Lucifer’s Tears. James Thompson

      ‘Why?’

      Kate has told me John is a Ph.D. candidate in history and a graduate teaching assistant. An educated man. He explains. ‘Finland was a long-standing Swedish possession, but twice during the eighteenth century, Russia invaded. Thousands of Finns were killed or forced into slavery. In 1809, Sweden ceded Finland to the Russian Empire. In 1899, the Czar embarked on a policy called the Russification of Finland. Russian was made the official language, Finnish legislative bodies were rendered powerless, its army was incorporated into Russia’s. The Czar tried to destroy their culture and Finland resisted.’