Finland

Finland is a unitary parliamentary republic with Helsinki as its capital and largest city, settled since around 9000 BC and part of Sweden from the late thirteenth century through the Northern Crusades until the Russian Empire captured it in 1809, after which it became an autonomous grand duchy within Russia. Finland declared independence from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic on 6 December 1917, with Soviet Russia recognizing it on 4 January 1918; a civil war followed independence in 1918, won by anticommunist forces, and during the Second World War Finland fought the Soviet Union in the Winter War and Continuation War, ultimately losing twelve percent of its land area while preserving its independence. With a population of 5.7 million, Finland was the first European country to grant universal suffrage, in 1906, and it has since joined the European Union in 1995, the eurozone in 1999, and NATO in 2023.