What is Finland's language strife?

The language strife was one of the major conflicts of Finland's national history and domestic politics. It revolved around the question of what status Swedish—the minority language which since the Middle Ages had been the main language of administration and high culture in Finland—and, on the other hand, Finnish—the mother tongue of the majority of Finns—should have in political, cultural, educational, and other national arenas. The strife began in the latter half of the 19th century, continuing well into the 1920s and 1930s, and while the language question has today lost its inflammability as Finnish has regained its status as the dominant language of Finland, there is still public debate about issues such as the fact that Swedish remains a mandatory school subject for Finnish-speaking pupils.