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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 of the Russian Empire to an 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 centers 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.
Karl Lennart Oesch was one of Finland's leading generals during World War II. He held a string of high staff assignments and front commands, and at the end of the Continuation War commanded three Finnish army corps on the Karelian Isthmus. He received numerous awards, including the Finnish Mannerheim Cross during his service. Following the end of the Continuation War, he was tried and convicted for war crimes relating to the treatment of Soviet prisoners-of-war.
The Red Guards were the paramilitary units of the Finnish labour movement in the early 1900s. The first Red Guards were established during the 1905 general strike, but disbanded a year later. After the Russian 1917 February revolution the Red Guards were re-established and in the 1918 Finnish Civil War they formed the army of Red Finland. The combined strength of the Red Guard was about 30,000 at the beginning of the Civil War, peaking at between 90,000 and 120,000 during the course of the conflict. The number included more than 2,000 members of the Women's Guards. In May 1918, up to 80,000 Reds were captured by the victorious Whites, 12,000 to 14,000 of them died in the prison camps due to execution, disease and malnutrition. A majority of the Reds were finally pardoned in late 1918.
The Battle of Tampere was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle, fought in Tampere, Finland from 15 March to 6 April between the Whites and the Reds. It is the most famous and the heaviest of all the Finnish Civil War battles. Today it is particularly remembered for its bloody aftermath as the Whites executed hundreds of capitulated Reds and took 11,000 prisoners placed in the Kalevankangas camp.
Eero Haapalainen was a Finnish politician, trade unionist and journalist, who was one of the most prominent figures of the Finnish socialist movement in the first two decades of the 1900s. In the 1918 Finnish Civil War he served as the commander-in-chief of the Red Guards. After the war, Haapalainen fled to Soviet Russia where he joined the exile Communist Party of Finland and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He was executed during the Great Purge in 1937.
Aleksi "Ali" Aaltonen was a Finnish journalist and former lieutenant of the Russian Imperial Army, who served as the first commander-in-chief of the Finnish Red Guards from November 1917 to the end of January 1918. He was executed after the Finnish Civil War in May 1918.
Harry August Wahl was a Finnish businessman, violin collector, and sailor who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics. He was a crew member of the Finnish boat Nina, which won the silver medal in the 10 metre class.
Johan Woldemar Hägglund was a Finnish lieutenant general in the Finnish Army in the Second World War, and an early volunteer of the Jäger Movement. He participated in the Eastern Front of World War I, the Finnish Civil War, the Winter War and the Continuation War, commanding army corps in the latter two. Between 1944 and 1945, he was in charge of a committee investigating Finnish war crimes, especially those committed against prisoners-of-war.
Vyborg is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of the Vyborg Bay, 130 km to the northwest of St. Petersburg, 245 km east of the Finnish capital Helsinki, and 38 km south of Russia's border with Finland, where the Saimaa Canal enters the Gulf of Finland. The population of Vyborg is as follows: 79,962 (2010 Census); 79,224 (2002 Census); 80,924 (1989 Census). As of the 2021 Russian census, the population of Vyborg is 72,530.
The Finnish People's Delegation was a governmental body, created by a group of members in the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP), to serve as the government of the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic during the Finnish Civil War. The chair of the Delegation was the former Speaker of the Parliament Kullervo Manner.
Finnish Civil War prison camps were operated by the White side of the 1918 Finnish Civil War. They were composed of 13 main camps, mostly active from April to May 1918, and more than 60 smaller POW camps during the final period of the war. The number of captured Red Guard members and associates was approximately 80,000, including 4,700 women and 1,500 children. A total of 12,000 to 14,000 prisoners died in captivity. The camps and their hopeless conditions affected the minds of many people much more deeply than the war itself, although the camps were totally ignored for decades by the White interpretation of the history of the war.
The Vyborg massacre was the killing of approximately 360 to 420 Russians in the town of Vyborg during the Finnish Civil War in April–May 1918. The massacre took place during and after the Battle of Vyborg as the White Guards captured the town from the Red Guards. At least half of the victims were Russian soldiers and military personnel. The slain were mainly men and young boys: nine out of ten were men fit for military service. The White Guards were "cleansing" the city of Red Guards, however, only a small minority of the killed Russian townsfolk were affiliated with the Finnish labour movement.
Finnish Guards' Rifle Battalion, colloquially known as Guard of Finland was a Finnish military unit during 1829–1905 based in Helsinki. Continuing the legacy of Finnish Training Battalion (1817), it was part of the Imperial Russian Army and the only Finnish unit of the Russian Imperial Guard. Furthermore, for large parts of its history, the battalion was the only operational Finnish military unit. Because of its status as both a national showpiece and as a part of the Imperial Guard, it had a visible role in Finland.
Martin Wetzer was a Finnish jurist and general. He fought in World War I and during the Finnish Civil War fought on the side of the White movement. He also commanded Finnish volunteers in the Estonian War of Independence. He retired with the rank of lieutenant general and was promoted to general of the infantry in retirement.
The Battle of Helsinki was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle, fought in 12–13 April between 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 Rautu was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle, fought in Rautu, Finland from 21 February to 5 April 1918 between the Finnish Whites against the Finnish Reds and the Russian Bolsheviks.
Battle of Antrea was a Finnish Civil War battle, fought in Antrea and Jääski, Finland in 11 February – 25 April 1918 between the Finnish Whites against the Finnish Reds.
All-female units of the paramilitary Red Guards served in the 1918 Finnish Civil War. The first Women's Guards units formed in early February in the main Finnish cities. More than 15 female Guards units were established by the end of March 1918, with a total of about 2,000 women serving. The female Guards units consisted of young industrial workers, maids, and servants. Their average age was about 20, but some were as young as 14. The women served in auxiliary units in combat.
The Battle of Kämärä was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle fought at the Kämärä railway station on 27 January 1918 between the Whites and the Reds. The battle began as a White Guard battalion from Vyborg attacked Kämärä on its march to the White controlled side of the Karelian Isthmus. After taking the village, the Whites ambushed a Red train carrying a large cargo of weapons from Saint Petersburg, but were finally forced to leave the scene as they ran out of ammunition. The Battle of Kämärä is considered to be the first battle of the Civil War, although some minor incidents had occurred throughout January.
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.
References
- ↑ Sisällissodan tapahtumia 1: sodan alkuvaiheet [ permanent dead link ] Pala Suomen historiaa. Viitattu 16.6.2015.
- ↑ Valkoisten voitto varmistui lopullisesti Archived 2016-05-02 at the Wayback Machine Suomi 80. Viitattu 16.6.2015.
- ↑ Korjus, Olli: Kuusi kuolemaantuomittua. Atena-kustannus, 2014. ISBN 978-952-30002-4-7. Teoksen verkkoversio
- ↑ Esikunnan tiedusteluosaston Luettelo B Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine Suomen Sukututkimusseura. Viitattu 16.6.2015.