White Guard

E441634

The White Guard was a Finnish nationalist paramilitary organization that served as the main military force of the anti-socialist Whites during the Finnish Civil War and later functioned as a key component of the country’s internal security and defense.

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Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf paramilitary organization
voluntary militia
conflict Finnish Civil War NERFINISHED
country Finland
demographicBase middle-class and landowning groups
rural population
disbandedBy Soviet Union’s demands in the 1944 armistice
dissolutionCause Moscow Armistice of 1944 NERFINISHED
endTime 1944
hasPart local White Guard districts
women’s auxiliary Lotta Svärd (cooperating organization) NERFINISHED
youth organizations
headquartersLocation Helsinki NERFINISHED
historicalReputation controversial due to role in Civil War reprisals
ideology Finnish nationalism
language Finnish
Swedish
legalBasis Finnish legislation on voluntary defense associations
legalStatus banned organization after 1944
membership hundreds of thousands at peak
militaryFunction auxiliary to the regular army
nativeLabel Skyddskår NERFINISHED
Suojeluskunta NERFINISHED
notableEvent involvement in interwar border security
participation in suppression of Red uprisings in 1918
opposedTo Red Guard NERFINISHED
socialist and communist movements in Finland
partOf Finnish internal security system
Finnish national defense system
politicalAlignment anti-socialist
right-wing
primaryTask maintaining internal order
preparing for national defense
supporting the White government forces
recruitment voluntary enlistment
regionServed Grand Duchy of Finland (late period of autonomy) NERFINISHED
Republic of Finland NERFINISHED
relatedTo Civil Guard (similar organizations in other countries) NERFINISHED
Lotta Svärd NERFINISHED
roleInConflict main military force of the White side in the Finnish Civil War
socialRole instrument of conservative and agrarian elites
startTime 1917
successor Finnish Defence Forces reserve organizations
supportedBy Finnish Senate (White government) NERFINISHED
symbol lion of Finland NERFINISHED
white color
timePeriod interwar period
trainingRole pre-military training for conscripts

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.