The Chronicles of Finland
This article was originally published in a Newspaper.
The Chronicles of Finland is a summary of Finland's history in the New World written by Finland's former president Erwin Schauman. It was published in two parts in Schauman's newspaper Aurora Borealis. Part One was published at the end of the year 2008 under the name History of Finland and the Announcement of SPEAR'08 and Part Two around February of the year 2009 under the name The Chronicles of Finland. The second part, as Erwin states at the beginning of the article, is an update to the first one having all the same information (without the section about SPEAR'08 of course). Even though The Chronicles of Finland was the first attempt to write down the history of Finland, it is not considered to be Finland's "official" biography. The second part states "To be continued..." yet still, six months later there hasn't been a third part and today the article covers only a small part of Finnish history.
The Chronicles of Finland
Prehistory
Finland's prehistory is not well known. Many of the players of that age are now gone and the information died with them. However, archaeological findings from that era seem to indicate that during the early months of its existence Finland was a small agrarian society with less than 100 players and no industry to speak of. Sufficient to say, the peaceful people of Finland played with their pet polar bears and penguins, enjoying the odd bottle of koskenkorva and knife-fights here and there. Probably behind the sauna.
April 18th 2008
A dark day in Finland’s history. Norway declared war on Finland to expand it's territories eastwards. Lapland was the first region to feel the ravages of war. On April 21st the last defences of the realm fell and Finland was annexed into the Norwegian Empire. A small, peaceful country in the Northern Hemisphere that could do no possible harm to its much larger neighbours was wiped off the World map. Finland as a nation ceased to exist.
The citizens of Finland refused to accept the subjugation. The resistance lived on and oaths were made to liberate Finland. The internet forums were awakened and recruitment of new players began.
August 2008
The recruitment of resistance fighters reaches its peak when over 1000 Finnish players join the game in one month in order to liberate Finland. Sovereign Finland, Finnish owned political party created to bring the voice of the freedom fighters to the ears of the Norwegian Congress, becomes the largest party in the history of the eRepublik with nearly 1400 members.
The Government of Norway saw this sudden uprising of Finns as a threat to the Empire. The relations between the Finns and the Norwegians quickly deteriorated as both sides began issuing threats and ultimatums to each other. Civil war seemed unavoidable.
September 2008
The crisis leads to Sovereign Finland arranging a coup in the Norwegian Government, taking control of both the Congress and the Presidential seat. The Finns were now in total control of the Norwegian Empire.
Right before losing his seat as the President of Norway, Forconin moves the national treasury of the Empire on his own account and becomes inactive for several weeks. Claims of theft were made and Finns accused the Norwegians of foul play and breaking the constitution.
Propaganda articles and videos of the incident flooded the media. The staff has dug up one popular Finnish made propaganda video from the era for your viewing pleasure:
The ultimatums continued, but it soon came apparent to both sides that this would not lead anywhere. The fates of Finland and Norway were bound to each other. More peaceful and diplomatic approach was adopted, and official negotiations for freedom began. Slowly relations were rebuilt and dialogue between the two parties became civil.
October 2008
V1 is launched and the door to independence is opened. The negotiations for peaceful liberation continued and led to Norway recognizing Finland’s right to sovereignty. Norway agreed to fund two resistance wars as payment for the invasion on April.
October 16th 2008, 00.00 O´clock
The Finnish Independence War starts in Eastern Finland. Both the Norwegians and the Finns settled their differences for the first time and fought side by side as allies and brothers, tearing down the wall that separated Finland and its rightful place among the free nations of the world. Sweden and many other nations showed their support for the freedom movement by sending supplies and military personnel to aid the Finns in breaking down the wall to freedom.
After many days of fierce fighting, Finland finally regained its independence as the first annexed eRepublic country on October 22nd after 6 months of being part of the Norwegian Empire. The citizens of Southern Finland shook hands with their brothers in Eastern Finland as the second resistance war ended successfully on the 1st of November.
The ex-President Forconin clears his name in the eyes of the Finnish population by moving a sum of 500g into Finland's national treasury as a sign of good will and to fund the rebuilding process.
A new age of cooperation and understanding between Finland and Norway had begun.
After thwarting a foreign coup attempt by uniting under the Finnish party Kansanpuolue (People's Party) that was later renamed the Liberaali Edistyspuolue (The Liberal Progression Party), Finns started the long process of rebuilding the newly created Republic of Finland. Under the leadership of Kansanpuolue, the industry was revived and Finnish marks were distributed to the people to buy consumer goods.
November 2008
After increasing demand to continue the war for freedom, Finland approaches the Norwegian government with a proposal to liberate the last four national provinces. The negotiations led to the formation of the SPEAR'08 military exercise, the first joint-military exercise in the history of eRepublik. Norway's President Salve showed his support for the Finnish freedom movement by agreeing to retreat from the battles, at last marking the end of the feud between Finns and Norwegians.
November 22nd 2008
SPEAR'08 military exercise begins in the Oulu region, then moving to Lapland and Åland. Western Finland is liberated by a resistance war funded by a Finnish private citizen.
December 6th 2008
SPEAR'08 military exercise reaches its conclusion with the liberation of Åland. The date is proclaimed to be the official independence day of Finland. That day the Finns had two reasons to celebrate, as by odd twist of events the date also happened to be the independence day of the real world Finland.
The day after that peace is signed between the two warring nations.
On the very same day, the newly elected Finnish President Scadens almost brings the country on the brink of another war by accidentally proposing to declare war on Sweden while trying to make peace with Norway. Luckily, the declaration of war was rejected by the Finnish Congress. This event received a great deal of international attention, and Scadens will be remembered by receiving the questionable honor of having the blunder named after himself:
"To pull a scadens" - While being the President, make a royal f*** up that threatens to lead your country to a pointless and destructive war.
The same was later attempted by the President of Indonesia Aban, who accidentally proposed a war against Australia. He will be remembered as a pale shadow and an imitator of the first person to do so.
January 4th 2009
Finland joins ATLANTIS as a full member together with Croatia. The newly created Finnish Rapid Reaction Force has ever since been taking part in military operations around the globe, defending the interests of the alliance and helping to free oppressed nations.
February 28th 2009
After few months of inactivity caused by the rebuilding process, Finland and Norway continue their line of cooperation by announcing the beginning of Anvil'09 - a second military exercise to be held in the Fennoscandian region between the two nations. The exercise is hoped to activate the populations of Norway and Finland by providing entertainment, to increase the military strength of the national armies, and to end the economic recession plaguing both countries. Most of all it reassures the Finns and the Norwegians of their friendship and the brothership they have formed since the dark ages.
