I think this is one for Kai... What did Finland do in WWI? Did Finnish men contributed to form the Czar's armies? What about its rôle in the bolshevist revolution and its own independence? I'm curious, and I haven't been able to find anything among my books...
Ehhh... I´m a bit weak on WW1 but let´s see... I think the Finns were not in the Russian army in WW1. Our country was though part of Russia at the time. Mannerheim was in the Russian army and fought in Poland at the time. In WW1 we did get a contact with Germany and Finns were trained as soldiers ( secretly of course )and later in WW2 this was remembered as a bridge between the countries- we had Finnish soldiers in the German army in both wars, yet in WW2 they were in waffen-SS. Here´s something on them in WW1: The oppressive measures in Finland were constantly intensified from 1910. These were met with passive resistance. The outbreak of WWI with the massive pouring of Russian troops into Finland and later in 1914 leaked information about plans to annihilate the Finnish autonomy completely led to a new thinking in the resistance movement among university students. The first activist meeting was secretly held in late November, 1914. The only possible assistance in making these plans come true was thought to come from Germany. On January 29, 1915 the Germans made it possible for 200 Finnish students to receive military training in Germany with courses lasting 4-6 weeks. The first training course began on February 25, 1915 at Lockstedt camp (now, Hohenlockstedt) in Holstein near Hamburg, with a total of 189 students. To hide the real nature of the course it was called a Pfadfinder (Scout) course. The leader was Major Maximilian Bayer and the trainers were German officers and non-commissioned officers. Jägers, as they later were called, wanted more and wished to prolong the course widening its scope. On August 26, 1915 a decision was made to raise the number of the trainees to 2,000 men and to make this a strengthened battalion called Lockstedt Training Corps. The battalion was later given the name of the 27th Royal Prussian Jäger Battalion. http://www.histdoc.net/history/lockstdt.html These men fought on the German side in the eastern front before returning to Finland in time for the Civil war. http://www.helsinki-hs.net/news.asp?id=20020930IE7 They helped the whites to win the war probably crucially. Their contribution to the White victory was crucial, not the least morally. Educated as elite troops they were also fit to assume command as officers over the untrained and uneducated troops of the Civil War. http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Finnish-Jaeger-troops For communist revolution I don´think Finland contributed much, unless the fact that Lenin had several hiding places in Finland. However, we received help from the communists as they first declared Finland was independent, yet their belief was that through Civil war Finland would join Russia again. One piece of irony is that sometime 1919 I think the Finns had a chance of taking St Petersburg as there were only some 2,000 Red army soldiers covering the city. However Mannerheim decided not to attack and join the white Russians because the western powers seemed not to give enough help to the white generals, and as well the white generals would not recognize Finland´s independence....
Thank you very much, Kai! Some of what I needed! Thanks! But if Von Mannerheim fought with the Russian Army in Poland, it meant that he was trained in some military academy in Russia and joined a Russian unit? I suposse he wasn't the only one to do that...
I have the details on Mannerheim on his thread elsewhere, just use the "Mannerheim" as search. He had joined the Zaar army long time earlier before the war and thus his career is not that much connected withe Russian army and Finland in WW1. It seems that sometime after 1905 the Finns were not taken into the Russian army anymore, as well the Russian soldiers were sent to Finland in large numbers, trying to bring the nationalism down here. I´ll check on this later on for some more info.
More.... http://countrystudies.us/finland/13.htm The measure that transformed Finnish resistance into a mass movement was the new conscription law promulgated by the tsar in July 1901. Established originally as an independent army with the sole mission of defending Finland, the Finnish army was now incorporated into the Russian army and was made available for action anywhere. This time the Finns did not let matters rest with a petition, but rather followed it up with a campaign of passive resistance. Finnish men eligible for conscription were first called up under the new law in 1902, but they responded with the so-called Army Strike--only about half of them reported for duty.The proportion of eligible Finns complying with the draft rose in 1903, however, from about half to two-thirds and, in 1904, to about four-fifths. The high incidence of non-compliance nevertheless convinced the Russian military command that the Finns were unreliable for military purposes, and, as a consequence, the Finns were released from military service in return for the levy of an extra tax, which they were to pay to the imperial government. BTW, did you know that Finland became the second country, after New Zealand, to allow women to vote. The outbreak of the World War I had no immediate effects on Finland because Finns--except for a number of Finnish officers in the Russian army--did not fight in it, and Finland itself was not the scene of fighting. By 1917 sizable contingents of the Russian army and navy were stationed in Finland, they numbered more than 100,000 men. These forces were intended to prevent a German incursion through Finland.
Thanks, Kai! Very interesting! I suposse it was hard for a small population like Finland's to always have to stay out of problems between its two mighty neighbours, fighting each other through the centuries... By the way, wasn't it while Catherine II's reign that Russia took Finland away from Sweden?
I had to check this in the net: France and Russia became allies in 1807 at Tilsit, and Napoleon subsequently urged Russia to force Sweden into joining them against Britain. Tsar Alexander I obliged by invading Finland in 1808, and, after overwhelming Sweden's poorly-organized defenses, he conquered Finland in 1809. Sweden formally ceded Finland to Russia by the Treaty of Hamina (Swedish, Fredrikshamn) on September 17, 1809. http://countrystudies.us/finland/9.htm Here´s some maps on how the front changed 1323-1944 in the area of Finland. http://cc.joensuu.fi/~alma/6images/kabo1809.htm
Thanks for the information, Kai! The maps were very useful! I was curious because in my favourite PC game, "Cossacks European Wars", I always play with Russia and I love smashing Sweden over and over again. I think I conquered Finland some three times now...
