>2,550 dead
99-704: The Cudgel War (also known as the Club War ; Finnish: Nuijasota ; Swedish: Klubbekriget ) was a 1596–1597 peasant uprising in Finland , which was then part of the Kingdom of Sweden . The name of the uprising derives from the fact that the peasants armed themselves with various blunt weapons, such as cudgels , flails , and maces , since they were seen as the most efficient weapons against their heavily-armoured enemies. The yeomen also had swords , some firearms , and two cannons at their disposal. Their opponents,
198-683: A Russian people desiring modernisation. The Tsar's power was transferred to the State Duma (Russian Parliament) and the left-leaning Provisional Government , but this new authority was challenged by the Petrograd Soviet (city council), leading to dual power in the country. In Finland, mass meetings and local strikes of early 1917 escalated to a general strike in support of the Finnish state's power struggle and for increased availability of foodstuffs. The Second Period of Russification
297-578: A climax in 1917. The "Law of Supreme Power" incorporated a plan by the socialists to substantially increase the authority of Parliament, as a reaction to the non-parliamentary and conservative leadership of the Finnish Senate between 1906 and 1916. The bill furthered Finnish autonomy in domestic affairs: the Russian Provisional Government was only allowed the right to control Finnish foreign and military policies. The Act
396-507: A consequence, export to the free market of the Petrograd area increased. Food supply, prices and, in the end, the fear of starvation became emotional political issues between farmers and urban workers, especially those who were unemployed. Common people, their fears exploited by politicians and an incendiary, polarised political media, took to the streets. Despite the food shortages, no actual large-scale starvation hit southern Finland before
495-787: A contest for leadership of the Finnish state during the ten years before the collapse of the Russian Empire. The main factor behind the Finnish Civil War was a political crisis arising out of World War I. 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 Grand Duchy of Finland became embroiled in
594-481: A domestic policy that tackled social problems and responded to the demand for democracy . This was a reaction to the domestic dispute, ongoing since the 1880s, between the Finnish nobility- bourgeoisie and the labour movement concerning voting rights for the common people. Despite their obligations as obedient, peaceful and non-political inhabitants of the Grand Duchy (who had, only a few decades earlier, accepted
693-547: A historic opportunity to gain national independence. After the October Revolution, the conservatives were eager for secession from Russia in order to control the left and minimise the influence of the Bolsheviks. The socialists were skeptical about sovereignty under conservative rule, but they feared a loss of support among nationalistic workers, particularly after having promised increased national liberty through
792-522: A long-term culture of moderate politics and religion and a post-war economic recovery. The war has been assigned several designations according to different political and ideological viewpoints. War of Independence ( Finnish : vapaussota ) was used during the war by both sides to express the fight for liberation from capitalism for the Reds and freedom from Soviet Russian influence by the Whites; Civil War
891-404: A narrow majority to start a revolution on 16 November, but the uprising had to be called off the same day due to the lack of active revolutionaries to execute it. At the end of November 1917, the moderate socialists among the social democrats won a second vote over the radicals in a debate over revolutionary versus parliamentary means, but when they tried to pass a resolution to completely abandon
990-517: A period called Pax Russica , the peripheral authority of the Finns gradually increased, and relations between Russian Empire and Grand Duchy of Finland were exceptionally peaceful for a many years. Russia's defeat in the Crimean War in the 1850s led to attempts to speed up the modernisation of the country. This caused more than 50 years of economic, industrial, cultural and educational progress in
1089-626: A policy of integration through the Russification of Finland . The strengthened, pan-slavist central power tried to unite the "Russian Multinational Dynastic Union" as the military and strategic situation of Russia became more perilous due to the rise of Germany and Japan . Finns called the increased military and administrative control, "the First Period of Oppression", and for the first time Finnish politicians drew up plans for disengagement from Russia or full sovereignty for Finland. In
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#17327796607201188-431: A power struggle and social disintegration interacted. The collapse of Russia induced a chain reaction of disintegration, starting from the government, military and economy, and spreading to all fields of society, such as local administration, workplaces and to individual citizens. The social democrats wanted to retain the civil rights already achieved and to increase the socialists' power over society. The conservatives feared
1287-581: A result, Svinhufvud's delegation won Lenin's concession of sovereignty on 31 December 1917. By the beginning of the Civil War, Austria-Hungary , Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland had recognised Finnish independence. The United Kingdom and United States did not approve it; they waited and monitored the relations between Finland and Germany (the main enemy of the Allies ), hoping to override Lenin's regime and to get Russia back into
1386-515: A socialist uprising. In this phase, Lenin and Joseph Stalin , under threat in Petrograd, urged the social democrats to take power in Finland. The majority of Finnish socialists were moderate and preferred parliamentary methods, prompting the Bolsheviks to label them "reluctant revolutionaries". The reluctance diminished as the general strike appeared to offer a major channel of influence for the workers in southern Finland. The strike leadership voted by
1485-463: A state of dual power and divided sovereignty on Finnish society. The decisive rift between the guards broke out during the general strike: the Reds executed several political opponents in southern Finland and the first armed clashes between the Whites and Reds took place. In total, 34 casualties were reported. Eventually, the political rivalries of 1917 led to an arms race and an escalation towards civil war. The disintegration of Russia offered Finns
1584-450: A truce that required the surrender of peasant leader Jaakko Ilkka . Ilkka, along with his wife and some of his men, fled to avoid being handed over and the peasant army scattered, pursued by the soldiers. At least 1,500 were killed within the next two months. Along with Ilkka, five other rebellion leaders were executed on 27 January 1597. Israel Larsson was named as the new governor of central and northern Ostrobothnia, and planned to support
1683-419: Is the term increasingly employed by the reconstituted social democrats after their defeat in the war. The general terms for the conflict, Civil War ( Finnish : sisällissota ) and Citizen War ( Finnish : kansalaissota ), are synonymous and appeared mostly after the war. More ideologic names were also used including Class War ( Finnish : luokkasota ) and Revolution ( Finnish : vallankumous ) by
1782-598: The Finnish Civil War , the debate has centered on an interpretation that emphasizes Duke Charles's role in inciting the revolt, as found in Pentti Renvall 's Kuninkaanmiehiä ja kapinoitsijoita Vaasa-kauden Suomessa (1949); and an explanation that stresses the roots of the rebellion in social injustice and class conflict, as argued by Heikki Ylikangas in Nuijasota (1977). A historical reenactment of
1881-673: The German Empire 's military detachments in April. The decisive engagements were the Battles of Tampere and Viipuri , won by the Whites, and the Battles of Helsinki and Lahti , won by German troops, leading to overall victory for the Whites and the German forces. Political violence became a part of this warfare. Around 12,500 Red prisoners died of malnutrition and disease in camps . About 39,000 people, of whom 36,000 were Finns, died in
1980-889: The July Days brought matters to a head. The Helsinki Soviet and the Regional Committee of the Finnish Soviets, led by the Bolshevik Ivar Smilga , both pledged to defend the Finnish Parliament, were it threatened with attack. However, the Provisional Government still had sufficient support in the Russian army to survive and as the street movement waned, Vladimir Lenin fled to Karelia. In the aftermath of these events,
2079-453: The Kingdom of Sweden and the Tsardom of Russia had increased the tax burden, the most hated of which was the "castle camp", i.e. the accommodation, subsistence and payment of wages at the expense of the peasants . The peasants found it intolerable, in particular, that noble and inferior squires who equipped cavalry soldiers for the army were allowed to collect castle camp dues even when
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#17327796607202178-527: The Kola Peninsula , an area rich in raw materials for the mining industry. Finland possessed large ore reserves and a well-developed forest industry. The February Revolution removed Tsar Nicholas II . The collapse of the Russian Empire was caused by military defeats, war-weariness against the duration and hardships of the Great War, and the collision between the most conservative regime in Europe and
2277-624: The Parliament of Finland ( Finnish : eduskunta ; Swedish : riksdag ) with universal suffrage . The number of voters increased from 126,000 to 1,273,000, including female citizens. The reform led to the social democrats obtaining about fifty per cent of the popular vote, but the Tsar regained his authority after the crisis of 1905. Subsequently, during the more severe programme of Russification, called "the Second Period of Oppression" by
2376-687: The Ukrainian People's Republic Preliminary peace agreement between Ukraine and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Ukrainian bolsheviks Finnish Civil War Finnish Whites victory 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 (Red Finland) during
2475-479: The social democrats substantially. The party encompassed a higher proportion of the population than any other socialist movement in the world. The Reform of 1906 was a giant leap towards the political and social liberalisation of the common Finnish people because the Russian House of Romanov had been the most autocratic and conservative ruler in Europe. The Finns adopted a unicameral parliamentary system,
2574-526: The "Law of Supreme Power" was overruled and the social democrats eventually backed down; more Russian troops were sent to Finland and, with the co-operation and insistence of the Finnish conservatives, Parliament was dissolved and new elections announced. In the October 1917 elections , the social democrats lost their absolute majority, which radicalised the labour movement and decreased support for moderate politics. The crisis of July 1917 did not bring about
2673-416: The "Law of Supreme Power". Eventually, both political factions supported an independent Finland, despite strong disagreement over the composition of the nation's leadership. Nationalism had become a "civic religion" in Finland by the end of nineteenth century, but the goal during the general strike of 1905 had been a return to the autonomy of 1809–1898, not full independence. In contrast to their status under
2772-495: The Bolshevik regime came into force on 6 December and peace negotiations began on 22 December 1917 at Brest-Litovsk . November 1917 became another watershed in the 1917–1918 rivalry for the leadership of Finland. After the dissolution of the Finnish Parliament, polarisation between the social democrats and the conservatives increased markedly and the period witnessed the appearance of political violence. An agricultural worker
2871-607: The Bolsheviks and major disputes appeared, for example, over the demarcation of the border between Red Finland and Soviet Russia. The significance of the Russo–Finnish Treaty evaporated quickly due to the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk between the Bolsheviks and the German Empire on 3 March 1918. Lenin's policy on the right of nations to self-determination aimed at preventing the disintegration of Russia during
2970-578: The Cudgel War is conducted yearly in the Kavalahti scout camp. Jaakko Ilkka took the 75th place in the Great Finns TV show. A commemorative silver coin was also minted to mark the occasion. Peasant uprising This is a chronological list of revolts organized by peasants . The history of peasant wars spans over two thousand years. A variety of factors fueled the emergence of
3069-578: The Finnish Social Democratic Party's ethos; their visions differed from Lenin's dictatorship of the proletariat . Otto Ville Kuusinen formulated a proposal for a new constitution, influenced by those of Switzerland and the United States. With it, political power was to be concentrated to Parliament, with a lesser role for a government. The proposal included a multi-party system; freedom of assembly, speech and press; and
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3168-634: 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 German Empire saw Eastern Europe - particularly Russia - as a major source of vital products and raw materials, both during World War I and for the future. Russia's resources overstretched by
3267-436: The Finns had specialised in milk and butter production, the bulk of the food supply for the country depended on cereals produced in southern Russia. The cessation of cereal imports from disintegrating Russia led to food shortages in Finland. The Senate responded by introducing rationing and price controls . The farmers resisted the state control and thus a black market , accompanied by sharply rising food prices, formed. As
3366-474: The Finns, the Tsar neutralised the power of the Finnish Parliament between 1908 and 1917. He dissolved the assembly, ordered parliamentary elections almost annually, and determined the composition of the Finnish Senate, which did not correlate with the Parliament. The capacity of the Finnish Parliament to solve socio-economic problems was stymied by confrontations between the largely uneducated commoners and
3465-473: The Grand Duchy of Finland, including an improvement in the status of the Finnish language. All this encouraged Finnish nationalism and cultural unity through the birth of the Fennoman movement , which bound the Finns to the domestic administration and led to the idea that the Grand Duchy was an increasingly autonomous state ruled by the Russian Empire. However, in 1899, the Russian Empire had begun to initiate
3564-830: The Guards was the establishment of a 200-strong cavalry school at the Saksanniemi estate in the vicinity of the town of Porvoo , in September 1917. The vanguard of the Finnish Jägers and German weaponry arrived in Finland during October–November 1917 on the Equity freighter and the German U-boat UC-57 ; around 50 Jägers had returned by the end of 1917. After political defeats in July and October 1917,
3663-480: The Karelian Isthmus on 27 January 1918. The Finnish rivalry for power had culminated. At the beginning of the war, a discontinuous front line ran through southern Finland from west to east, dividing the country into White Finland and Red Finland . The Red Guards controlled the area to the south, including nearly all the major towns and industrial centres, along with the largest estates and farms with
3762-518: The Red Revolution of January 1918 on its own, but together with political developments based on the commoners' interpretation of the ideas of Fennomania and socialism, the events favoured a Finnish revolution. In order to win power, the socialists had to overcome Parliament. The February Revolution resulted in a loss of institutional authority in Finland and the dissolution of the police force, creating fear and uncertainty. In response, both
3861-714: The Red area lay Porvoo, Kirkkonummi and Uusikaupunki . The elimination of these strongholds was a priority for both armies in February 1918. Red Finland was led by the Finnish People's Delegation ( Finnish : kansanvaltuuskunta ; Swedish : folkdelegationen ), established on 28 January 1918 in Helsinki, which was supervised by the Central Workers' Council . The delegation sought democratic socialism based on
3960-519: The Reds and their supporters while Red Rebellion ( Finnish : punakapina ) was used by the Whites and their supporters. Another designation, Brethren War ( Finnish : veljessota ), is applied in some poetic settings. According to a 2008 interview of 1,005 people done by the newspaper Aamulehti , the most popular names were as follows: Civil War: 29%, Citizen War: 25%, Class War: 13%, War of Independence: 11%, Red Rebellion: 5%, Revolution: 1%, other name: 2% and no answer: 14%. From 1809 to 1898,
4059-606: The Reds began late in the evening of 27 January, with the Helsinki Red Guard and some of the Guards located along the Viipuri-Tampere railway having been activated between 23 and 26 January, in order to safeguard vital positions and escort a heavy railroad shipment of Bolshevik weapons from Petrograd to Finland. White troops tried to capture the shipment: 20–30 Finns, Red and White, died in the Battle of Kämärä at
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4158-550: The Senate consisted of a broad national coalition, but in practice (with the main political groups unwilling to compromise and top politicians remaining outside of it), it proved unable to solve any major Finnish problem. After the February Revolution, political authority descended to the street level: mass meetings, strike organisations and worker-soldier councils on the left and to active organisations of employers on
4257-548: The Whites' hegemony and established a military authority of their own. Aaltonen installed his headquarters in Helsinki and nicknamed it Smolna echoing the Smolny Institute , the Bolsheviks' headquarters in Petrograd. The Red Order of Revolution was issued on 26 January, and a red lantern, a symbolic indicator of the uprising, was lit in the tower of the Helsinki Workers' House . A large-scale mobilisation of
4356-469: The administration's actions. Among urban workers, socio-economic problems steepened during periods of industrial depression. The position of rural workers worsened after the end of the nineteenth century, as farming became more efficient and market-oriented, and the development of industry was insufficiently vigorous to fully utilise the rapid population growth of the countryside. The difference between Scandinavian-Finnish and Russian- Slavic culture affected
4455-526: The chaos caused by war fatigue, political provocations, and the exploitation of peasants by a nobility who grew in number and wealth". An uprising began on Christmas Eve 1595 and was initially successful, but shortly thereafter was crushed by cavalry. Officially, the Cudgel War began in Ostrobothnia with an attack by peasants on Isokyrö 's church on 25 November 1596. The peasants won a number of encounters with infantry. Klaus Fleming began negotiating
4554-474: The civil war and the food market remained a secondary stimulator in the power struggle of the Finnish state. The passing of the Tokoi Senate bill called the "Law of Supreme Power" ( Finnish : laki Suomen korkeimman valtiovallan käyttämisestä , more commonly known as valtalaki ; Swedish : maktlagen ) in July 1917, triggered one of the key crises in the power struggle between the social democrats and
4653-424: The class system as the natural order of their life), the commoners began to demand their civil rights and citizenship in Finnish society. The power struggle between the Finnish estates and the Russian administration gave a concrete role model and free space for the labour movement. On the other side, due to an at-least century-long tradition and experience of administrative authority, the Finnish elite saw itself as
4752-456: The collapse of the Russian Empire , causing a power vacuum in Finland, and the subsequent struggle for dominance led to militarisation and an escalating crisis between the left-leaning labour movement and the conservatives. The Reds carried out an unsuccessful general offensive in February 1918, supplied with weapons by Soviet Russia . A counteroffensive by the Whites began in March, reinforced by
4851-469: The conflict. In the immediate aftermath, the Finns passed from Russian governance to the German sphere of influence with a plan to establish a German-led Finnish monarchy . The scheme ended with Germany's defeat in World War I, and Finland instead emerged as an independent, democratic republic. The civil war divided the nation for decades. Finnish society was reunited through social compromises based on
4950-434: The conservatives. The fall of the Russian Empire opened the question of who would hold sovereign political authority in the former Grand Duchy. After decades of political disappointment, the February Revolution offered the Finnish social democrats an opportunity to govern; they held the absolute majority in Parliament. The conservatives were alarmed by the continuous increase of the socialists' influence since 1899, which reached
5049-703: 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 ( Eastern Front ) 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
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#17327796607205148-535: The date, the peasant allies and enemies, and the result of these conflicts following this legend: Orthodox moldavian peasants Hutsul peasants Kingdom of Croatia Kalnyk Cossack regiment under Vasyl Varenytsia and Ivan Sulymka Zaporozhian Cossacks under Ivan Sirko Zhovnynsk Cossacks Orthodox ruthenian peasants Ukrainian peasants Polish peasants Jewish peasants Ukrainian peasants Ukrainian peasants Ukrainian directorate supporters Green Armies Left Socialist-Revolutionaries Restoration of
5247-496: The end of the nineteenth century from temperance , religious movements and Fennomania, had a Finnish nationalist, working-class character. From 1899 to 1906, the movement became conclusively independent, shedding the paternalistic thinking of the Fennoman estates, and it was represented by the Finnish Social Democratic Party, established in 1899. Workers' activism was directed both toward opposing Russification and in developing
5346-490: The events of 1917 was the rise of the Workers' Order Guards. There were 20–60 separate guards between 31 August and 30 September 1917, but on 20 October, after defeat in parliamentary elections, the Finnish labour movement proclaimed the need to establish more worker units. The announcement led to a rush of recruits: on 31 October the number of guards was 100–150; 342 on 30 November 1917 and 375 on 26 January 1918. Since May 1917,
5445-401: The former estates. Another conflict festered as employers denied collective bargaining and the right of the labour unions to represent workers. The parliamentary process disappointed the labour movement, but as dominance in the Parliament and legislation was the workers' most likely way to obtain a more balanced society, they identified themselves with the state. Overall domestic politics led to
5544-533: The highest numbers of crofters and tenant farmers . The White Army controlled the area to the north, which was predominantly agrarian and contained small or medium-sized farms and tenant farmers. The number of crofters was lower and they held a better social status than those in the south. Enclaves of the opposing forces existed on both sides of the front line: within the White area lay the industrial towns of Varkaus , Kuopio , Oulu , Raahe , Kemi and Tornio ; within
5643-485: The idea of a socialist revolution, the party representatives and several influential leaders voted it down. The Finnish labour movement wanted to sustain a military force of its own and to keep the revolutionary road open, too. The wavering Finnish socialists disappointed V. I. Lenin and in turn, he began to encourage the Finnish Bolsheviks in Petrograd. Among the labour movement, a more marked consequence of
5742-553: The inherent natural leader of the nation. The political struggle for democracy was solved outside Finland, in international politics: the Russian Empire's failed 1904–1905 war against Japan led to the 1905 Revolution in Russia and to a general strike in Finland . In an attempt to quell the general unrest, the system of estates was abolished in the Parliamentary Reform of 1906 . The general strike increased support for
5841-404: The later White Guards ( Finnish : valkokaartit ; Swedish : vita gardet ) were organised by local men of influence: conservative academics, industrialists, major landowners, and activists. The Workers' Order Guards ( Finnish : työväen järjestyskaartit ; Swedish : arbetarnas ordningsgardet ) and the Red Guards ( Finnish : punakaartit ; Swedish : röda gardet ) were recruited through
5940-402: The leader of the Agrarian League. Parliament seized the sovereign power in Finland on 15 November 1917 based on the socialists' "Law of Supreme Power" and ratified their proposals of an eight-hour working day and universal suffrage in local elections , from July 1917. The purely non-socialist, conservative-led government of Pehr Evind Svinhufvud was appointed on 27 November. This nomination
6039-403: The left, the vanguard of the movement was the urban Red Guards from Helsinki , Kotka and Turku ; they led the rural Reds and convinced the socialist leaders who wavered between peace and war to support the revolution. On the right, the vanguard was the Jägers, who had transferred to Finland, and the volunteer Civil Guards of southwestern Finland, southern Ostrobothnia and Viipuri province in
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#17327796607206138-414: The local social democratic party sections and from the labour unions. The Bolsheviks' and Vladimir Lenin's October Revolution of 7 November 1917 transferred political power in Petrograd to the radical, left-wing socialists. The German government's decision to arrange safe-conduct for Lenin and his comrades from exile in Switzerland to Petrograd in April 1917, was a success. An armistice between Germany and
6237-447: The loss of their long-held socio-economic dominance. Both factions collaborated with their equivalents in Russia, deepening the split in the nation. The Social Democratic Party gained an absolute majority in the parliamentary elections of 1916 . A new Senate was formed in March 1917 by Oskari Tokoi , but it did not reflect the socialists' large parliamentary majority: it comprised six social democrats and six non-socialists. In theory,
6336-521: The nature of Finnish national integration. The upper social strata took the lead and gained domestic authority from the Russian tsar in 1809. The estates planned to build an increasingly autonomous Finnish state, led by the elite and the intelligentsia. The Fennoman movement aimed to include the common people in a non-political role; the labour movement, youth associations and the temperance movement were initially led "from above". Between 1870 and 1916 industrialisation gradually improved social conditions and
6435-409: The nineteenth century (from 860,000 in 1810 to 3,130,000 in 1917), and a class of agrarian and industrial workers, as well as crofters , emerged over the period. The Industrial Revolution was rapid in Finland, though it started later than in the rest of Western Europe . Industrialisation was financed by the state and some of the social problems associated with the industrial process were diminished by
6534-417: The paramilitary organisations of the left had grown in two phases, the majority of them as Workers' Order Guards. The minority were Red Guards, these were partly underground groups formed in industrialised towns and industrial centres, such as Helsinki , Kotka and Tampere, based on the original Red Guards that had been formed during 1905–1906 in Finland. The presence of the two opposing armed forces created
6633-400: The peasant revolt phenomenon, including: Later peasant revolts such as the Telangana Rebellion were also influenced by agrarian socialist ideologies such as Maoism . The majority of peasant rebellions ended prematurely and were unsuccessful. Peasants suffered from limited funding and lacked the training and organisational capabilities of professional armies. The list gives the name,
6732-526: The peasants as fighting for freedom and justice. Fredrika Runeberg 's Sigrid Liljeholm (1862), one of the first Finnish historical novels, depicts women's fates during the war. Albert Edelfelt 's painting Burned Village (1879) depicts a woman, a child, and an old man hiding behind a rock as a village burns in the background. The poet Kaarlo Kramsu praised the insurgents and lamented their defeat in patriotic poems such as Ilkka , Hannu Krankka , and Santavuoren tappelu , published in Runoelmia (1887). After
6831-444: The period of military weakness. He assumed that in war-torn, splintering Europe, the proletariat of free nations would carry out socialist revolutions and unite with Soviet Russia later. The majority of the Finnish labour movement supported Finland's independence. The Finnish Bolsheviks, influential, though few in number, favoured annexation of Finland by Russia. The government of White Finland, Pehr Evind Svinhufvud's first senate ,
6930-492: The profitable Finnish financial zone. The economic collapse of Russia and the power struggle of the Finnish state in 1917 were among the key factors that brought sovereignty to the fore in Finland. Svinhufvud's Senate introduced Finland's Declaration of Independence on 4 December 1917 and Parliament adopted it on 6 December. The social democrats voted against the Senate's proposal, while presenting an alternative declaration of sovereignty. The establishment of an independent state
7029-411: The program were not accepted and the socialists initiated a general strike during 14–19 November to increase political pressure on the conservatives, who had opposed the "Law of Supreme Power" and the parliamentary proclamation of sovereign power on 15 November. Revolution became the goal of the radicalised socialists after the loss of political control, and events in November 1917 offered momentum for
7128-716: The rebellion until he fled, rather than face Fleming. Leaderless, the peasants attacked on 24 February 1597, and fought their last battle on the Santavuori Hill in Ilmajoki . Over 1,000 were killed and 500 captured. The insurgents were mostly Finnish peasants from Ostrobothnia , Northern Tavastia , and Savo . The events can also be seen as a part of a larger power struggle between King Sigismund and Duke Charles . In his work Nuijasota, sen syyt ja tapaukset (1857–1859) (English: Cudgel War, its reasons and causes ), historian and fennoman Yrjö Koskinen (né Forsman) saw
7227-490: The revolutionary reform of 1906, but after the crisis of 1917–1918, concluded that empowering the common people would not work. Social liberals and reformist non-socialists opposed any restriction of parliamentarianism. They initially resisted German military help, but the prolonged warfare changed their stance. In foreign policy, the Vaasa Senate relied on the German Empire for military and political aid. Their objective
7326-425: The right and left assembled their own security groups, which were initially local and largely unarmed. By late 1917, following the dissolution of Parliament, in the absence of a strong government and national armed forces, the security groups began assuming a broader and more paramilitary character. The Civil Guards ( Finnish : suojeluskunnat ; Swedish : skyddskåren ; lit. ' protection corps ' ) and
7425-484: The right, all serving to undermine the authority of the state. The February Revolution halted the Finnish economic boom caused by the Russian war-economy. The collapse in business led to unemployment and high inflation , but the employed workers gained an opportunity to resolve workplace problems. The commoners' call for the eight-hour working day , better working conditions and higher wages led to demonstrations and large-scale strikes in industry and agriculture. While
7524-488: The self-confidence of workers, but while the standard of living of the common people rose in absolute terms, the rift between rich and poor deepened markedly. The commoners' rising awareness of socio-economic and political questions interacted with the ideas of socialism , social liberalism and nationalism . The workers' initiatives and the corresponding responses of the dominant authorities intensified social conflict in Finland. The Finnish labour movement, which emerged at
7623-463: The social democrats put forward an uncompromising program called "We Demand" ( Finnish : Me vaadimme ; Swedish : Vi kräver ) on 1 November, in order to push for political concessions . They insisted upon a return to the political status before the dissolution of Parliament in July 1917, disbandment of the Civil Guards and elections to establish a Finnish Constituent Assembly. The demands of
7722-406: The soldiers were not at war, and that Klaus Fleming kept the army in the castle camp for many years after the war to keep it available for his use. There were many abuses and illegalities towards the peasants committed by the nobles and their armies in collecting castle camp dues. Other key explanations for the outbreak of cudgel warfare have included "the burdens of wartime and severe failed harvests,
7821-565: The southeastern corner of Finland. The first local battles were fought during 9–21 January 1918 in southern and southeastern Finland, mainly to win the arms race and to control Viipuri . On 12 January 1918, Parliament authorised the Svinhufvud Senate to establish internal order and discipline on behalf of the state. On 15 January, Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim , a former Finnish general of the Imperial Russian Army ,
7920-479: The struggle against integration, activists drawn from sections of the working class and the Swedish-speaking intelligentsia carried out terrorist acts. During World War I and the rise of Germanism, the pro-Swedish Svecomans began their covert collaboration with Imperial Germany and, from 1915 to 1917, a Jäger ( Finnish : jääkäri ; Swedish : jägare ) battalion consisting of 1,900 Finnish volunteers
8019-421: The troops of Clas Eriksson Fleming , were professional, heavily-armed and armoured men-at-arms . Modern Finnish historiography sees the uprising in the context of the conflict between Duke Charles and Sigismund , King of Sweden and Poland ( War against Sigismund ). Charles agitated the peasants to revolt against the nobility of Finland, which supported Sigismund during the conflict. The 25-year war between
8118-636: The turmoil. Geopolitically less important than the continental Moscow – Warsaw gateway, Finland, isolated by the Baltic Sea , was relatively peaceful until early 1918. The war between the German Empire and Russia had only indirect effects on the Finns . Since the end of the 19th century, the Grand Duchy had become a vital source of raw materials , industrial products, food and labour for the growing Imperial Russian capital Petrograd (modern Saint Petersburg), and World War I emphasised that role. Strategically,
8217-663: The two-front war, Germany attempted to divide Russia by providing financial support to revolutionary groups, such as the Bolsheviks and the Socialist Revolutionary Party , and to radical, separatist factions, such as the Finnish national activist movement leaning toward Germanism . Between 30 and 40 million Reichsmark were spent on this endeavour. Controlling the Finnish area would allow the Imperial German Army to penetrate Petrograd and
8316-425: The unitary Swedish regime, the domestic power of Finns had increased under the less uniform Russian rule. Economically, the Grand Duchy of Finland benefited from having an independent domestic state budget, a central bank with national currency, the markka (deployed 1860), and customs organisation and the industrial progress of 1860–1916. The economy was dependent on the huge Russian market and separation would disrupt
8415-412: The use of referendums in political decision-making. In order to ensure the authority of the labour movement, the common people would have a right to permanent revolution . The socialists planned to transfer a substantial part of property rights to the state and local administrations. In foreign policy, Red Finland leaned on Bolshevist Russia . A Red-initiated Finno–Russian treaty and peace agreement
8514-507: The war against the German Empire. In turn, the Germans hastened Finland's separation from Russian rule so as to move the country to within their sphere of influence. The final escalation towards war began in early January 1918, as each military or political action of the Reds or the Whites resulted in a corresponding counteraction by the other. Both sides justified their activities as defensive measures, particularly to their own supporters. On
8613-513: 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 . In
8712-434: The years before the conflict, Finland had experienced rapid population growth, industrialisation , urbanisation and the rise of a comprehensive labour movement . The country's political and governmental systems were in an unstable phase of democratisation and modernisation. The socio-economic condition and education of the population had gradually improved, and national awareness and culture had progressed. World War I led to
8811-685: Was adopted with the support of the Social Democratic Party, the Agrarian League, part of the Young Finnish Party and some activists eager for Finnish sovereignty. The conservatives opposed the bill and some of the most right-wing representatives resigned from Parliament. In Petrograd, the social democrats' plan had the backing of the Bolsheviks. They had been plotting a revolt against the Provisional Government since April 1917, and pro-Soviet demonstrations during
8910-650: Was appointed the commander-in-chief of the Civil Guards. The Senate appointed the Guards, henceforth called the White Guards, as the White Army of Finland. Mannerheim placed his Headquarters of the White Army in the Vaasa – Seinäjoki area. The White Order to engage was issued on 25 January. The Whites gained weaponry by disarming Russian garrisons during 21–28 January, in particular in southern Ostrobothnia. The Red Guards, led by Ali Aaltonen , refused to recognise
9009-572: Was both a long-term aim of the conservatives and a response to the challenges of the labour movement during November 1917. Svinhufvud's main aspirations were to separate Finland from Russian rule, to strengthen the Civil Guards, and to return a part of Parliament's new authority to the Senate. There were 149 Civil Guards on 31 August 1917 in Finland, counting local units and subsidiary White Guards in towns and rural communes; 251 on 30 September; 315 on 31 October; 380 on 30 November and 408 on 26 January 1918. The first attempt at serious military training among
9108-552: Was called the Vaasa Senate after its relocation to the safer west-coast city of Vaasa, which acted as the capital of the Whites from 29 January to 3 May 1918. In domestic policy, the White Senate's main goal was to return the political right to power in Finland. The conservatives planned a monarchist political system, with a lesser role for Parliament. A section of the conservatives had always supported monarchy and opposed democracy; others had approved of parliamentarianism since
9207-411: Was not a guaranteed conclusion for the small Finnish nation. Recognition by Russia and other great powers was essential; Svinhufvud accepted that he had to negotiate with Lenin for the acknowledgement. The socialists, having been reluctant to enter talks with the Russian leadership in July 1917, sent two delegations to Petrograd to request that Lenin approve Finnish sovereignty. In December 1917, Lenin
9306-418: Was shot during a local strike on 9 August 1917 at Ypäjä and a Civil Guard member was killed in a local political crisis at Malmi on 24 September. The October Revolution disrupted the informal truce between the Finnish non-socialists and the Russian Provisional Government. After political wrangling over how to react to the revolt, the majority of the politicians accepted a compromise proposal by Santeri Alkio ,
9405-436: Was signed on 1 March 1918, where Red Finland was called the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic ( Finnish : Suomen sosialistinen työväentasavalta ; Swedish : Finlands socialistiska arbetarrepublik ). The negotiations for the treaty implied that – as in World War I in general – nationalism was more important for both sides than the principles of international socialism . The Red Finns did not simply accept an alliance with
9504-547: Was stopped and the autonomous status of 1809–1899 was returned to the Finns by the 15th March 1917 manifesto of the Russian Provisional Government. For the first time in history, de facto political power existed in the Parliament of Finland. The political left, consisting mainly of social democrats, covered a wide spectrum from moderate to revolutionary socialists. The political right was even more diverse, ranging from social liberals and moderate conservatives to rightist conservative elements. The four main parties were: During 1917,
9603-460: Was to defeat the Finnish Reds; end the influence of Bolshevist Russia in Finland and expand Finnish territory to East Karelia , a geopolitically significant home to people speaking Finnic languages . The weakness of Russia inspired an idea of Greater Finland among the expansionist factions of both the right and left: the Reds had claims concerning the same areas. General Mannerheim agreed on
9702-524: Was trained in Germany. The major reasons for rising political tensions among Finns were the autocratic rule of the Russian tsar and the undemocratic class system of the estates of the realm . The latter system originated in the regime of the Swedish Empire that preceded Russian governance and divided the Finnish people economically, socially and politically. Finland's population grew rapidly in
9801-451: Was under intense pressure from the Germans to conclude peace negotiations at Brest-Litovsk , and the Bolsheviks' rule was in crisis, with an inexperienced administration and the demoralised army facing powerful political and military opponents. Lenin calculated that the Bolsheviks could fight for central parts of Russia but had to give up some peripheral territories, including Finland in the geopolitically less important north-western corner. As
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