With the civil war in the past, Finland begun to construct itself as an independent nation. The atrocities during the Civil War on both sides, were still in fresh memory.
In the war and its aftermath, over 1% of the population died. The death toll was around 37,000 of which only about 10,000 died in actual combat. The Whites gathered around 80,000 Reds and people affiliated with the Reds, including women and children in to prison camps after their victory and while a few thousands of them were released rather soon, many died of starvation and poor conditions. Slowly released from prisons, the last 50 Reds were released from prison as late as 1927.
With the Civil War out of the way, there was a momentary political struggle about whether the nation should become a monarchy or a republic - under pressure from Germany, the senate opted for a king, but with Germany becoming a republic at the end of World War I, the would-be king renounced The throne and a republican constitution was ratified on July 17th, 1919.
Once the republic was ratified, the nation begun to rearrange the infrastructure. Agrarian reforms broke up the large estates owned by the nobility and sold them to the ambitious peasants.
The military formed up partially on the basis of the Jägers trained in Germany prior to the Civil War and several units today consider the 27th Jäger Battalion as an important part of their inheritance. A para-military militia, Suojeluskunta (=Protection/Defense Corps), provided also great deals of military education for its members. They were given an official status of auxiliary troops of about 100,000 troops.
The Finnish Military Academy, originally formed by the Russians during their rule, was reinstated in 1919 and reserve officer education started during the early 1920ies together with NCO and branch schools. A conscript service of one year was introduced and the reservists were required to take part in refresher training every once in a while.
When the Winter War begun, the Finns fielded about 135,000 troops organized in nine divisions, increasing to about 340,000 by the end of the war. The country fielded 32 tanks and 114 aircraft, many of which were practically obsolete.
What led to the Winter War - to that we will find the answer in my next post.
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