Heimosodat: Difference between revisions

The [[Finland|Finnish]] '''Heimosodat''' (singular ''heimosota''),{{efn|{{Lang-et|hõimusõjad}}, {{Lang-sv|frändefolkskrigen}}, {{Lang-de|Kriege verwandter Völker}}}}<ref>{{cite book |language=de|title=Vergangenheitsdiskurse in der Ostseeregion |last=Zägel |first=Jörg |author2=Reiner Steinweg |year=2007 |publisher=LIT Verlag Berlin-Hamburg-Münster |isbn=978-3-8258-0202-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C4PmoD9BDRkC&q=heimosodat&pg=PA142 }}</ref> refer to a series of armed conflicts and [[Filibuster (military)|private military expeditions]] in 1918–1922 into the areas of the former [[Russian Empire]] which were neighbouring Finland and inhabited in large part by other [[Baltic Finns|Finnic peoples]]. The term has been translated into English as "''Kindred Nations Wars''", "''Wars for kindred peoples''", "''Kinfolk wars''",<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/publications/wild-east-finnish-kinfolk-wars-and-the-eastern-european-revolutio|title=Villi itä: Suomen heimosodat ja Itä-Euroopan murros 1918-1921|first1=Aapo|last1=Roselius|first2=Oula|last2=Silvennoinen|date=May 15, 2019|publisher=Tammi|isbn=9789513175498 |via=researchportal.helsinki.fi}}</ref> or "''Kinship Wars''," specifically Finnic kinship. It is sometimes erroneously translated as "Tribal wars".{{Citation needed|date=November 2008}} [[Finnish people|Finnish]] 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 [[Soviet Russia|Russia]]. Many of the volunteer soldiers were inspired by the idea of [[Greater Finland]]. 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 [[:fi:Aapo Roselius|Roselius]], about 10,000 volunteers from Finland took part in the armed conflicts mentioned below.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2xCJBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA119|title=Finnish Irredentist Campaigns in the Aftermath of the Civil War // The Finnish Civil War 1918. History, Memory, Legacy|last=Roselius|first=Aapo|publisher=Brill|year=2014|isbn=978-90-04-24366-8|location=The Netherlands|pages=119}}</ref>

The phenomenon is closely linked to [[nationalism]] and [[irredentism]], 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]] 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]] and [[Finnicization]] 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.