Political terror in Finland and Baltic States during 1918–1920 occurred during violent political struggles within the Baltic territory of the

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 ...

disintegrated as a result of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

. While there were various militant actors in the scene, including

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

and the Russian

White Movement The White movement,. The old spelling was retained by the Whites to differentiate from the Reds. also known as the Whites, was one of the main factions of the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. It was led mainly by the Right-wing politics, right- ...

from the remnants of the

Russian Imperial Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

, the major polarization was between "the Reds", or

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

-influenced Communist revolutionaries, who wanted to establish the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

powers, and "the Whites" (not to be confused with Russian "Whites"), who wanted to establish independent states based on traditional

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

. Accordingly, the political terror during this period is roughly classified into the "Red Terror" and "White Terror".Tomas Balkelis, "War, Revolution and Terror in the Baltic States and Finland after the Great War", ''Journal of Baltic Studies'', Volume 46, 2015, issue 1, pp.1–9,

Overview

The four countries,

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, and

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

had similar developments, all of them being the parts of the collapsed Russian Empire territorially close to each other and influenced by similar forces, with the exception of Lithuania, who had an additional conflict with

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Of these four, the bloodiest (and best researched) terror was in Finland (see ), where about 1,600 were killed in Red Terror and 8,100 killed in White Terror. The least organized political Red/White terror was in Lithuania, where about 100 persons were killed within this framework, mostly by anti-Bolshevik forces. During the

Latvian War of Independence The Latvian War of Independence (), sometimes called Latvia's freedom battles () or the Latvian War of Liberation (), was a series of military conflicts in Latvia between 5 December 1918, after the newly proclaimed Republic of Latvia was invade ...

there were estimated 1,500–2,000 victims of Red Terror and 3,000–4,000 victims of White Terror. In Estonia the numbers were smaller. Tomas Balkelis writes that an apparent imbalance in death tolls, similar in all cases, may be explained by the fact that the victors had more time to carry out the killings, but it may be a more complicated issue.

Finland

According to the database, the losses of "the Reds" (

Red Guards The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

), "

the Whites The Whites are an American country music vocal group from Fort Worth, Texas, United States. They consist of sisters Sharon White and Cheryl White, and, until his death, their father, Buck White. Sharon plays guitar, Cheryl is the bassist and Bu ...

", and others in the period may be summarized as follows:

Estonia

Soviet Estonian scholar gave an estimate of 2,000 victims among the "revolutionaries" (i.e., the Red Estonians), while the modern Estonian researcher Taavi Minnik suggests the number of 800 victims of the White Terror.
Valge terror võistles Vabadussõjas punasega
("The White Terror competed with the Red One in the War of Independence"), October 23, 2010, citing Taavi Minnik, "Terror ja repressioonid Eesti Vabadussõjas" ("Terror and Repressions in the Finnish War of Independence")

Notes

References

{{reflist White Terror Red Terror Aftermath of World War I Aftermath of World War I in Finland History of Estonia History of Latvia History of Lithuania

Overview

Finland

Estonia

See also

Notes

References