According to the plan, the strength of Finnish volunteers was to be doubled to 6000 men and together with 25 000-30 000 Estonian troops, they would attack from Narva towards Petrograd. They also believed they would get help from White Russian, Baltic German and Finnish Armies.
Kalm had served in Petrograd in the Czar’s Army and was familiar with its defenses. He planned to conquer the Kronstadt Naval base with a surprise attack across the ice: a small strike force in snow camouflage would have silenced the fortress's guns.
Although Kalm’s ambitious plan was rejected by the Finnish government, some men from Pohjan Pojat did serve in the Ingrian volunteer unit, which fought together with the White Russian forces.
What if Mannerheim had crossed the Rubicon? Thread on the planned 1919 Finnish right-wing coup and Petrograd offensive. 1/19
After the failure of Finnish monarchy, Mannerheim was named the regent of Finland while a new Republican constitution was being drafted. Finland still struggled to gain the recognition of its independence and ambitious foreign policy goals were abandoned. 2
This clashed with the goals of the monarchist and nationalist activists who wanted Finland to achieve its geopolitical destiny. The most important question at hand was the future of Petrograd. A war-party began to form around Mannerheim. 3
On this day in 1555, the battle of Joutselkä was fought between the Finnish troops of the Kingdom of Sweden and Muscovite Russian forces. In this battle, the Finns achieved a victory over a ten times larger Russian force thanks to innovative tactics like the use of ski troops.
In the 16th century, the expansion of Finnish settlements and raids conducted over the border by both Swedes and Russians escalated tensions between the two kingdoms until they were in a state of war. In the Winter of 1555, Tsar Ivan the Terrible decided to invade Finland.
The warden of the Swedish border outpost, Juho Maununpoika, had some 160 troops at his disposal against the invading Russian force of 6000 men (modern estimate). Instead of retreating, he decided to stop the Russians at the border with a counterattack.
On this day in 1918 during the Finnish Civil War, the Battle of Kuopio ended. The battle was a relatively bloodless, yet important victory for the White Army in Northern Savonia.
The White forces were officially led by Carl Malm, an officer of the Old Finnish Guard, disbanded in 1905, but in battle they were led by Jägers like Einar Vihma, who had returned from Germany to liberate his hometown.
The Whites of Kuopio received reinforcements from Ostrobothnia and Kajaani. Among the soldiers of the Kajaani Sissi regiment was young Urho Kekkonen, the future president of Finland.
Fascinating video about asymmetrical skis used by Uralic peoples in Fennoscandia. On the left foot, the skier has a long ski for sliding, on the right foot, he has a shorter ski for kicking
The long ski was traditionally made from pine tree reaction wood, which was hard and curved. The shorter ski was made from birch and its bottom was covered with deer hide to give it better friction. The long ski was waxed with animal fat to make it slide better.
Most of the time, only one ski pole was used. This allowed the skier to use a weapon such as a spear or bow in their other hand. Sometimes the weapon doubled as the ski pole. The asymmetrical skis allowed the hunter to achieve considerable speed.
While the assassination of Nikolai Bobrikov is by far the best-known act of Finnish resistance during the first Russification period, it wasn’t the only one. Here are some other assassination attempts which took place (and some of them are quite funny) 1/10
Eliel Soisalon-Soininen was a Finnish conservative politician who became the Chancellor of Justice. In his position, he had to enforce the Russification policies and was awarded for his actions, which furthered his reputation as a traitor. 2/10
Lennart Hohenthal was an Activist who had originally planned to murder Bobrikov. Many of his comrades were hounded by the Russian Gendarmes because of Soisalon-Soininen, so Hohenthal made him his new target. 3/10
In the 1930s, there still existed a living tradition of paganism in the rural areas of Karelia. Old bards sung poetry in the traditional Kalevala meter and played the traditional instrument Kantele. Traditional magic rituals were still performed.
As the Karelian traditions were documented, interest in them increased abroad. The researchers of Deutsches Ahnenerbe believed that living oral traditions would give far more insight into the life of their ancestors than modern anthropology ever could.