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Puolustusministeri Niinistö avasi Suomen Sotahistorian Komission seminaarin
Puolustusministeri Jussi Niinistö avasi Suomen Sotahistorian Komission seminaarin "From the Great War to Small Wars 1918 - 1922 in Eastern Europe" Tieteiden Talolla Helsingissä.***
Mr Chairman, esteemed guests,
There are no other areas of research findings in historical research that gain such a wide attention in the Finnish media than the findings of military history. As professor Ohto Manninen (who is here also today) has stated: “The wide audience is interested in the most fateful events of history - that is also - wars”.
However, often the big winners have been publishing houses and evening newspapers, whose special editions of events in Finnish war history - like the Jaegers, Winter War and Continuation War - are almost unexceptionally sold out. Therefore, military history´s linkages with commercialism and media can pose a hidden danger to the objectivity of research.
According to the current trend, decent basic research is necessarily not enough. Instead, researchers must emphasize those kinds of features in their work that gain media’s attention and consequently better sales. In that case, there is a risk, that in order to get wider attention a researcher aims at simple, easy to understand and at worst, tendentious conclusions.In Finnish universities military history is a widely studied theme and over the years we have seen a wide variety of research. However, “military history proper” - research focusing in strategy, operational art and tactics is mainly done on the National Defence University.
Dear seminar participants,The theme of this seminar, The Small Wars between 1918
and 1922, can be positioned from Finland's point of view somewhere between military history and research of
the re-awakening of Finnish nationalism. The original, more romantic version of
national awakening in Finland can be traced back to early 19th
century.
The Finnish term used of the Finnish small wars, heimosodat,
has been literally translated in Finnish historiography into English as "Kindred Nations Wars",
"Wars for kindred peoples" or "Kinship Wars".
I myself would rather call them “Wars for
the liberation of the Finnish kinsmen or "Intentions
to liberate the Finnish-kindred folks".
In any case, the term refers to the conflicts in
territories inhabited by other Finnic
peoples, often in Russia or in borders of Russia. Between 1918 and 1922, some 9
000 Finnish volunteers took part in these conflicts, either to assert Finnish
control over the areas inhabited by related Finnic peoples or to help them to
gain their independence. Many of the volunteer soldiers were inspired by the
idea of Greater Finland.
The Finnish War of independence awakened a strong
nationalistic feeling and in February 1918, Mannerheim, the commander of the
Finnish Army, wrote his famous “sword
and scabbard” Order of the Day. There he stated that he would not return his
sword to his scabbard until East Karelia was free from Russian occupation.
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 with predominantly Finnic
population to Finland.
Finland had just won its national independence, and a part of the population felt that they had obligations to help other Finnic peoples to attain the same.
In today´s seminar we have a unique possibility to have an in-depth look into the events which took place between in Europe 1918-1922. At least in Finland it was an era of strong nationalistic sentiments, courage of young men and also of high moral aspirations.
With these words I wish you an interesting seminar. Thank you.
***
(Muokattu 14.6.2016 klo 11:19 muotoon, jossa puhe puhuttiin)