Finland

Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Finland fought or stood against, from the first to today.

1. 🇷🇺 Novgorod Republic1240 to 1323

   Sweden and Novgorod fought for Karelia and the Neva for over a century. Alexander Nevsky beat a Swedish force on the Neva in 1240, and the Swedes built Vyborg castle in 1293. The Treaty of Noteborg in 1323 drew the first border.

2. 🇷🇺 Grand Principality of Moscow1495 to 1617

   Muscovite armies besieged Vyborg in 1495 and ravaged Finland in several wars. The Treaty of Teusina in 1595 moved the border north, and after Sweden's intervention in Russia's Time of Troubles the Treaty of Stolbovo in 1617 gave Sweden Kexholm and Ingria.

3. 🇷🇺 Tsardom of Russia1700 to 1721

   Peter the Great's armies took Vyborg in 1710 and occupied all of Finland after the Battle of Storkyro in 1714. The occupation, remembered as the Great Wrath, ended with the Treaty of Nystad in 1721, which ceded Vyborg to Russia.

4. 🇷🇺 Russian Empire1741 to 1809

   Sweden attacked Russia in 1741 to regain its losses but lost more land in 1743. Gustav III's war of 1788 to 1790 changed nothing. In the Finnish War of 1808 and 1809 Russia conquered the whole country, and Sweden gave it up at Fredrikshamn.

5. 🇷🇺 Russian Empire1899 to 1917

   Nicholas II's February Manifesto of 1899 let imperial laws override Finnish ones. Over half a million Finns signed a petition against it. Governor-General Nikolai Bobrikov was shot dead in Helsinki in 1904, and the Russian revolution of 1917 opened the way to independence.

6. 🇷🇺 Soviet Union1939 to 1944

   The Soviet Union attacked Finland in November 1939. The Finns held the Mannerheim Line until March 1940 but lost Karelia. Finland joined Germany's attack in 1941 to win it back, and the Continuation War ended with an armistice and further losses in 1944.

7. 🇩🇪 Nazi Germany1944 to 1945

   The 1944 armistice required Finland to expel German troops. In the Lapland War, retreating German forces burned much of Rovaniemi and northern Lapland before leaving for Norway in April 1945.

8. 🇷🇺 Russian FederationSince 2022Still open

   Finland applied to join NATO after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and became a member in 2023. Accusing Moscow of sending migrants to the border, Finland closed all crossing points in late 2023, and they remained shut in 2025.

Today

Finland now

Finland was a province and then a grand duchy under Sweden from the 12th to the 19th centuries and an autonomous grand duchy of Russia after 1809. It gained complete independence in 1917. During World War II, Finland successfully defended its independence through cooperation with Germany and resisted subsequent invasions by the Soviet Union, albeit with some loss of territory.

Capital

Helsinki

Government

parliamentary republic

Head of government

Petteri Orpo

Head of state

Alexander Stubb

Languages

Swedish, Finnish

Area

338,485 km²

Through time

Then and now

• Population5.6 million2023 · 4.0 million in 1950
• Life expectancy81.9 years2023 · 64.2 years in 1950
• GDP per person$40,7012022 · $6,779 in 1950
• Living in cities75%2025 · 44% in 1950
• Literacy99%1950
• Political regimeLiberal democracy2025 · Liberal democracy in 1950
• Military alliancesNATO2024 · None of these in 1950
• Military spending2.6% of GDP2025
• War deathsNone2025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.