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The decline of Finland over the last century is a sad thing to consider. At the start of the 20th century, the Finns were under the control of Russia - just another part of its crumbling imperial empire. The unrest in Russia in 1913 and WWI in 1915 allowed the Finns to assert their nationalism through a major resistance movement that ultimately led to independence for Finland. It took God, guns and guts for this to occur.

The Finns set up their own arms and ammunition factories to produce the ordnance necessary to drive out the Russian army. These industries still exist today: Nammo Lapua and Vihtavuori powder works along with Sako rifles. The Vihtavuori rifle powder series has one of the most linear burning rates of any series made in the world. So much so, that fine tuning of rifle loads in order to achieve very accurate results is made quite a bit easier than that of any other manufacturers' powder series.

"The decline of Finland over the last century is a sad thing to consider."

And what might that decline be? Finland was one the poorest countries of Europe in the early 20th century. Now its one of the most properous ones. Finland has one of the highest fertility rates in Western Europe, 1.7, which is the same as the fertility rate for white Americans. Close to 90% of young Finnish men serve in the military; to this day most employers won't hire men who haven't served. The country also has the highest rate of firearm ownership in the world. Finland has mostly kept its borders tightly sealed unlike the neighbouring Sweden; the population is 97% native to this day. Sure, the country does have an extensive welfare system with the obvious problems. Still, its one of most conservative ones in Western Europe.