Nationalism and the Construction of Early Finnish History

Finnish history has been the subject of numerousstudies but none of these have really considered thenationalist essence of the integral underlying'historical culture' of the nation. Even quiteobvious political interpretations and visions of anancient Golden Age have all too easily been dismissedas the consequences of mere patriotism or 'Kalevalaenthusiasm'. This study presents the case for how theconceptions of a distant glorious past have beenadvanced and actively developed within the nationalproject of constructing a modern ethnicity ofFinnishness. Accordingly a conception of an originalancient greatness was paramount for the nationalistmovements in both the Grand Duchy and the earlyRepublic of Finland especially so when the perceivednation was considered in need of intellectuallyunifying defences against the many conceived threatsof Russianness after ca 1890. The book traces theconstruction of a Great Myth of National Origins fromthe 16th century until the end of the Second WorldWar and provides richly illustrated examples of howthe process of nation-building influenced andamplified the deep historical core of the emergingnational consciousness.