A military organizer who bridged industry and war
Mannerheim remembered him as a colleague whose industrial experience and ability to organize an army were both needed by Finland.
Rudolf Walden was a Finnish industrialist who helped build the paper industry and became a military and state organizer. His work organizing the White rear and supply system in the 1918 civil war led to a long partnership with Mannerheim, and during the Winter War he represented headquarters in the cabinet. After the war he became defence minister and signed the Moscow Peace Treaty for Finland, helping manage a state that had lost territory while preserving its independence. Conservative toward organized labour, he shifted during the Winter War toward recognizing trade unions as legitimate negotiating partners in a national emergency.
Career Timeline
- 1900Graduated from Hamina Cadet School; second lieutenant in the Finnish Guard
- 1918Chief in the White rear area and headquarters rear administration
- 1918–1919Finnish Minister of War
- 1920Finnish representative at the Treaty of Tartu
- 1939–1940Headquarters representative in the war cabinet during the Winter War
- 1940–1944Finnish Minister of Defence and signatory of the Moscow Peace Treaty
- 1942Promoted to general of infantry
- 1944Head of Finland's delegation for the Moscow Armistice
- 1946Died