Finnish Civil War
The
Finnish Civil War was a part of the First World War (1914-1918) and the Russian Revolution
1917. The Civil War was fought from the end of January until half of May
1918, between the "Reds"
(punaiset), i.e.
Social Democrats and the "Whites"
(valkoiset), i.e. forces commanded by the
Conservative Senate. The Reds were supported by the Soviet-Russia. The Whites got military assistance from the German Empire and Sweden. The Reds lost the war and the Whites were the winners. In addition, the hegemony of Russia was diminished in Finland. However, the country was bound to the German Empire due to the war. Finland became an independent, democratic republic after the German Empire lost in the First World War.
Finns have many names for this conflict:
vapaussota (
War of Liberty),
kansalaissota or
sisällissota (
Civil War),
luokkasota (
Class War),
punakapina (
Red Rebellion),
torpparikapina (
Crofters' Rebellion),
veljessota (
the war between brothers) even
vallankumous (
Revolution). Present-day historians point out that all of these different names have their merits, although their
propagandist charges differ. The most neutral names for the war are: "The Civil War" and "The War of the Year 1918". The Civil War has been the most controversial and emotionally loaded event in the history of modern
Finland.
 |
Peasants on the field. Propertyless peasants and agrarian workers were a large group of the Finns, who had no political influence in the political system run by the estates. |
In a large view the main factor behind the Finnish Civil War was the First World War and its detrimental effects on the Russian Empire, finally leading to revolution and a total collapse of the nation. Finland as a part of Russia was closely connected to the turmoil and furthermore to the war between Germany and Russia. Both empires had political and military interests in Finland. In a more local view the background of the conflict between the Finns can be traced to political polarization within the Finnish society due to undemocratic power of the
estates. The Finnish people had been divided in two main parts, which had a very different economical, social and political status. On the other hand a crisis between Imperial Russia and the
autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland commenced in
1889 as an outcome of Russian
Pan-Slavism with the attempted
Russification of Finland, named as "the first period of oppression 1899-1905". As one consequence
Finland's army was abolished.
Until then, due to the broad autonomy, the Finno-Russian relations had been exceptionally peaceful and steady compared to the other parts of the Russian Empire. As this policy collapsed, both the Left and the Right started to radicalize and at first opposed the Imperial system together. The Rightist radicalization was in response to attempts at Russian cultural and constitutional hegemony, and would ultimately lead to
covert collaboration with
Imperial Germany, which had emerged as a new
Great Power in the
Baltic region after its
1871 unification.
Owing to the deviation within the Finnish society, estate vs. common people, the
Leftist radicalization started soon to focus on social problems also. This reaction was caused by the rapid growth of Finnish population and emergence of industrial and agrarian workers and propertyless
peasantry without land of their own. The
Industrial Revolution had started to spread to Finland, later however than in the Western Europe (1800-1850). Therefore, at least some of the social problems caused by industrialism could be diminished by learning from the first experiences, e.g. in England. As a result the social conditions, income and self-confidence of the workers enhanced slowly but consistedly between 1880-1914. However, even if the standard of living among the common people rose, the rift between
rich and
poor clearly widened as trade profits increased markedly.
Tensions during Russia's failed
war against Japan led, among other things, to a
general strike in
1905. In an attempt to quell the general unrest, exceptionally broad
universal suffrage and parliamentarism was introduced to Finland. This soon led to near 50% turnouts for the
Social Democrats, but no improvements for their voters, as the true function and power of the new Parliament was prevented by the actions of the Russian
Tsar (in his role as
Grand Duke of Finland), who had regained his might after the crisis of 1905-1906.
The February Revolution (1917)
A renewed attempt of russification, called "the second period of oppression 1908-1917" began soon after the "days of freedom" in 1905-1906 continuing until the Russian
February Revolution in
1917. The Russian
Tsar was dethroned on
March 15 and the
personal union between Finland and Russia ceased. The main reason for the collapse of the Russian Empire was a domestic crises caused by the war-weariness and defeat in the battles against the German army in the First World War. The Tsar's power was transferred to The Russian
Duma and
Provisional Government, which was non-socialistic. The revolt in Russia offered the Finnish Parliament true political power for the first time and the field was open for independent Finland, new democratic development in the society and increasing economical possibilities. Unfortunately, the social deviation and the heritage of the "ancient regime" led to severe battle of power between Social Democrats and Conservatives. Socialists tried to both retain the already achieved rights and rapidly accomplish a marked influence in the society. Conservatives had fear of losing part of the long-term status of social and economical power. Finally, the development during the year 1917 caused a destruction of the Finnish state and society and an economical, political and military crisis.
The original and "legal" form of autonomy was returned to the Finns in March 1917 after the February Revolution. Social Democratic party had gained an
absolute majority in the
Parliament of Finland after the general elections of
1916. Therefore, the new
Finland's Senate was formed by
Oskari Tokoi,
Social Democrat and
trade Union leader (the first Social Democratic prime-minister in the world). In theory the Tokoi' senate was in the 1917 conditions an exceptionally broad coalition-
cabinet including six socialists and six non-socialists. However, in practice the senate appeared to be a weak cabinet. It was not able to solve any major local Finnish problems as the main political groups, neither on the Left nor on the Right, accepted any compromizes with their opponents. Furthermore, the most experienced politicians of the parties did not want to join the cabinet. The Tokoi's Senate had to deal with several major problems during 1917. Large scale strikes spread throughout the country in industry and agriculture since April 1917, aiming at eight-hour working time and higher salaries. There was also a lack of food products (mainly cereals, deficit caused by the World War) and
unemployment was increasing as a result of decreasing industrial production in the country due to the chaos in Russia. In addition to a slow but consistent increase in the standard of living of the Finnish workers during 1880-1914, the First World War had initiated a marked economical growth, which enhanced income of the working people during 1915-1916. All this collapsed due to the Russian revolution and a marked uncertanty spread among the common people. Still, the most important factor decreasing the authority of the state organizations during the Finnish crisis of 1917 was a more or less spontaneous transfer of political power to the street level i.e. mass meetings, protests, strike organizations and street councils established by workers and common soldiers.
A major factor in the fight for power between the Left and Right was the Tokoi Senate's bill, the so-called "Power Act", enacted by the Parliament in July
1917. The Act contained a political plan by the Social Democrats to markedly increase the power of the Parliament having socialist majority. In addition, it was an attempt to enhance independence of Finland as the bill restricted Russia's influence on domestic Finnish matters. The socialists carried out their plan in co-operation with the Russian Bolshevics led by
V.I. Lenin, who planned a revolt against the Provisional Government in July 1917. Both the Finnish Conservatives and the
Russian Provisional Government opposed the "Power Act" as it would decrease their political power. Finally, non-socialists won the battle; Lenin was defeated during the "July days", the Senate's bill was not accepted by the Russian Government, more army troops were sent to Finland and in co-operation with the Finnish Right the Parliament was dissolved and new elections were announced. Subsequently the Left lost their
absolute majority in the Parliament in October 1917.
Finland's autonomy had been restored by the Provisional Government of Russia, but in the process the
police force was virtually abolished in the country. In the spring of 1917, both on the Left and on the Right, the general uncertanty in the country induced local formation of unarmed groups for controlling the order in the society. Later, in summer and especially in autumn 1917, in the situation of political frustration, connected with the battle of power, the collapse of the Finnish Parliament and breakdown of the society, the groups were reformed to resemble armed military troops. The Protection Guards (later
White Guards) were organized by leaders of the local societies, usually Conservative academics, industrialists and major landowners, while the Worker's Order Guards (later
Red Guards) were often collectively invited through their local party sections and the labor union. The birth of two separate, competing armed forces in Finland was one of the main factors leading to the final collapse of the Finnish society and establishment of a "douple power" and "multiple sovereignty" often preceding Civil Wars.
The October Revolution (1917)
Lenin's
Bolshevist October Revolution on
November 7 transferred the political power in Russia to the radical, left-wing socialists and Soviet-Russia was born. Enthusiasm rose in Berlin, Germany also, as the German "East Policy" had finally started to effect the warfare. The German Warlords had got caught in a heavy and exhausting war between two major frontlines, in the west and in the east. The main idea of the Germans was to try to arrange marked disorder or even another revolution in Russia in order to force Russians to search for peace. Therefore, it was the German leaders who sheltered the journey of Lenin and his comrades from Switzerland to St. Petersburg in April 1917. Lenin had openly expressed the need for revolution inside Russia and then for peace with Germany. In other words; V.I. Lenin was the most powerful weapon that Germany could ever launch on the Russian territory in the First World War.
In Finland the polarization and mutual fear between the Left wing and the Right wing had increased dramatically since the dissolvation of the Finnish Parliament. In the general elections of October 1917 the Right reached majority in the Parliament and a purely non-Socialist cabinet was appointed. Aggravating all this was another
general strike in Finland on 14-19 November, initiated by Social Democrats. The motive for the strike was to pressure the Conservative senate and regain the political power, which Social Democrats had lost in Autumn 1917. In addition, as the situation of V.I. Lenin and the Bolshevics was under threat in St. Petersburg, they pressed the Finnish socialists to support the Russians and seize power. The majority of Finnish socialists were, however, moderate and for parlamentaristic means, Lenin called them "reluctant revolutionists". Still, on
November 16 at 5 a.m. as the general strike had appeared to be successful, the
Workers' Revolutionary Central Council, established for the strike, voted to seize power by a narrow majority. In the end, the supreme revolutionary organ, the
executive committee, could not recruit qualified members, comissaars and the "shortest
revolution" had to be called off on
November 16 at 7 p.m.. All this split the Finnish Social Democrats in two: a majority supporting parlamentarism and a minority demanding revolution. However, it would be decisive for the future that there were powerful leaders who swung between the main lines. The moderate socialists got support from the Finnish Parliament as it accepted the laws of eight-hour working time and universal suffrage for local elections on
November 16 1917.
During the strike the Worker's Order Guards began to affect the political development in the main cities of southern Finland, e.g. with several political executions. In addition, the first armed conflicts between the White Guards and the "Red" ones occurred; 10 to 15 casulties were reported. The Finnish Civil War would have probably broken out already in November 1917 if there had been enough weapons in the country to arm both the Guards. On the other hand, the race for weapons, which was initiated in November, was an important factor in the final escalation to the War.
Finnish Sovereignty
During the October Revolution, the roles of Finland's two major political forces, socialists and non-socialists, were reversed. Now it was the non-Socialists who were most eager for
independence from Russia as the sovereignty would be beneficial for them in leading the domestic politics and controlling the Left. Thus the Senate, led by
Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, proposed a
Declaration of Independence, which the Parliament adopted on
December 6th,
1917. The political conditions and divisions within the Finns in late 1917 made it seem "logical", for the Social Democrats to have tried to prevent independence in order to avoid Conservative dominance. The Socialists did vote against the Svinhufvud proposal in the Parliament on December sixth and presented their own declaration of independency, but it contained no true differences. Thus both the major political groups agreed on the need for Finland's sovereignty, but they strongly disagreed on the leadership of the Finnish state.
However, sovereignty of a minor nation like Finland was not at all clear by its own decition and declaration. Political acceptance of the leading powers of Europe was required and the key to this was still in the city of St. Petersburg. It took three weeks before the Conservative cabinet finally faced the fact that they had to negotiate for Russian recognition with V.I. Lenin. And in this process the Finnish socialists supported P.E. Svinhufvud by asking Lenin to let the Finnish people go. During December 1917 the Bolsheviks were under pressure in discussions for peace with Germany at
Brest-Litovsk. Furthermore, the new Soviet-Russia was in deep domestic crisis e.g. with an almost completely demoralized army and the outcome of the November Revolution still quite uncertain. Even though V.I. Lenin was a Marxist-anarcist and opportunist, he was an intelligent realist also, seeing clearly that in order to keep the main parts of Russia the Bolshevics should give up Finland. Thus the Finns were finally able, on the last hour of
December 31 1917, to get Lenin's signature on the agreement which opened the gates for freedom.
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White Guard in Nummi. White Guards became the white army through a senate decision on 25.01.1918. The red leadership ordered the mobilization of Red Guards on 27.01.1918. |
Escalation
Looking back now with hindsight, everything that happened during 1917 has been labeled a precursor to the Civil War. The escalation to the conflict is seen to have started with the February Revolution. However, there were also many separate attempts by the opposing political factions to create a new order in 1917, but all came to naught. The general strike in November had finally cut off all the possibilities for a compromise between the Left and Right and a witch circle of fear, suspicion and mitrust grew deeper. The right-wing Conservatives came to realize that the groups of radical workers would threaten the status of the former estates and were willing to prevent such an event from occurring by any means, including armed resistance. Similarly, the left-wing socialists felt they could easily overcome the "ruins of the ancient regime" with weapons. As many times before in the course of history, during late 1917, the moderate, peaceful men and women moved aside as the mighty, aggressive men with rifles stepped forward to take control.
The final rapid escalation to war began in early January, 1918. The most radical Worker's Order Guards from
Helsinki,
Kotka and
Turku changed their names to Red Guards and challenged the moderate majority of the Social Democratic party to an internal power struggle. In the end, the radical minority won as the leaders, who had wavered between parliamentarism and revolution decided to plumb for the latter. At the same time, the Conservative
Senate and the Parliament decided to create a "strong police authority" on
January 12 1918. It soon became obvious this was a move towards legalizing the White Guards, which further provoked the Red Guards.
Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim, a former Russian army officer, was appointed Chief of the White Guards on
January 15 and his task was to build up the Finnish White Army. His opponent, also a former Russian army officer,
Ali Aaltonen, had been appointed to lead the Worker's Order Guards of Finland in December, 1917. Later, in January, his army was renamed the Finnish Red Guard. Mannerheim placed his headquarters in
Vaasa, Aaltonen in
Helsinki.
The first serious battles were fought on
January 19 in
Carelia, primarily in the town of
Viipuri in the southeastern corner of Finland. The struggle focused on both the control of Viipuri and the race for weapons. The Conservative Senate officially named the White Guards the White Army of Finland on
January 25. The Red Guards did not recognize the move and were waiting for a large shipment of weapons promised by Lenin. The trains carrying these weapons were attacked by the Whites on
January 27.
The Red Order of Revolution was issued on
January 26 and the moment for the start of "official" hostilities was the late evening of
January 27th. The corresponding White Order was given on
January 25 and the warfare began during the first hours of
January 28th, 1918. Thus setting an "official" date for the beginning of the Finnish Civil War is a controversial point. A symbolic date might be
January 26, 1918, when a group of Reds from the Helsinki Guard climbed the tower of Helsinki Worker's Hall and lit up a red lantern to mark the start of the second major rebellion in the history of Finland.
Brothers in Arms
Finland was divided in the Red Finland and White Finland. The Red Finland was led by the
People's Delegation of Finland (
Kullervo Manner) in Helsinki. The political system planned by the Reds was "ultra-democratic" socialism and did not resemble Lenin's "dictatorship of proletariat".
Bolshevist Russia declared its intention to support the coming
Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic. If the Reds had won the Civil War, one major question would have been whether the socialistic Finland could keep its sovereignty alongside the mighty
Soviet Union established in
1922. Lenin and his comrades wanted to rejoin the Finns to Russia, but the majority of the Finnish socialists aimed at staying independent. However, during the war the Red Guards had the main political power in the Red Finland with their weapons. At least the most radical Guards and the Finnish Bolseviks, low in number, obviously supported a Finno-Russian combination.
The members of the
Senate of Finland were relocated to the city of
Vaasa forming the
Vaasa Senate. The town, acting as the capital of the White Finland from
29 January to
3 May is located on the Finnish west coast. The Vaasa Cabinet looked to Germany for a strong military and political aid. The white general Mannerheim agreed on the need for German weapons, but opposed an intervention of German troops in Finland. Furthermore, Conservatives aimed at a monarchistic political system with minor parliamentarism. Part of the Conservatives had been consistedly against democracy, whereas part of them saw that the crisis of the year 1917 proved "the power of the common people" an impossible practice. The moderate non-socialists opposed the plans to restrict parliamentarism. In addition, in the beginning of the Civil War they resisted the military help by the Germans, but the prolonged warfare changed their opinion positive toward the German army.
The Finnish Civil War was fought along the railways as these were the most important means of transportation for troops and supplies. The front settled in the beginning of the conflict along a line through southern Finland (from west to east): Pori-Ikaalinen-Vilppula-Länkipohja-Padasjoki-Heinola-Savitaipale-Lappeenranta-Antrea-Rautu. The Reds controlled the area south and the Whites the area north of the line. The number of troops varied on both sides from 50,000 to 90,000 soldiers. The Red Guards were formed mostly from volunteers. There were 11,000-15,000 volunteers on the White side, the rest of the men being conscripted soldiers. The main motives for the volunteers to join the guard were economical factors (salary, food), idealism and communal or more personal pressuring. A special feature of the Red side was female Red Guards (comprising of 2,000 women, mostly young girls) built up in the industrial centres of southern Finland. In addition, both armies used child soldiers, mainly aged between 15-17 years.
Red Guards and Russian Army
The Reds seized power of the Finnish capital,
Helsinki, in the early hours of
January 28. In addition, they had the advantage in the battles in the beginning of the war until
March 14, 1918. The Reds were not able to capitalize on their momentum as the Worker's Army was ill-prepared for war. Firstly, there was a marked lack of skilled leaders both at the higher staff level and in the field. Secondly, the men of the Guards were in effect armed civilians and not true army soldiers; their military training was poor and discipline among the troops sorely lacking. Thus, results along any sector of the main front line during the Red Guard's "attack phase" were at best only minor battle successes, the most significant achieved occurring at the end of the war during the retreat from southern Finland to Russia at the battles of
Hauho and
Tuulos, Syrjäntaka on April 28-29, 1918. These negligible results for the Reds led to changes in the leadership; Ali Aaltonen was soon replaced by
Eero Haapalainen and he was followed by a triumvirate
Eino Rahja,
Adolf Taimi and
Evert Eloranta. The last commander of the Red Guards was
Kullervo Manner.
When the Civil War started there were some sixty to eighty thousand Russian soldiers of the former Tsar's army left in Finland. After Finland's independence Lenin could only hope that the crisis between the Finns would cause a revolt in the country and ease the threatened status of the Bolsheviks in St. Petersburg. As the War of the Year 1918 began Lenin tried to send the army into battle for the Red Finland. However, only 7,000 to 10,000 soldiers were active in the war between the Reds and the Whites. The rest "suffered" from homesickness, war wearyness and demoralization. In the end, only 1,000 - 4,000 fighters could be persuaded to participate on the battlefield, as formations of 100 to 1,000 men occasionally in different parts of the front line. Thus it seems reasonable to assume that they could not have any true importance in the outcome of the war. The exception to this was the southeastern front, close to St. Petersburg, but the main motive to fight there was the defence of the Russian capital. In addition, there were a few skilled Russian army officers e.g.
M. Svetshnikov leading the battles in western Finland throughout February 1918. Still, Finno-Russian formations were unable to advance anywhere northwards and secure victory in the war, although during February the defensive capability of the Whites was low. The number of Russian soldiers active in the Civil War declined markedly after the
Brest-Litovsk peace negotiations were halted and Germany attacked Soviet-Russia on
February 18 1918, resulting as a total collapse of what was left of the former mighty Russian army. This led to the final peace and the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on
March 3 and subsequently the Bolsheviks could only support the Finnish Reds by sending weapons and supplies.
White Guards and German Army
The Finnish White Army seized the initiative from the Reds with a large counterattack by
March 15 1918, and subsequently never lost it. The military condition of the common soldiers (i.e. armed civilians) among the White Guards did not differ much from their Red counterparts, with only brief and inadequate training for most troops. The Whites had however two major advantages compared to the Reds; professional leadership by General Mannerheim and his staff (including Swedish officers, and Finnish ones from the former Tsar's army) and the approx. 1,300 volunteers called
"Jäger" troops (Jääkärit) trained in Germany and in the East Front during 1915-1917. Mannerheim's grand plan was to invade Finland's most important industrial town
Tampere in southwest first. The
battle of Tampere lasting until
April 6 became a decisive action in the course of the whole war and it was the largest military engagement in Scandinavian history thus far. The attack led to the most blood consuming turmoil of the entire Civil War as the ability of the Reds to defend had risen and the Whites were using brand new, somewhat better trained detachments. The Whites suffered losses of 500-1,000 men dead, the Reds 1,000-2,000 fighters killed and 11,000 imprisoned. The battle of Tampere saw "brother rise against brother", Finn against Finn, as the main part of the Russian army had retreated to Russia during March and German troops were still on their way to Finland's coast. After the defeat in Tampere the Red army retreated eastwards and the military focus of the White army moved towards
Viipuri. The main city of Carelia was taken on
April 29. The last strongholds of the Finnish Red Army fell in southwestern Finland by
May 5.
The German Empire joined the Finnish Civil War supporting the White's offensive. The Finnish Right, especially the
Activits had since autumn 1917 been asking the Germans to invade and free the country from Russian hegemony, but these requests were denied due to the plans for an armistice and peace negotiations with the Russians. This situation was radically altered however as the Bolsheviks - mainly at
Lev Trotsky's behest - broke off the peace negotiations on
February 10 (which had commenced on
December 22 ) and the German Warlords decided to put Russia in order. In addition, the activity of British naval troops in the northeastern Russia, specifically the
Kola Peninsula, was of increasing concern in Berlin. The Germans initiated a final attack on
February 18 having demanded "requests for help" from the smaller countries west of Russia beforehand in order to mask the blow. Finland asked for help on
February 14. The German army, in the form of the
Baltic Sea Division led by
Rudiger von der Goltz and 9,500 strong, made a thrust west of Helsinki at
Hanko on
April 3 1918 while
Brigade Brandenstein with 2,500 men overran the town of
Loviisa on the southeastern coast on
April 7. The main formations advanced rapidly eastwards from Hanko taking Helsinki on
April 13 and the Brandenstein Brigade attacked the town of
Lahti on
April 19, cutting the connection between the western and eastern Red Guards. The main detachment advanced from Helsinki northwards taking the towns of
Hyvinkää and
Riihimäki on April 21-22 and finally
Hämeenlinna on
April 26 1918. The contrast between the high performance of the German top detachments and the inability of the more or less demoralized Russian troops in the Civil War is quite striking.
The People's Delegation of Finland fled from
Helsinki on
April 8 and from
Viipuri to St. Petersburg on
April 25. The Finnish Civil War ended on May 14-15, when a small number of Russian troops retreated from the coastal artillery base on the
Carelian Isthmus. White Finland celebrated the Grand Victory in
Helsinki on
May 16 1918.
Red and White Terror
According to the earlier views of the war-time terror in 1918, both sides of the conflict agreed to
rules of engagement and major turning points against this were the
Suinula massacre conducted by the Reds and the
Varkaus massacre carried out by the Whites. After these incidents the both sides started to take revenge with similar executions, escalating in mostly local violence leading to massacres and
terrorism. However, current and more objective results of the studies concerning political violence during the Civil War indicate that the terror was a part of the general warfare. At least a third of the Red terror and perhaps most of the White terror was centrally organized. The Reds executed people they saw as main leaders and supporters ("class enemies") of the White power, including e.g. industrialists, politicians and major landowners. On the White side the main goal was to gain "a final control" over the recently occupied areas through executions of Red guard and party leaders and those, who participated in the Red terror and the war. In this respect too, the fight between the Finns resembled many other Civil Wars in history. In total 1,650 Whites were shot in the Red terror, the figure for Red casualties due to White terror being around 7,000-9,000.
| Lives Lost |
|---|
| Reason | Reds | Whites | Other | Total |
|---|
| Killed in action | 5,199 | 3,414 | 790 | 9,403 |
| Executed, shot or murdered | 7,370 | 1,424 | 926 | 9,720 |
| Prison camp deaths | 11,652 | 4 | 1,790 | 13,446 |
| Died after release from camp | 607 | - | 6 | 613 |
| Missing | 1,767 | 46 | 380 | 2,193 |
| Other causes | 443 | 291 | 531 | 1,265 |
| Total | 27,038 | 5,179 | 4,423 | 36,640 |
|---|
| Source: National Archive |
 |
Prisoner Camp in Suomenlinna, Helsinki. More than eleven thousand people died in such camps due to hunger, disease, and executions. |
Outcome of Wrath
The Civil War was in many ways a major catastrophe for the Finnish nation and society. As a result of the turmoil almost 37,000 people perished, deepening divisions within the nation that caused bitterness, fear, hatred and a desire for revenge. A notable feature of the war was that only about 10,000 casulties were lost on the battlefields. Most of the death was caused by the red and white terror and high mortality rate in the prison camps. In addition, about 20,000 children were orphaned as a result of the hostilities. A large number of Finnish Reds fled to Russia at the end of the Civil War and in the years shortly thereafter.
Finnish society was split in many ways. Conservatives and moderate non-socialists disagreed strongly on the
form of government, the former demanding monarchy and restricted parliamentarism, the latter urging for social reforms and full scale democracy. In foreign policy both groups leant on Germany and its mighty army; in the end of May the Finnish Senate asked the Germans to remain in country. The new senate having a monarchist majority was formed by
J.K. Paasikivi . The Finnish Parliament was incomplete as most of the Social Democratic representatives were prevented from joining it. A major outcome of the 1918 conflict was the breakdown of the Finnish worker movement in three parts: moderate Social Democrats, left-wing socialists in Finland and communists acting in Soviet-Russia with the support of the Bolsheviks.
Finland was bound politically, economically and militarilly to the German Empire via the agreements signed on
March 7 1918. The Germans has demanded them as a precondition of military intervention but this consequently weakened Finnish sovereignty markedly. Furthermore they proposed a military pact in summer 1918. The white general Mannerheim resigned his post on
May 25 due both to disagreements with the Senate about the German hegemony over the country and his planned attack on St. Petersburg in order to repulse the Bolsheviks (which the Germans opposed, wanting to keep the peace with Lenin). Finally, the monarchist Senate chose a German prince
Friedrich Karl to be the King of Finland on
October 9, altered the country to a monarchist state.
The economical condition in the country had weakened too due to the 1918 conflict, and pre-conflicts levels were reached only in 1925. The most severe problem was the food supply, which was already weak in 1917 although there was no large scale starvation with the exception of some northern and northeastern parts of Finland. The War of the Year 1918, which according to the Red and White Warlords was going to solve everything led instead to severe starvation in southern Finland too.
Prison camps
White and German troops had captured about 80,000 Red prisoners by the end of the war on
May 5 1918. Finally there was 74,000 prisoners left once the tide of white terror had ebbed and a few thousand Reds had been set free. The largest prison camps were
Suomenlinna, an island facing Helsinki,
Hämeenlinna,
Lahti,
Viipuri,
Tammisaari,
Riihimäki and
Tampere. The Finnish Senate took the decision to detain Reds in prison camps in order to examine the quilt of the rebels individually. Combined with the severe food deficit, this policy led to high mortality rates in the camps. This catastrophe was compounded by a mentality of punishment, anger and indifference shown by the victors. The condition of prisoners weakened rapidly during May as food supplies were disrupted during the Red Army's retreat in April. They were abandoned - by White Finland as well as their own leaders who had fled to Russia. As a consequence June saw 2,900 starve to death or die as a result of diseases caused by malnutrition, with the figures for July rising to 4,900. The corresponding values for August were 2,150 and for September 1,000 prisoners. They were buried in mass graves in vicinity of the camps. The mortality rate was highest in the
Tammisaari camp 34%, in the others the level varied between 5 and 20%. In total 11,000- 13,000 Finns perished.
The Compromise
As the fate of the Finns was decided in St. Petersburg on
March 15 1917, so the lot of the nation was resolved again in Berlin on
November 11 1918 as Germany accepted defeat in the First World War. The grand plans of the German Warlords had finally come to nothing and revolution had spread among the common people throughout the country due to lack of food, war-weariness and defeat in the battles on the Western Front. German troops left
Helsinki on
December 16 and Prince
Friedrich Karl gave up his crown on
December 20 1918. Following this Finland became an independent country reverting from monarchy to a democratic republic. The first local elections based on universal suffrage in the history of Finland were held during 17-28 December 1918, and the first parliamentary election after the Civil War on
March 3 1919.
After the Civil War, in 1919 a moderate Social Democrat
Väinö Voionmaa wrote: "Those, who still trust on the future of this nation, must have an exceptionally strong faith. Alongside the war this young independent country has lost almost everything... ". At the same time, a moderate non-socialist, the coming first president of Finland
K.J. Ståhlberg (elected on
July 25 1919), struggling for parliamentarism wrote: "It is urgent to get the life and development in this country back on the path that we had already reached in 1906 and which the turmoil of war turned us away from".
Together with the other moderate non-socialists and socialists they constructed a Finnish compromise leading to a stable and broad parliamentary democracy. It was based on both the defeat of the Red Finland in the Civil War and on the fact that the most important political goals of White Finland did not come true as Germany lost the World War. After the "foreign bayonets" left Finland, the Finns were bound to find each other. As for the Civil War the conciliation led to a slow, but steady national unification. The compromise has turned out to be surprisingly strong and permanent. During the years 1919-1991 it was tested by both right-wing and left-wing radicalism, the crisis of the
Second World War and the pressure from the
Soviet Union in the Cold War era.
* Risto Alapuro (1988):
State and Revolution in Finland.
* Pertti Haapala (1995):
Kun yhteiskunta hajosi. Suomi 1914-1920.
* Anthony F. Upton (1980-1981):
Revolution in Finland 1917-1918, 1-2.
* Marko Tikka (2004):
Kenttäoikeudet, including an English summary
Court-Martial without Law.
*
Winter War*
Continuation War*
Finnish War*
History of Finland*
List of Finnish wars*
Lotta Svärd*
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
