German–Finnish peace

On 7 March 1918 in Berlin the Reich Chancellor Georg von Hertling and the plenipotentiaries of the Finnish government, Edvard Hjelt, a chemist and vice-chancellor of the University of Helsinki, and Rafael Erich, a professor of international law, signed a peace treaty between Germany and Finland. On the same day they concluded a commercial and shipping agreement and an additional protocol, and exchanged notes. Finland was represented by the Senate of Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, which during the civil war against the Reds had its seat in Vaasa and was waiting for German help. Two days earlier a German squadron had arrived at the Åland Islands.

Peace was needed because Finland, as a former part of Russia, formally remained at war with Germany, although Berlin had recognised its independence back in January. Article 1 stated that no state of war existed and that both sides would henceforth live in peace and friendship. Germany promised to work for Finland’s recognition by all the powers. In return Finland undertook not to cede any part of its territory to a foreign power or grant it any rights on its soil without agreement with Germany. Even then German commentators wrote of Finland’s “semi-sovereignty” with respect to the Reich. The parties renounced reimbursement of war costs. Finland was, however, to compensate for damage done to Germans on its territory since 1914, including by the Russian authorities, and to return detained German ships. The fortifications on the Åland Islands were to be dismantled as soon as possible, and the status of the archipelago was to be settled by Germany, Finland, Russia and Sweden.

The trade agreement guaranteed citizens of both states equal treatment in trade and industry. In the exchanged notes the Finnish government promised to introduce a law allowing Germans to sit on the boards of Finnish companies. According to German and Finnish historians, Hjelt also signed a secret agreement in which Finland undertook to deliver to Germany, until the general peace, almost all its production important for the war, among other things timber, paper, cellulose, ores and metals, as payment for the arms supplied. The commercial provisions provoked sharp criticism in Finland, and merchants from Turku complained that they had been reduced to the role of “German shop assistants”. Finnish historians point out that Hjelt acted in Berlin largely on his own initiative, and that his commitments bound the country closely to Germany.

The treaty said nothing about German troops, but this very dependence was the price of help. That same day Emperor Wilhelm II advised the chancellor that the planned landing in Finland should be presented publicly not as a war against Russia but as “a purely police action at the request of a government recognised by us”. Ratifications were exchanged in Berlin on 25 June 1918. At the beginning of April the German Baltic Division landed on the Finnish coast and helped the Whites win the civil war, and in the autumn the Finnish parliament elected as king Frederick Charles of Hesse, the emperor’s brother-in-law. Germany’s defeat in November 1918 put an end to these plans.