At the turn of the century, Finnish networks in France managed to raise consciousness about Finland and the Finnish situation among certain groups within the French intellectual and political elite. If the French reactions to the ‘Finnish cause’ remained ambiguous, the Finns in Paris and their French interlocutors managed to paint a certain picture of Finland, its political and juridical situation with the Russian empire, and its national development. Until 1917 French leaders continued to emphasize the alliance with Russia against the German threat. Yet the image of Finland and the Finnish networks created in France before the First World War prepared France and the French leadership to see Finland in a certain way when the time came to decide whether or not to recognize Finnish independence.