BOBRIKOV, NIKOLAI IVANOVICH

(1839–1904) governor general of the Grand Duchy of Finland and Russian nationalist.

Nikolai Ivanovich Bobrikov has left a lasting imprint on the collective memory of the Finns as the personification of the oppressive Russification policies toward national minorities. Originally Bobrikov, chief of staff of the St. Petersburg military district, was appointed governor general of the Grand Duchy of Finland in August 1898 to bring about closer integration of the separate Finnish army with the Russian armed forces. The new Conscription Act, drafted by the Russian General Staff, not only aroused strong protests in Finland but even failed to receive the sanction of the Russian State Council in 1901. Bobrikov then appealed directly to Nicholas II who ordered, according to Bobrikov's wishes, the total abolition of the Finnish army. Immediately after assuming his duties, the strongly nationalist Bobrikov also changed some Finnish symbols and procedural matters that in his view boosted the "false idea of the separateness of the borderland." In the same vein, Bobrikov made the Finnish Senate and the central administration adopt the Russian language. He also initiated both the abolition of the Finnish tariff and monetary institutions and the governmental supervision of the university. Furthermore, he envisioned but did not accomplish the spreading of the Russian language to local administration, the thorough inspection of the textbooks used in Finnish schools, and the introduction of the autocratic system in Finland. Bobrikov faced opposition in Finland in the form of demonstration and strikes, but he largely succeeded in splitting the opposition by skillfully manipulating it, imposing strict censorship, and strongly curtailing the right of free speech and assembly. To combat emerging activist groups, Bobrikov sought and achieved dictatorial rights in 1903. By that time his original supporters, Minister of War Alexei Kuropatkin and the Minister of the Interior Vyacheslav Plehve, had already shown some weariness of the harsh methods Bobrikov invariably used when dealing with the Finns. Finnish activists had made plans to assassinate Bobrikov but were preempted by an individual malcontent on June 16,1904.

See also: finland; nationalities policies, tsarist; russification

bibliography

Polvinen, Tuomo. (1995). Imperial Borderland: Bobrikov and the Attempted Russification of Finland, 1898–1904. London: Hurst & Company.

Tuomo Polvinen