She Worked For The White Army
During the Finnish Civil War, the Red Army did not want women fighting in combat, but women started forming their own battalions. They reached a compromise, allowing the battalions which had already been formed to fight, but no new ones were allowed. In the White Army, women were prohibited from combat, but contributed in other ways. They managed provisions, provided medical care, and helped in other ways, such as spying and smuggling.
Colorized by Julius Jääskeläinen. Source: (Wikipedia).
Verna Erikson was one such smuggler during the war, specifically smuggling weapons. The picture was taken in the spring of 1918, when Erikson was a student in the Helsinki University of Technology. It was featured on the cover of Suomen Kuvalehti, a weekly magazine, on June 15, 1918. The image was captioned, "One of the finest protectresses of the Helsinki White Guard. Miss E., a student at the University of Technology, bearing three bandoliers and a large pistol. Altogether Miss E. is carrying some 1,350 bullets strapped to her person."
The Start Of Strife In Finland
Russian soldiers in Helsinki Senate Square. Source: (Wikipedia).
In 1809, the Russians conquered Finland, and the Russians moved the capital from Turku to Helsinki in 1812, to move it farther from Sweden. During the Pax Russica, from 1809 to 1898, relations between the Finns and the Russians were relatively peaceful. After the Crimean War, there was a push to modernize Finland, and the economic, cultural, and educational progress in the country helped to encourage Finnish nationalism. Then, in 1899, Russia began a policy to increase military and administrative control in reaction to the rise of Germany and Japan, the Russification of Finland. At the end of the 19th century, the Finnish labor movement emerged, although since it had a Finnish nationalist character, the workers’ activism was focused on opposing Russification, as well as developing policy to tackle social problems. The Reform of 1906 helped to establish a unicameral parliamentary system and universal suffrage. The “Second Period of Oppression” began after this, wherein the Russians neutralized the power of the Finnish Parliament between 1908 and 1917, dissolved the assembly, ordered parliamentary elections to be held almost annually, and determined how the Finnish Senate was to be composed.
Finland Becomes Autonomous
Colorized by (myheritage.com).
When the Russian Empire collapsed, and the February and October Revolutions happened in 1917, a power vacuum was created in Eastern Europe; the Grand Duchy of Finland became involved in the conflict, although it was a peaceful front until early 1918. The Germans saw Eastern Europe as a source of products and raw materials and tried to divide Russia by supporting revolutionary groups and separatist factions like the Finnish activist movement; the control of Finland would have given them an advantage.
After the February Revolution removed czar Nicholas II the Russian Provisional Government returned the autonomous status to the Finns on March 15, 1917. The February Revolution also ended the economic boom in Finland, leading to unemployment and inflation as well as demonstrations and strikes. As Russia disintegrated, Finland, which depended on Russian cereals, faced food shortages, which led the Senate to introduce rationing and price controls. Farmers resisted the governmental control, and as food prices rose, the fear of starvation became a politicized issue.
The Struggle For Power In Finland
The Pyhtää Women’s Guard (part of the Red Army) which fought the Germans in the Kyminlinna Fort. Source: (Wikipedia. Colorized by myheritage.com).
Under the Law of Supreme Power in July 1917, the Finnish Parliament, which was led by the Social Democrats, declared Finland semi-independent; only foreign and military power remained with the Russian Provisional Government. However, the Russian Provisional Government, supported by the Finnish middle class parties, disbanded the Parliament, angering the socialists. Their anger was exacerbated by the food shortages and unemployment.
In October 1917, after the October Revolution, the Finnish workers’ movement declared a general strike, leading to clashes between the workers’ Red Guards and the middle-class Civil Guards (the white guards), which had filled the power vacuum which was left when the gendarmerie was disbanded in March 1917. The Finnish government wanted to break from Russia, but the socialists did not. On December 6, 1917, the Finnish Parliament declared independence. By the end of the year, the Bolshevik government granted Finland’s independence, but this only served to intensify the struggle for power in Finland. The Red Guards became intolerable, even though many of the early demands, such as the eight-hour workday, were met, and the socialists prepared to take over the government, while the government prepared for armed conflict. The government declared the Civil Guards the state’s army. On January 27, 1918, the date that historians accept as the start of the war, Red Guards seized power in Helsinki and declared a revolution.
Finland Becomes A Republic
Ruins after the battle in Tampere. Source: (Wikipedia).
As the war began, many of the members of government left Helsinki, fleeing to Vaasa in Ostrobothnia, forming the White Senate, while the Reds established their revolutionary government, the Delegation of People’s Commissars. The Red troops, comprised mainly of urban and rural workers, occupied southern Finland. They had 100,000 men and women, which included 2,000 armed women. The White Troops, on the other hand, were in the mostly rural areas north of Tampere starting with volunteer Civil Guardsmen; beginning in late February, they were joined by conscripted soldiers, Swedish volunteers, and approximately 1,200 Finish Jägers, who were anti-Russian and had been trained by the German army. Although still an amateur army, the White Army was more organized and better-equipped.
The Reds were winning until about mid-March. They had control of the towns and the countryside in the south. The White Army outmaneuvered the Reds and would have won without the help of the Germans. The White Senate made a request to establish German positions around the Gulf of Finland in April 1918, and shortly thereafter, the German Baltic Sea Division, with 10,000 men, and the detachment Brandenstein, with 3,000 men, landed in southern Finland. The Whites won the Battle of Tampere on April 6, and the Germans conquered Helsinki on April 13. The final battles were fought in southeastern Finland in late April and early May; White victory was declared on May 16. In 1919, Finland was declared a republic.
She Received The Order Of The Cross Of Liberty
Source: (fr.wikipedia.org).
Erikson, along with her schoolmate, Salme Setälä were given the Order of the Cross of Liberty in 1918. She began experiencing pain under her arms but did not have time to go to the doctors, and by the time she did, she was suffering from advanced sarcoma, and died in 1918.
