WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Grand Duchy of Finland became an autonomous entity, including the Åland Islands, within the Russian Empire. After the Åland War, by the Treaty of Paris of April 18, 1856, which ended the Crimean War, Britain required Russia to withhold the construction of any new fortifications on the islands.

Detailed explanation-2: -One hundred years ago, the Åland Islands were the subject of a dispute between Finland and Sweden. The islands were Swedish until 1809, when, as part of the Grand Duchy of Finland, they became the Russian Empire’s westernmost outpost.

Detailed explanation-3: -Following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the establishment soon thereafter of an independent Finnish state, the islands became the object of dispute involving Soviet Russia, Finland, Sweden, and Germany. Most of the island’s people favored union with Sweden.

Detailed explanation-4: -In the aftermath of the First World War the islands-inhabited by the Swedish-speaking population but belonging to Finland-became an object of a territorial dispute between Finland and Sweden. The residents of the islands claimed their right to self-determination and demanded a reunification with Sweden.

Detailed explanation-5: -The Åland (or Aaland) Islands Question was a dispute about jurisdiction/sovereignty between Finland and Sweden over the islands. It was resolved peacefully by the League of Nations in 1921 ([1921] League of Nations Official Journal 699), before the establishment of the PCIJ.