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The Red Guards formed the army of Red Finland during the Finnish Civil War
Finnish Civil War

The Finnish Civil War was a part of the national and social turmoil caused by World War I in Europe. The war was fought in Finland from 27 January to 15 May 1918, between the forces of the Social Democratic Party of Finland led by the People's Deputation of Finland, commonly called the "Reds" , and the forces of the non-socialist, conse...
 in 1918. The combined strength of the Red Guard was about 30,000 at the beginning of the Civil War, and peaked at 90,000-120,000 during the course of the conflict.

The leadership of the Red Guards altered during the war: Ali Aaltonen
Ali Aaltonen

Ali Aaltonen was a Lieutenant in the Imperial Russian army, journalist, and Finland communist leader.He participated in the Russo-Japanese battles as a lieutenant and later in the Russian revolution of 1905....
, Eero Haapalainen
Eero Haapalainen

Eero Haapalainen , was a Finland Communist leader. Haapalainen fought in the Finnish Civil War and after the reds lost he fled to the Soviet Union. Was executed during the Great Purge....
, Eino Rahja
Eino Rahja

Eino Rahja was a Finland-Russian politician who joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1903, becoming aligned with the party's Bolsheviks faction....
 and in the end Kullervo Manner
Kullervo Manner

Kullervo Manner was a Finland Communist leader. Manner was a member of Social Democratic Party and a member of the parliament 1910-1917, and the speaker of the parliament prior the declaration of independence ....
.






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Red Officers
The Red Guards formed the army of Red Finland during the Finnish Civil War
Finnish Civil War

The Finnish Civil War was a part of the national and social turmoil caused by World War I in Europe. The war was fought in Finland from 27 January to 15 May 1918, between the forces of the Social Democratic Party of Finland led by the People's Deputation of Finland, commonly called the "Reds" , and the forces of the non-socialist, conse...
 in 1918. The combined strength of the Red Guard was about 30,000 at the beginning of the Civil War, and peaked at 90,000-120,000 during the course of the conflict.

The leadership of the Red Guards altered during the war: Ali Aaltonen
Ali Aaltonen

Ali Aaltonen was a Lieutenant in the Imperial Russian army, journalist, and Finland communist leader.He participated in the Russo-Japanese battles as a lieutenant and later in the Russian revolution of 1905....
, Eero Haapalainen
Eero Haapalainen

Eero Haapalainen , was a Finland Communist leader. Haapalainen fought in the Finnish Civil War and after the reds lost he fled to the Soviet Union. Was executed during the Great Purge....
, Eino Rahja
Eino Rahja

Eino Rahja was a Finland-Russian politician who joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1903, becoming aligned with the party's Bolsheviks faction....
 and in the end Kullervo Manner
Kullervo Manner

Kullervo Manner was a Finland Communist leader. Manner was a member of Social Democratic Party and a member of the parliament 1910-1917, and the speaker of the parliament prior the declaration of independence ....
. The government of Red Finland was called "The People's Deputation". The Red Guards were in power from 28th January to the end of April 1918 in southern Finland
Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
.

The Red Guards' general staff were located in Helsinki
Helsinki

Helsinki is the Capital and largest List of cities and towns in Finland of Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea....
; the other major cities controlled by the Red forces were Tampere
Tampere

Tampere is a city in southern Finland located between two lakes, N?sij?rvi and Pyh?j?rvi . Since the two lakes differ in level by , the rapids linking them, Tammerkoski, have been an important power source throughout history, most recently for generating electricity....
, Turku
Turku

Turku is a List of towns in Finland situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of Aura river. It is located in the region of Finland Proper in the Province of Western Finland....
, Pori
Pori

Pori is a List of cities and towns in Finland and municipalities of Finland on the west coast of Finland. The centre of the city it located some from the coast of Gulf of Bothnia, at the estuary of Kokem?enjoki river....
 and Viipuri. Red Tampere came to its end on 6th April, 1918 after bloody battles when Mannerheim's White Guards conquered the city
Battle of Tampere

The Battle of Tampere of the Finnish Civil War was fought in March and April 1918 between Red Guard and White Guard forces. The White forces besieged and captured the main city of the Red Guards, Tampere, taking 10,000 Red prisoners....
.

Thousands of Red Guards were imprisoned, hundreds of them were executed and the rest were transported to POW
Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war is a combatant who is held in continuing custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict....
 camps. Helsinki was in White control by April 12, 1918.

During the general strike of 1905
Russian Revolution of 1905

The 1905 Russian Revolution is a historical term describing a wave of political terrorism, strikes, peasant unrests, mutinies, both anti-government and undirected, that swept through vast areas of the Russian Empire, leading to the establishment of the State Duma of the Russian Empire, multi-party system and the Russian Constitution of 1906....
 "National Guards" were formed in Finland. These Guards included both Socialists
Socialism

Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating public or state ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and a society characterized by equality for all individuals, with a fair or Egalitarianism method of compensation....
 and non-Socialists, but eventually they were divided into opposing militias. In that year, however, bloodshed was still avoided.

The last surviving Red Guard, Aarne Arvonen
Aarne Arvonen

Aarne Armas "Arska" Arvonen was, at age 111, a Finland supercentenarian, the all-time oldest living male person in Finland. Arvonen was also the last living person in Finland born in the 19th century....
, became Finland's oldest ever man before his death in January 2009.

Strength

End of 1917 20,000 men estimate
When the civil war started 30,000 men
Middle of conflict, (Peak) 90,000+ men
In 1920 Thousands, though all in "Russia"


See also

  • Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic
    Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic

    File:FinnishCivilWarMapBegin.svgThe Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic was a short-lived Finland socialism government, established by a revolution just prior to the Finnish Civil War and in the aftermath of the October Revolution....
  • White Guards (Finland)


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