secured they destroyed it with gunpowder.
Sweden sought to recover the Åland Islands in the peace negotiations in Paris two years later but Great
Britain and France preferred to force Russia to permanently demilitarise Åland. Thus the demilitarisation treaty,
known as the Åland Servitude, was signed on 30 March 1856 in Paris.
Let us now jump ahead 60 years in our story, to the outbreak of First World War, when Russia demanded the
right to partially remilitarise the Åland Islands due to the threat from Germany.
Great Britain and France
consented, and Sweden was informed. A number of defensive installations were constructed, and both Finnish
and Russian troops were stationed in Åland. After the war, Finland declared itself an independent state as of 6
December 1917. Half a year earlier, Åland’s political leaders had sought to reunify the Islands with Sweden; this
evolved into what became known as the “Åland Islands Question”, which turned into a difficult conflict between
new-born Finland and her old motherland Sweden. Finland offered Åland autonomy, but the islanders declined.
The issue was referred to the newly formed League of Nations in Geneva, where it was resolved in 1921.
Finland was allowed to retain Åland, but it was obliged to safeguard the Islands’ Swedish language (innovation
no. 11) and culture through a more extensive Autonomy Act (innovation no. 12). At the same time, a new treaty
that also declared Åland a demilitarised zone was signed.
The demilitarisation of Åland was raised again in Geneva in 1921 and extended through a new convention
with eleven contracting parties, including Finland but not the Soviet Union, which was at the time excluded from
the League of Nations.
The special thing about the convention of 20 October 1921 was its 6th article, which stated that in times of
war the Åland Islands should
remain neutral territory, with no part of the Islands being used for any purposes
associated with military operations that could pose a threat to another state. Åland would now remain
demilitarised in peacetime and neutral in times of war. To safeguard the neutralisation of the territory, articles 6
and 7 authorised Finland, in the event of war or the threat of war in the region, to take such defensive military
measures as may be required to ensure the neutrality of the Åland Islands. Finland has since
come to regard
this as a unilateral duty. Such military measures must immediately be reported to the League of Nations, a
provision that has subsequently been taken to mean that the contracting States should be notified. Article 7 of
the convention clearly defines the responsibility of the parties to maintain the neutrality of the Åland Islands for
as long as war or the threat of war in the region continues. Under Article 7, the parties have a greater
responsibility than Finland in this respect.
In 1939, on the eve of the Winter War, Finland and the contracting parties acted precisely as envisioned in
the convention. Finland took the defensive measures necessary to secure the neutrality of the Åland
Islands
and also succeeded in keeping Åland out of the theatre of war for almost the entire Winter War. The onerous
peace treaty that Finland signed with the Soviet Union in 1940 included a demilitarisation treaty for the Åland
Islands similar to that of 1921, with the exception of the neutralisation provisions Articles 6 and 7. In the
Continuation War of 1941
–44, the measures taken in 1939 were repeated, and Finland again kept Åland out of
the war. Finland also managed to ensure that no invasion plans for the neutralised Åland zone, first by the
Soviet
Union and then, towards the end of the war, b
y Germany, ever got off the ground. Without Finland’s
defensive planning and the efforts of the Åland home guard, and without Articles 6 and 7 of the convention, the
likelihood of these invasions actually being realised would have been much greater.
It is clear that, during wartime, the neutralisation provisions of the 1921 convention have had, and continue to
have, a crucial importance in stabilising the Baltic Sea region especially with regards to Åland. The neutrality
requirement is thus more important than demilitarisation, which applies in peacetime.
Åland’s journey through the centuries has seen it evolve from being a pawn in the battle for its constitutional
affiliation in 1809, 1856 and 1921, a demilitarised zone in 1856
–1921, 1940 and thereafter, and an autonomous
region of Finland from 1921, to become a neutral territory in the event of war from 1921 through Second World
War until the present day
– something that will hopefully never change.
Roger Jansson
– Member of Parliament for Åland, 2003–2007
