Finland 1918

The Finnish civil war was fought between January and May 1918 and is often referred to as the most brutal conflict in northern Europe in the modern era. In a cruel confrontation between compatriots, neighbour often faced neighbour in a battle between conservative and socialist forces that rapidly got out of control. Almost 37,000 people died as a result of the conflict, as a result of acts of war, terror, random executions and a high mortality rate in the prison camps.

There were many people outside Finland who involved themselves, and Norway sent two ‘ambulances’ – field hospitals – from The Red Cross and the Norwegian Women’s Care and Services Organisation. No one anticipated the bloodbath they were about to witness. A number of the Norwegians who were in Finland wrote down what they had experienced, and eye-witness portrayals bring the reader close to the events themselves.