15/12/2022
After Finland's independence from Russia in 1917, a movement for (now-Finnish) Åland's reunion with Sweden gathered steam. Islanders, who felt culturally Swedish, feared a threat to their language and culture from the Finnish national movement. Tensions rose: at one point Finland sent troops to detain leaders of the movement and Sweden responded by recalling its diplomats from Finland. The Parliament of Finland adopted an Autonomy Act for Åland in 1920, which the Ålanders refused to accept.