Well, if there existed this 'hard to exaggerate'-community between the two, I would definitely expect support, in the form of an ally, equipment or resources, not just allowing those who personally wish to come. And when was I disrespectful to the volunteers? And those 'natural citizens' would most likely be the descendants and relatives of the Swedish settlers on the western coast, who today are just as Finnish as everyone else, but back then the people were more culturally divided.
And Germany did support us in many wars(And, mind you, I'm not pro-Nazi in any way), in many ways, I don't remember what it's form was in this particular one.
My point wasn't that Sweden is a horrible oppressive evil empire that wants to see Finns suffer(And most certainly not to offend anyone), but that this communality that you speak of is -historically- quite one-sided.
OK - my response here turned into quite a lecture, but perhaps some people will find it useful. Here goes:
The ethnic Swedes on the western (and southern) coasts of Finland were the descendants of Swedes who had made their homes there in the 12th and 13th centuries. Their descendants would have been surprised if someone had told them that they were not Finns. They regarded themselves as Finns, and they were regarded as Finns by others, because they lived in Finland. And like all Finns for six centuries, they also thought it "natural" that Finland was part of Sweden. You don't need to tell me it's very different now. In fact, the divide between ethnic Swedes and ethnic Finns in Finland is much *bigger* now than it was in older times, because of the rise of linguistic nationalism all over Europe in the 19th century. However, the main point to be made here is that people all over Finland elected representatives to the Swedish Diet. The representatives in the House of Farmers, the House of Burgesses and the House of Clergymen from Finnish-speaking areas were of course largely Finnish-speakers (unfailingly in the case of farmers from those areas), although they had to speak Swedish in the Diet, just the way Welsh MPs have to speak English in the British Parliament.
The community between Finland and Sweden ended in 1809, when the country was conquered by Russia. Perhaps it would be more precise to say that the feeling of community gradually petered out during the 19th century, because of new political realities and also due to the emergence of Finnish linguistic nationalism, which was part of a general European trend. However, before that, for 600 years, Sweden and Finland did constitute one country, and there are no indications that the Finns had a problem with it, because linguistic nationalism had not yet been invented. Languages mattered, but they were not sacred the way they became in the 19th century. Incidentally, I was not the one who said that the community betwen Finns and Swedes prior to that was "hard to exaggerate", but the feeling of community existed. Such communities between people speaking different languages existed in many places.
As for Germany "supporting Finland in many wars", that boils down to two instances where Germany and Finland were allies. The first one took place during the First World War. The Germans trained a batallion of Finns who fought against the Russians on the eastern front. Those Finns were hoping to participate in a German invasion of Finland which in its turn, they hoped, would lead to Finnish independence. Then in 1918 the Tsar of Russia was deposed and the Finnish Civil War broke out; it was a sort of parallel to the Russian Civil War, except that in Finland, the White side won. The Kaiser sent a German expeditionary force to assist the White side in the Finnish Civil war. (The Finnish volunteers also went home and became officers or NCOs on the White side.) The Germans weren't the only ones who liked to fight Bolshevism; the Americans, the French and the British all sent troops who fought the revolutionaries in Russia. It was a matter of capitalist countries wanting to quell a threatening development. Field Marshal Mannerheim, the Commander in Chief of the White Finnish forces, despised the Germans and objected against the request of the (White) Finnish provisional government that Germany send troops since he was convinced that the White Finns could beat the Red ones on their own. (He was also mindful of the reaction from the Western Powers.) In addition to the German regular troops there were also Swedish volunteers, some of them organized in a special brigade and others serving as officers - all that the Finns had by way of officers were the former members of that battalion which had served in the German army, some Finns who had served in the Russian army (like Mannerheim) and Swedish volunteers. Many of the Swedish volunteers were officers, because the Finnish Civil War was to a large extent a class war.
The Entente opposing Germany (Britain, the US and France) were remarkably tolerant about the fact that Finland requested assistance from their enemy; but when some Finns after the end of the Civil War wanted to elect a German prince king of Finland, the reaction of the Entente can best be described as: "Now just wait a minute!" They were in the process of dethroning the Kaiser and did not wish to see his kin installed in Finland. Due to their protests and also, I belive, a certain lack of enthusiasm for the project among many Finns, the German prince did not become king of Finland; the country proclaimed itself a republic instead.
Then in, 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which gave Germany free hands against Poland and the Soviet Union free hands against Finland. The Swedish government, despite having no formal obligations towards the Finns, sent them enormous amounts of weapons and also monetary aid equivalent to Finnish government income during one fiscal year; in addition to that there were many Swedish volunteers. Finland had to sue for peace in 1940 and cede some of its territory. But when Nazi Germany broke its pact with Russia in 1941 and attacked it, Finland joined forces with the Nazis to recover the territory ceded to the Russians. There were some Swedish volunteers this time too, but they were materially fewer now since Finland had allied itself with the Nazis. The joint Finnish-German venture ended badly, of course. When the Finns were again beaten by the Russians (despite the presence of some German units on the Finnish front) in 1944 and sued for peace, one of the conditions the Russians made was that all German troops had to leave Finnish territory. The Germans, stationed in northern Finland, refused to leave peacefully. The retreated towards German-occupied Norway, and during the retreat, they burned down as many Finnish farm houses, villages and towns as they found the time for. The city of Rovaniemi was in flames. Most Finns are a bit less grateful to the Germans for their "help" than you appear to be
You know, I'll share something amusing with you. I have a lot of Danish connections because I was born in Skåne and have lived there most of ym life, and so did many of my ancestors on my father's side; but my mother was from Finland. She was ethnically Swedish, but some of her ancestors were Finnish-speakers. The only Nordic peoples I don't have ties to (as far as I know) are the Norwegians and the Icelanders, though a half-brother of mine does have some Norwegian blood, and his Norwegian relatives has Icelandic relatives. My half-brother also has a Danish cousin who is not related to my Danish cousins. To make things really complicated, among my various ties to Denmark (including, as I said in an earlier post, a niece) there are Danish first cousins because one of the sisters of my Finnish mother married a Dane. However, one of the children of my Dane-marrying Finnish aunt moved to Skåne and had a daughter who now lives in Stockholm with her husband and children. We really have managed to cover all bases when it comes to the Nordic countries haven't we? Whether because of that or because I trained as a historian, I am not too fond of chauvinistic claims, or of flaming entire countries. The reality is alwys more complicated. This is mostly by way of being a general observation.
To the guy who didn't want to think of Gustavus Adolphus as cultural: He made huge donations to the school system (especially the highee schools), which had taken a beating during the Reformation (implemented by his grandfather Gustavus Vasa) because the Crown stole most of the endowments of the schools, which were of course Catholic in those days. Gustavus Adolphus also founded the first university in Finland, the one in Åbo (Finnish name: Turku), and the first university in Estonia, the one in Tartu. Both exist to this day. There is a statue of Gustavus Adolphus in Tartu. So I think Gustavus Adolphus could very well by warlike and cultural.
drug wars are not pretty, but is tolerated organized crime even better?
LOL!
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