ON THE ISSUE OF THE PREREQUISITES FOR THE FORMATION OF FINNISH STATEHOOD

The article examines events from Russian and Finnish history, both during the pre-revolutionary period and during the civil war of 1917–1922. It is shown how Finland was transformed into an independent state from an autonomous principality of the Russian Empire. Objective coverage of this problem at present stage is very important and relevant in connection with the controversial discussions that are taking place, including on this issue, in foreign historiography, which negatively reflect the historical past of the Russian state. The purpose of the study is an objective study of the prerequisites for the Finnish statehood formation and the assessment of Russia’s role in solving this issue. Materials and methods. The article is based on the analysis of published documents and scientific literature by domestic and foreign authors. Various methods were used in the research: problem-chronological, comparative-historical, historical-genetic, historical-legal, statistical, descriptive, logical ones. Research results. The study examined the main stages of Finnish history, starting from its annexation to the Russian Empire and ending with gaining independence of the Republic of Finland. The concrete historical material shows how, over more than a hundred years of the joint political history of Russia and Finland, the Finns were able to make their way from an autonomous principality to an independent state. The Russian Empire failed to fully integrate the Finnish territories into its structure, and the Bolsheviks failed to regain control over them during the revolutionary upheavals of 1917–1922. During the revolutionary events and the civil war in Russia, Finland was able to complete the creation of its own independent state, the prerequisites for the construction of which were intensively developing in it throughout the XIX century. Conclusions. Having carefully studied the events and state-political processes in the Grand Duchy of Finland during its stay within the Russian Empire, it is necessary to draw the conclusion about their exceptional importance and value for the future formation of the Finnish national state. The Grand Duchy of Finland had broad autonomy being part of Russia: the Finnish Seim functioned freely, which approved its own Constitution and independently resolved many issues of regional development, its own currency (the Finnish mark) was introduced, favorable conditions were created for the development of the economy, demography, culture and education, and the Finnish language. Thus, it was precisely being part of Russia that contributed to the formation of prerequisites to acquire statehood by the Finnish people, and had a beneficial effect on the formation of their state institutions.