in the north-eastern part of Petsamo. Eleven per cent of the population of Finland lived in the ceded territories. Practically all moved to the other parts of Finland before the arrival of Soviet troops. In addition to the permanently ceded territories, Finland had to lease Hanko peninsula to the Soviet Union that established a military base there.

Moscow 1944/Paris 1947

In June 1941, Finland joined Germany in its attack on the USSR. The leaders of Finland tried to further what they perceived as the best interest of their country through siding with their enemies’ enemy. When the German defeat in the war became obvious, Finland managed to conclude a separate peace with the USSR. After a cease-fire on September 4, 1944, the armistice was signed in Moscow on September 19. It confirmed the territorial acquisitions of the Soviet Union from 1940. In addition, Finland lost its arctic coast, ceding Petsamo to the Soviet Union. Moreover, Finland now had to lease to the USSR Porkkala peninsula instead of Hanko. The Soviet military base in Porkkala was located merely 40 kilometres from Helsinki. The final peace treaty that was concluded in Paris in 1947 did not alter the territorial clauses of the previous armistice in Moscow.

Restoration of Porkkala 1956

Porkkala was leased to the USSR for 50 years. Soviet troops had the right of transit between the USSR and Porkkala through Finnish territory, and the Finnish authorities were not allowed to check their goods or documents. However, In 1955, the USSR agreed to return Porkkala to Finland in January 1956. Apart from the improved Finnish-Soviet relations, this Soviet concession followed from the general situation in the international politics. After the death of Josif Stalin, Nikita Hruštšev and the other new Soviet leaders wished to ease up tensions that had followed from the forcible establishment of the Communist rule in East Europe. Restoration of Porkkala to Finland happened roughly at the same time as the final withdrawal of the Soviet troops from Austria.