Mannerheim's Chance to Change World History in 1919

[wilpuri]

From Gil's and my weblog, Velhametsä:




I've been studying for my University entrance exams, which I have on the day after tomorrow. I am applying for Political History and the book the test is going to be based upon is called "Finland's political history 1809-2006". I found the chapters dealing with the Finnish Civil War and the subsequent years to be most interesting, especially one brief window in history in the year 1919. The Finnish Civil War has been over for a year, the victorious Whites are in government, socialist activity is only slowly starting to pick up. Imperial Germany has collapsed and Finland has been forced to seek recognition from the Entete powers and change ther pro-German orientation. At the same time the Monarchist hopes have been smashed (Finland was to have a German prince as their monarch) and the Republican state form looks inevitable. Mannerheim has been made temporary Valtionhoitaja or "Administrator of the State". I'll start quoting from the book. Please bear with the translation. I've also linked some key terms, people, organizations, places and institutions to their wikiarticles so that you can find out in more detail what they were all about and what their significance was.


"The (republican) Form of Government only lacked the recognition and approval of the Administrator of the State. When the Form of Government was presented in the State Council's (valtionneuvosto) session on 10.07. to Mannerheim, he did not give his approval immediatly but announced that he would first familiarize himself thoroughly with the matter. This postponement was the last hope of the Monarchists. During the next week, intense negotiations took place behind the scenes, where the core of the (Radical Nationalists & Monarchists) did all they could to secure the support of the Administrator of the State and the National Coalition (the Monarchist party) for their coup plans.

White Finland had suffered one disappointment after another in their Eastern Policy. In January 1919, Finland appealed to the victors of the World War in the question of Eastern Karelia. White Russia's representative in the Paris Peace Conference announced sternly that the Finnish decleration of independence had been one-sided and that only the Bolsheviks had recognized it. The geographical area of Finland was important for Russia because of its significance for the defence of St. Petersburg. Russian Tsarists were of the opinion that the position of Finland should be solved in the Constitutional National Assembly of Russia.
In late April, 1919, a Finnish volunteer expedition invaded Aunus Karelia. Initially the expedition was about one thousand strong, but the government promised the funds for an additional two thousand men. The Finns advanced all the way to the river Svir, but were after that forced to retreat in the face of an over-whelming enemy. The expedition had to retreat back to Finland in late June.

Another expedition, about 4000 men strong, had left in late December 1918 to fight alongside the Estonians in their war of independence. Helping the Estonians was a popular cause in Finland, even among the Social Democrats. Mannerheim thought of the liberation of Estonia as important also because it would be possible to later operate against St. Petersburg from there. He also wished to prove to England, that Finland would stubbornly continue the fight against Bolshevism and that she was worthy of recognition. The Finns played a significant role in the expelling of the Soviet troops from Estonia in the winter of 1919.

The Commander of the Russian White's Northern Front, General Judenich, stayed in Helsinki during the spring of 1919 and recruited Russian officers who had remained in Finland into his forces. He also tried to persuade the Finnish government to attack and occupy St. Petersburg. In June he explained to Mannerheim, that Russia was in return prepared to recognize Finnish independence, organize a referendum in Eastern Karelia and allow Cultural Autonomy to Ingria. Judenich promised to hand down the leadership of the operation to Mannerheim. The Finnish Administrator of the State truly possessed the Keys to World History in his hands at this moment in time.

The majority of the new Parliament (Eduskunta) also supported the annexation of Eastern Karelia to Finland, but the support for the occupation of St. Petersburg came mainly from the Activists. They realized, that the operation would have to be initiated before the eduskunta would have time to elect a president of the republic. The Activists had reason to fear that a centre-led Finland would elect Ståhlberg for president, who would give up Eastern Karelia, Petsamo and the aiding of kindred peoples. The Activists could only hope that before this Mannerheim would in his position as Administrator of the State postpone the implementation of the republican form of government and perhaps even break up the parliament all together and order for new elections to be held. Meanwhile Finland would strike fast towards St. Petersburg and force out the Bolsheviks. This, in brief, was the plan as had been agreed on in secret negotiations between the inner circle of the Activist movement in the spring of 1919. One of leading figures of the Activists, Kai Donner, presented the plan to Mannerheim, who was known to the Activists by the pseudonym "Andersson".

Mannerheim accepted the Activists' plan in principle but proposed that certain requirements had to be met: they would have to secure the support of the Western powers as well as that of the National Coalition Party. This turned out to be the deciding issue: Paasikivi, Ingman and other leading National Coalitionists turned the plan down immediatly. Also, the promises of English and French support remained vague and uncertain. Mannerheim perceived that the "Activist Project" was no longer realistically possible. He ratified the new form of government on 17.07.1919."

The purpose of this post is perhaps not so much to discuss and speculate what might have happened if Mannerheim had decided to go through with the plan, I find it usually rather futile. I just thought some people might find little historical details such as this one interesting, I certainly know I do. Although, one does wonder, would the world have looked very different had the Soviet Union been stabbed lifeless in its cradle with Finnish bayonettes!
Mannerheim did contemplate on the plan later on as well, after he had suffered defeat in the presidential elections to Ståhlberg:


"The position of the first president of the republic was very weak. The Elite of White Finland openly and harshly criticized Ståhlberg's election. The President himself wished to work towards reconciliation. He hoped for the government to continue in office and offered the position of Commander in Chief of the Defense Forces to Mannerheim, whom set heavy requirements for his acceptance: he demanded to be given a position independent of the president and the government and the right to start preparing an attack again St. Petersburg. Ståhlberg could not accept such terms. In this situation also the government saw it better to step down.

I also found a wikiarticle on General Yudenich, the commander of the Tsarist Russian Northern Front. It illustrates well how the situation played out, without Finnish involvement.


A year after the October Revolution of 1917, Yudenich emigrated to France and then Estonia. In July of 1919 he joined the Russian Civil War, as commander of the Northwestern White Army. He also became a member of the counterrevolutionary Northwestern "government", created with the help of Great Britain.

Yudenich spent the next three months organizing and training his army. Funds for this effort were supplied by the British government. Eventually Yudenich had a fairly well organized army some 20,000 strong. In early October, 1919, Yudenich launched his army against Petrograd.

With the Bolshevik armies actively engaged on several other fronts (fighting Kolchak's forces in Siberia and several Cossack armies in the Ukraine) only small forces stood between Yudenich and Petrograd.
Yudenich's friend from the Imperial Russian Army, Mannerheim, asked the president of Finland, Ståhlberg, to join Yudenich's force and attack Petrograd with the help from the Finns. Yudenich would recognize Finland's independence and Finland's pro-Triple Entente relationships would be recognized. But Kolchak (who was nominally the leader of the White Armies) did not recognise Finlands independence. Stålhberg refused and Yudenich attacked Petrograd alone.

On October 19, 1919 his troops reached the edges of the city. At this point the main leadership of the Bolshevik government in Moscow was prepared to let Petrograd fall, but Leon Trotsky did not agree. Trotsky went to Petrograd and personally organized the defence of the city. Factory workers were given weapons and sent out to oppose Yudenich's men. The attack by Yudenich's forces failed and by November 1, Yudenich began to retreat.

His forces took refuge in Estonia where they agreed to be disarmed. In 1920 his forces were evacuated by British ships out of Estonia. Yudenich went into exile in France. In his remaining 13 years he played no significant role among White Army émigrés. He died at Saint-Laurent-du-Var, near Nice on the French Riviera, on October 5, 1933.