As the World War One broke out, the policy of the imperial center towards the Great Duchy of Finland, which had been directed at limiting the Finnish autonomy, became still stricter due to the martial law. In these circumstances Finnish separatist circles in their struggle against the center tried to get support from Germany. The German military leadership, in its turn, was interested in rendering support to separatist movement in the Russian border regions, including Finland, in its aspiration to weaken Russia. After the February revolution of 1917 there appeared real conditions for restoration of the Finnish autonomy in full amount and its further development.