Scandinavian History Podcast

02/12/2025

Emperor Nicholas I visited Helsinki in 1833, and the city was ordered to commemorate the occasion with a monument. The locals weren't particularly keen, since they didn't approve of the ongoing Russification process, but they were too smart to refuse an imperial command.

So what did they do?

They put up the monument as ordered, but the passive-aggressive inscription on it only mentions the visit of the empress Alexandra, completely ignoring her husband.

02/12/2025

If you still use cash and happen to find yourself in Denmark (not sure which of those two conditions are less likely), you can now use the newly minted coins with the face of king Frederik X. But don't worry about your hoard of old Danish currency: the coins with the face of queen Margrethe II are still valid.

30/11/2025

November 30 is the anniversary of the death of Karl XII, the Swedish warrior king who was shot in the head during his 1718 invasion of Norway.

With time, the king became a rallying point for Swedes who hadn't realized that the empire was gone. In the university city of Lund, the anniversary of the king's death was marked with a torch-lit procession from 1853 onwards.

It soon became a magnet for various conservatives, and as the decades passed, the participants became fewer and more right-wing. In the last few years, it was mostly attended by a handful of radical nationalists and neo-Nazis.

The last time the procession was held was in 2008.

26/11/2025

It's late November, so why not cheer ourselves up with a little imperial bling? This is the throne emperor Alexander I sat on when he attended the Diet of Porvoo in 1809. If you want to examine the chair more closely, you can do so the next time you visit the National Museum of Finland in Helsinki.

23/11/2025

The results of the Spotify poll from episode 120 (The Finnish War) are in! I asked for the main reason Sweden lost the war--and Finland--in 1809. The options were:

1) The incompetence and poor planning of king Gustav IV Adolf
2) The fact that Cronstedt gave up the fortress Sveaborg without a fight
3) Russia was too strong for Sweden to have a chance to win

A crushing majority (66.7 percent) voted for option 3. In other words, you don't think there was anything the Swedes could have done, the Russians would eventually have taken Finland anyway.

A new poll for episode 121 is open now. Go listen to the episode and vote!

22/11/2025

21/11/2025

It's every other Friday, which means a new episode of the SHP. This time, we look at what happened in Finland after the Russian conquest. When peace returned in 1809, the population of Finland found themselves to be the newest subjects of the Russian emperor. In the years that followed, they had to reshape their political and economic lives, turning away from Sweden but at the same time resisting Russification.

The painting by Emanuel Thelning shows emperor Alexander opening the Diet.

As usual, you find links to the episode in the comments below.

11/11/2025

Even though I don't approve, I do realize that there are some people out there whose grasp of Finnish geography may be spotty. This is a map to elevate their enjoyment of episode 120, The Finnish War.

07/11/2025

In episode 120 of the SHP, we continue to explore how the Treaty of Tilsit between France and Russia in 1807 shook Scandinavia. This time, it's Sweden's turn. Just like the Danes, the Swedes underestimated the threat of the new Franco-Russian alliance, and they soon found themselves fighting yet another war against Russia in Finland. Links in the comments.

06/11/2025

Today, November 6, but in 1632, Gustavus Adolphus fell in the Battle of Lützen. In Sweden, the day used to be a thing, but not so much anymore.

In Finland, the day is still marked, but as Swedish Day, celebrating the bi-national aspect of the country.