Template talk:Campaignbox Swedish colonial conflicts

Finland as colony?

Sweden 1220

Portraying the conflicts in the present-day Finland as colonialism seems quite conversial. Finland was not a colony of Sweden, but one of its lands, i.e. an integral part of the realm. See the map on the right, which already includes Finland Proper in the 13th century. Finland's status was quite distinct from the Dominions of Sweden around the Baltic Sea. This fact was sometimes downplayed by nationalistic historiography in both Sweden and Finland, resulting to anachronistic constructions such as Sweden-Finland, which have been mostly abandoned by modern historians.

I suggest removing all the Finnish conflicts from the template. Even if there were some colonial aspects in Swedish Empire towards its Finnish-speaking subjects, that should be discussed in prose in some article, and not presented as a simple fact in a template.

This template was also added to Cudgel War, which was more like a civil war (related to War against Sigismund) in which the Lutheran king managed to rally the Finnish peasants to support his cause. What would be the colonial aspect here? Note that there were occasional peasant uprisings in other parts of Sweden also. (see Category:Rebellions in Sweden) Jähmefyysikko (talk) 11:25, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

Yeah I was gonna remove the Finnish conflicts except all the crusades, the Tavastian uprising, and maybe David's rebellion.

Historians don't seem to have a consensus on when Finland can be considered an integrated part of Sweden but I've seen an estimate to the 1340s. Gvssy (talk) 11:39, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

I don't think the mere fact that the David's Rebellion happened in Finland is reason enough to place it into a different category than e.g. Engelbrekt rebellion and include it into the template.

The Crusades can perhaps be considered an early form of colonialism, but I don't think its the best way of portraying them. They are quite different from colonialism in the Modern Era. And they are already included in the Crusades template which has a subsection for Northern Crusades, so having them here seems redundant. This also applies to Livonian Crusade. Jähmefyysikko (talk) 12:17, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

Yes, they are obviously very different from colonialism in the modern era, this does not mean that they shouldn't be included in the template. The Crusades into Finland should and are considered colonisation, even if they took place hundreds of years before modern colonialism.

I am not entirely sure if the Livonian Crusade was a colonial conflict although the Swedes did set up a base of sorts in Estonia during it.

And as I said I'm not entirely sure about David's rebellion. You are right in saying that simply because it took place in Finland does not mean it was a colonial conflict, I think one historian places the date of Finland becoming an integrated part of Sweden as early as 1362, although you'll have to take my word for it since I forgot where I found it. Gvssy (talk) 12:28, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

You might also want to compare to Skåne, which seems to have been subjected to harsh assimilationist policies: [1]. In Wikipedia, e.g. Skåneland#Assimilation with Sweden. Jähmefyysikko (talk) 06:38, 27 April 2024 (UTC)

The history of Jämtland tells a similar story: History of Jämtland#Turbulent times. This kind of Swedification happened in all the border areas, and led to an occasional conflict. Jähmefyysikko (talk) 07:26, 27 April 2024 (UTC)