Leaders

Ali Aaltonen

Aaltonen (known as Aleksi) was the leader of the Red Guards during the Civi War. He was born in 1884, and dropped out of school to become involved in the Russo-Japanese War as a Lieutenant, and the 1905 Russian Revolution. As a result of his Socialist views he lost his position in the army and became a journalist known as Ali Baba.

He led the attack during the Battle of Tampere but was subsequently demoted due to alcohol problems. He was captured by the Whites at Villahde Railway Station, some 100km North East of Helsinki. He was held in the Hennala prison camp in Lahti, home to some 10,000 prisoners at the end of the war, where he was shot in August 1918.

Hugo Salmela

Salmela was born in 1884, and worked as a saw mill worker in Kotka, eastern Finland. While he had no military background he became the leader of the Kymi Guard. When the Civil War broke out he was transferred to Tampere, becoming Commander in Chief of the Northern Front. Due to his lack of experience, a Russian officer, Lt Col Georgi Bulatsel, was his adviser. While he was supposed to be working under Aaltonen, in effect Salmela has to make most of the military decisions due to Aaltonen’s drinking.

Salmela was accidentally killed in an explosion in March 1918 when Kustaa Salminen (himself a former Red Guard commander) accidentally triggered a hand grenade which he then threw into a box of hand grenades causing an explosion which killed several members of staff including Salmela. Salminen lost his legs in the explosion.

Marshall Mannerheim

Carl Gustav Mannerheim was born in western Finland to a family of some wealth, though his father went bankupt when Carl Gustav was a teenager. He joined the Russian Imperial Army as a cadet, was thrown out for his behaviour, but eventually succeeded after attending the Nicholas Cadet School in St Petersburg. He joined the Chevalier Guard Regiment. He married a wealthy woman, Anastasia Arapova. They had two daughters but it was an unhappy marriage and they divorced in 1919.

Mannerheim fought in the Russo-Japanese War and was promoted to Colonel in 1905. In 1909 he was promoted Major-General. During the First World War he was decorated for bravery and appointed to command the 12th Cavalry Division.

It was at this point that the turmoil of the Russian revolutions of 1917 began. In February, Mannerheim was in St Petersburg and witnessed the revolution. He returned to the front, being promoted to Lieutenant General, but was removed quite quickly as he did not support the revolution.

Mannerheim made his way back to Finland with some difficulty at the end of 1917. In January 1918, the newly independent Finnish Government appointed him Commander in Chief of the White Army. He made his headquarters in Vaasa, which became the capital of White Finland during the Civil War, and his first job was to try and disarm the Russian Army that still remained in Finland.

After the war ended he resigned - for a short while. He negotiated with the allies over Finland’s future, and in December 1918 became Regent of Finland. He managed to help secure the recognition of Finland, before losing the Presidential race in July 1919.

Mannerheim returned to lead the Finnish troops in the Winter War of 1939-40, and through the Continuation War of 1941-44, finally becoming president in 1944. He resigned in 1946 due to ill-health and died in 1951.