100 years of independence 1921–2020

Local democracy, universal compulsory education, compulsory national service based on conscription, as well as a radical land reform tended to pacify the political life Finland. The economy developed favourably in the 1920s and 1930s. Svinhufvud, elected president, defeated the so-called Mäntsälä rebellion organized by right-wing radicals in 1932 and took Finland closer to the Nordic countries. In the Winter War 1939–1940, Continuation War 1941–1944 and War of Lapland 1944–1945, Finland retained its independence, liberty and democratic social order. After the war, Finland lost ten per cent of its land area. All 400,000 Karelians who were voluntarily evacuated from the ceded territories were settled elsewhere in the country. Finland maintained its independence and democracy during the Cold War, prospered and became a member of the European Union in 1995.