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Finland Divided

The Finnish Civil War 1918

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Home

 

    "The hatred is rising around me. The number of friends becomes
    still smaller"[1]

    -   Allan Wallenius, a witness to his nation divided.

On December 6^th 1917 the Grand Duchy of Finland declared
independence, becoming the first nation to independently secede from
the corpse of the Russian Empire and the embryo that was to become
the Soviet Union. Just fifty-three days later on the night of January
27^th 1918, Finland erupted into a brutal civil war. Two opposing
movements had polarized the Finnish people to the breaking point. For
the next three and a half months, the Finnish people tore their
nation apart in a conflict that would claim the lives of 36,000
people, out of a total population of just 3 million.

The Finnish Civil War was fought between the Finnish Reds and the
Finnish Whites. At their most basic, the Reds represented the lower
classes fighting to establish a socialist Finland. The Whites, who
would prove the victors, consisted of the traditional Finnish elite
and middle class, seeking to maintain their economic and political
status quo within Finland. However, this is far from a sufficient
explanation. The terms Red and White are blanket terms, and
overgeneralize an extremely nuanced and complicated conflict wherein
there were many factions and actors fighting for power within either
side.  Even in victory, the Whites would splinter due to political
squabbling and differing ideas on Finnish national identity.

The Finnish Civil War is one of the darkest and bloodiest periods in
the history of Finland. As the centenary of Finland's independence
and of the Civil War approaches, the Finnish Civil War should not be
forgotten simply because the topic is too controversial or
depressing. The Finnish Civil War presents not just an opportunity to
study the history of the Finland, but gives insight into the
maelstrom of competing interests, ideologies, and concepts of
national identity that was influencing not just Finland, but the
entire world in 1918.

To examine the intricacies of the Civil Wars, Click on one of the
topics below:

 origins

civil-war

combatants

terror

legacy

 

[1] Pekka Kalevi Hamalainen, In Time of Storm: Revolution, Civil War,
and the Ethnolinguistic Issue in Finland (Albany: State University of
New York Press, 1984), 52.

Banner photo - The victorious White Army marches through Helsinki.
Credit: J. O. Hannula.

 

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