Categorizing Political Violence: The Finnish Civil War

Justin Pace

Categorizing Political Violence: The Case of the Finnish Civil War

            On December 6, 1917, Finland, under its newly created government, declared itself independent from Russian rule. However, leading up to that point, tensions within the Finnish population had been growing between the middle-class “white” faction and the working-class “red” faction, who were both seeking a political power. The Finnish government, which was created just before the Finns gained their independence, was dominated by the non-socialist middle-class, and sought to dominate the socialist “Reds” in politics. Neither side was willing to compromise in politics and civil War erupted on January 27-28, 1918, as the Reds began a general uprising throughout the country. The Civil War ended on May 16, 1918 when the White leader, General Mannerheim, marched into and conquered Helsinki. In just that short period, about 30,000 Finns, which amounted to one percent of the population, lost their lives (“The”). “The divisions in society that resulted from the conflict were so intense that the two sides could not even agree on what it ought to be called. The right gave it the name ‘War of Independence,’ thereby stressing the struggle against Russian rule, for they had feared that a Red victory could well lead to the country's becoming a Soviet satellite. Leftists emphasized the domestic dimensions of the conflict, referring to it by the term ‘Civil War’” (“The”). According to the definition of civil war, which is given in Comparative Politics, this political conflict should be classified as a civil war.

            A civil war is an “armed combat within the boundaries of a sovereign state between parties that are subject to common authority at the start of hostilities” (Samuels 259). Despite challenges in defining key terms in political science, this definition for “civil war” works pretty well. It captures the main points of a civil war, clearly distinguishing civil war from other types of political violence. In the case of the Finnish civil war, there was armed conflict between the Whites and the Reds, two factions that were subject to common authority, the Finnish government, at the start of the hostilities. Although the Whites feared Russian takeover if the Red Army would have won, the hostilities were between two Finnish parties. It did not pit the Russian army against the Finnish army. Therefore the Finnish Civil War is rightly called a “civil war.”

Works Cited

"The Finnish Civil War." Finland. Ed. Eric Solsten and Sandra W. Meditz. U.S. Library of Congress, 2012. Web. 08 Nov. 2012. <http://countrystudies.us/finland/15.htm>.

Samuels, David J. Comparative Politics. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2013. Print.