Kingdom of Finland
The Kingdom of Finland was a failed attempt to establish a monarchy in Finland in the aftermath of the Finnish Declaration of Independence from Russia in December 1917 and the Finnish Civil War from January to May 1918. The victorious Whites in the Parliament of Finland began the process of turning Finland into a kingdom and creating a monarchy. Although the country was legally a kingdom headed by a regent for over a year, the king-elect Friedrich Karl never reigned nor came to Finland following Germany's defeat in World War I. Republican victories in subsequent elections resulted in the country becoming a republic.
During the Finnish Civil War of 1918, Finnish Reds on friendly terms with Soviet Russia fought Finnish Whites who allied with the German Empire. Direct aid from the German Baltic Sea Division helped the Whites win the war. The provisional government established after the Grand Duchy of Finland's declaration of independence leaned heavily toward the Finnish right and included a number of monarchists. The parliament drew up plans to create a Finnish monarchy on the legal theory that the Swedish Constitution of 1772 was still in effect, but there had been an extended interregnum with no monarch on the throne. [Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse|Prince Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse|Friedrich Karl of Hesse] was elected to the throne of Finland on 9 October 1918 by the Finnish parliament, but he never took the position nor traveled to Finland. Soon after the election, Finnish leaders as well as the population belatedly came to understand the grave situation their German allies were in, and the wisdom of electing a German prince as monarch as Germany was about to lose World War I was called into question. Germany itself became a republic, deposed Kaiser Wilhelm II and signed an armistice with the Allies in November. The victorious powers informed the Finnish government that the independence of Finland would only be recognized if it abandoned its alliance with Germany. As a result, Friedrich Karl renounced the throne in December and the Baltic Sea Division withdrew from Finland. In the March 1919 election, with the Finnish left and socialists able to vote, republicans won a crushing victory. Finland's status as a republic was confirmed in the Finnish Constitution of 1919.
History
Finland declared independence from the Russian Empire on 6 December 1917, during the Russian Civil War. While a minority of Members of Parliament were inclined towards monarchy, this issue was deferred in favor of achieving national sovereignty as quickly as possible, and the Parliament unanimously declared Finland a republic.The declaration of independence was followed by the Finnish Civil War. The war was a brutal conflict between the socialist Reds and the conservative, non-socialist Whites. The victorious Whites subsequently excluded the Social Democratic Party from the Parliament, with the exception of a single representative, Matti Paasivuori. Before the Civil War, the social democrats had held 92 out of 200 seats in the Parliament, and this exclusion radically altered the political balance. The monarchists now began to question the initial declaration of Finland as a republic, arguing that the Civil War had demonstrated the inherent instability of an unconstrained, democratically elected Parliament. They contended that the new nation needed a king who would stand above factional disputes and guarantee the continuity and order of the state.
Lithuania had already taken a similar step in July 1918, electing Wilhelm Karl, Duke of Urach and Count of Württemberg, as King Mindaugas II of Lithuania. In Latvia and Estonia, a "General Provincial Assembly" consisting of Baltic-German aristocrats had called upon the German Emperor, Wilhelm II, to recognize the Baltic provinces as a joint monarchy and a German protectorate. Adolf Friedrich, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, was nominated Duke of "the United Baltic Duchy" by the Germans.
At independence, Finland, like the Baltic provinces, had close ties with the German Empire. Germany was the only international power that had supported the preparations for independence, not least by training volunteers as Finnish Jäger troops. Germany had also intervened in the Finnish Civil War, despite its own precarious situation. Finland's position vis-a-vis Germany was already evolving towards that of a protectorate by spring 1918, and the election of Prince Frederick, brother-in-law of Wilhelm II, was viewed as a confirmation of the close relations between the two nations. The strongly pro-German prime minister, Juho Kusti Paasikivi, and his government offered the crown to Prince Frederick in October 1918, while Pehr Evind Svinhufvud was declared Regent.
The adoption of a new monarchist constitution had been delayed because it did not get the required qualified majority. The legitimacy of the royal election was based upon the Instrument of Government of 1772, adopted under King Gustav III of Sweden, when Finland had been a part of the Kingdom of Sweden. The same constitutional document had also served as the basis for the rule of the Russian Emperors, as Grand Dukes of Finland, during the 19th century.
Member of parliament Gustaf Arokallio suggested the monarchical designation "Karl I, King of Finland and Karelia, Duke of Åland, Grand Duke of Lapland, Lord of Kaleva and the North".
By 9 November 1918 the German Emperor Wilhelm II had abdicated and Germany was declared a republic. Two days later, on 11 November 1918, the armistice between the belligerents of World War I was signed. Little is known of the Allied powers' view regarding the possibility of a German-born prince as the King of Finland. However, warnings received from the West convinced the Finnish government of Prime Minister Lauri Ingmana monarchist himselfto ask Prince Friedrich Karl to give up the crown, which he had not yet come to wear in Finland.
The king-elect Friedrich Karl renounced the throne on 14 December 1918. Svinhufvud resigned and Lieutenant General Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, the leader of the Whites during the Finnish Civil War, was appointed as Regent of Finland. Republican parties won three-quarters of the parliament's seats in the election of 1919 and Finland adopted a republican constitution. In July 1919, Finland's first president Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg replaced Mannerheim as the first President of the Republic.