The

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

Heimosodat (singular ''heimosota''), refer to a series of armed conflicts and private military expeditions in 1918–1922 into the areas of the former

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

which were neighbouring Finland and inhabited in large part by other

Finnic peoples The Finnic or Fennic peoples, sometimes simply called Finns, are the nations who speak languages traditionally classified in the Finnic (now commonly '' Finno-Permic'') language family, and which are thought to have originated in the region of ...

. The term has been translated into English as "''Kindred Nations Wars''", "''Wars for kindred peoples''", "''Kinfolk wars''", or "''Kinship Wars''," specifically Finnic kinship. It is sometimes erroneously translated as "Tribal wars".

volunteers took part in these conflicts either to assert Finnish control over the areas inhabited by related Finnic peoples, or to help them gain independence from

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Many of the volunteer soldiers were inspired by the idea of

Greater Finland Greater Finland ( fi, Suur-Suomi; et, Suur-Soome; sv, Storfinland), an irredentist and nationalist idea, emphasized territorial expansion of Finland. The most common concept of Greater Finland saw the country as defined by natural borders enc ...

. Some of the conflicts were incursions from Finland and some were local uprisings, where volunteers wanted either to help the people in their fight for independence or to annex the areas to Finland. According to Roselius, about 10,000 volunteers from Finland took part in the armed conflicts mentioned below. *

Estonian War of Independence The Estonian War of Independence ( et, Vabadussõda, literally "Freedom War"), also known as the Estonian Liberation War, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the United Kingdom, against the Bolshevik westwa ...

(1918–1920) **

Pohjan Pojat (; fi, Pohjan Pojat ; ) was a Finnish military brigade in 1918–1919, the second group of Finnish volunteers to enlist to take part in the Estonian War of Independence, closely following behind the regiment led by Colonel Martin Ekström. ...

("Sons of the North") and I Suomalainen Vapaajoukko (I Finnish volunteer corps) helped Estonian troops. *

Viena expedition The Viena expedition ( fi, Vienan retkikunta, sv, Vienaexpeditionen) was a military expedition in March 1918 by Finland, Finnish volunteer forces to annex White Karelia (''Vienan Karjala'') from Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Bols ...

(1918) **

Murmansk Legion The Murmansk Legion, also known as the Finnish Legion, was a British Royal Navy organized military unit during the 1918–1919 Allied North Russia Intervention. It was composed of Finnish Red Guards who had fled after the Finnish Civil War from ...

Aunus expedition The Aunus expedition was an attempt by Finnish volunteers to occupy parts of East Karelia in 1919, during the Russian Civil War. ''Aunus'' is the Finnish name for Olonets Karelia. This expedition was one of many Finnic "kinship wars" (''heimos ...

(1919) *

Petsamo expeditions The Petsamo expeditions ( fi, Petsamon retket, sv, Petsamoexpeditionerna) were two military expeditions in May 1918 and in April 1920 by Finnish civilian volunteers, to annex Petsamo (russian: Pechenga) from Bolshevist Russia. It was one of ...

(1918 and 1920) *

Revolt of the Ingrian Finns The Ingrian revolt was a secessionist rebellion in the region of Ingria during the Russian Civil War. It aimed to be integrated into Finland, but no such arrangements were made and it collapsed less than a year after its formation. It only ever ...

(1918–1920) * East Karelian Uprising (1921–1922) The phenomenon is closely linked to

nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

and

irredentism Irredentism is usually understood as a desire that one state annexes a territory of a neighboring state. This desire is motivated by ethnic reasons (because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to the population of the parent sta ...

, 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; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

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 Karelianism was a late 19th-century cultural phenomenon in the Grand Duchy of Finland and involved writers, painters, poets and sculptors. Since the publishing of the Finnish national epic Kalevala in 1835, compiled from Finnish and Karelian folk ...

and

Finnicization Finnicization (also finnicisation, fennicization, fennicisation) is the changing of one's personal names from other languages (usually Swedish) into Finnish. During the era of National Romanticism in Finland, many people, especially Fennomans, fi ...

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 1939–45 of total war — which also mostly unified the nation — reduced this enthusiasm.

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 (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **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 Wars involving Finland Wars involving Russia Russian Civil War Finland–Russia relations Finland–Soviet Union relations