Sibelius and the History of Finland The idea of nationalism is that it’s, “the something in virtue of which a nation continues to exist even when it has lost autonomy” (Derry, 232). From the late twelfth century to the early nineteenth century, Finland was under the control of Sweden. Most of the culture and language in Finland were predominately Swedish. Then the Russians pushed out the Swedish in the Finnish War in 1809, and made Finland part of the Russian Empire by bringing it into a Grand Duchy, ruled under Alexander I. Under this rule would create the desire for independence of Finland from Russia. Sibelius, who was born years after the Russians had annexed Finland into its empire, was one of the most famous Finnish composers of classical…show more content… Finland would remain in the Russian Empire up until 1917 when it declares its independence. Within a year after declaring its independence from Russia would begin the Finnish Civil War, which was an effect of the First World War coming to an end. The war would be between the White Guard that were non-socialist, led by conservatives. Against the Red Guard, led by the Socialist Democratic Party. The Russians backed the Reds, and the White were backed by the Germans. The independence of Finland didn’t have any real meaning. German and Russian affiliated interests were soon to begin battle, in the usage of White Guards supported by German manpower and weapons against Red Guards supported also from Russia (Tepora,…show more content… This would eventually become a conflict because the majority of people in Finland at the time spoke Swedish because Sweden had been a heavy influence on Finland for hundreds of years before the Russians took over. Oppositions on whether the people should have their national language be Swedish or Finnish started to grow. “The Liberal-Swedish view emphasized Finland’s distinctive history within the Swedish realm as a whole. The Finnish nationalist consciously distanced themselves from the Swedish past and took the view of a subjugated preexisting nation destined ‘to awaken’ and claim its rightful independence” (Goss, 411). Language would become a conflict to Sibelius because the language he spoke normally was Swedish. He would marry a woman name, Aino, whose family spoke in Finnish. Sibelius would become a national hero in Finland for his compositions that helped inspire nationalism in Finland such as, Finlandia in 1899, which is the country’s second unofficial national anthem (Goss, 443). Sibelius wanted to preserve the culture within Finland. In a telegram sent by Sibelius in Finnish said, “Will do anything for our country” (Goss,
