Tampere was one of the most important cities in the Finnish Civil War. The Battle of Tampere was significant, and both sides knew that the winner of this battle would likely emerge victorious in the entire war. The struggle, involving 30,000 soldiers, remains the largest urban battle in Nordic history.
Founded by King Gustav III in 1779, the city of Tampere had, by the 19th century, become one of Finland’s leading industrial cities. By the mid-1800s, over a third of the country’s industrial workers were employed in Tampere. This led to Tampere being often referred to as the “Manchester of Finland.”
At the start of the century, Finland’s status as part of the Russian Empire changed, and no political reforms were made. The 1905 general strike, which emerged as a protest against the Russian policies of Russification, also spread among Tampere’s organized working-class population. On November 1, in the “Red Declaration” given at the city’s Central Square (then known as Market Square), citizens demanded, among other things, extensive political autonomy.
Although the 1905 general strike and the Civil War of 1918 were not directly connected, the strike was the first demonstration of the strength of the organized working class, and its influence could be seen in the actions the workers initially attempted to implement following the March 1917 revolution in Russia.
When the Civil War began in January 1918, the Reds seized control of Tampere. The Red Guard occupied the telephone exchange, the railway station, printing presses of bourgeois newspapers, and the headquarters of the White Guard. Tampere became the Reds’ most important frontline base and a significant supply hub, with the railway playing a key role. The front line stabilized to the north of Tampere.
The Whites began drafting plans to capture Tampere, seen as a strategic priority, as early as February. As a major industrial city, Tampere would also strengthen the Whites’ position in the war going forward. The Reds were believed to have concentrated their best forces on the front north of Tampere.
White forces surrounded Tampere in the last weeks of March. The final front line in the Battle of Tampere ran through what is now Central Square. General Mannerheim, the commander of the White Army, saw it as crucial to capture Tampere independently, without German allies, who were soon to land on Finland’s southern coast. However, the Reds showed significant determination in defending Tampere, and the battle lasted about three weeks.
Once Tampere’s defences collapsed in early April, the ultimate winner of the Civil War was clear. It was only a matter of time before the remaining Red-controlled areas in Finland would surrender, and at what cost. The Finnish Civil War is considered to have ended on May 15, 1918. However, a bitter period of reckoning still lay ahead.
For these reasons, the events in Tampere in the spring of 1918 were critical to the outcome of the entire Finnish Civil War.