East Karelian uprising

TheEast Karelian Uprising(Finnish:itäkarjalaisten kansannousu,Karelian: päivännouzu karjalan kanzannouzu) and theSoviet–Finnish conflict 1921–1922were an attempt  by a group ofEast Karelianseparatists supported byFinlandto gain independence from theRussian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. They were aided by a number of Finnish volunteers, starting from 6 November 1921. The conflict ended on 21 March 1922 with theAgreements between the governments of Soviet Russia and Finland about the measures of maintenance of the inviolability of the Soviet–Finnish border.The conflict is regarded in Finland as one of theheimosodat– "Kinship Wars".
AfterFinland declared independencefrom Russia, a number ofFinnish nationalistssupported the idea of aGreater Finlandattained through the annexation ofEast Karelia, which was controlled by the Russians. This was seen as an effort to form a unified country forBalto-Finnictribes, who were regarded as kindred by these activists. The resulting two incursions by Finnish volunteers into Russia, called theVienaandAunus expeditions, are not considered wars against Russia in Finnish historiography. In Russia, this conflict, as well as the Finnish expeditions into East Karelia and thePetsamoin 1918–1920, is considered a military intervention and called theFirst Soviet–Finnish War. This period of disagreement and uncertainty about borders was ended with theTreaty of Tartu, where Finland and theBaltic statesfirst recognised theRussian Soviet Federative Socialist Republicas a sovereign state, and established the border between Finland and RSFSR.
The motivation for the uprising wasEast Karelians'year-long experience of theBolshevikregime – not respecting promises of autonomy, food shortages, the will of nationalistickindredactivists to amend the results of the "shameful peace" of Tartu, and the wish of exiled East Karelians. Finnish kindred activists, notablyJalmari Takkinen, the deputy ofBobi Sivén, the bailiff ofRepola, had been conducting a campaign in the summer of 1921 in order to rouse the East Karelians to fight against the Bolshevik belligerents of the ongoingRussian Civil War. East Karelian paramilitary units called themselvesKarjalan metsäsissit(English:Forest Guerrillas), and by autumn of 1921 a notable part ofWhite Kareliawas under their control.
The parishes ofRepolaandPorajärviof theOlonets Governoratehad voted in favor of secession from Bolshevist Russiaand had been occupied by Finland later that year. In late 1919 the RussianWhite Armyretreated towards the Finnish border to the Repola-Porajärvi area. The Finnish government led byJuho Vennoladecided in February 1920 that Finland should intervene to help the dissidents by diplomatic means. Foreign ministerRudolf Holstisent a message to his counterpartGeorgy Chicherinstating that Finland would disarm the retreating Russian White troops if the Red Army does not occupy the parishes. Agreement was honoured by both parties, although there were minor skirmishes between Finnish troops and the Red Army. These fights led to armistice negotiations inRajajoki, which ended unsuccessfully after two weeks.
There had been uprisings inWhite Kareliaas early as 1920. After British forces left Karelia, Karelian ethnic nationalists arranged a meeting inUkhta(now Kalevala, Russia) in March–April 1920 where they elected 117 representatives. In the meeting they decided that White Karelia should become an independent nation. Some parishes of Olonets Karelia joined in and theVäliaikainen toimikunta(Temporary Commission) renamed itself toKarjalan väliaikainen hallitus(Temporary Government of Karelia). However, the Red Army suppressed this uprising and in summer 1920 the Temporary Government fled to Finland.In its place, theKarelian Worker's Communewas formed, an autonomousoblastof the RSFSR.
During the treaty negotiations, Finland proposed areferendumin East Karelia, through which its residents could choose whether they wanted to join Finland or Soviet Russia. Due to opposition from Russia, Finland had to withdraw the initiative. In return of ceding Repola and Porajärvi back to Russia, Finland acquiredPetsamoand a promise of culturalautonomyfor East Karelia.However this cultural autonomy was poorly carried out.
Following the signing of the treaty, irredentists of the Repola county devised a contingency plan with the silent approval of the Finnish ministry of foreign affairs, titledKarhunpesäsuunnitelma(ProjectBear's Den). They acquired a shipment of 500 Japanese rifles and 100 000 cartridges fromElmo Kaila, one of theJäger Movementleaders. They also had twoMaximmachine guns and fourLewis Guns. Weapons shipments for ProjectBear's Denwere anopen secretand overlooked by Finnish customs officials.
On 6 January 1921, an aide of the Finnish minister of foreign affairsRudolf Holstidemanded an official account for the weapons. Eventually, the leader of the Repola irredentists, Bobi Sivén, received a letter from the Finnish foreign ministry stating: "Due to extraordinary circumstances you must do your utmost to prevent the people of Repola and Porajärvi from arming themselves." On 12 January, Sivén committed suicide with his service pistol. In several suicide letters he left behind, he expressed his resentment at Finland "betraying" the East Karelians, and his wish to rather die for East Karelians than return to Finland. He had answered earlier requests from Finnish government to return to Finland by stating he resigns from his bailiff office, and prefers to live as a civilian in Repola. Due to succeeding events Sivén was elevated to a status of a minor Finnic national hero and martyr akin toEugen Schauman, whose method of suicide he also imitated either on purpose or coincidentally, shooting himself in the heart instead of head in addition to the similar nationalistic pathos letters. Gradually these early uprisings and Finnish government's interest in supporting them dwindled.
The pivotal moment in the uprising was the council meeting ofKarelianForest Guerrillasin mid-October 1921. It voted in favor of secession from Soviet Russia. The key leadership was formed by military leadersJalmari Takkinen, Finnish-born, aka.Ilmarinen, andOssippa Borissainen. ParticularlyVaseli Levonenaka.Ukki Väinämöinen, who had prominent Karelian features and general resemblance to the Finnish mythical character, was deemed suitable for his role as an ideological leader. Some 550 Finnish volunteers joined the uprising, acting mostly as officers and squad leaders. Most famous of them wasPaavo TalvelaandErik Heinrichsof theJäger Movement, who later served as high ranking staff officer in theWinter WarandContinuation War.
The uprising is a peculiarity amongheimosodatas this time the initiative was not taken by Finnish insurgents, but by East Karelian separatists, and Finnish government remaining officially passive. After the treaty of Tartu and Finnish government retreating from covert separatist support, the uprising was started by East Karelians, with Finnish volunteers joining afterwards.The uprising began with the immediatesummary executionof anyone who was or was suspected to be aBolshevik. The uprising escalated into a military engagement in October–November 1921. The 2,500 Forest Guerrillas were initially fairly successful, despite their lack of proper equipment.
The East Karelian rebels got some publicity in international media, but they had expected Finland to intervene with its defence forces. However, the Finnish government denied requests of arranging official enlistment, but it did not prevent private Finnish volunteer activists from crossing the border. Finland did agree to send humanitarian aid to the East Karelian rebels, taking the risk of provoking a war with the RSFSR.Soviet historians, however, stipulated that the Finnish government did support the uprising in a military manner, and was intervening in an internal conflict.
In Northern White Karelia the smallerVienan Rykmentti(Viena Regiment) was formed. Combined, the East Karelian rebels numbered 2,500.
On 6 November 1921, the Finnish and Karelian forces began a new incursion into East Karelia. According to Finnish historians, on that day Karelian guerrillas and Finnish volunteer forces attacked inRukajärvi.Russian historianAlexander Shirokoradclaims this force was 5,000–6,000 strong, which is twice the total strength of East Karelians and Finnish volunteers combined according to Finnish records.
The first Finnish volunteers reached Repola at the end of November 1921. The volunteers acted as private citizens and were not considered a government intervention by Finland, but the Russian view differed. This controversy caused considerable friction in diplomatic relations between Finland and RSFSR. Most of the volunteers joined theRepolan Pataljoona(Repola Battalion). Command of the Battalion inOlonetsKarelia was first taken byGustaf Svinhufvudand thereafter by Talvela, at the middle of December 1921.
By the end of December 1921, the Finnish volunteers and Karelian Forest Guerrillas had advanced to theKiestinkiSuomussalmi–Rukajärvi–Paatene–Porajärvilines. Meanwhile, the ca. 20 000 troops of the Red Army led byAlexander Sedyakinhave reached Karelia and mounted a counterattack. The Red Army also hadRed Finnswithin its ranks. These Finns had emigrated to Soviet Russia after their defeat in theFinnish Civil War. One such unit was a ski battalion of 200 Red military school cadets under the command ofToivo Antikainen.
Finnish support of the uprising with volunteers and humanitarian aid caused a notable regression on Finnish-Russian diplomatic relations.Leon Trotsky, the commander of theRed Army, announced that he was ready to march towardsHelsinkiand Soviet Russian troops would strike the East Karelian rebels with an army of 20,000 via theMurmansk railway.
At the onset of winter, the resistance of Forest Guerrillas collapsed under superior numbers of the Red Army, famine, and freezing cold. The rebels panicked, and their troops started to retreat towards the Finnish border. According to Shirokorad, the troops of the Red Army had crushed the main group of the Finnish and Karelian troops by the beginning of January 1922 and had retakenPorosozeroandReboly. On 25 January the northern group of the Soviet troops had occupied Kestenga andKokkosalmi, and by the beginning of February occupied the settlementUkhta.
During the final stages of the uprising, the Red "Pork mutiny" occurred in Finland, sparking a hope among the rebels and Finnish volunteers that this would cause the Finnish government to intervene and provide military aid to the insurgents. This did not happen; on the contrary, the minister of interior,Heikki Ritavuori, tightened border control, closed the border preventing food and munitions shipments, and prohibited volunteers to cross over to join the uprising. The assassination of Ritavuori on February 12, 1922, by a Finnish nationalist activist did not change the situation.
The last unit of the uprising, remnants of Viena Regiment, fledTiirovaaraon 16 February 1922, at 10:45 am and reached the border at 1 pm.
On 1 June 1922, in Helsinki, Finland and Soviet Russia signed anAgreement between RSFSR and Finland about the measures providing the inviolability of the Soviet–Finnish border.Both parties agreed to reduce the number of border guards and to keep those who do not reside permanently in the border zone from freely crossing the border from either side to the other.Towards the end of the uprising some 30 000 East Karelian refugees evacuated to Finland.
The Karelian Worker's Commune was renamed into theKarelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republicin 1923, and its autonomy was further expanded.However the cultural autonomy practically ended in 1933–1935 when the émigré Finnish leadersEdvard GyllingandKustaa Roviowere purged and teaching of Finnish language was prohibited.  Gylling had promoted the adoption of Finnish rather than Karelian within the KASSR as he and the other émigré Finns who dominated the leadership of Karelia before 1935 did not consider Karelian to be anything more than a rustic dialect of Finnish.  It may also be argued they held the same view of the essential unity of the Karelians and Finns as one Finnic people as their nationalist counterparts, and also wished that they be unified (albeit in rather different political circumstances).