Finland was, however, obliged to grant the Aland Islands wide autonomy. The status of Swedish as the only administrative language in the Province of Åland was established and the defining of domicile on Åland was left to the islanders, making it practically impossible to change the current situation – particularly when it was well known that the Åland Islands could invoke the international guarantees which had been agreed upon at the same time. The scope of the autonomy of Åland and the totally unilingual Swedish status of the Province were hard to accept for many Finnish nationalists. Many of them felt that Finnish-speakers had practically no rights in the Åland Islands. The result was, however, recognized reluctantly because a refusal would have endangered the continued Finnish sovereignty over the Islands. It would also have harmed Finland’s international reputation in the eyes of countries which were of vital importance for a young state. Besides, the regulations of 1921-22 were nothing new. Almost similar regulations had been issued already in 1920.
The League of Nations also resolved on the demilitarization and neutralization of the Åland Islands. The Islands could not either in the future be fortified and the practices from the convention of 1856 remained in force. It was typical of that time that nearby Soviet-Russia was not invited to sign the convention together with other countries. At that time, Soviet-Russia regarded the League of Nations as an enemy. The decision of the League of Nations was received on the Åland Islands with bitterness. Autonomy was not what the Ålanders had strived for. A lot of time had to elapse before the autonomy would seem a positive achievement. On the other hand, in the long run, it provided possibilities which would become very important in the future.