The
Red Guards () formed the army of Red Finland during the
Finnish Civil War 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,
Eero Haapalainen,
Eino Rahja and in the end
Kullervo Manner. The government of Red Finland was called "The People's Deputation". The Red Guards were in power from 28 January to the end of April 1918 in southern
Finland.
The Red Guards' general staff were located in
Helsinki; the other major cities controlled by the Red forces were
Tampere,
Turku,
Pori and
Viipuri. Red Tampere came to its end on 6 April 1918 after bloody battles when
Mannerheim's White Guards
conquered the city.
Thousands of Red Guards were imprisoned, hundreds of them were executed and the rest were transported to
POW camps. Helsinki was in White control by April 12, 1918.
During the
general strike of 1905 "National Guards" were formed in Finland. These Guards included both socialists 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, became Finland's oldest man ever before his death in January 2009.
Strength
See also
References
External links
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