[3] The Grand Duchy of Finland was a part of the Russian Empire at the time of Germany's declaration of war on Russia on 1 August 1914.
[1] Finland nevertheless remained in the same state of war with the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire) as it had been when a part of Russia.
When Edvard Immanuel Hjelt, the Finnish representative in Berlin, requested a German expeditionary force be landed in Finland, he was told that he would have to await the outcome of the Russian peace conference.
[5] The armistice with the Central Powers expired on 18 February, and Soviet Russia and the Finnish workers' republic signed a treaty of friendship on 1 March 1918.
[6] The Finns were represented by Edvard Hjelt and Rafael Waldemar Erich, vice chancellor and professor, respectively, of the University of Helsinki.
[7] In the treaty, both parties waived any claims to war damages, but provided for compensation to civilians who suffered war-related losses.
[7] Rudolf Holsti, the Finnish representative in London, wrote in his report to the Senate on 27 March 1918 that "the German promise to guarantee the approval of Finnish independence has caused bad blood" in the British Foreign Office, where it was interpreted as a threat towards those Allied powers that had not yet recognized Finland: Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The Senate then opted to turn Finland into a kingdom with a German king, but owing to Germany's defeat in the world war the modern republic was created instead.