The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of the country between White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic during the country's transition from a grand duchy ruled by the Russian Empire to a fully independent state. The clashes took place in the context of the national, political, and social turmoil caused by World War I in Europe. The war was fought between the Red Guards, led by a section of the Social Democratic Party, and the White Guards, conducted by the senate and those who opposed socialism with assistance late in the war by the German Imperial Army at the request of the Finnish civil government. The paramilitary Red Guards, which were composed of industrial and agrarian workers, controlled the cities and industrial centres of southern Finland. The paramilitary White Guards, which consisted of land owners and those in the middle and upper classes, controlled rural central and northern Finland, and were led by General C. G. E. Mannerheim.
The Finnish Air Force is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, identification flights, and production of readiness formations for wartime conditions. The Finnish Air Force was founded on 6 March 1918.
The Mannerheim Line was a defensive fortification line on the Karelian Isthmus built by Finland against the Soviet Union. While this was never an officially designated name, during the Winter War it became known as the Mannerheim Line, after Finnish Army's then commander-in-chief Field Marshal Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. The line was constructed in two phases: 1920–1924 and 1932–1939. By November 1939, when the Winter War began, the line was by no means complete.
Mountain Corps Norway was a German army unit during World War II. It saw action in Norway and Finland.
The Ryti–Ribbentrop letter of agreement was a personal letter from President of Finland Risto Ryti to German Führer Adolf Hitler signed on 26 June 1944. It was sent during the Soviet Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive, which had started on 9 June and threatened to knock Finland out of the Continuation War.
The Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte – known before October 1916 as Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches – was the air arm of the Imperial German Army. In English-language sources it is usually referred to as the Imperial German Air Service, although that is not a literal translation of either name. German naval aviators of the Marine-Fliegerabteilung were an integral part of the Imperial German Navy. Both military branches operated aeroplanes, observation balloons and airships.
The 27th Jäger Battalion, officially called the Royal Prussian 27th Jäger Battalion was a jäger battalion of the Imperial German Army during World War I. The unit mainly consisted of Finnish volunteers that were a part of the Jäger movement.
The Battle of Tornio was the first major engagement between Nazi Germany and Finland in the Lapland War; although hostilities had already begun elsewhere.
The Baltic Sea Division was a 10,000 man German military unit commanded by Rüdiger von der Goltz. The core of the division comprised two army brigades from the German Eastern Front: 95. Reserve Infantry Brigade and 2. Guards Cavalry Brigade. They were supported by additional artillery and pioneer troops, and transported to Finland by a naval squadron led by Hugo Meurer.
The American Holland-class submarines, also AG class or A class, were Holland 602 type submarines used by the Imperial Russian and Soviet Navies in the early 20th century. The small submarines participated in the World War I Baltic Sea and Black Sea theatres and a handful of them also saw action during World War II.
Naval Detachment K was a Finnish military detachment—specifically, a flotilla that operated on Lake Ladoga during World War II.
Finnish Ladoga Naval Detachment was a Finnish naval unit stationed on Lake Ladoga between 1920–1940 and 1941–1944.
During World War II, the Lapland War saw fighting between Finland and Nazi Germany – effectively from September to November 1944 – in Finland's northernmost region, Lapland. Though the Finns and the Germans had been fighting together against the Soviet Union since 1941 during the Continuation War (1941–1944), peace negotiations between the Finnish government and the Allies of World War II had been conducted intermittently during 1943–1944, but no agreement had been reached. The Moscow Armistice, signed on 19 September 1944, demanded that Finland break diplomatic ties with Germany and expel or disarm any German soldiers remaining in Finland.
Aspö is a small village on the Aspö Island in Pargas, Finland. Until 2009 it belonged to the municipality of Korpo. Its Finnish-language name is Haapasaari, although this name is seldom used. The village is known for its white limestone church that has a red brick roof. The current church was built in 1955–1956; however, a church has existed in the place since the Middle Ages. The old church was destroyed in a storm in 1949.
The Battle of Helsinki was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle, fought on 12–13 April by the German troops and Finnish Whites against the Finnish Reds in Helsinki, Finland. Together with the battles of Tampere and Vyborg, it was one of the three major urban battles of the Finnish Civil War. The Germans invaded Helsinki despite the opposition of Finnish White Army leader Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim who wanted to attack the capital city with his own troops after Tampere had fallen on 6 April. However, the Germans had their own interest in taking Helsinki as quickly as possible and then moving further east towards the Russian border. The city had been under Red control for 11 weeks since the beginning of the war.
Battle of Syrjäntaka was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle fought on 28–29 April in Syrjäntaka, Tuulos, between the German Baltic Sea Division and the Finnish Red Guards. Thousands of Red refugees were fleeing east, while they were blocked by a small unit of Germans at a highway crossing in the small village of Syrjäntaka. After hours of desperate fighting, the Reds managed to break through and continue their journey. The Battle of Syrjäntaka and the preceding battle in Hauho were the only battles the Germans lost during their one-month military campaign in Finland. They were also the last Red victories of the 1918 civil war. The battle itself was totally unnecessary. It had no effect on the result of the war and neither side gained anything as the fleeing Reds were captured only a couple of days later.
Battle of Lahti was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle, fought from 19 April to 1 May by the German troops and Finnish Whites against the Finnish Reds in Lahti, Finland. Together with the Battle of Viipuri, from 24 to 29 April, it was the last major battle of the war.
Otto Freiherr von Brandenstein was a German officer. He joined the Prussian Army in 1885 and was promoted to Oberstleutnant in 1913. During World War I, Brandenstein served in the Western Front as a staff officer under the command of the generals Gustav Freiherr von Hollen and Eberhard von Claer.
The Battle of Ahvenkoski was fought during the Finnish Civil War between 10 April and 5 May 1918 at Ahvenkoski, Finland between the German Empire and the Red Guards of the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic, more commonly known as Red Finland. For most of the battle both sides occupied trenches along the Kymi river. Ahvenkoski and the surrounding Kymi valley region were the last strongholds of the Reds. The battle ended with the surrender of the last of the Red Guards on 5 May, which ended the war with White Finland and Germany defeating Red Finland.
The Revolt of the Ingrian Finns was an uprising of Ingrian Finns in Ingria during the Russian Civil War and Heimosodat, the uprising began as small pockets of resistance in 1918, with organized resistance efforts beginning in January 1919 with the establishment of both the Temporary Caretaker Committee of Northern and Western Ingria, and lasting until the collapse of the Kirjasalo Republic on 5 December 1920.
