Eirik Hornborg

Eirik Mikael Hornborg (29 September 1879 – 29 December 1965) was a Finland-Swedish historian, educator, writer, and politician, born in Helsinki. He served as a member of the Parliament of Finland representing the Swedish People's Party of Finland (SPP) in three periods between 1916 and 1927.

As a historian he produced extensive synthetic works on Finnish, Scandinavian, and world history, and was awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Stockholm in 1936 and the University of Helsinki in 1950. He was chairman of the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland from 1934 to 1947. During World War I he served with the 27th Jäger Battalion in Germany, and during the Finnish Civil War he organised the clandestine White movement in Helsinki.

Biography Hornborg was born into a prominent Finland-Swedish cultural family. His parents were Albrecht Hornborg and Alma Hornborg, and he was older brother to the authors Harald and . He studied at the University of Helsinki, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1901, and worked as a teacher of history and Swedish at private schools in Helsinki from 1900 to 1944. He served as headmaster of the Nya svenska flickskolan from 1907 to 1915 and of the Lönnbeckska samskolan from 1914 to 1918, a school he had himself attended as its first enrolled pupil in 1897.

In 1945, Hornborg chaired the so-called Hornborg Committee, appointed after the Continuation War to examine how Finland had become involved in the conflict. The committee's findings are often characterised as an outright condemnation of Finland's orientation towards Germany, but this view is an oversimplification; on several points the committee took an understanding view of the policies of previous governments. The final formulation was influenced by Prime Minister J. K. Paasikivi, who was mindful of Soviet reactions. In the uncertain political climate after the war, Hornborg became an important confidant of Paasikivi, and drafted a reply on Paasikivi's behalf to a letter from Joseph Stalin. He was chairman of the Society of Swedish Authors in Finland in 1922–1924 and 1932.

He was awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Stockholm in 1936 and the University of Helsinki in 1950. Finska kriget 1808-1809 (1909) Fortuna (1910) Svallvågen (1911) Hvarför? och Huru? (1914) Rysslands frammarsch (1914) Svensk nationalitet i Finland (1914) Finlands öde och Sveriges trygghet (1915) Under segel till antipoderna (1915) Tristan da Cunha (1916) Brytningstid (1918) Den ensamma vargen (1918) Finlands svenskar vid skiljovägen (1919) Gudarna (1919) Hernando Cortes (1919) Isaac Scotts minnen (1920) Hernando Cortes och erövringen av Mexico (1921) Kriget framställt i skildringar från nyare tid (1921) Martin Elfdahl (1921) Segelsjöfartens historia (1923) Historik över sjö- och stapelstaden Borgås utrikes sjöfart (1925) Sjörövare (1927) Borgungarna: 1 (1929) Finlands hävder (1929–1933) Borgungarna: 2 (1931) Konung Gustaf II Adolf (1932) Gyllene Hoppet (1933) Universitetet och språkstriden (1933) Borgungarna: 3 (1934) Finlands historia (1934) Indianer (1936) Från forntid till nutid (1938) På vallen (1939) Sveriges historia (1940) Roms tredje storhetstid (1941) Gränsfästet Viborg. Från korstågstiden till våra dagar (1942) Den vite mannens börda (1943) Sveriges sjöförsvar från äldsta tider till våra dagar (1944) Kampen om Östersjön (1945) Stefan Löfving (1946) Helsingfors stads historia (1950) Karolinen Armfelt och kampen om Finland under Stora nordiska kriget (1952) Hårda bud (1953) Fänrik Ståls sägner och verkligheten (1954) Länder och hav (1954) När riket sprängdes (1955) Klanernas Skottland (1956) Det fria Finland (1957) Man i ledet (1959) Stormig höst (1960) Tider och öden (1961)