Finland was taken over by Sweden in the 13th century, then kept on being Swedish until 1809 when Russia conquered it. Finland was a part of Russia until 1917 when the Russian Revolution happened. Many parts that had belonged to Imperial Russia, such as Finland, the Baltic countries and so forth, were given independence during this process. That's why Finland was attacked in WW2 by the Soviets - because Stalin wanted back all the countries that had previously belonged to Imperial Russia.
As for Norway, I'm not 100% sure. I think it was conquered by the Danes sometimes netween the 9th-12th century and was Danish up until the beginning of the, again, 19th century, when the new king of Sweden, Charles XIV John, also known as Jean Bernadotte, decided that instead of taking back Finland from the Russians, he decided to cripple Denmark and take the entirety of Norway for strategic purposes. Norway entered a union with Sweden that would last until 1905, when Norway finally become independent again.
It was only autonomous during Russian rule.
Last edited by mmoc96b28150b7; 2012-12-08 at 02:40 AM.
Mai 2013 will see a new holiday being born.
The day i came for 2 semesters to get another bachelors !
Basically Finland was in a state of constant bickering between Russia and Sweden, up until early 1800 when we were quite peacefully connected to Russia under promises of autonomy. Of course Swedes resisted but they made few huge tactical errors, thinking that they have time for getting in later as finnish troops would've supposedly resisted advancing Russia.
Too bad Swedish treatment of Finland was downright shit and the promises of freedom were too good to pass upon. 1809 Finland became autonomic state with our own army, constitution, laws and parliament. The Tsar era of Russia was prosperous and good for Finland and gave us the seeds for independence. This is often overlooked nowdays and Swedes are held in higher regard than they deserve (They deserve none from that era, Finnish people were second rate citizen to them) because of the shit USSR did put us through.
And of course, the token image:
Modern gaming apologist: I once tasted diarrhea so shit is fine.
"People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an excercise of power, are barbarians" - George Lucas 1988
Celebration for not being part of Eastern Bloc.