The foreign office and British intervention in the Finnish civil war

Abstract

When Finland declared its independence from Russia in December 1917, following the Bolshevik Revolution, Britain hesitated to recognise the new state, preferring to wait until the Russian Constituent Assembly decided on the status of the Finnish territories. The German government were not so reticent, and when civil conflict broke out between ‘White’ and ‘Red’ factions in Finland, Berlin was in a good position to exert a degree of influence over the ‘White’ government based in Vaasa. In 1918, German units were sent to fight against the Red Guards. When it became clear that the White forces were certain to win the war, a fear arose within the Foreign Office that these forces would lay claim to territories belonging to Russia, such as Karelia and Murmansk. The British naval units based at Murmansk were ordered to take action against the White Finns and fight alongside the remnants of the defeated communists. The Foreign Office had little reason for feeling generous towards the Soviet government which had left the war against Germany. It was in fact the fear of German expansion in the Northern region and the effect this might have on the broader European conflict which conditioned the British response. Ideology was not a consideration.