Finland's language strife

Finland's language strife (Swedish: Finska språkstriden, lit. 'Finnish language dispute'; Finnish: Suomen kielitaistelu, lit. 'Finnish language struggle') was a major conflict in mid-19th century Finland. Both the Swedish and Finnish languages were commonly used in Finland at the time, associated with descendants of Swedish colonisation and leading to class tensions among the speakers of the different languages. It became acute in the mid-19th century. The competition was considered to have officially ended when Finnish gained official language status in 1863 and became equal to the Swedish language.