The Imperial Russian Army and Navy in Finland 1808-1918 by Pertti s> Luntinen (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 539 sensation-seekingpress or end with officialintervention. Some were reported to the authoritiesby the peasants themselves, which suggests a diverse range of village attitudestowardsofficiallegality). Frankallows for internal differences along lines of generation or gender (e.g. pp. IOO-OI, 295-96), but he could have moved further from what remains too monolithic a view of the 'peasantry'. There is no detailed considerationof the typicalityof Riazan, the province fromwhich most of the archivalexamples come. The I892 famine and the I905 revolutionin itsmost cataclysmic incarnation set the mood of doom in Frank's late tsarist countryside.Suchwiderdevelopmentsasthegrowthofthe railways,education and the popular press, consumerism, migration, military service and the zemstva make only marginal appearances. Any bigger conclusions about the legal systemin the countrysideremainprematurewithoutconsiderationof the whole area of civillaw (especiallyregardingland). Frankprovidesa lot of new evidence about the volost'court but while, in places, he seems to accept its importance, elsewherehe reports seeminglywith more enthusiasm -that the peasantsavoided it (comparepp. 56-57, 63-64, 72 with pp. 95- I03). His interpretationdoes not allow for the possibilitythat the very weaknessof the state on the ground provided an incentive for villagers to develop this court forthemselves.That might have mitigated,to some extent, popularfrustration at the lackof easilyaccessibleall-estatetribunals.Perhapsthe workof the land captains and the extensive use of the appeals system, too, enabled villagersto become more active partners in a judicio-administrative system that linked the countrysidewith the state. Patronageand paternalismmight have formed the basis for this integration or, arguably, the emerging 'Western'sense of citizenship and the rule of law detected in the volost' courtsby Cathy Frierson andJane Burbank(both conspicuously absent from the bibliography).Often sparkling,Frank'sstudy is an impressivelyenergetic, frequently penetrating but partial view of the operation of legal system and the nature of statepeasant relationsunder the lastthree tsars. Pork GARETH POPKINS Luntinen, Pertti. TheImperial RussianArmyandNavy in Finland1808-i9i8. Studia Historica, 56. Finnish Historical Society, Helsinki, 1997. 486 pp. Notes. Maps. Illustrations.Bibliography.Index. Priceunknown. THERussian period of Finnish history was remarkablybenign, and indeed this spiritwas not quite extinguishedin the post-tsaristperiod. Both Nicholas I and Stalin showed unwonted forbearancewhen dealing with the Finns and any light thrownon these and otheranomaliesis to be welcomed. The Russo-Finnish connection was essentiallya military one, so it is good to have a book in Englishabout the Russian armyand navy in Finland.Apart from tapping the archives of several countries, the author refers to many Finnish studies and thereby makes them at least partiallyaccessible to those unable to handle the language. Clearlywritten and well-organized, the book contains a good deal of military minutiae (which regiments and ships were stationed where and who commanded them, and so on) that will enthuse a 540 SEER, 79, 3, 200 I minority but could be skippedby those simplyinterestedin the broad outline of thisprocessof goodwill turningsour. Being such a god-forsakenterritory,Finlandwas coveted by nobody. Peter the Great took just enough to cover St Petersburg.The Empress Elizabeth could have takenthe whole of Finlandin I743 afterdefeatingthe Swedes, but thought better of it. It was Alexander I, anxious to show that Russia had gained at least something from his dalliance with Napoleon, who finally absorbedit and in his liberal spiritgranted it a constitutionthat provided for a local administrationsubject to him not as Russian emperor but as Grand Duke of Finland. By the end of the century the Diet was being elected by voters of both genders. At first there had been no Finnish nation, but the sequence of Russian conquest, Russian benevolence, and finally Russian chauvinismdidwithin a centuryimpel the Finnsto aspirantnation-statehood. Although by the end of the centurytherewas some industrialdevelopment, Finland'sbasic significanceremained strategic.It was within strikingdistance of St Petersburgand moreover overlooked the Gulf of Finland. Whenever Russia was involved in war or near-war, the possibilityof Swedes or Britons or Germans invading Finland as a short-cutto St Petersburghad to be taken seriously.Russian troopswere stationedin the Duchy, and forseveraldecades therewas in addition a Finnisharmy. The local population did not resentthe Russiangarrisons,and Finnishunits were willingly despatched to fight in distant Russian wars. No doubt in the course of time a nationalistmovement would have developed anyway,but the atmospheresoured prematurelywhen St Petersburgbureaucrats,and especially the war...