History UsefulNotes / Finland

* Creator/RemedyEntertainment - Software developers and Finland's second-ever video game studio, creators of ''VideoGame/DeathRally'', ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'', and ''VideoGame/AlanWake''.

* Creator/JoonasSuotamo – Actor best known for playing Chewbacca in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' franchise following Peter Mayhew's retirement from the character in 2017.

* Remedy Entertainment - Software developers, creators of ''VideoGame/DeathRally'', ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'' and ''VideoGame/AlanWake''.

** President: Sauli Niinistö

* Lauri and Anni Vuohensilta – Creators and hosts of the WebVideo/HydraulicPressChannel.

Finland ('''Finnish:''' ''Suomi'', '''Swedish:''' ''Finland''), officially known as the '''Republic of Finland''' ('''Finnish:''' ''Suomen tasavalta'', '''Swedish:''' ''Republiken Finland''), is a large, mostly empty Northern European country squeezed between UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}} and UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}, with its northern border being shared with UsefulNotes/{{Norway}}. Though ethnically distinct from both, it has generally been ruled by one or the other for most of its history. Starting around the 1200's, the Finnish would be conquered and subsequently ruled over by Sweden (leading to Finland still having a sizable Swedish-speaking minority), before being handed over to Russia in 1809. They remained under the control of UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia until the [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober revolutions of 1917]] gave it the chance to break free.

Finland was neutral in UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo for the first three months, ending with the Soviet invasion in late November 1939. In one of the less likely outcomes of recent memory, the Finnish army (outnumbered 4 to 1 in men and ''200 to 1'' in tanks) [[UsefulNotes/FinnsWithFearsomeForests handed the Red Army their asses on a plate and preserved Finnish independence]], though the Soviets gained the port city of Vyborg and much of the Finnish region of Karelia. Better people than tropers have tried to determine which side actually won. It all started in 1939, when UsefulNotes/JosephStalin decided to conquer Finland, partially to use it as a buffer against UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler's army. This led to the brief but brutal Winter War, which the small country technically did not win, despite killing way more of the invading soldiers than losing its own. The stalemate did not result in permanent peace, and Finland attacked the [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviet Union]] in 1941 with German support (arguably in self-defense). It became the only democratic state which was technically on the Axis side. Once again, neither side won, but Finland retained its independence. After making peace with the Soviets, the country had (at Moscow's insistence) to expel the Germans from its soil by force, resulting in additional destruction. The Soviets ended up keeping their territorial gains. This long sequence of events has given wargame designers headaches to this day.

The Finnish language is notoriously alien-looking to speakers of Indo-European languages (such as English and Swedish)[[note]]In the context of all the languages in the world, however, it isn't particularly strange[[/note]]; it is part of the completely unrelated Uralic group (including the closely related Estonian, the very distantly related Hungarian, the Sámi languages spoken in Lapland, and a number of minority languages in Russia[[note]]Which means it might be easier for a neighbouring Swede to learn Hindi than learn Finnish[[/note]]). It was this strangeness that attracted Creator/JRRTolkien to the language, and he used Finnish as the basis for his invented Elvish languages (specifically Quenya) -- though he later changed the spelling to a more Latinate form that would look more appealing to English eyes. That said, Finnish is actually spelled very much like classical Latin, probably because Finnish spelling was deliberately created a relatively short time ago. After thousands of years of sharing land with both Slavic and Germanic tribes, expect a lot of borrowings to crop up, some ancient and unchanged to this day.

'''FinnishMedia'''

'''Famous Finns'''

* '''Area:''' 338,455 km
(130,678 sq mi) (65th)

* Creator/JoonasSuotamo - Actor best known for playing Chewbacca in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' franchise following Peter Mayhew's retirement from the character in 2017.
* Ville Virtanen - {{Trance}} producer, performs under the stage name Darude. Wrote "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m-Jd_gV_oQ Sandstorm]]." Chances are you've heard it.
* Lauri and Anni Vuohensilta - Creators and hosts of the WebVideo/HydraulicPressChannel.
* Mika Waltari - One of the most successful Finnish writers of fiction. Is best known for his historical epics like ''Literature/TheEgyptian'', [[ImportFilter especially outside of Finland]], but he has also written detective novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry and non-fiction.
* YUP - Progressive Rock band, best known for their album ''Music/ToppatakkejaJaToledonTerasta''.

* Kalle Rovanperä - Rally driver (2022 world champion; also holds the record for being the youngest WRC rally winner at the age of 20)

* Janne Ahonen - Ski-jumper (Five world championships in team & individual events)
* Ari-Pekka Nikkola - Ski-jumper (Olympic gold medallist 1988 & 1992)
* Matti Nykänen - Ski-jumper (four-time Olympic gold medallist in 1984 & 1988), was the main source of income for the Finnish yellow press until his premature death in 2019. The guy literally divorced and remarried Mervi. It looked for a time that he'd have had 20 divorces with that woman... but wound up marrying another woman (his fifth wife, and sixth and final marriage) in 2014. Also received some international press attention after he was sentenced to prison after the attempted murder of a friend while drunk and after losing in finger-wrestling. The press attention was because he was an Olympic gold winner. He basically drank himself to death, reportedly continuing to drink even after being diagnosed with diabetes in his final months.

Finland ('''Finnish:''' ''Suomi'', '''Swedish:''' ''Finland''), officially known as the '''Republic of Finland''' ('''Finnish:''' ''Suomen tasavalta'', '''Swedish:''' ''Republiken Finland''), is a large, mostly empty Northern European country squeezed between UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}} and UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}, with its northern border being shared with UsefulNotes/{{Norway}}. Though ethnically distinct from both, it has generally been ruled by one or the other for most of its history. After centuries of Swedish domination (leading to Finland still having a sizable Swedish-speaking minority), it was handed over to Russia in 1809 and remained under the control of UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia until the [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober revolutions of 1917]] gave it the chance to break free.

Since 2019, the country’s Prime Minister is Sanna Marin of the Social Democratic Party. At only 34 upon taking office, she’s the country’s youngest ever PM and the second youngest head of government in the world. [[note]]Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurtz is nine months younger than she is.[[/note]]

* Kalle Rovanpera - Rally driver (2021 Rally Estonia winner; also holds the record for being the youngest WRC rally winner at the age of 20)

* Lauri Markkanen – Current [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation NBA]] player with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

** Prime Minister: Sanna Marin

* Rovio - Makers of ''VideoGame/AngryBirds''.

War reparations to the Soviet Union required heavy industry and turned out to jump-start Finland's development from rural backwoods to advanced, well-to-do backwoods. The country remained neutral throughout the UsefulNotes/ColdWar through concessions ("Finlandization", including buying [=MiG=]-21s and other weapons from the USSR) and extremely careful diplomacy. Afterwards it joined UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion in 1995 and adopted the Euro in 2002. On April 4, 2023, after more than 75 years of maintaining a position of neutrality, Finland formally became a member of UsefulNotes/{{NATO}} following the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]].

War reparations to the Soviet Union required heavy industry and turned out to jump-start Finland's development from rural backwoods to advanced, well-to-do backwoods. The country remained neutral throughout the UsefulNotes/ColdWar through concessions ("Finlandization", including buying [=MiG=]-21s and other weapons from the USSR) and extremely careful diplomacy. Afterwards it joined UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion in 1995 and adopted the Euro in 2002.

Modern Finland is a wealthy and stable nation. There's a high tax rate and a lot of vaguely [[UsefulNotes/{{Minnesota}} Minnesotan]], rather than [[UsefulNotes/{{Alaska}} Alaskan]], nature. The country is probably best known as an exporter of mobile phones ([[Creator/{{Nokia}} Nokia]] is a Finnish firm[[labelnote:*]]though the company no longer makes phones; current Nokia phones are sold by another Finnish outfit, HMD Global, which licenses the Nokia name[[/labelnote]]), heavy metal bands, and racing drivers. Finns successful in any form of racing, be it on skis, wheels or feet, are invariably known as "Flying Finns."

For some unknown reason, Finnish overrepresentation is almost a RunningGag amongst online communities. Finns have a large presence on this wiki, possibly the largest from a non-English-speaking nation. Finland was one of the first countries on adopting the Internet, and many IT innovations, such as social media and mobile technology, originate in Finland. In addition, one of the two original developers of [=MySQL=], itself based in Sweden before being acquired by Sun (and eventually Oracle), is from Helsinki.

Modern Finland is a wealthy and stable nation. There's a high tax rate and a lot of vaguely [[UsefulNotes/{{Minnesota}} Minnesotan]], rather than [[UsefulNotes/{{Alaska}} Alaskan]], nature. The country is probably best known as an exporter of mobile phones (Nokia is a Finnish firm[[labelnote:*]]though the company no longer makes phones; current Nokia phones are sold by another Finnish outfit, HMD Global, which licenses the Nokia name[[/labelnote]]), heavy metal bands, and racing drivers. Finns successful in any form of racing, be it on skis, wheels or feet, are invariably known as "Flying Finns."

Modern Finland is a wealthy and stable nation. There's a high tax rate and a lot of vaguely Minnesotan, rather than Alaskan, nature. The country is probably best known as an exporter of mobile phones (Nokia is a Finnish firm[[labelnote:*]]though the company no longer makes phones; current Nokia phones are sold by another Finnish outfit, HMD Global, which licenses the Nokia name[[/labelnote]]), heavy metal bands, and racing drivers. Finns successful in any form of racing, be it on skis, wheels or feet, are invariably known as "Flying Finns."

Finland was neutral in UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo for the first three months, ending with the Soviet invasion late November 1939. In one of the less likely outcomes of recent memory, the Finnish army (outnumbered 4 to 1 in men and ''200 to 1'' in tanks) [[UsefulNotes/FinnsWithFearsomeForests handed the Red Army their asses on a plate and preserved Finnish independence]], though the Soviets gained the port city of Vyborg and much of the Finnish region of Karelia. Better people than tropers have tried to determine which side actually won. It all started in 1939, when UsefulNotes/JosephStalin decided to conquer Finland, partially to use it as a buffer against UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler's army. This led to the brief but brutal Winter War, which the small country technically did not win, despite killing way more of the invading soldiers than losing its own. The stalemate did not result in permanent peace, and Finland attacked the USSR in 1941 with German support (arguably in self-defense), becoming the only democratic state technically on the Axis side. Once again, neither side won, but Finland retained its independence. After making peace with the Soviets, the country had (at Moscow's insistence) to expel the Germans from its soil by force, resulting in additional destruction. The Soviets ended up keeping their territorial gains. This long sequence of events has given wargame designers headaches to this day.

Finland ('''Finnish:''' ''Suomi'', '''Swedish:''' ''Finland''), officially known as the '''Republic of Finland''' ('''Finnish:''' ''Suomen tasavalta'', '''Swedish:''' ''Republiken Finland''), is a large, mostly empty Northern European country squeezed between UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}} and UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}, with its northern border being shared with UsefulNotes/{{Norway}}. Though ethnically distinct from both, it has generally been ruled by one or the other for most of its history. After centuries of Swedish domination (leading to Finland still having a sizable Swedish-speaking minority), it was handed over to Russia in 1809 and remained under the Tsar until the revolutions of 1917 gave it the chance to break free.

The Finnish language is notoriously alien-looking to speakers of Indo-European languages (such as English and Swedish)[[note]]In the context of all the languages in the world, however, it isn't particularly strange[[/note]]; it is part of the completely unrelated Uralic group (including the closely related Estonian, the very distantly related Hungarian, the Sámi languages spoken in Lapland, and a number of minority languages in Russia[[note]]Which means it might be easier for a neighbour Swedish to learn Hindi than learn Finnish[[/note]]). It was this strangeness that attracted Creator/JRRTolkien to the language, and he used Finnish as the basis for his invented Elvish languages (specifically Quenya) -- though he later changed the spelling to a more Latinate form that would look more appealing to English eyes. That said, Finnish is actually spelled very much like classical Latin, probably because Finnish spelling was deliberately created a relatively short time ago. After thousands of years of sharing land with both Slavic and Germanic tribes, expect a lot of borrowings to crop up, some ancient and unchanged to this day.

Finland is the world's best country chosen by the Newsweek. (''Take that, Sweden!'') In fact, due to its awesome school system [[spoiler:and Newsweek's dodgy scoring system]] Finland got 102 points for education -- [[BrokeTheRatingScale out of 100]].

* Gustav Erikson-last of the great [[WoodenShipsAndIronMen sailing ship]] [[NonIdleRich Magnates]] . Maintained a line of merchant vessels from his headquarters in the UsefulNotes/AlandIslands until just after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

* Juha Kankkunen - Rally driver (world champion 1986, 87, 91 and 93)

* Petteri Silván - Motorcycle enduro racer (world champion in various classes, 1995, 99, 01 & 02.)

* Paavo Nurmi - Long-distance runner (9 time Olympic gold medalist between 1920 & 1924), and incidentally, the original Flying Finn.

* Music/{{Nightwish}} - [[strike:Rock]] Metal band

* Linus Torvalds – initial creator of the Linux kernel and the Git software used to maintain it.

Finland was the first country to paint swastikas on its aircraft, [[NonNaziSwastika though in their case it was the personal insignia of the Swedish count who paid to set the Air Force up, and pre-dates the Nazi use of the symbol]]. The Finnish swastika was blue rather than black and rotated 45 degrees relative to the Nazi version. It must have looked odd to see British-supplied Hurricane fighters and American Brewsters with swastikas painted on the side, though.