Conflicted Opinion on Independence

Great Britain, like many of the Western Allies, had mixed feelings towards Finland’s independence. In their struggle against the Central Powers the Allies had propagated the First World War as a war opposing militarism and fighting for the rights of self-determination.  However, the Entente were more concerned over Russia withdrawing from the war and how Finnish Independence might contribute to this.

Northern Rivals

More concerning for the British was Germany’s intervention and growing influence within independent Finland. Although Finland never officially joined the Central Powers or declared war on the western Allies, it did play a role in Germany’s war effort. One of the stated reasons the Germans intervened in Finland was to provide a new threat to British holdings in the Arctic ports of Petsamo and Murmansk.[1] These ports were a part of the British Murmansk Force, which was tasked with protecting lifelines to Russia and would eventually form a key component in the Allied intervention into the Russian Civil War.

Conflict eventually broke out between Finland and the United Kingdom, on May 14^th 1918. A unit of White Finns, on their own volition, attempted to seize Petsamo from the British garrison. The Finns were repulsed, suffering about 50 deaths, while British casualties were “slight”.[2] The Murmansk Force was in such desperate need of soldiers, they even organized a force of Red Finnish refugees, despite their communist leanings. This “Finn Legion” eventually grew into a force of 800 former Red Guards fighting for British interests.[3]

Shaky Peace

Germany’s defeats on the Western Front in the summer and fall of 1918 posed a major threat to White Finland. With Germany defeated, Finland’s independence was again threatened if the victorious Allies did not recognize its legitimacy. Worse still, the October 9^th 1918 election of Kaiser Wilhelm II’s brother-in-law Grand Duke Friedreich Karl of Hesse to be King of Finland, tied the country to the crumbling Hohenzollern dynasty.[4] If Finland was going to ensure recognition from the West, open up desperately needed supply routes and receive support in its ongoing wars with Bolshevik Russia, it needed to negotiate with the Allies.

Former Commander-in-Chief C. G. E. Mannerheim was chosen to act as Finland’s representative to the Western Allies.[5] Mannerheim was the ideal choice as he was the highest ranking Finnish officer who had fought for the Allied cause while in the Imperial Russian Army and he had not joined the Finnish pro-German administration, instead going into self-imposed exile in Sweden after the Civil War.

Mannerheim travelled to London, arriving on November 12^th 1918, the day after the signing of the armistice.[6] There, and subsequently in Paris, Mannerheim found a cold reception. Although many politicians understood Finland’s decision to ally with Germany, they could not openly support Finnish independence until a new Finnish government was established, and all German troops had vacated Finland.

“King” Friedreich Karl abdicated his new throne, and a Finnish republic was proclaimed. Most of the wartime White government also stepped down, including P. E. Svinhufvud. To placate the Allies and guide Finland through this tumultuous period, Mannerheim was elected Regent of Finland in absentia.[7] The Finnish Social Democratic Party was even allowed to reorganize and join the new government, under the leadership of moderate socialists who had remained neutral during the Civil War. This sufficed to receive British recognition.

For more on the resurgence of Finnish socialism: Click Here.

Britain had its own obstacles to normalization with Finland, chiefly its Finn Legion. Having perceived Finnish traitors in their service was an embarrassment for the British and the Finn Legion recognized their own expendability.  Facing possible mutiny or desertion to Bolshevik forces, the British were able to negotiate for the repatriation of the Finn Legion’s members back to Finland which was carried out on August 31^st 1919.[8]

Cooperation

Following the normalization of relations between the Finland and Great Britain, the British began approaching Finland in a very similar way to that Germany had: as a buffer against the growing threat of Bolshevism. Winston Churchill in particular, acting in his role as Secretary of State for War, saw Finland as an important component in the West’s intervention in the Russian Civil War.[9] With Finland already engaged in an unofficial war with Soviet Russia (the Kindred Wars) and Regent Mannerheim’s extremely anti-Bolshevik sensibilities, Churchill found a receptive collaborator. Together Churchill and Mannerheim planned for elaborate assaults on Petrograd and the breakup of Soviet Russia.[10] These plans did not materialize, as both Finland and the United Kingdom decided peace was the better route.[11]

 

Citations

[1] Erich Ludendorff, My War Memories 1914 – 1918, Third Edition, vol. Vol II (London: Hutchinson & Co., n.d.), 628.

[2] Craig Gerrard, “The Foreign Office and British Intervention in the Finnish Civil War,” Civil Wars 3, no. 3 (2000): 98.

[3] C. Maynard, The Murmansk Venture (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1971), 88.

[4] Osmo Jussila, Seppo Hentilä, and Jukka Nevakivi, From Grand Duchy to a Modern State – A Political History of Finland since 1809, trans. David Arter and Eva-Kaisa Arter (London: Hurst and Company, 1999), 124–25.

[5] Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, The Memoirs of Marshal Mannerheim, trans. Eric Lewenhaupt (London: Cassell and Company Ltd, 1953), 187–88.

[6] Ibid., 191–93.

[7] Jonathan Clements, Mannerheim President, Soldier, Spy (London: Haus Publishing, 2009), 218–19.

[8] Maynard, The Murmansk Venture, 31–32.

[9] Markku Ruotsila, “The Churchill-Mannerheim Collaboration in the Russian Intervention, 1919-1920,” The Slavonic and East European Review 80, no. 1 (2002): 1.

[10] Ibid., 5–6.

[11] Ibid., 15–16.

Banner Photo – Royal Navy Ships in the Baltic in 1919. Credit: Wikimedia Commons