How did Finland do it?

Under Swedish rule from the 12th to the 19th centuries; then under Russian control for over 100-years, how did Finland become a neutral nation? Finland lies between Sweden and Russia—two countries that used Finnish land as a battlefield for centuries. So, how did the Finns manage to become a neutral and independent republic?

Perhaps we learn part of this answer by listening to the haunting yet uplifting symphonic poem by Jean Sibelius[1]—“Finlandia.”[2]

This was the closing piece of a covert protest against Russian censorship in 1900. The music was played while scenes of Finnish history were displayed on stage. They had to give the song made-up names in future performances to avoid the Russian censors. Once it was called, “Happy Feelings at the Awakening of Finnish Spring.”

In 1941, Viekko Antero Koskenniemi added words to “Finlandia’s Hymn.”

Mary Travers sang this song—now called “A Song of Peace (Finlandia).”[3]

When I listen to her, the tingling, tear-inducing warmth swells within me.

Here is a country, a nation, a people that love their land with the same rapture as people of every time and every place. Here is that deepest love of land. Here is that devotion to home. Here is that undeniable love of place—the ground that ancestors claimed in the Stone Age mists of antiquity—where they gave birth and clawed for life through endless struggle—where they buried the dead since time out of mind.

And there beside it, hand-in-hand with the deep-rooted seeds of nationalism stands just as firmly, just as proudly—the respect for all other lands, the acknowledgment and recognition that others love their lands rightfully as much as the Finns love their own.

And why should they not?

There it is. The road to neutrality is paved with this simple understanding.

“This is my home, a country where my heart is
Here grew my hopes and dreams for all mankind
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine”

Images: Jean Sibelius and Mary Travers (found online, in public domain)

[1] See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Sibelius

[2] See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finlandia

[3] Listen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTBiRiHnRmM See also, Joan Baez rendition