History 08/03/20 As Mannerheim wanted to take Petersburg, Russia
Russian and Finnish General Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, with the beginning of the Russian revolution of 1917, became more and more convinced that in the new Russia for him, an aristocrat of the old Swedish kind, is not the place. In late 1917, he finally seems to want to lead Finland, which at that time is steadily moving towards independence.
However, Finland has been affected by the Bolshevik revolution. Therefore, the first steps of Mannerheim in the new independent state was marked by civil war and the harsh suppression of the revolution.
the Beginning of the civil war in Finland
6 December (new style), 1917 the Parliament of Finland, elected on the basis of universal (including women) and equal suffrage, in accordance with the “Declaration of the rights of peoples of Russia” Council of people’s Commissars (CPC) of the Russian Republic, declared the independence of Finland. The government in Finland then belonged to the government of the bourgeois nationalists, who sought to distance themselves from revolutionary Russia. December 31, SNK has officially recognized the independence of Finland, but supported the revolutionary forces seeking to overthrow the Finnish government.
on the night of 28 January, 1918, detachments of Finnish red guards, supported by the soldiers of the Russian garrison and sailors of the naval base of Suomenlinna, made a coup. Under their control was the capital Helsingfors (Helsinki), the largest city and the entire southern part of the country where lived 80% of the population. The command of the red guards declared the Finnish socialist workers Republic and appointed by the government – Council of national commissioners (the DREAM). The Parliament in the last moment before the acceleration had to appoint Mannerheim commander-in-chief of all the armed forces of Finland, the Finnish operating against the Bolsheviks.
a Stronghold of government forces was the city Youand on the shore of the Gulf of Bothnia. There shortly arrived polutoratysyachnogo brigade of Swedish volunteers. Mannerheim himself believed that the civil war should rely only on internal forces. But many events are not dependent on him, as all foreign relations was in charge of the government headed by Per-Mindom the Svinhufvud.
the backbone of the Finnish counter-revolutionary troops were volunteer units of the civil guards the Finnish White guard, which arose as a response to the creation of the red guard back in the fall of 1917. 18 February 1918, Mannerheim entered into subordinate districts conscription. With great difficulty he managed to create from the Finns who had never served in the army, an efficient military force. Luckily for him, his opponents were in a worse position. In addition, small groups of workers and soldiers of the Russian army, the Finnish Bolsheviks in Finland is not supported anymore.
Finland claims the entire Karelia
a Decisive influence on the outcome of the civil war in Finland was played by events connected with the conclusion of the Bolsheviks peace with Germany. In December 1917 at Brest-Litovsk negotiations, the Germans put before the Soviet delegation to withdraw from Finland. At the end of February 1918 the German ultimatum was reinforced by the beginning of the offensive at the front. The former Royal army was falling apart, the red army was not yet. March 3, SNK made “obscene” (in the words of Lenin) Brest-Litovsk Treaty, which had withdrawn support for the Finnish revolution.
on March 10, 1918 in ABO (Turku) landed an expeditionary detachment of the German army, which consisted of Finnish volunteers who fought in the First world war on Germany’s side. In April 1918, the whites and the invaders won a decisive victory against the Finnish Reds. SLEEP had fled to Petrograd. The last detachments of Finnish red guards were evacuated from the Kotka and Vyborg in Soviet Russia. The Finnish red guards operating in the North of the country, retreated to the area of Murmansk, under sthe throw landed there in March at the request of the Soviet government, to protect the North from the German offensive, British troops. 15 may 1918 the Finnish counter-revolution set the final control of the country.
Russia during that period was falling apart, and among the Finnish nationalists became popular ideas of the annexation of Karelia to Finland. Even during the civil war the Finnish whites had occupied part of Karelia and the cities Kem and Ukhta. March 18, Ukhta provisional Committee of the East Karelia adopted a resolution on the accession of the white sea Karelia to Finland. In April 1918, the Finns took Olonets in South Karelia. On 15 may there was established the Olonets government.
“Wallenius Plan”
23 Feb 1918 at a railway station Antrea (now Kamennogorsk Leningrad region of Russia) Mannerheim said “oath of the sword”, which promised “not to put the sword into the sheath, until the last soldier of Lenin and the bully will not be expelled from Finland, and Eastern Karelia.”
15 March 1918, Mannerheim signed the Directive, known as “Wallenius plan”. Kurt Martti Wallenius was an officer and one of the organizers of the Finnish volunteer jäger battalion in the German troops; later was promoted to General of the Finnish army. The plan provides for the accession of Finland territories to the West of the White sea (including Kola Peninsula) and from the line of lake Onega — the White sea, to the North of the river Svir, and the entire Karelian isthmus. Petersburg offered to tear away from Russia and declare a “free city”.
the Idea of creating “free cities” in the big port cities of international importance, has become popular among politicians in connection with the First world war. At its end in Europe, was established two cities: Danzig (Gdansk) and Fiume (Rijeka). They possessed the attributes of independent States, under the auspices of the League of Nations.
Petersburg was at that time the largest city in Eastern Europe with a population (in 1914), more than 2 million people. Internationalizationanalizatze his status would paralyze his influence as “the capital of the revolutionary proletariat” in Russia and Europe.
the Germans against
on may 5, 1918, in pursuit of retreating in the Russian Federation units of the Finnish red guard Finnish troops approached the Petersburg-Petrograd, but were repulsed by the red army. May 15, Finland declared war on the Federation. May 22 Finnish diet adopted a resolution that “the damage caused by Russia of Finland can be covered with only the accession of Finland of Eastern Karelia and Murmansk coast.”
However, Germany had no desire to support the Finns in the far-reaching requirements. Already on may 23, the Kaiser’s government in the form of an ultimatum demanded that Finland and the Russian Federation sit at the peace table. The Bolsheviks immediately responded Yes. May 31, Mannerheim resigned. Although peace between Soviet Russia and Finland was signed only in 1920, but the hostilities Finns now have the goal of only binding for a certain part of Karelia and was no longer counted on the internationalisation of Petrograd.
Yaroslav Butakov
Source:
© Russian Seven
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