The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918. It was fought for the leadership and control of Finland during the country’s transition from a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire to an independent state. About 39,000 people, of whom 36,000 were Finns, perished in the conflict. The decisive engagements were the Battles of Tampere and Vyborg, won by the Whites.
About Finnish Civil War in brief
The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918. It was fought for the leadership and control of Finland 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 the years before the conflict, Finnish society had experienced rapid population growth, industrialisation, pre-urbanisation and the rise of a comprehensive labour movement. The Civil War divided the nation for decades. Finnish society was reunited through social compromises based on a long-term culture of moderate politics and religion and the post-war economic recovery. About 39,000 people, of whom 36,000 were Finns, perished in the conflict. The decisive engagements were the Battles of Tampere and Vyborg, won by the Whites. The Battles of Helsinki and Lahti, won by German troops, led to overall victory for the Whites and the German forces. The Finns passed from Russian governance to the German sphere of influence with a plan to establish a German-led Finnish monarchy. The scheme was cancelled with the defeat of Germany in World War i and Finland instead emerged as an independent, democratic republic. The main factor behind the Finnish civil war was a political crisis arising out of World War II. Under the pressures of the Great War, the Russian empire collapsed, leading to the February and October Revolutions in 1917. This breakdown caused a power vacuum and a subsequent struggle for power in Eastern Europe.
The German Empire saw Eastern Europe—primarily Russia—as a major source of vital products and raw materials, both during WWI and for the future. The Finnish territory was the less important northern section of the Estonian–Finnish gateway and a buffer zone to and from Petrograd through the Narva area, the Gulf of Finland and the Karelian Isthmus. The war between the German Empire and Russia had only indirect effects on the Finns. Since the end of the 19th century, Finland had become a vital source of raw materials and industrial products, food and labour for the growing Imperial Russian capital Petrograd. From 1809 to 1898, a period called the Pax Russica called the Russica led to an increase in the cultural and educational progress in Finland. All this encouraged an improvement in the Finnish language and increased the speed of Finnish language improvement. All of this led to attempts to speed up the modernisation of the country. Between 30 million marks and 40 million marks were spent on this endeavour. Controlling the Finnish area would allow the rich Finnish Army to penetrate Petrograd Peninsula, an area in raw materials for the mining industry and a well-developed forest industry. Between 1809 and 1809, Finland was a peripheral authority of the Russo-Russian Empire, and Russo-FinnISH relations were exceptionally peaceful in comparison with other parts of Russia. The Russian Empire’s defeat in the Crimean War in the 1850s led to a speed up in Finnish language improvements.
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This page is based on the article Finnish Civil War published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 08, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
