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The Shared Historical Experience of Finland and Poland |
 Foreword The Project at Work - Pictures The Areas and their Population People's Origin Early Societes Livelihood Legislation and Parliament Religion Education The Historical Development in Finland and Poland Conclusion Similarities and Differences between Polish and Finnish Prehistory Economical Reformation The Basis of Superpower Polish-Swedish Wars The Time of Freedom FOREWORD "The Shared Historical Experience of Finland and Poland" is a Comenius 1.1. Language Project and it has been done in co-operation with L.O. Biecz and Tampere University Teacher Training School, Tampereen normaalikoulu. The project has lasted for over a year and is now gradually coming to its end with the publication of this book on our project. When the project was planned, it was intended that the students involved in it should be able to learn each other's languages to get to know another European language unknown to them in advance. The students studied Polish and Finnish some 35 lessons, autonomously and in contact teaching, most of the teaching material was planned by the students themselves for their own everyday life purposes. All this, so that they could have a feel for the new language. The subject matter of the project was Polish and Finnish history, finding and studying the various periods and events in history where there are similarities between the past and present of the two nations. There were two project exchanges, two-week periods, one in Tampere, Finland in the autumn of 2003 and one in Biecz, Poland in the spring of 2004 during which the students had a chance of working together in mixed nationality groups studying each other's history and preparing the annotated exhibitions on the history of Finland and Poland. During the 14-day exchange periods the students were also involved in language studies and could try out their knowledge on the newly aquired languages in real life situations as well as in English, which was the working language during the project. For that reason, this publication is also mainly published in English. The project covers the periods from prehistoric times until today. The present times were included through the media and the students in Poland looked for information of Finland in the Polish media and reciprocally, the Finnish students of Poland in the Finnish media. Also a calendar with dates of historic origin was written with the comparison of the both countries. The students also got acquainted with some historic legends of their own country and presented them to others at the exhibition. During the work process, the students had to use information technology a lot, not only in writing texts but also digital technology in transferring pictures and building up the web sites of the project work. Although modern study methods were on the foreground, the traditional methods were not forgotten either. These became extremely important when the students got ready for the exhibitions, this form of work made it possible for the students to work together in cross-national groups. The exhibitions extended the sphere of the people from outside school, who became involved in our project; in Tampere there were 142 people and in Biecz some 100 people attending the project exhibitions. Thus the school network, in the larger meaning of the word, became aware of the Finnish-Polish connection. We wish to express our warm thanks to the headmasters of the two schools, Mr Marek Siarkowicz and Mr Arto Jaakkola for their support in the project work. We thank our students, the students of IIC of L.O. Biecz and 9C of Tampereen normaalikoulu, for their diligence, flexibility and the responsibility they showed during the project. We as teachers in this project also learned a lot, it was interesting to be able to realize that as teachers coming from different countries we, nevertheless, seem to have a very similar train of thought, which made the co-operation easy and it was a rewarding experience to work together. Our very sincere thanks go to the E.U. offices in Warsaw and Helsinki for giving us the chance to work in this combination and on this topic; having gone through the process and having most of the work behind us both the students and us feel sad that the project has been nearly finished, it was a lot of work, but we enjoyed doing it. To put it in the words of one participating student, "The project was not a big thing in the universe, but it certainly was a remarkable thing in our lives." The contents of this "book", we hope, will open up an interesting sight for all the readers into our shared past, that of Poland and Finland, the two nations which may look very different from one another on the surface, but may have many more things in common than one might think at the outset. Malgorzata Blazewicz, MA, Teacher of History, Biecz Marjo Leskinen, MA, Teacher of History, Tampere Kristiina Sirén, MA, Teacher of English, Tampere Anna Winnicka, BA, Teacher of English, Biecz The Project at Work - Pictures Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4 Working together was a great experience for us students and for the teachers involved too. Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4 The tools and objects, despite the difference in location and time, turned out to be very much the same. Picture Painting pictures, working out the texts and making the exhibition come true in the end was hard work, but worth it. THE AREAS AND THEIR POPULATION The area of Poland became inhabited much before Finland; this was caused by the Ice Age which stretched also to the present area of Poland, but naturally lingered on in the Finnish area some thousands of years longer, the edge of the retreating ice sheet was on the southem coast of Finland at the end of 10000 BC, thus Finland quite literally arose from the sea between 9000 7000 BC. The oldest objects found in the Finnish area date back in the years 8000- 4200 BC, those objects seem to have been of southern as well as Scandinavian origin. The first permanent inhabitants of Finland settled down here between the years 8000 BC to 4200 BC, the people, according to present knowledge came mainly from the south and the west, two thirds of them came along the southern route and only one third from the east and it was since those days that people were flowing in from all directions. The Sami people were in Finland before the Finns and when the Finns arrived they pushed the Sami people to the north of the country. There is also new evidence which shows that there had been some habitation in the "Finnish" area even before the Ice Age, but those people were not related to Finns. Poles, according to one theory, have moved to the present area from the east, a bit further east of where Poles live now. It is said that they settled down in the present area which had been abandoned by Gothic tribes in the 6th and 7th centuries. Another theory has it that Poles have always lived in the same area. Popular legends explain the settlement in the way that three brothers Lech, Rus and Czech were looking for a good place to live in; Rus was satisfied with their original home, Czech was a little bit adventurous and wanted to keep looking, whereas Lech came to the region where the River Wisla (Veiksel) and Odra (Oder) flow and realized that it was a good place for settling down as the land was fertile and good. Permanent settlements started as early as 250 000 - 180 000 BC due to the migration from southem Europe. Numerous tribes walked through the Polish area e.g. Celts who t aught Poles lots of things including mining, breeding and craftmanship. Poland's borders have changed many times during its history and there have been phases during which the state of Poland has ceased to exist. Poland has essentially been an inland state. Nowadays Poland has some 400 kilometres of sealine. The country is mainly flat and this flatness and the long border lines made it difficult to defend the country against the enemies. The strategic situation of Poland between two superpowers, Russia and Germany, was not easy either. This fact forced Poland to look for partnership elsewhere, namely with France, another superpower of those days, and with the countries south of Poland. The first Polish state was formed in around the year 850 AD and it was tied to the Piast dynasty for five hundred years, up until the year 1386. The territory where Finns lived was also surrounded by two greater powers the then Novgorod, later Russia, in the east and Sweden in the west. The fear of the eastem neighbour was bigger in Finland than that of the west that is why Finland was seeking partnership with Sweden rather than with the east. Unlike Poland, Finland was never really an independent state before the year 1917, naturally Finland did get the autonomous position in 1809, when Russia allowed Finns to decide about their own matters almost completely independently in their own parliament, which was a huge step towards independence. Nevertheless, through various ages in history Finnish people identified themselves with the land, lakes and forests in the whole Finnish territory and they felt the land was theirs more than anybody else's. Stili, the country had no central administration and was very dispersed for a very long time in the course of history. The area of Finland was aiso very small compared to its present size. Novgorod had a major part of the present Finnish territory under its influence in the east and Finland formed a union with Sweden in the Middle Ages, Sweden-Finland, and was part of Sweden up untii the early l9th century when Finland got the autonomous state as part of Russia for some one hundred years and finally became an independent state. PEOPLE'S ORIGIN The feeling of identifying oneself with land was not strange to Polish people either, but there were many other nations that had claims for Polish land e.g. Germany, Russians, Lithuanians, Belorussians, Ukrainians and Czechs. It was maybe for this reason that Poles rather identified themselves in the people, the Polish nation, and its culture; this is also expressed in the Polish anthem, "Poland is not dead as long as there are Polish people." Now that genetic research is possible in studying the genetic origins of nations, Polish people have been found to be genetically related to Slavic people, Celts, Goths, Germans, Baltic people, Lithuanians and Jews. Finns have been shown to be as much related to Scandinavians as well as e.g. people of other European nations. EARLY SOCIETIES The early Polish society consisted of many tribes and they lived in village communities called by the name "opole". By 500 AD the Polish area was inhabited by several tribes: Polanie, Wislanie, Slezanie, Pomorzanie, Mazowszanie and Ledzianie. The communities were closed and independent and this made it difficult for anyone to take the real lead in the country. "Szlachta" the Polish nobility emphasized the fact that all members of the community had to be listened to when decisions were made. This was also shown in family life; the elder brother had no rights over the others in the family, everyone was equal. The "szlachta" was unusually big in Poland, about ten per cent of the population belonged to it. The Polish szlachta also left its permanent mark in the "Polish mentality" in the Middle Ages, Polish people still carry that air of self-consciousness and national pride which is said to have been inherited from the "szlachta". In the middle of the Iron Age, first villages were founded in Finland and there were great differences in people's wealth already at that time. Like Poland, Finland also had a long tradition with its nobility, which dated back in the prehistoric times. The nobility was for a long time the only class in society which was clearly singled out from the rest of the people. In Finland people lived in certain areas of the country according to which tribe they belonged to. There were people of Häme ( the area in which Tampere is now situated; Häme still is the name of the province), Varsinais-Suomi and Karjala. These provinces had their own customs, dialect, economy and culture, There were vast uninhabited areas of wildemess in between these provinces. People lived in their provinces, they had very little to do with other people from other provinces, which made the "country" dispersed. But the idea of certain tribes sticking together and living in the same area was the same as in the early Polish society. Poland was an administrative entity much before Finland. Polish kings often had a difficulty with the strong-minded nobility and this made decision-making in the country hard when no agreement nor compromises were to be found. Finnish people were much "easier" in this respect. But the sparsely inhabited country with long distances was not easy to govern. In the Middle Ages, however, Finland became one administrative area which was separate from Sweden. Finland was known by the name "Eastland" at that time. LIVELIHOOD Both Poles and Finns were hunting, collecting and fishing for food at some early stages of their history. Later on also breeding domestic animals was started. ln Poland people had goats, sheep, pigs and cows and in Finland to begin with mainly reindeer. Agriculture in Poland concentrated on growing beans and millet, whereas in Finland they cultivated mainly barley. For as long as Finnish people earned their livelihood by hunting and fishing, however, they had to move quite often, which made it difficult to adopt any fixed forms of society. 3OOOBC - 1 000 BC agricultural influences came to Finland from the Baltic area and deeper from the south, also from the Western Slavic areas. Barley was cultivated already at that time. Even as farmers in the early days, Finnish tribes often moved the place of living as the land in the Finnish territory was not as fertile as e.g. in Poland. Due to the fact that the area was covered with forests, they had to clear and burn-over land for cultivation. After a certain period of time they had to again move further and find new land for burn-beat because it took four years at least after the burn-beat before the land would grow any harvest. This method of cultivation was used as early as 2350 - 1750 BC. But the constant "on the move" kind of life made development of bigger societies impossibie, the largest unit in the society of those days was the family in the large sense. Craftmanship in Poland and Finland was focused on weaving, making clay pots and making wheels. The development of tools was the same in different eras, but the periods occured at different times. In both areas, stone tools were used at first as well as bone and clay. Bronze and iron were taken into use later as in other areas, too, and some of the objects found of those times prove excellent craftmanship. ln the Middle Ages Finland exported fur, articles made of leather, horses, butter, pork, seal fat, salted fish, salmon, dried pike and oats. Poland in its turn exported grain, salt, handicrafts, and later also silver. LEGISLATION AND THE PARLIAMENT The researchers are of the opinion that there was a system of "law and order" in Finland in prehistoric time and it was based on the Germanic system of justice. Certain matters were dealt with in law courts like e.g. blasphemy, treachery, i.e. hurting the community. The matters dealing with one's own family were dealt with and punished inside the family. There was the socalled "god's sentence", too, for example, people were thrown into the water, if they got drowned, they were guilty. Free men were entitled to take part in court sessions. In both the Polish as well as the Finnish societies there were slaves, too, in the Finnish society slaves were people who had been captured as prisoners during war time i.e. prisoners-of-war, but unlike Poland, Finland never had the serf system. Women were not allowed to take part in court sessions. As the king tried to renew legisiation to make the power of the king strong in Sweden-Finland, he was often strongly opposed by noblemen who also had their own armed forces. The king, however, was often the only comfort for peasants against arbitrary noblemen and landlords. There was legislation and laws in Sweden-Finland, the Diet (parliament) was summoned at certain intervals ever since the 15th century and legisiation as well as taxation were dealt with during them. No common legislation covering the whole state existed before the year 1350 when King Maunu Eerikinpoika gave out law of the country and law of the town and when Birger Jaarl came to power, he gave out legislation for the whole area of the country. Later, Queen Ulrika Eleonora gave out the new constitutional reforms in the year 1719; the legislative power was given to the diet, the executive power to the ruler when s/he was chairing the meetings of the privy council and the judical power belonged to the diet and the privy council. Very seldom is it even in today's democracies that the head of state has as little power as in Finland-Sweden in the 1720's. In addition, the diet started changing the members of the privy, this was the start of primitive parliamentarism. It wasn't until 1734 that the new general law for the whole state was given out. Kazimierz III (1333-1370) was one of the great Piast rulers, he is the only Polish king to whom Polish people gave the name Kazimierz Wielki (=the Great). This was due to his peaceful actions as a king. He concentrated on building up the Polish society. He added to the togetherness of the Polish nation, he started the starostat system to make the local and provincial governing better managable. And what was even more important was that he started summoning meetings when necessary, to talk about matters at the national level, these meetings later on led to forming up "sejm" the Polish Parliament. The Polish laws were also collected into one common legisiation during Kazimierz's time. The Polish parliament "sejm" started to have regular sessions since 1492, the provincial nobility gathered in the so-called small parliament sessions in their provinces sending their representatives to the sejm sessions in Warsaw. In 1505 a new law was given ' Nihil Novi' which confirmed that the king had no right to pass new laws without first consulting the Houses of Parliament. In the year 1791 on the 3rd of May Polish Constitution was established (it was the first of its kind in Europe and the second in the world after American constitution). T he 3rd of May is a national holiday in Poland, the Day of the Polish Constitution. RELIGION Before Christianity was introduced to the people, their religion was worshipping nature: in Poland they worshipped the sun, wind and lightning and in Finland mostly the sun, the sky and water. In addition, some strong animals like the bear and also trees were believed to have mythical powers and were therefore also worshipped; this was true to other Scandinavian cultures, too. Consequently, magical knowledge and iron craftmanship were believed to be holy skills. Mieszko I was the first remarkable Polish ruler of the Piast dynasty ( 960-992AD). When he got married to the daughter of the duke of Bohemia, he was converted into a Christian, a Roman Catholic (966 AD). It was customary in those days that the people in the country followed their ruler's religion. Thus all Polish people became Roman Catholics and still are so. The first information of Christianity came to Finland much before the country officially became Roman Catholic. There have been Christian crosses found in graves that are from the early 9th century. Roman Catholicism gradually became the prevailing religion in Finland for many centuries. The first crusade was made to Finland in 1155 by an Englishman called Bishop Henry, later St. Henry, who was also striving for the Swedish crown. During the severai Crusades Finnish people were made Roman Catholics. Rather than spreading Christianity, the idea behind the crusades was spreading the spheres of political interests and certain countries' political might and the competition between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic religions. Poland got its bishopric in Gniezno in the year 1 000 AD, Finland had the first bishop in 1155 and the bishopric was moved from Koroinen to Turku in 1290. Polish people were officially converted before Finnish people, the Bible was translated into the Finnish language by Michael Agricola in 1548 and a couple of years later into Polish. When Sweden-Finland gave up Roman Catholicism to become Lutherans quite at the end of the 16th century, Finns were the last ones to stick to Roman Catholic traditions, although it was strictly prohibited in the country. EDUCATION Kazimierz Wielki founded the first Polish university ln Kraków in 1364. lt was the second university in Central Europe, Prague already had a university. The university had eight professors for law, two professors for medicine and one for philosophy and one theology department. This describes well the situation why the university was established in the first place. The country needed to assure that it had a chance for giving education to its own administrators. Many members of the szlachta still preferred to send off their decendants to be educated abroad, e.g. in the universities of Bologna and Padova as they were considered the leading universities in Europe. It is also known that a merchant from Gdansk sent his son to Turku Academy, he could simulataneously look after his father's interests as for trade in Turku, which was a Hansa port. There were also some well-known contemporary scientists who arrived in Poland e.g. Filippo Buonacorsi (Kallimach in Polish). There are two names that rise above others among Polish learned men of that time, namely Mikolaj Kopernikus, a Scientist in mathematics and astrology; the writer of 'De revolutionibus orbium coelestium' and Jan Kochanowski who greatly developed Polish literature. The first Finns with a university degree were educated in Paris, the first recorded information of these learned men is from the early 14th century (1303AD). Some Finns are known to have studied in those days also in Prague University. The university in Upsala was founded in 1477, but before that time some 400 Finns from the upper sociai classes had been educated in foreign universities. For the same reason as in Poland, there was a lot of pressure to get competent administrators and therefore to establish a university in Finland, too. lt was only in the year 1640 that Finland got its first university in Turku; Turku Academy; some 300 years after Poland. Finns had to go to Central European or Swedish universities e.g. to Uppsala university. By the end of the 18th century, Turku University had made its way to one of the most distinguished universities in Sweden-Finland. The assignment of education in the Middie Ages was mainly to educate priests and give tuition to members of the nobility and burghers for them to be able to take care of other important assignments in society. Finland followed the common European system of education with its trivium and quadrivium courses, the most significant school subject was Latin as it gave an opportunity for young people to be able to participate in what was going on in the world of learned men and to achieve a good all-round education for their future lives. Church and parents, if they were able to, usually looked after children's education. A new school order with gymnasium and the Tower grades with 11 to 12 years of school studies was given by Queen Kristiina in 1649. Latin, Hebrew, Greek and Religion were the most important school subjects. Most students were educated to become clergymen or administrators. No basic education as such was required to enter universities in those days, but it was essential to know Latin. More and more students also studied to be lawyers. This development was the same in Poland as well as in Sweden-Finland, but in Finland this obviously became true later than in Poland. THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT IN FINLAND AND POLAND The historical development of Poland and Finland will be described in more detail on the calendar of historic events and on the coloured pages that follow. During the project the students worked on every century and the main historic events that took place during them; all the work done was presented in the exhibitions that were arranged during the project exchanges both in Biecz and in Tampere. The first exhibition was in Tampere October 1 st, 2003 and covered the periods from prehistory to the beginning of the 19th century, the time from then on up until these days was then worked on and the whole material from the prehistoric times until today was on show in Biecz on May 5th, 2004. Although not the whole work could be presented in this publication, the material being far too extensive, working on it helped the students realize historic connections and development more clearly. They know more about each other's and their own history now than they did at the beginning of the project. On the following pages, the reader will also see glimpses of the students' work that was shown at the exhibition. Have an interesting time back in history! CONCLUSION Poland and Finland are geographically close to one another, they are both Baltic states, our history, economy, culture and politics have, in the course of time, had many phases in common. The area of Poland was permanently populated much earlier than Finland, it has now been proved that there was population in the Finnish area before the Ice Age began, but those people were Neanderthal people. Finns came later. Finnish people got many influences from countries to the south of Finland. Now that the research has more methods of getting information from the past, it is said that most people came to the Finnish area from the south and west direction than from the east. In the prehistoric time the Finnish nation went through the same historic ages as Poland, but there was a difference in time. In Poland the prehistoric stages e.g. the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age were earlier than in the Finnish area, but the tools used were remarkably alike in both of the countries. There were very many matters in the early societies that went along the same route in Poland as well as in the Finnish society e.g. livelihood, justice, education. Together with Swedes, Finns took part in the Viking expeditions. The Vikings visited the harbours of the Baltic, but also sailed along the rivers deep into Central Europe, also to the area where Poland is situated. Coming home, they had not only things but also other influences to share. Christianity has been proved to enter Finland earlier than the official records show; Christian crosses have been found in tombs that date back in the time before 1000 AD. Thus we can say that both nations came under the Christian influence at approximately the same time. Officially the Roman Catholic faith arrived in Finland in 1050AD. If not for Swedish rulers, who forced people in the Counter-Reformation to convert to Lutheran Religion, Finns might still be Roman Catholics as Finland was the last "island" of Christian faith in the area and tried to stick to Catholic traditions e.g. in church services at the time when practising those was already strictly prohibited. Poland was divided into separate districts i.e. Pomerania, Wielkopolska, Mazovia, Silesia, Sandomierz Grounds and Senior District. People of the same "tribe" lived in those areas. The same happened in Finland, too. People of the same origin usually lived together, first "families" later "tribes" like e.g. people of Häme etc. and the area was divided into Uusimaa, Varsinais-Suomi and Häme. In these areas and later the practice of justice, for example, was very similar to that in Poland. Poland was threatened by the surrounding states, this was the fate of Finland, too. Sweden gradually took over the Finnish area in the 1100's. Poland had to submit to the fact that the Teutonic Knights settled in the country and that its enemies were on both sides, in the east as well as in the west. So were those of Finland's, but Finns still felt safer with their Swedish connection than with that of the east. On the other hand, they (Finns) felt very bitter about the way they were treated; they had to pay high taxes, do very many labour services for the king for free, people had to go through many periods of famine and Finnish soldiers were, in proportion, many more in the kings' armies than Swedes. Particularly as the Swedish kings were continuously waging wars, it was a heavy toll to pay for Finns who then started demanding their rights and the idea of independence started gaining ground in people's minds, but much later. Finland was part of the Kalmar Union, made in Kalmar during Queen Margareta between the nordic countries Denmark-Norway and Sweden-Finland, in 1397. Poland had also been seeking a union with Lithuania and the union, Poland-Lithuania, was formed in 1385. Both unions were made partly to strengthen the countries' security and partly to become more powerful and as for Poland-Lithuania, the union formed, made the country the most powerful in Europe at some stage. In 1435 AD, Arboga, the first Diet (parliament) in Sweden-Finland had its first session and four social classes were represented there. The first parliament had its session in Poland in 1493 AD. In Poland the "szlachta" was very strong; they demanded that they should be listened to when making decisions, the nobility was also very strong in Sweden-Finland and the reformations that the kings wanted to do, good or bad, were usually stopped by the "liberum veto" of the szlachta/nobility. In the Middle Ages both Poland as well as Sweden-Finland were in continuous wars against other states and each other, too. When Juhana III married Katariina (Katarzyna) Jagellonica, the sister of the Polish King, this did not please Eric, the then king of Sweden. Eric had wanted to start a war against Poland, but Juhana had tried to make him see that it was Russia, not Poland, which was the enemy. This caused a permanent split between the brothers. Although Finns benefited a lot from the reign of Juhana and Katarzyna in Turku Castle, they could not stop King Eric who imprisoned both Juhana and Katarzyna. However, Juhana and Katarzyna's time was good for Finland in many respects, among others, Katarzyna brought along many central European influences with her, e.g. the Renaissance. Katarzyna was fervently Roman Catholic and also Juhana converted into a Catholic. Finns liked their way of practising their religion and were the last to support him. When Eric XIV had died, Juhana III was the king of Sweden, after his death, their son Zygmunt III (Sigismund III Waza) already then the king of Poland became the king of Sweden-Finland as well. The personal union, the time when our two countries had the same king, lasted only for one year. Sigismund III Waza (Zygmunt III) was not the king the country wanted and he had to return to Poland. Zygmunt III was not a good king in Poland either, he turned out to be a bohemian, artistic character, who was not too keen on politics or waging wars. He remained on the throne an exceptionally long time. He changed the capital from Kraków to Warsaw and later started a war as well, which made his popularity a bit stronger in the country. He didn't give up his demand for the Swedish crown, however, and neither did his son Wladyslaw IV, nor did Jan II Kazimierz, the last Waza king in Poland. He as well was so weak a ruler that he was made to abdicate, resign. The long wars that Poland had had to fight against the enemy in the east and elsewhere, also Kaarle XII penetrating all the way to Kraków not being able to conquer Jasna Góra, however, had made Poland weak. As a result in the 1700's Poland was divided between the surrounding states and didn't exist as a state for some time. However, in the 1800's Poland started becoming stronger again and there were even contacts from Poland to Finland, asking Finns to co-operate in acting against Russia. Finland saw it best, nevertheless, to try the peaceful co-existence policy, especially as Finland had a better situation as an autonomous state with Russia than it had had before. There were deteriorations in this respect, particularly during Nikolai I and Nikolai II when Finland practically lost its autonomy. The idea of total independence had become stronger in people's minds and people still believed in the peaceful way of achieving it. The ideas of independence in Poland and the Russian emperors' (Nikolai I and II) getting to know about them always had their reflections on Finland, too. The reign became immedaitely stronger and stricter and many rights were abolished temporarily. In 1917 Finland became an independent state and Poland did so soon after in 1918. The Finnish foreign secretary, Rudolf Holsti, was said to be very friendly with Poland. He did turn to Poland in order to create co-operation between the countries that were on the "fringe of Europe" (looking from Russia maybe). Finland was hoping for a military treaty between Poland and Finland and as this was not possible for Poland, Holsti signed a treaty with the fringe states nevertheless. This was a disappointment to Finns; as a consequence, Holsti resigned and in fact the whole government did so. During the Second World War both Poland and Finland suffered hard times. Finland was co-operating with Germany by letting them use Finnish ground in transporting their troops to Norway. All this, because there was nobody else who offered to help Finland against the Soviet Union. Finland suffered great losses and agony as the Germans stationed in Lapland first didn't agree to leave the country and then finally burnt the whole of Lapland when retreating from there. But the agony was greater still in Poland which was first occupied by Germans and then ruthlessly taken advantage of e.g. Polish ground was used in building up the concentration camps in Poland and leaving the people with memories of the savage actions that would persist in any nation's memory. Now the two nations have come to the point where we both have the same "home", the European Union. The union where very many of our mutual interests should be looked after, e.g. the European community as such (the internal market, European nationality, common agricultural policy, economy), common foreign and security policy, justice and domestic policy. As Poland joined the European Union just recently, May 1st, 2004 and Finland being there somewhat longer from January 1st, 1995, Poland being a big nation, Finland a small one, it will be interesting to see where our life under the same roof will take us. SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN POLISH AND FINNISH PREHISTORY Picture The students were stydying together and finding similarities and differences in the course of the history of Poland and Finland. Picture The project started from the very beginning, prehistory of the two nations. SIMILARITIES Stages of the development of tools were the same, but they occured at different times. In both areas stone tools were used at first, as well as objects made of bone and clay. Later, of course, bronze and iron were introduced, just like anywhere else in the world. Both nations were hunting, collecting, and fishing for food. Later on also breeding and domestic animals appeared. In Finland people had reindeers, and in Poland goats, sheep, pigs, and cows. Agriculture in Poland concentrated on millet and beans, and in Finland: rye, barley, and oats. Craftsmanship focused on weaving, forming clay pots, and making wheels. Religion in both countries was based on the worship of nature: in Poland in the form of sun, wind, and lightning, in Finland in the form of sky and water. Also magical knowledge and iron craftsmanship were believed to be holy. DIFFERENCES First signs of human inhabitance, as well as permanent settlements occured in Poland much earlier than in Finland because of the Ice Age and iron cover that occupied Finland. In Poland it was possible due to the migration from the southern Europe between 250 000 and 180 000 BC. In Finland it took place around 10 000 BC. Numerous tribes walked through the area of Poland. Most important of them were the Celts who taught Poles lots of things, including mining, breeding, and craftsmanship. In 500 AD the area was inhabited by several tribes: Polanie, Wislanie, Slezanie, Pomorzanie, Mazowszanie, Ledzianie. Two tribes started to form in Finland: Samis in the east, and Finns in the west. Baltic and German tribes arrived to the areas of Finnish western coast, and they took over the lands there. Thus, Finnish culture started to develop into a very different direction than in the east, where Samis were influenced by the Slavs. Later on, Finnish culture became the dominant culture, and Samis pushed to Lapland. Mieszko I was the first Polish leader to unite all the tribes. He converted to Christianity for political reasons, and so did his subjects. In Finland Christianity was introduced due to the crussades made by the Swedish king Eric in 1045 AD. ECONOMICAL REFORMATION After the great Northern war Sweden's administration turned its attention to the country's reconstructing and to enliven the economy. Losing of Baltias granory forced the state to boost the farming. Economical furtherings reaching became so central a goal that the whole 17th century and especially the time of freedom have got the name epoch of profit. The "population policy" was the one part of enliven the economy. Sweden complied statistics of its couputry its population. In Finland there were 405,000 inhabitants and in the whole state there were 2,133,000 people. It was a shock to the states administration. They were covering the numbers of population rate, because the administration was afraid that the other countries will hear that Sweden is small by its population. The small population meant also labour shortage, which prevented the advance of economy. The medical service were remeded that the population would grow. Sweden started to use small pox vaccination the districtnet of doctors. From the very beginning there were only six doctors. Pharmacies were built into very many towns and midwives were educated to reduce the rate of dying bids. Also the educational work increased. After the peace of Uusikaupunki, Sweden had to bring more and more grains from foreign countries. So they started to promote new settlements so that the domestic farming production would grow. Peasants got the rights to constitute crofts in 1740. The referm facilitated the labour shortage, because the crofter paid his rent by working days. The states administration hoped that the amount of farmed land would grow. Splitting up farms was allowed in 1740 which claimed more settlements to keep them viable. Physiocrats thought that farming is the most important occupation. Sweden started a remarkable reform of farming. In 1749 Sweden started to carry out the big sharing of land. The lands of each house would be in sparse segments as they can be. Gradually the building was moved to the centre of the farm, which caused that here came more scattered settlement. The peasants resisted the sharing in many places. That's why the big sharing were in 1757 so that the sharing had to be done if even one inhabitant of the village wanted it. The big sharing caused many arguments. To ensure the fair sharing, there was the partition of land. The cities of Finland reconstructed on to their old places but they still preserved as small as before after the "big hatered". When the standard of living increased and the cities grew the number of crafts and handicraftsmen increased too. Also the farming practices, fishermen, retailers and publican belong to the middle-class. Tar was Finland's most important export article in the foreign trade in the 18th century. But when we lost cities Viaborg and Hamina in the Turkus and Uusikaupunkis peace, the tarexport got into troubles. When tar export decreased, timbers demanded growth. Salt was the most important import productin 18th century. In the bad years, we also had to import grains. Coffee, sugar and tobacco were the new import products. But people started to use more domestic tobacco and alcohol so the import of tobacco and alcohol decreased. At the beginning of the time of freedom the policy in commerce was the highest. Still only cities in Finland had the full stackrights. As the highlight of mercantilism was the denial of foreign ships to bring any stuff except if the stuff is from their homeland or from their colonies. It hinderd among offers Finland's timberimport. The representatives of the Gulf of Bothnia's countries often blaimed the stackcitysystem, which hindered the development of economy. The parliament of 1765-1766 acknowledged the full stackrights to Pori, Vaasa, Kokkola and Oulu because Anders Chydenius. THE BASIS OF SUPER POWER An army was needed to keep up the super power and that was a big minus to Sweden's resources. Many people tried to avoid the military service by running away or corrupt the authorities. Men died in the war and then they needed to take more men from the most capable population at work. In 1682 the military tenure establishment was made in Sweden. The military tenure establishment kept the permanent warriors there. It kind of supported the soldiers because it drove, gave food, paid the uniforms and everything else to the warmen. The good sides in military tenure establishment were the division of all the strain evenly and the work that the soldiers did during the peace. The bad sides were slow mobility, minor size of practices, no reserves and too old men for service. The oldest man from every nobility family came to the "state day". The nobility was divided into several classes according to their place in society. In there were counts and the barons. POLISH-SWEDISH WARS The cause of Polish - Swedish wars was competition between Sweden and Poland. They wanted to take dominium Maris Baltici (Ruling over Baltic sea). There was also some kind of competition between kings from Wazowie dynasty. Their aim was Swedish throne. First fights were during first northen war (1563-1570). Fill 1568 Sweden with allied - Russia - were fighting aginst Poland. After 1568 followed Polsih-Swedish approaching, and inflanty were divided between Sweden, Poland and Danmark in 1570. The cause of the next big and long war (1600-1629) was detronisation of Polish king Sigismund III in Sweden (1599) and joining Swedish Estonia to Poland. The warfare initially took place in Inflants. The salient Polish and Latvian commanders: Jan Zamoyski, Krzysztof "Piorun" Radziwil and Jan Karol Chodkiewicz crushed the Swedish army, which belonged to the king Karol IX Sudermanski. They were victorious in the battles of Kockenhausen (1601), White Stones (1604) and Kircholm (1605). But they didn´t take advantage of these glorious victories, because of the money - they didn´t have it to pay wages to the army. Another reason was Polish intervention in Russia. In 1611 a treaty was signed, but six years later the king of Sweden Gustaw II Adolf broke the treaty. By 1625 he had taken up almost whole Inflants with Ryga and Parnawa, and then he sent his army to Prusy Krolewskie and Ksiazece. He also took up many towns of Prusy, were not recovered by Poland despite many military successes. The warfare finished in 1629 with Polish defeat, and the treaty in Altmark (Stary Targ). The Swedes took the Inflanty and Prussian harbours (without Gdansk, Puck and Krolewiec) and they had rights to collect 3,5% customs from Wislany trade. The more favourable was treaty in Sztumdire in 1635. It gave Poland back Prussian towns and Wislane customs. THE TIME OF FREEDOM After Sweden had suffered defeats in a Big Northern War people accused Kaarle CII policy and system that was autocratic. They wanted changes in the whole state's order. It was given in the year 1723. The new laws released social statuses out from the power of the king. This period is called the time of freedom and nobility. The parliament started to assemble regularly every third year. They set the laws, decided about war and peace and also about taxes and the states economy. After the new laws, the power that king had been slight. He couldn't make decisions anymore, at least not alone. The parliament had still four social statuses. In principle, people admitted that all social statuses were equal, but practically nobility was still the leading status. Especially its power was strong in the parliament secret committee. There were 50 representatives of nobility, 25 for clergy and bourgeoisie, but none from the peasants. That was because other statuses thought that they didn't have any expert knowledge about foreign policy or understanding to be quiet about the state secrets. Although the time of freedom added people's possibilities to influence politics, democracy didn't come true in a way it's nowadays. At the end of 18th -century the social status-community showed the first signs of splitting. When the parliament-action got livelier there were different consequences to Sweden. The most important effects were hats and caps. The most important differences between these factions were their foreign politic: hats looked for support from France, against Russia and the caps wanted to keep good relationships for Russia and supported to Russia and England. The caps got a lot of support from Finns that had been suffering because of wars between great powers. At beginning of the time of freedom, Sweden kept the good relationships to Russia, but after the year 1738, when the power changed to hats, the government started to prepare war against Russia, to make Sweden a great power again. In secret the committee of peace were made before the war had even started. According to those Sweden would demand areas that they had lost in Uusikaupunki Peace and areas between the Ladoga-Lake and Vienanmeri-Sea. The war between hats and Russia started in the year 1741. Sweden's preparing turned out to be really, really bad. Attacking Sweden suddenly had to defend itself. Although, after Russia had won a fight in August 1741 in Lappeenranta-city, they had to withdraw because of welfare-problems. The daughter of Pietari Great took advantage of a new S wedish attack in the end of the year 1741, and captured the power in the City of St. Petersburg. She made indefinite promises to Swedish and offered armistice, but she broke it in 1742 when she had established her status as a ruler of Russia. The Russian attack started in June 1742. After Sweden had to retreat it surrendered and Finland was occupied by Russians. The peace was made in Turku in August 1743 and Sweden got Finland back, although Russia took new areas from Finland. The border moved more to the west. Sweden also got a new heir to the throne, Aadolf Frederik, whom Russians favoured. In Finland they started to build new fortresses. The most important of them is Viapori, which was built in front of Helsinki. |
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