Political terror in Finland and Baltic States after World War I
Political terror in Finland and Baltic States during 1918–1920 occurred during violent political struggles within the Baltic territory of the Russian Empire disintegrated as a result of World War I and the Russian Revolution. While there were various militant actors in the scene, including German Army and the Russian White Movement from the remnants of the Russian Imperial Army, the major polarization was between "the Reds", or Bolshevik-influenced Communist revolutionaries, who wanted to establish the Soviet powers, and "the Whites" (not to be confused with Russian "Whites"), who wanted to establish independent states based on traditional democracy. Accordingly, the political terror during this period is roughly classified into the "Red Terror" and "White Terror".[1]
Overview
[edit]The four countries, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia 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. Of these four, the bloodiest (and best researched) terror was in Finland (see Finnish Civil War § Red and White terror), 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.[a] During the Latvian War of Independence 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.[1]
Finland
[edit]According to the Finnish War Casualties database, the losses of "the Reds" (Red Guards), "the Whites", and others in the period may be summarized as follows:[2]
| Death cause | Reds | Whites | Other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casualties in military actions | 5,199 | 3,414 | 790 | 9,403 |
| Executed, murdered | 7,370 | 1,424 | 926 | 9,720 |
| Died in prison camps | 11,652 | 4 | 1,790 | 13,446 |
| Died after being released from prison camps | 607 | - | 6 | 613 |
| Disappeared | 1,767 | 46 | 380 | 2,193 |
| Other ways of death | 443 | 291 | 531 | 1,265 |
| Totals | 27,038 | 5,179 | 4,423 | 36,640 |
Estonia
[edit]Soviet Estonian scholar Paul Vihalem gave an estimate of 2,000 victims among the "revolutionaries" (i.e., the Red Estonians),[3] while the modern Estonian researcher Taavi Minnik suggests the number of 800 victims of the White Terror.[4]
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ The total death toll in Lithuania in this period was much higher due to military actions in the Polish–Lithuanian War and Lithuanian–Soviet War.
References
[edit]- ^ a b 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, doi:10.1080/01629778.2015.1009685
- ^ Vuosina 1914-22 sotaoloissa surmansa saaneiden nimitiedosto
- ^ Paul Vihalem, Valge terror Eestis aastail 1918-1919, Tartu, 1961
- ^ Alo Lõhmus, 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")