The end of the Finnish Civil War

The Finnish Civil War, 27 January to 15 May 1918, concerned leadership and control of Finland during its transition from a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire to an independent state. The conflict formed a part of the national, political, and social turmoil caused by World War I (Eastern Front) in Europe. The war was fought between the "Reds", led by the Social Democratic Party and the "Whites", led by the non-socialist, conservative-led Senate. The paramilitary Red Guards, composed of industrial and agrarian workers, controlled the towns and industrial centers of southern Finland. The paramilitary White Guards, composed of peasants and middle- and upper-class factions, controlled rural central and northern Finland.

The Grand Duchy of Finland, an autonomous part of the Russian Empire, was gradually developing into a Finnish state. By 1917 Finnish society had experienced rapid population growth, industrialization and the rise of a comprehensive labor movement. The country's political system was in an unstable phase of democratization and modernization, while the people's socioeconomic condition and national-cultural status gradually improved. WWI broke up the Russian Empire and its Grand Duchy, and led to power struggles between the left-leaning labor movement and the more conservative non-socialists, in the absence of neutral and regular police and military forces. Finland's declaration of independence on 6 December 1917 failed to unify the nation.

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 an Imperial German Army squad in April. The decisive military actions of the war 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 by the Whites and the German forces. Both the Reds and Whites engaged in political terror. A large number of Reds perished due to malnutrition and disease in prison camps. Altogether around 39,000 people died in the war, including 36,000 Finns--out of a population of 3,000,000.

In the aftermath, the Finns passed from Russian rule to the German Empire's sphere of power. The conservative Finnish Senate attempted to establish a Finnish monarchy, but the plan was aborted by the defeat of Germany in WWI. Finland emerged as an independent, democratic republic. The war divided the nation for many years and remains the most emotionally charged event in Finnish history. The society was reunited through social compromises based on long-term culture of moderate politics and religion, the outcome of World War I and the postwar economic recovery.