British assurance to Finland

The British chronology of the war records under 8 August 1918 that the British government informed the Finnish government that it was “in no way hostile” to Finnish aspirations on the Murman coast and in Karelia. The full text of the statement was more cautious. The British government instructed its representative in Stockholm to deliver it officially to the Finnish chargé d’affaires and to publish it in the Swedish press and, if possible, also in the Finnish press. On 9 August the British chargé d’affaires in Washington sent its text to the American State Department. London explained that it would have preferred to consult the Allies first, but that there was no time to lose.

The statement was a response to Finnish anxiety. According to the British, the Germans were using the presence of Allied troops on the Murman coast to frighten the Finns with the prospect of Entente aggression. The Finnish government feared that the Allies had helped, or intended to help, one of the sides in the recent civil war, that Britain would help some Russians to enter Finland and stir up a new civil war there, and also that it wanted to create a separate republic in northern Russia under its tutelage. These fears did not come from nowhere. In May British sailors and Finnish Reds together repulsed at Pechenga an expedition of Finnish volunteers, in June the Allies occupied Kem for fear of a march by the Finnish Whites, and on 2 August they landed at Archangel.

The British government firmly denied that Allied troops had ever cooperated with the Finnish Red Guard on Finnish territory, and gave assurances that it had no intention of helping any Russian party to invade the country or of stirring up civil war there. On the question of the Murman coast and Karelia it replied that it would gladly see a satisfactory solution, but that this did not depend on it. The Finns based their claims on a Russian undertaking of 1864, when the Tsar had promised Finland access to the Arctic Ocean at Petsamo in exchange for land near Sestroretsk. According to London, however, neither it nor any other government had the right to decide arbitrarily that lands which, as long as a recognised government existed in Russia, had been indisputably Russian should now belong to another state. The British government declared that it was “in no way hostile” to a final settlement in accordance with Finnish aspirations and had no aggressive intentions whatever towards Finland.

The statement also contained a warning. As long as Finland remained under German influence, Berlin would support Finnish claims only so that German submarines could operate freely in the Arctic Ocean. The Allies kept troops on the Murman coast solely to maintain communication with Russia and to prevent a German base from being established there, and territorial gains were the last thing on their minds. German influence in Finland was then very strong. German troops were stationed in the country, and the monarchists in Helsinki were looking among the German princes for a king for the Kingdom of Finland. In October parliament elected to the throne Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse, brother-in-law of Kaiser Wilhelm II.