Because of geographical proximity, the Finnish economy has been influenced by the ups and down of that huge market ever since. After the Russian revolution, and Finnish independence, trade all but stopped, but after the Second World War, the economic linkages again became significant. Finland had to pay war reparations to the Soviet Union.
These were to be paid mostly in the form of products of engineering and shipbuilding industries, in effect forcing the development of this sector. Until then, Finland's exports had consisted largely of the products of the wood-processing industry.