Finland

Foreign statesman 1861–1944 ○ Died

Head of the Finnish Senate who declared independence and sought German intervention in the civil war

On hearing of the February Revolution in his Siberian exile at Tomsk, he walked to the police station and announced, 'The person who sent me here has been arrested. Now I'm going home.'

Head of the Senate that declared Finland's independence in December 1917, he led the White government in the civil war of 1918 and sought German intervention. He was president from 1931 to 1937.

Counter-revolutionary forces 1867–1951 ○ Natural causes

Aristocratic soldier who rose from Russian Imperial lieutenant general to Marshal of Finland, facing the Soviet Union in two wars

"Forts, cannons and foreign aid will not help unless every man himself knows that he is the guard of his country."

A Swedish-speaking Finnish aristocrat who served 30 years in the Imperial Russian Army, rising to lieutenant general through the Russo-Japanese War and the First World War. In the 1918 Finnish Civil War he commanded the White Army to victory, then as regent consolidated Finland's independence, telling the London Times that 'the historic mission of Finland is to drive Bolshevism out.' As commander-in-chief in the Winter War and Continuation War, he led outnumbered Finnish forces against the Soviet Union, fighting alongside Nazi Germany but refusing to assault Leningrad. Elected president in 1944, he concluded peace with the USSR and expelled German forces in the Lapland War, leaving Finland the only Eastern European nation to escape occupation.

Foreign statesman 1869–1947 ○ Natural causes

A historian who linked scholarship with social democracy

In Moscow in 1940, he signed the peace treaty that ended the Winter War.

Väinö Voionmaa was a Finnish historian, professor and Social Democratic politician who helped shape the early republic. He founded institutions for workers’ education and joined scholarship to popular political work through parliament, diplomacy and social policy. As a Social Democratic member of Finland’s delegation to the Moscow Peace Treaty negotiations in 1940, he signed the settlement that ended the Winter War, embodying the difficult compromises imposed on Finland between war and great-power politics.

Foreign statesman 1870–1956 ○ Natural causes

Finnish realist who faced Stalin at the 1939 Moscow negotiations and later forged the Paasikivi doctrine of Cold War neutrality

'Acknowledging reality is the beginning of all wisdom': words Paasikivi borrowed from Stalin and made the cornerstone of Finnish Cold War policy.

A political realist whose career spanned Finland's autonomy under the Russian Empire, independence, civil war, and both wars against the USSR. As prime minister in 1918 he pursued a pro-German monarchy; in 1920 he led the delegation that signed the Tartu peace treaty with Soviet Russia. Summoned from Stockholm in October 1939, he negotiated directly with Stalin and Molotov in Moscow: the talks failed, but after the Winter War broke out he served as minister without portfolio and signed the Moscow Peace Treaty of March 1940. Elected president in 1946, he anchored Finland's Cold War survival on the principle that 'acknowledging reality is the beginning of all wisdom,' a doctrine of geopolitical accommodation with the USSR that defined Finnish foreign policy for decades.

Foreign statesman 1861–1944 ○ Died

Head of the Finnish Senate who declared independence and sought German intervention in the civil war

On hearing of the February Revolution in his Siberian exile at Tomsk, he walked to the police station and announced, 'The person who sent me here has been arrested. Now I'm going home.'

Head of the Senate that declared Finland's independence in December 1917, he led the White government in the civil war of 1918 and sought German intervention. He was president from 1931 to 1937.

Counter-revolutionary forces 1867–1951 ○ Natural causes

Aristocratic soldier who rose from Russian Imperial lieutenant general to Marshal of Finland, facing the Soviet Union in two wars

"Forts, cannons and foreign aid will not help unless every man himself knows that he is the guard of his country."

A Swedish-speaking Finnish aristocrat who served 30 years in the Imperial Russian Army, rising to lieutenant general through the Russo-Japanese War and the First World War. In the 1918 Finnish Civil War he commanded the White Army to victory, then as regent consolidated Finland's independence, telling the London Times that 'the historic mission of Finland is to drive Bolshevism out.' As commander-in-chief in the Winter War and Continuation War, he led outnumbered Finnish forces against the Soviet Union, fighting alongside Nazi Germany but refusing to assault Leningrad. Elected president in 1944, he concluded peace with the USSR and expelled German forces in the Lapland War, leaving Finland the only Eastern European nation to escape occupation.

Foreign statesman 1869–1947 ○ Natural causes

A historian who linked scholarship with social democracy

In Moscow in 1940, he signed the peace treaty that ended the Winter War.

Väinö Voionmaa was a Finnish historian, professor and Social Democratic politician who helped shape the early republic. He founded institutions for workers’ education and joined scholarship to popular political work through parliament, diplomacy and social policy. As a Social Democratic member of Finland’s delegation to the Moscow Peace Treaty negotiations in 1940, he signed the settlement that ended the Winter War, embodying the difficult compromises imposed on Finland between war and great-power politics.

Foreign statesman 1870–1956 ○ Natural causes

Finnish realist who faced Stalin at the 1939 Moscow negotiations and later forged the Paasikivi doctrine of Cold War neutrality

'Acknowledging reality is the beginning of all wisdom': words Paasikivi borrowed from Stalin and made the cornerstone of Finnish Cold War policy.

A political realist whose career spanned Finland's autonomy under the Russian Empire, independence, civil war, and both wars against the USSR. As prime minister in 1918 he pursued a pro-German monarchy; in 1920 he led the delegation that signed the Tartu peace treaty with Soviet Russia. Summoned from Stockholm in October 1939, he negotiated directly with Stalin and Molotov in Moscow: the talks failed, but after the Winter War broke out he served as minister without portfolio and signed the Moscow Peace Treaty of March 1940. Elected president in 1946, he anchored Finland's Cold War survival on the principle that 'acknowledging reality is the beginning of all wisdom,' a doctrine of geopolitical accommodation with the USSR that defined Finnish foreign policy for decades.