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Russia and the Origins of the Finnish Civil War of 1918

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2018

C. Jay Smith Jr.
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Extract

Upon the outbreak of World War I in August, 1914, the Russian Imperial Government rightly suspected that for reasons both of geography and of political climate, the Grand Duchy of Finland posed a great danger on its northern flank. This was hardly surprising. Since 1899, that Government had done all it could to destroy die effective autonomy which Finland had enjoyed within the Russian Empire during the nineteenth century.

“Russification” of Finland took place in two stages. General Nikolai A. Bobrikov, Governor-General from 1898 to 1904, reduced the Finnish Diet to a consultative assembly, suppressed newspapers, and introduced the Russian language into the Finnish Senate and civil service. In 1901, he dissolved the Finnish army, which had existed since 1877, and sought unsuccessfully to conscript Finns into the Russian army. To be sure, after Bobrikov's assassination and the Russian revolution of 1905, Tsar Nicholas II agreed to exempt Finns from Russian army service, and, in 1906, permitted the modernization of the Diet and the introduction of universal suffrage.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Slavic and East European Review , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , December 1955 , pp. 481 - 502
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1955

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References

1 The Finnish Senate, created in 1810, was an appointive body, partly executive, partly legislative, and partly judicial, insofar as its functions were concerned. In the nineteenth century, nearly all its members were Swecoman Finns, and through it and the Governor-General, Finland was governed from 1810 to 1863, on the advice of the Finnish State-Secretary in St. Petersburg (likewise a Swecoman Finn, in most cases). After 1863, the Diet became the principal law-making body, but the Senate had to confirm legislation passed by the Diet. Moreover, before 1907, the Diet was elected by a very restricted suffrage, had four houses, and represented the same group interests as did the Senate.

2 Magnus Gottfried Schybergson, Politische Geschichte Finnlands, 1809-1910 (Gotha-Stuttgart, 1925), pp. 261-348, passim; John Henry Wuorinen, Nationalism in Modern Finland (New York, 1931), pp. 190-93, 195-96; Hampden Jackson, J., Finland (New York, 1940), pp. 66–68 Google Scholar; Räikknöen, Erkki, Svinhufud, the Builder of Finland: an Adventure in Statecraft (London, 1938), p. 2 Google Scholar; Gregorious Gummerus, Herman, P. E. Svinhufud, 1861-1935 (Helsinki, 1936), p. 6 Google Scholar.

3 Schybergson, ibid.; Wuorinen, pp. 196-97; Jackson, p. 69; Räikkönen, p. 3; Gummerus, p. 7; Lt. Col. Hannula, Joose Olavi, Finland's War of Independence (London, 1939), p.20 Google Scholar.

4 Schybergson, pp. 341-43, 345-46, 348, 349, 355, 356, 361-64; Gummerus, pp. 8-10; Hannula, pp. 21-22; Jackson, pp. 73-75; Wuorinen, pp. 200-01, 204; Räikkönen, p. 4; Söderhjelm, Henning, The Red Insurrection in Finland in 1918; A Study Based on Documentary Evidence (London, 1919), pp. 5–8 Google Scholar.

5 Wuorinen, pp. 205, 206, 211, 213; Jackson, pp. 75-77.

6 Schybergson, pp. 369, 370; Räikkönen, p. 5; Gummerus, p. 12; Wuorinen, pp. 214-15; Jackson, pp. 77-81; von Wahl, Ernest Georgievich, Vojna belykh i krasnykh v Finljandii v 1918 g. (Tallinn, 1936), p. 26 Google Scholar.

7 Schybergson, passim; Wuorinen, passim.

8 Schybergson, pp. 281, 282, 286-88; Wuorinen, pp. 177-81; Jackson, pp. 72-73; Räikkönen,p. 6; Gummerus, p. 13; Harmaja, Leo, Effects of the War on Economic and Social Life in Finland (New Haven, 1933), pp. 6, 7, 18-19, 28, 106-17Google Scholar.

9 Räikkönen, p. 6; Gummerus, p. 16; Wuorinen, pp. 214-15; Svechnikov, M. S., Revo-Ijucija i grazhdanskaja vojna v Finljandii, 191J-1918 gody (Vospominanija i materialy), (Moskva-Leningrad, 1923), p. 5 Google Scholar.

10 Harmaja, pp. 74-78; Söderhjelm, pp. 13-14; Svechnikov, pp. 6, 14, 15.

11 Harmaja, ibid.; Jackson, pp. 81-83.

12 Graham, Malbone W., The Diplomatic Recognition of the Border States. Part I: Finland (Berkeley, 1936), pp. 90–92 Google Scholar. In February, 1916, the Young Finn Party, which distrusted the Germans, sent Dr. Rudolf Holsti, foreign editor of the Helsingin Sanomat, to Petrograd in an effort to enlist the support of Russian liberals and the Allied ambassadors for Finland. He saw Kerensky, Miljukov, British Ambassador Sir George Buchanan, and American Ambassador David Francis, but received no encouragement from any of them.

13 Hannula, pp. 24-28. After the initial shipment, the Military Committee organized the transit of other volunteers to Lockstedt. To aid in the recruiting, it began, in the fall of 1915, to bring back some of the original volunteers. However, the Russian authorities arrested so many of these that in the spring of 1916, recruiting had to be suspended temporarily.It was resumed in the fall of 1916.

14 Hannula, pp. 29, 30, 31.

15 Söderhjelm, pp. 16-17; Wuorinen, pp. 218-20.

16 Svechnikov, pp. 12-17.

17 Gummerus, pp. 18-20; Wuorinen, pp. 218.

18 Harmaja, pp. 68-73, 108-17; Söderhjelm, pp. 19, 23-24; Markov, S., Grazhdanskaja vojna v Finljandii (1918 g.),” Krasnyj arkhiv, XCIX (1940), 15–51 Google Scholar.

19 Söderhjelm, p. 19. Only about 25 percent of the Finnish peasants owned the land they cultivated in 1917. The others were either sharecroppers or laborers on the farms of others.

20 Ibid., p. 21.

21 Harmaja, pp. 68-73.

22 Söderhjelm, pp. 20, 24-25; Gummerus, p. 20; Hannula, p. 33; Hagelstam, Wentzel,Les nations ressuscitées: la Finlande (Paris, 1918), p. 15 Google Scholar. One reason for the socialist's early support of the Protective Corps was their fear of a counterrevolution in Russia. Moreover, they were opposed to the introduction of conscription, even for a purely Finnish army.

23 Söderhjelm, p. 22.

24 Ibid.

25 Graham, pp. 99-100; Räikkönen, p. 10; Svechnikov, pp. 33-34; Jackson, pp. 84-86.

26 Hannula, pp. 33-34, 36; Svechnikov, pp. 33-34; Jackson, pp. 86-87; S. Markov, “Grazhdanskaja vojna v Finljandii (1918 g.).”

27 Söderhjelm, p. 28; Hannula, pp. 33-34; Svechnikov, pp. 18-17; S. Markov, “Grazhdanskajavojna v Finljandii (1918 g.).”

28 Söderhjelm, pp. 25-27.

29 Wuorinen, pp. 218-20; Svechnikov, p. 10.

30 Söderhjelm, p. 32; Wuorinen, pp. 218-20.

31 Söderhjelm, p. 29.

32 Ibid., p. 30.

33 Ibid.

34 Svechnikov, p. 25.

35 Räikkönen, pp. 15-16.

36 Svechnikov, pp. 27-30, 36.

37 Svechnikov, pp. 27-30. On the point that it was the moderation of the Finnish socialists which saved Finland in November, 1917, see the following interesting example of Bolshevik “self-criticism”: Kuusinen, Otto Wilhelm, Die Revolution in Finnland (Hamburg,1921)Google Scholar.

38 Räikkönen, pp. 16-17; Gummerus, p. 21.

39 Räikkönen, pp. 19-21.

40 S .Markov, “Grazhdanskaja vojna v Finljandii (1918 g.).”

41 Räikkönen, pp. 17-18.

42 Räikkönen, pp. 17-18; Gummerus, p. 25.

43 Räikkönen, pp. 19-20.

44 Ibid., pp. 20-21.

45 Harmaja, pp. 108-17; Söderhjelm, pp. 40-41, 43, 45; Räikkönen, p. 11; Svechnikov, pp. 27-30.

46 Söderhjelm, p. 46; Räikkönen, pp. 21-22; Svechnikov, pp. 27-30.

47 Räikkönen, pp. 22-31.

48 Ibid., pp. 27-31.

49 Söderhjelm, p. 47; Räikkönen, pp. 31-34; Svechnikov, pp.30-31; Stalin, J. V., Works (Moscow, 1953), IV, 1–5 Google Scholar.

50 Söderhjelm, p. 48; Hannula, p. 38.

51 Hannula, p. 39; von Mannerheim, Karl Gustaf, The Memoirs of Marshal Mannerheim, Count Eric Lowenhaupt, trans. (New York, 1954), pp. 3-75 Google Scholar.

52 Räikkönen, pp. 106-10; Mannerheim, pp. 110-34.

53 Söderhjelm, p. 57; Svechnikov, pp. 23, 32.

54 Söderhjelm, pp. 65-68; Raikkönen, pp. 74-77; Gummerus, p. 23.

55 Räikkönen, pp. 06-10; Mannerheim, pp. 134-35.

56 Mannerheim, pp. 135-38.

57 Räikkönen, pp. 37-44; Svechnikov, p. 31; Gummerus, pp. 21-22.

58 Räikkönen, pp. 21, 35, 45-49, 54-65; Gummerus, p. 23.

59 Ibid.

60 Räikkönen, pp. 54-65.

61 Ibid.

62 Ibid.

63 Ibid.

64 Ibid.; Gummerus, p. 23; Stalin, IV, 23-25.

65 Graham, pp. 109-12, 117-18; Räikkönen, pp. 66-68; Gummerus, p. 24; Hannula, p. 37.

66 Söderhjelm, pp. 48, 49; Hannula, p. 40.

67 Söderhjelm, p. 58; Hannula, p. 40.

68 Markov, “Grazhdanskaja vojna v Finljandii (1918 g.)”.

69 Söderhjelm, pp. 58-59; Räikkönen, pp. 68-71.

70 Söderhjelm, pp. 63-64, 68-69; Hannula, pp. 45, 46.

71 Söderhjelm, pp. 72-74; Räikkönen, p. 79.

72 Räikkönen, pp. 79, 80-83; Hannula, pp. 40-44.

73 Söderhjelm, pp. 72-74, 80-81; Räikkönen, pp. 84-91.

74 Söderhjelm, pp. 75-77; Räikkönen, pp. 92-96, 97-105; Hannula, pp. 40, 41, 45, 47, 48-51; Svechnikov, p. 35, Mannerheim, pp. 138-40.

75 S. Markov, “Grazhdanskaja vojna v Finljandii (1918 g.)”; Räikkönen, pp. 97-105, pp.130-132.

76 Söderhjelm, pp. 90, 97-98; Räikkönen, pp. 119-29; Svechnikov, p. 36.

77 von Wahl, p. 8; Söderhjelm, p.100; Räikkönen, pp. 106-10, 130-32; S. Markov, “Grazhdanskaja vojna v Finljandii (1918 g.)”.

78 Söderhjelm, pp. 91-93, 94, 95,100, Hannula, p. 57; Svechnikov, p. 41; Kostomarov, G.,“Belofinny na sluzhbe anglo-francuskikh interventov v 1919 g.,” Krasnyj arkhi, XCVIII (1940), 31–67 Google Scholar.

79 Räikkönen, pp. 111-18, 162-65; Hannula, pp. 42-44, 51-55; Svechnikov, p. 48; Mannerheim, pp. 140-42; Söderhjelm, pp. 75-77, 81-82.