page_title: Akseli Gallen-Kallela
section_title: Finnish Civil War
hierarchical_section_title: Akseli Gallen-Kallela / Life and career / Finnish Civil War
caption_attribution_description: Suomi: Akseli Gallen-Kallela luutnantin univormussaan Suomen sisällissodan aikana 1918. English: Akseli Gallen-Kallela in his lieutenant's uniform during the Finnish Civil War in 1918.
context_page_description: Akseli Gallen-Kallela was a Finnish painter who is best known for his illustrations of the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic. His work is considered very important for the Finnish national identity. He changed his name from Gallén to Gallen-Kallela in 1907.
context_section_description: The family moved back from Tarvaspää to Kalela in 1915 to escape the turmoil of WW I. A few years later in 1918, Gallen-Kallela and his son Jorma took part in the fighting at the front of the Finnish Civil War. When the regent, General Mannerheim, heard about this, he invited Gallen-Kallela to design the flags, official decorations and uniforms for the newly independent Finland. For the flag, Gallen-Kallela proposed a white-blue cross flag, with colors inverted (white cross on blue), but this was considered too similar to the Swedish flag and particularly the Greek flag of the time. In 1919 he was appointed aide-de-camp to Mannerheim. In 1920 he made an agreement with the publishing company WSOY for the eventual publication of Great Kalevala, with the less decorative Koru-Kalevala being published first in 1922.
caption: Gallen-Kallela in his lieutenant uniform during the civil war, 1918
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