The Finnish term (singular ) refers to a series of armed conflicts and private military expeditions in 1918–1922 into areas of the former

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

that bordered on Finland and were inhabited in large part by other

Finnic peoples The Finnic peoples, or simply Finns, are the nations who speak languages traditionally classified in the Finno-Permic languages, Finnic language family, and which are thought to have originated in the region of the Volga River. Currently, the l ...

. The term has been translated into English as "''Kindred Nations Wars''", "''Wars for kindred peoples''", "''Kinfolk wars''", or "''Kinship Wars''," specifically referring to Finnic kinship. Finnish volunteers took part in these conflicts, either to assert Finnish control over areas inhabited by related Finnic peoples, or to help them gain independence from

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

. Many of the volunteers were inspired by the idea of "

Greater Finland Greater Finland (; ; ) is an irredentist and nationalist idea which aims for the territorial expansion of Finland. It is associated with Pan-Finnicism. The most common concept saw the country as defined by natural borders encompassing the ter ...

". Some of the conflicts were incursions from Finland, and some were local uprisings in which volunteers wanted either to help people fight for independence or to annex areas to Finland. According to Aapo Roselius, about 10,000 volunteers from Finland took part in the armed conflicts mentioned below. * Viena expedition (1918) ** Murmansk Legion * Petsamo expeditions (1918 and 1920) *

Estonian War of Independence The Estonian War of Independence, also known as the War of Freedom in Estonia, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the United Kingdom, against the Soviet Russian westward offensive of 1918–1919 and the ...

(1918–1920) ** Pohjan Pojat () and helped Estonian troops. * Revolt of the Ingrian Finns (1918–1920) * Aunus expedition (1919) * Advance on Petrograd (1919) * East Karelian Uprising (1921–1922) * The phenomenon is closely linked to

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

and

irredentism Irredentism () is one State (polity), state's desire to Annexation, annex the territory of another state. This desire can be motivated by Ethnicity, ethnic reasons because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to or the same as the ...

, as Finland had just formally gained its national independence in 1917, and a part of the population felt that they had obligations to help other Finnic peoples to attain the same. Estonia, the closest and numerically largest "kindred nation", had gained its independence at the same time, but had fewer resources, fewer institutions ready to support its attained position, and more Bolshevik Russian troops within its borders. Other Finnic peoples were at a less organized level of cultural, economic and political capability. The

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of the country between Whites (Finland), White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Red Finland) during the country's transition fr ...

had awakened strong nationalistic feelings in Finnish citizens and other Finnic peoples, and they sought tangible ways to put these feelings into action. For the two next decades, Finns participated at a relatively high rate in nationalistic activities (e.g. Karelianism and Finnicization of the country and its institutions). This development was related to the trauma and divisiveness of the Finnish Civil War. Many White sympathizers in the Civil War became radically nationalistic as a result of the war. The strenuous five-year period of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

— which also mostly unified the nation — reduced this enthusiasm.

Viena expedition

Petsamo expeditions

Finnish involvement in the Estonian-Soviet War

Revolt of the Ingrian Finns

Aunus expedition

Advance on Petrograd

East Karelian Uprising

Glossary

; Sota : "War", in this context, a low-intensity one, consisting of actions such as border skirmishes, expeditions by volunteer corps, expulsion of remnant occupational forces or attempts to foment rebellion in the local populace. ; Heimo : "Tribe" or "clan", but in this context, also the ethnic and language kinship between Baltic Finns; "kindred peoples". Somewhat comparable to the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

concept of Völkisch. ; Sukukansa : People who are linguistically and/or ethnically akin to one another; "suku" means "family" and "kansa" means "people" (singular).

Notes

References

{{Russian Conflicts Political history of Finland * Finnish irredentism Finnish nationalism Wars involving Soviet Russia (1917–1922) Wars involving the United Kingdom Finland–Russia relations Finland–Soviet Union relations White movement Military operations of the Russian Civil War in 1918 Military operations of the Russian Civil War in 1919 Military operations of the Russian Civil War in 1920 Military operations of the Russian Civil War in 1921 Military operations of the Russian Civil War in 1922