White Guards (Finland)

Civil Guard

Suojeluskunnat Skyddskår
General Headquarters badge
White Guard of Nummi in 1930s
Agency overview
Formed	1918
Preceding agency	Kansalliskaarti
Dissolved	1944
Superseding agency	Finnish Defence Forces
Type	Volunteer militia
Jurisdiction	Finland

The White Guard (Finnish: Suojeluskunta, plural: Suojeluskunnat, Finland-Swedish: Skyddskår, literally translated as Protection/Defense Corps) was a voluntary militia that emerged victorious over the socialist Red Guard as part of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War of 1918. The Finnish term Suojeluskunta has received many different approximations in English, including the literal translation Protection Corps, Security Guard, Civic Guards, National Guard, White Militia, Defence Corps, Protection Guard, and Protection Militia. They were generally known as the White Guard in the West due to their opposition to the communist Red Guards. In the White Army of Finland many participants were recruits, draftees and German trained Jägers and not part of the paramilitary as is sometimes erroneously thought.

Their central organization was named Suojeluskuntajärjestö, and the organization consisted of local chapters in municipalities.

The Russian revolution of 1905 led to social and political unrest and a breakdown of security in Finland, which was then a Grand Duchy under the sovereignty of the Russian Czar. Citizen militias were formed as a response, but soon these would be transformed along political (left-right) lines. The Russian Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent independence of Finland also caused conflicts in the country. On January 27, 1918, the Finnish government ordered the disarmament of all remaining Russian garrisons with the forces of the White Guard, and on the same day the Reds proclaimed revolution, leading to a bloody civil war. White Guards, led by Gen. C.G.E. Mannerheim, constituted the bulk of the victorious White Army during the Finnish Civil War (1918).